Gettin’ Ready…

13 09 2007

Thursday, September 13th, 2007 ~

After a long day’s work, Steve and I headed up to Morrison’s Quarry once again, to work on skills. I have been doing alot more lately, as I’ve been prepping to go for my Tech Pass for fundies. I did DIR~F last year, but only did it in a single tank, so I was only able to get the Rec. Pass. I thought, what the heck? I may as well get my butt in gear, now that I’m in doubles, and do it. So… tomorrow am, we are taking off bright and early, to make the drive to Ktown. Dan is going to put me to the test, drill my ass off, and hopefully I will walk away with my Tech Pass.

I’ll have to do the “Final Dive” from the fundies class. Descent making two stops, valve drill with primary, finning techniques, donate gas with primary in hand, deploy back up light, ascent making two stops, blow a bag on the ascent… list goes on a little more, but that’s the gist of it. Oh yeah.. and all while not fluctuating more than 3′ from my targetted depth, and staying horizontal.

Sooooo… that’s the plan for the morning. Steve is going to buddy up with me for it (thank heavens!). 

After that, a friend of mine is coming down from St. Catherines (about 4 hours west of Kingston), and we’re either off to dive at Nicholson’s Point, or we’re heading to the mighty Brockville for the clean up dive. It will depend on my timing on the morning dive.

From there, we’re camping in Mallorytown … which will undoubtedly mean a trip to Dive Tech (leave… wallet… in … car… ), and a dive at Centeen Park on Sunday. We’ll be meeting with the Wooferbitch, Hugh, and Gilles for a nice dive to the Gaskin!

I guess I will know tomorrow, whether I am Tech Pass worthy or not!

Details at 11!… er.. I mean Monday!


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , ,
Categories : Diving Adventures Of 2007

A Trip To The Mighty T Dot And Back To The Quarry!

8 09 2007

Thursday, September 6th ~ 2007 ~

Well, my job brought me back to the mighty T Dot (Toronto) for a Promo Products trade show, and what better way to end a day, than to go for a dip in the Humber River after? I didn’t arrive in TO until about midnight, Thursday morning, as I was still working until 7pm in the office, then made the 5 hour drive. I got a hotel room, crashed, and rose to the free Continental Breaky! mmmmmmm… English Muffins…. It was kind of nice to be back home (waiver… I’m still happy I made the move!)

So… on my feet all day, a little weary, and off to meet Jen and Ritchard for a dive! I was a bit early, as was Ritchard, so we waited for Jen. Jen called… “Not far now, on the 404.” Now, the 404 really isn’t far from Humber Bay, but for anyone that has ever been in Toronto rush hour traffic, will know that she was about an hour out. As much as I like my friend, I still had a 5 hour drive ahead of me to get back home after, so she told us to go ahead.

We geared up, got in, and down we went. Humber really isn’t the most fascinating dive site, but it’s a place to get wet in the middle of the city. There are culverts, Barbies, road signs, mannequins, and a friendly rooster named, Dick the Cock.

Here are some pics from previous dives there…

The bike…

Neighbourhood Watch…

Ursula…

We descended with vis at about 5′, went through the culverts, and went out to a new line. Vis was pretty stinky, and the gobies weren’t helping. The silt was so loose, that when they scurried, they really kicked it up (nope…wasn’t even me, I swear!). The new line got even stinkier… Vis went from 5′ to about 6″ in a hurry. We decided to turn it. All I could hear in my head was Wooferbitch, “I do not dive in milk.” 

Vis at Humber is never really great, unless the wind is coming from the north. We’ve actually done a night dive there, where you could see as far as your light would shine. Not so much today.

Bottom Time ~ 29 mins.
Water Temp. ~ A very surprising 68 (high for the Lake)
Max. Depth ~ 29′
Vis. ~ 0′ – 5′

We surfaced to find Jen waiting for us, for a friendly hello. We chatted for a bit, then I made the 5 hour trip back home. I did have to stop along the way, to sell my Jacket BC that has been sitting around for a while. Really awesome people too! So, that put me home at about 2:30am, and I still had to unpack my gear. I made it to bed by 3!

Friday, September 7th ~ 2007~

Blah Blah Blah… up early, to work.. blah blah…Get home… pack the gear, and off to Morrison’s Quarry in Wakefield, Quebec for some skills! W00H00!

Ok, my eyes and my butt were both dragging on the ground, so I didn’t have very high hopes for my skills dive tonight. Steve and I got in, did valve drills, air shares, then moved on to the plane. Vis was a bit stinky here too! I’ve been working on my freakin’ back fin forever, it seems, and tonight it finally paid off. I freakin’ back finned. I was so happy, I think I swam backwards for about a half hour. Sometimes pretty, sometimes not so pretty, but dammit, I was doing it.  We did some air shares, no mask drills, and had a freakin’ great dive!

Bottom Time ~ 59 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 28′
Water Temp. ~ 71
Vis. ~ 10′

Today, Steve is off for a “Big Boy” dive with Leigh, and I am prepping for our BBQ tonight! More dive news tomorrow!


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags: , , ,
Categories : Diving Adventures Of 2007

Labour Day Weekend ~ 2007

4 09 2007

September 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, 2007 ~

Saturday ~ Well, it was a sad weekend for me as far as diving was concerned. We ventured out to the local dive shop for some fills, and so I could add another ‘loved one’ to my dive gear collection…

If you notice in the picture, it didn’t even make it all the way home without its first scratch on it…or 4… 

Another pic with some of its new kin…

They were out of sling kits for 80s (well.. the one that I wanted.. *cough*… H… *cough*) so I just got the tank. Our local shop has a fantastic deal on tanks. You buy the tank, you get the tank’s value in nitrox fills. With $5 a fill, it’s a sweet deal. Soo… when your fill cards run out, you just buy another tank!

We then made the dreaded trip down to Dive Tech… I say dreaded, as it’s always where I fear I will spend the most money. We do this trip just about every weekend, so I have learned to leave the wallet in the dive gear transportation unit.

Lucky for me, Dan had some *cough* H *cough* 80 sling kits, so I picked one up there.

By the time we left there, it was getting late for a dive, but we did check out some prospective shore dive sites… We wish we had more friends with waterfront property in Brockville… We opted to grab some dinner and head home.

Sunday ~ Steve was doing a big scooter dive, and I had a couple of options for diving, but I opted to drive to Kingston. I did bring my gear (duhhhh), but my main reason for going, was the decision to finally get a new freakin’ drysuit. I’ve decided to part ways with my ..um… ‘beloved’ leaky Whites suit, and make the jump to a TLS350 Signature Series.

Yes, I was hoping to dive, but my main reason for going was to get measured. Sadly, I couldn’t get on the afternoon charter, so it was another diveless day for me. I hereby declare myself void of any complaining, as I was getting my drysuit ordered.

I ended up meeting Steve and Kevin in Brockville, for dinner on my way back. All three of us had eyes bigger than our stomachs…

Monday ~ Steve and I had really big hopes of getting out and diving! Well… sorta.. I was really wanting to get out and dive, but Steve was really pooped, and I was pretty comfy on the couch too. We don’t often get a chance to sit around, lounge, and watch movies, so that’s exactly what we did!

Although I didn’t get to dive, I did get my very own stage bottle (Steve will be happy to have the use of the rest of his back…), ordered my DUI, and got to chill out with my fella.

I’d say it was a pretty good long weekend!

Coming soon… a trip back to TO for a dive in the Humber River


Comments : Leave a Comment »
Tags:
Categories : Diving Adventures Of 2007

Next Entries »