Scuba Travel Guide - Nautilus Explorer

Nautilus Explorer - British Columbia

The lushness and density of invertebrate life in the pristine and sheltered waters of British Columbia is amazing. The octopus and wolfeel encounters are legendary. The scenery topsides is spectacular as is the wall and drift diving. Our Port Hardy and Vancouver Island charters are perfect for serious divers and photographers.

Divers visiting this area for the first time are often concerned that they will be cold. This concern is completely unfounded for anyone diving in a drysuit. (note from Captain Mike -- if you haven't tried a drysuit yet, don't worry. It's no big deal and it takes me longer to get in my wetsuit than my drysuit. We have lots of rental drysuits onboard if you need one.) Water temperatures are consistent from Vancouver to Juneau and average 49 to 52 degrees during the summer. We can honestly say that it is easy to stay nice and warm in a good drysuit, hood and gloves and that we have been a lot colder diving in a 5 mil wetsuit off Cabo San Lucas in late December.

One of the most incredible things about British Columbia is how calm and sheltered the inside waters are. You can go for days at a time without feeling any movement in the boat which is quite uncanny!! While the underwater topography can be very steep and strong currents provide some timing challenges in order to dive at "slack", our experienced crew and custom designed 38 foot dive skiff are there to make your life easy and the diving "good fun". With our skilled crew at the helm, it's unlikely that you will notice much current at all during the "dive window".

This destination is perfect for photographers and other serious divers who want to maximize the number of cold water dives they do during a trip. Popular charters include 7 day / 6 night departures from Vancouver to Port Hardy and 10 day circumnavigations of Vancouver Island. Most of these trips include 2 overnight runs and a lot of time spent at anchor diving every "slack".

Nautilus Explorer
On the Nautilus Explorer , we specialize in catering to more experienced divers looking for advanced and sometimes challenging liveaboard diving. Our vessel was custom built from the keel up as a very comfortable , safe and easy riding platform. We pride ourselves on offering a high level of personalized service and imaginative and fresh cuisine in an environment where guests feel "aahhh, this is nice". Our handpicked friendly, cheerful and professional crew, a sparkling clear fresh water hot tub, 2 different sun decks with lots of deck chairs, a really comfortable main salon, 30 different microbrews, extensive wine list and a great selection of single malts in the ship's bar as well as blissful quiet during the day all contribute to a wonderful onboard ambience.