Scuba Diving At Shanty Bay

We will dive Shanty Bay which is considered to be the best dive site in the Lake Simcoe area with different features including wrecks in the water for divers to see.  As shown in the photo, this shore dive is easily accessible for the beach and pier.  The dive site is a slow gradual slope with varying depths to beyond 100 feet for those who want to venture deeper but most attractions are much shallower.

Here is a video of a dive at Shanty Bay to get an idea of what it’s like there.

Here are directions to the Shanty Bay dive site;

• take highway 400 to highway 11 north
• exit at Line 2 south
• continue all the way to the end where the Shanty Bay wharf is
• turn left on Bay St as we don’t want the smaller pier right at the end of Line 2
• look for the bigger wharf just after you make that left turn on Bay st – will have some postal boxes there too.

Important Note On Parking

The township of Oro-Medonte which controls Shanty Bay has made it difficult for non-residents to park there.  There are parking spots at Shanty Bay but permits are required – non-residents of Oro-Medonte must pay for a permit costing about $100 for a six month period and the parking lot is enforced regularly with parking tickets of $60 issued for those parked there without a permit.  So we suggest just stopping at Shanty Bay upon arrive to drop off all your dive gear plus tanks and then drive back to a side street called Melissa Crescent about half kilometre away back on Line 2.  You can also try parking at the baseball diamond on Ridge Rd just east of Line 2.  The side streets close to the wharf are all marked no parking.  This of course is a big inconvenience but as a dive group we’ll try diving Shanty Bay at least once to try it out even if we have to walk a bit to our cars.  Depending on group feedback, we may or may not return for subsequent dives.