My name is Connie Foss, I am co-owner of Alberta Adventure Divers with my husband, David. We started diving as a hobby 35 years ago, but couldn’t get air fills in the middle of the prairies, so we bought an air compressor. And we grew the air compressor into a full-fledged dive store.
As a PADI dive store, we offer scuba lessons, we have full equipment and gear sales, and we do air fills as well. We love to dive in Alberta, and we have been diving a lot in local lakes like Clear Lake. This weekend we’re going up to Twin Lake, which is just south of Edmonton. We also have some friends that just were at Cold Lake diving, so there are lots of local spots if you know where to look.
Freshwater diving is a little bit colder than ocean tropical diving, we don’t have quite as many bright, colorful fish. We do have walleye, perch, and northern pike here that we regularly see. We also have a lot of fun finding artifacts that have been lost. We’ve found lost boats and even a satellite dish that has become a habitat for fish. When you’re diving in the local lakes or in any new body of water, it’s always advisable to dive with someone else who’s already been there before. Take them for a dive buddy and let them show you what the hazards are and what the local attractions are.
Alberta Adventure Divers is famous for a few special events. One of them is our Pumpkin Dive on the last Saturday in October. All of the divers will bring a pumpkin to the lake and actually carve it underwater. It’s a blast! The other one we celebrate is Women’s Dive Day in July. Women all come and have fun doing a dive event and the men will come along as guides and helpers for us. It’s a lot of fun.
If you are interested in experiencing diving, we offer PADI dive lessons, which take you from a non-diver to a fully certified diver. We also teach advanced diving if you are someone that wants to learn a little more and try something more advanced. We are also fully cave certified and full cave trained. We’ve dove in all seven continents; from Antarctica to Norway, to the tropics.
I love diving because every dive ends up being an adventure or a story. Whether it’s a piece of equipment that got lost and then has to be retrieved the next dive by the next buddy or getting up close to fish, you’re always bound to experience something. 30 years ago we were just certified divers that wanted to keep our skills up, so we bought an air compressor. From that, the interest in our diving community just grew and grew and grew, and now it’s a hobby gone wild. Now we have a full-fledged dive store and a whole lot of great dive buddies.
