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Scuba Dive With Narwhals in Newfoundland, Canada

Scuba Dive With Narwhals in Newfoundland, Canada

Written by Nevin
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Published on April 12, 2010
narwhal swimming underwater

At first mention of Newfoundland Canada as a top dive destination and all you get is people staring at you with disbelief. In fact some of the best SCUBA diving in the World can be found in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada.

In terms of richness of marine life, this region is the location where the cold arctic Labrador currents come in collision with the warm Gulf Stream bringing with it the largest plankton buffet in the Atlantic. These plankton rich waters, draw some of the most magnificent marine creatures to feed here once a year, the most popular of which are Humpback Whales, Beluga Whales and Narwhals.

The Newfoundland, Labrador waters are also home to some of the most spectacular World War two shipwrecks with the sea bed almost peppered with sunken ships approximated at around 10,000 wrecks! Conception Bay is the final resting place of four World War II Iron Ore freighter shipwrecks which were attacked by German U Boats in 1942. The Lord Strathcona, the Rose Castle, the British Saganaga, and the French PLM 27 are the names of the ore carriers. These wrecks located just two miles off shore have rested upright and remained intact with the cold arctic currents preserving them. Excellent visibility, abundance of marine life, easy accessibility and the pristine condition of wreck are what makes the wrecks at Conception Bay some of the best wreck dives in world.

For those that want the opportunity to spot or even scuba dive with Whales or the elusive Narwhal, there is perhaps no better opportunity to try your luck than a visit to Conception Bay , where even though sightings aren’t guaranteed, your odds of spotting these creatures will never  be better. The months of June, July, and August in Newfoundland is the time of the year when Humpback Whales arrive for their summer feeding. Dive operators in this area offer Whale watching trips which allow you to snorkel with these majestic creatures, since scuba bubbles tend to spook them. Beluga sightings are rarer and most Belugas that visit this region are juveniles, however they are sometimes spotted with the larger humpbacks.

The Narwhal which is an arctic whale with a long unicorn like tusk is perhaps the most rare but greatest attraction to spot while in Newfoundland. This predominately arctic creature only travels south during the summers and may only travel as south as Conception Bay occasionally, which makes sighting them hard. However local dive operators in this region have managed to successfully spot and capture excellent footage and photographs of this playful creature during some chance encounters during the spring and summer months,(best time around April) and many will offer Narwhal spotting expeditions to divers eager to try their luck.