Where is the coldest commercial diving site?
When I did my diving course, I was told that it was much easier diving in warm waters so if you finish your course in colder seas, you don't have to have a diving skill check before your recreational dive with a new diving operator. On the other hand, if you finished your courses in warm waters, they test your basic skills before they let you underwater.
If I understood correctly, cold waters are considered those that are not in tropical seas so not that chilly to start with but I would like to know where the coldest place that offers PADI diving courses is? That diving school should not be specializing in cold-water diving but should have all the courses, starting with Open Water Diver course.
Best Answer
The PADI Dive Centre at Scapa Flow in Orkney is the coldest in the UK, and at a latitude of 59 degrees north it has to be a contender.
It would certainly qualify as a cold water dive centre, and as a bonus you can see the German High Seas Fleet that was scuttled there on 21st June 1919.
From their website, they have the following courses:
- Try a dive
- Open Water Diver 4 day course
- Advanced Open Water diver
- Rescue Diver
- Emergency First Response
- Divemaster
From the Dive Site Directory, the water temperature and guidance is:
Water temperature: 4°C (39°F) in April to 14°C (57°F) in September
Suit: A drysuit is highly recommended
Pictures about "Where is the coldest commercial diving site?"
Quick Answer about "Where is the coldest commercial diving site?"
- SCAPA FLOW, SCOTLAND. ...
- BRITISH COLUMBIA, CANADA. ...
- WHITE SEA, RUSSIA. ...
- LAKE BAIKAL, RUSSIA. ...
- ANTARCTICA.
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What is the deepest commercial dive?
In 1992 Comex, a French diving company, conducted a series of experimental dives to 2,133 feet (650 meters) of seawater in a hyperbaric research chamber in France. For two hours one diver went to 2,300 feet (701 meters), which is the deepest a human has gone under pressure (71.1 atmospheres) to date.What temperature is cold water diving?
There are many different definitions for 'cold water diving', but generally speaking it is any dive with water temperatures below 60 \xb0F (15.5 \xb0C). That might sound chilly, but going cold water diving opens up a world of incredible destinations and dive experiences.Where is the best place to dive in January?
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More answers regarding where is the coldest commercial diving site?
Answer 2
According to this page (and this)there is a dive centre at Nusfjord on the Lofoten Islands of northern Norway - well above the Arctic Circle. I'm pretty sure a dry suit is compulsory there.
EDIT: So I finally found a good-looking map of sea surface temperature and it turned up some surprising things.
- Kongsfjord (Norway) seems to be in around 8°C and Nusfjord about 10°C - both surprisingly warm.
- Alaska as a whole is colder than Norway, but Kodiak is well in the south of Alaska. The sea temperature there is around the 6°C level. Kodiak Alaska is probably the coldest place you can get basic SCUBA instruction (kudos Andra)
- Scapa Flow is 12°C - almost tropical by comparison (EDIT AGAIN: Just read the addition to the Scapa answer - I'm thinking my map is average or maybe current temperature)
- Silfa in Iceland is indeed colder than all the above at 2°C - but the only instruction it offers is the extremely specialized 'PADI Tectonic Plates Awareness Course', which seems to be unique to the site. I'm note sure if it counts.
I did find a new contender for coldest dive site: Arctic Canada Dive Adventures will take you on a dive trip to Iqaluit Nunavut, where the water temperature is -1°C and the sea ice is 3 feet thick. But they don't offer instruction there.
Answer 3
You could try Silfa in Iceland. I haven't tried it myself but it is supposed to be pretty awesome.
Answer 4
Google maps might be your friend here. Zoom in to a cold region and search for "scuba". Two suggestions that pops up are:
Norway:
Alaska:
Answer 5
I don't know about PADI courses, but at least with regard to the question in the title (Where is the coldest commercial diving site?), it is possible to dive (and snorkel) in the Antarctica. Commercial packages, e.g. here and here (the last one being the first package offered in the world, according to their website).
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