Depending on your means of transport, you can either meet us at Rowand’s Reef’s dive shop first thing or you can make your own way to the dive site and meet us there. Timings depend on the time of year as well as the dive site we’re heading to and will be confirmed by email in advance of the dive date.

Once at the site, our Divemaster will give you a location briefing, go over the dive plan, and then buddy you up with another diver. Then it’s time to kit up and head out for your first dive! We usually take a lunch break during the surface interval and then complete another briefing before the second dive of the day. After this we get changed, pack up, and head back to the shop.

Once we’ve dropped off the gear back at the shop, we often like to head to a local restaurant for a quick drink and a bite to eat. The perfect place to complete your logbook and catch up with each other on the days diving!

Absolutely! Our Group Dives are for divers of all levels and experience.

Whether you are a newly qualified diver who wants to build up confidence after completing your PADI Open Water certification or an advanced diver looking to explore the amazing ocean life in BC, we guarantee you’ll have a great time on one of our Group Dives.

Our Rowand’s Reef Divemaster will be there to assist you and Group Dives are a great way to meet new dive buddies who are at a similar level as you.

Although during the summer months, you can dive local waters in a wetsuit, we highly recommend that you use a drysuit. In British Columbia, the water gets cold so you will find the vast majority of divers use a drysuit all year round.

A drysuit will keep you nice and warm, ensuring more comfort and enjoyment from your dives. At Rowand's Reef, we carry the Aqua Lung Fusion range of drysuits. These suits contain the latest in drysuit technology and allow for a customized fit with added flexibility and buoyancy control in the water.

To rent a drysuit from us you will need to have a Drysuit Specialty certification. If you don’t have one of these and are interested in gaining one then we encourage you to take the PADI Drysuit Specialty Course with us. More details on this can be found here.

For those who don’t have a drysuit certification, you can still join our Group Dives and dive in a wetsuit. We have warm 14/7mm wetsuits available for hire that will keep you nice and warm in our cold waters, especially in summer.

Aquatic life will vary at each dive site, but you will likely see rockfish, crabs, flatfish, sunflower seastars, and jellyfish. Across the rocks are fields of anemones (in particular the beautiful white plumose anemones), soft corals, and ancient sponges. Seals and sea lions often drop by to say hello, especially on night dives. And you may be lucky enough to find a Giant Pacific Octopus or Wolf Eel, hiding under rocks during the day or out hunting at night.

Water colour, visibility and temperature - these are the biggest differences when it comes to cold water vs. warm water diving.

Water colour - In cold water, the colour appears more green/grey compared to the blue/turquoise water of the tropics. This difference really only matters if you do any underwater filming or photography.

Visibility - the best time to dive in BC is from September - April. This is when the water is the clearest and is as good as any warm water dive site. In the summer, visibility here can be poor at times due to the large growth of algae that occurs across the North Pacific coast. The visibility will clear up as you dive deeper, but learning to dive in poor conditions will again give you extra experience and training making you a better diver.

Temperature - water temperatures in BC range from around 7°C in the winter/spring to around 15°C in Summer/Fall. While this is a bit different to the 20°C plus temperature of warmer water, the extra equipment and Drysuits make this easy to handle and you quickly get used to it after a few dives.

Things to see - When it comes to marine and plant life, there are just as many amazing things to see in cold water as there are in the tropics. Life in cold water tends to be smaller and more unique, whilst warm water life tends to be more plentiful. You may have to explore a bit more to find life in cold water but this just adds to the adventure of the dive!

Jacques Cousteau once said that the coastal waters of British Columbia are 'the best temperate water diving in the world and second only to the Red Sea'. - An indication of just how much there is to see here! Plus, Vancouver is one of the only places in the world where you can ski and scuba dive on the same day - definitely worth a bit of cold!