Vancouver Island is well known for it’s superior cold water diving and Nanaimo in particular is a world-class diving destination. Nanaimo has 3 artificial reefs, which attract divers from all over, including a group of high school students from Breton Alberta. The group of students belong to a marine biology program at Breton high school, they have made Nanaimo a choice destination for diving for the past two years; they have also made the Painted Turtle their choice accommodation for both years. This great group of kids along with several instructors come to Nanaimo for approximately 9 days a year to explore and experience the known/unknown beauties of our coastal waters. After a day of diving the group of students made their way to Bruce and Angie’s (our fantastic owners) house for a birthday BBQ celebration of one of the students. There is nothing better than BBQing with a view of our beautiful harbour/waters after spending the day swimming in them. When diving in Nanaimo expect to see an array of sea life such as: wolf eels, giant Pacific octopus, anemones, nudibranchs (as seen in the picture below), sponges, harbour seals and sea lions. For more information on diving in Nanaimo for beginners to intermediate please click here.