The golden horseshoe is the region from Niagara falls to Hamilton. Combined with it is the Metropolitan Toronto region.
Canada's largest city exists as a separate tourist region in its own right. The city itself has a population of three-quarters of a million people. The metropolitan area around it brings the total up to 3.5 million. There is some diving in the immediate vicinity of Toronto, notably two wrecks in the harbour: The Sligo, and the Merrill. However, if you draw a four hour driving arc around the map of Toronto you will encompass a region supporting hundreds of dive sites. Within Toronto there are dozens of dive shops offering training, equipment and excursions.
This region stretches in an arc around the end of Lake Ontario from Toronto down to the Niagara River. The name "Golden Horseshoe" is often applied to this area nearest to the lake. The region stretches inland to Waterloo as well. The western basin of the lake is occupied by the city of Hamilton, proceeding south and east from here the population gets sparser and gives way to smaller towns scattered along the lake and shores of the Niagara River.
Numerous creeks and rivers feeding into the Niagara are often dove. Braver, and current-trained divers can try the Niagara river itself. However, the current can be very powerful and is not recommended diving for the novice.
Lake Erie's eastern end extends into this region. Because of the overlap, Longpoint Provincial Park appears both in region 1 and here. East of Longpoint there are some dive sites in the final end of the lake before it empties itself over Niagara falls.
This map is for the purpose of demonstrating the size of the two regions involved. It is not the final map. For Metropolitan Toronto there will be a slightly different format than the rest of the province. A map of the city is not as important as elsewhere. Toronto is not located in an area of concentrated diving. A map will be provided, but the focus of this region will be the services, and instructions that the shops offer. If you take charters out elsewhere, such as the shops that operate charters in Tobermory, then your shop will be linked to those dive sites. And within the dive sites that you operate out of there will be information linking back to your shop.
The same format will be true of the Hamilton region. The Niagara River will be treated as a sub-region. This division should work the best.
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