Chanb77's Weblog

Sunday, June 29th, 2008 ~

Steve and I got up bright ‘n’ early, and went over to pick up Woofybeotch. We loaded the van, then headed over to Sharky’s for a few fills.

Leigh singing to the Nitrox analyzer…

We had to hit the Timmy’s drive through, as our tummys needed morning nourishment…

We then headed down to Brockville, to do another scooter dive out of Centeen Park. There are always new things to see out there.

We did our dive plan, and pre dive checks, then headed out. We planned on travelling along the wall, at about 30′, until we got to the point, then cross over the channel, into the periwinkle shells.

*Pue.. I tried to get a pic of the periwinkles for you, but my camera didn’t seem to like them.  All I got was a black screen. *

There was a pretty consistent current, but was only really strong in one place. When we were at about 50′ deep, there was a freighter that passed by. Although it wasn’t close to us, it still felt like the earth was shaking.

We drifted for a while, saw some really cool looking bottles, an urn, and various pieces of wreckage. We drifted on over to the Gaskin again, where there were a couple of other divers enjoying the wreck. We dropped down inside (which is sadly, completely open water now), did a tour, then drifted back to the shallows, taking some weeds off of the line as we went along.

Here’s Steve, enjoying his Kool-Aid…

Steve upset ‘cos Leigh stole his Kool-Aid straw…Lol…

Leigh…

We relaxed a bit in the shallows, and met up with yet another egg-protecting bass..

Me ‘N’ My Buddy…

OO.. and am I allowed to break trim to hug Gavin??

Max. Depth ~ 108′
Water Temp. ~ 66 ~ It’s finally wet glove season!!
Vis. ~ Stinky near the Gaskin ~ 10′ – 40′

Twins… in their slick fitting suits… Woofybeotch and Steve…

Woofybeotch and I…

Once in a while we find things that depict our friend, Dan Mackay, and will take pics… Today, we found a tractor trailer… Although there is a letter missing, and one off in the first name.

This one is still my favourite, from January, 2007…

We headed back to Ottawa for dinner with friends!

Canada Day is tomorrow, so we’re going to celebrate with a dive!

Sunday, June 22nd, 2008 ~

Steve and I headed to Kingston to meet up with some friends and go for a dive! We milled about the shop for a little bit, played with James Y’s doggy, Sprout, then headed out to Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, to follow a new line out to the Stacked Hulls.

Sprout…

Only one of our group had done this wreck before, so we were anxious to see something “new!” We geared up, got in, did our equipment match… and… uh ohhhh… the set of doubles that Steve R (yet another Steve!!!) was wearing (borrowed) had a cracked BC inflator. Luckily he had his single set up in the car, and went back to switch it out. Jen had the keys inside her drysuit, so she had to get out too.

While they did that, Steve, Sean F., and I dropped down and checked out some old wreckage and an anchor.

We ran into quite an aggressive bass, obviously protecting eggs!!

We came back in, and Jen and Steve R were ready to go! We did another rundown, and off we went to the line!

We swam… and we swam… and we swam…

There is an anchor along this line, that is believed to be an old U Boat anchor. It even has German symbols on it. This was pretty cool looking, although I didn’t get a great pic of it…

We swam for what seemed like an eternity, and got a bit excited when we saw a chair!

We decided to turn the dive after about a half hour of swimming out. We didn’t want to torture Steve R. too much!

Steve R.

Jen B.

Sean F.

I cut off Steve’s feet…

Me!

Jen and I found an old sock on the way back, that was “stinky nose plug” worthy, so we made the sign. I also thought it would be fun to flip onto my back while swimming.. which it was… even if I did cause a little silt to come up. When we came in, I also decided to do a little somersault in the water, which also proved a little more difficult with 130s on, than just swimming in a pool. I flipped myself over, and because we were in about 6′ of water, my fins broke the surface. Jen and I were absolutely howling, which didn’t aid in getting me the rest of the way around. I finally brought my feet in for the completed turn.

Yes, I am a silly pants…

We had a fun time, even though we saw alot of dirt and green gunge on our dive!

Bottom Time ~ 10 mins. + 74 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 47′
Water Temp. ~ 60
Vis. 40′

Me with the Coast Guard boat…

Steve with the Coast Guard boat…

Steve caught my rat’s nest after the dive…

The gang!

Steve, myself, James Y., Jen B., Steve R., Sean F., Tom R., Jenn E., Francois, and Mike Y. convened at East Side Marios for some grub before I made the drive back to Ottawa. Steve stayed down to do the Jodrey with Francois, who was also in Ktown for the weekend!

An excellent day with friends!!

Thursday, June 19th, 2008 ~Steve and I headed up to the quarry, to meet Martin R for some skillz! It’s been miserable and rainy since last Friday, but the rain seemed to be holding out! I was using my E8-130s again, and wanted to just get used to them. Descending with these suckers goes pretty quickly, so I wanted to work on that a bit, as well as making sure my trim was in check. T1 is fast approaching. We dropped down to about 6′, did our valve and S drills, then went down to the sub for an ascent. I was doing the timing. Steve launched a bag as a reference point. I was pretty pleased with the ascent, although a little slow coming up from 30′. We surfaced, discussed, then dropped down to retrieve the bag, and swam over to the plane. Martin worked on his back fin, I played with my buoyoancy, and backfinning, and Steve did a blind ascent, using a blown bag line for reference…. That was pretty cool… We played around a bit, flipped upside down (on purpose…Lol…), and Steve blew water rings. We then headed in, happy with our fun skillz dive!!

Bottom Time ~ 53 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 53′
Water Temp. ~ 57 & 61
Vis. ~ 50’ish

Steve had also gone to the happy store, and filled up our garage!!

Saturday, June 14th, 2008 ~

Well.. there are a couple of our little gang that have recently purchased Gavins, and wanted to learn a bit more about them. A couple of others also joined us for some learning fun as well! Steve ran a little Gavin clinic for us! We arrived at Centeen Park at about noon, to see that there were some Big Ships moored at the pier, so there were ALOT of people there. There were a couple of modern ones, as well as the Pride Of Baltimore II, which is a fully restored old Big Ship… pretty freakin’ amazing!!

We took a bench in the park, and went through the construction of the Gavin, and how to break it down, and put it back together again. We went through a bunch of different skills as well ~ Air sharing while scootering, switching hands, stowing/towing, doing things without letting go of the trigger, as well as many other fun things!

Finally, it was time to dive!! w00t! We scootered out to the channel, and drifted back a bit. We had thought about going to the little island, SW of the park, but decided to mess around a little, then scooter on to the Gaskin. When we reached the wreck, there were plenty of divers that had dropped down from a charter, and they were quite surprised to see 5 members of what appeared to look like some underwater motorcycle gang… We had a little fun scootering around the wreck, then drifted back to the entry point! While playing at the Gaskin, something didn’t feel right. I checked my scooter, and everything seemed fine. I hit the trigger, and realized… DOH! My bolt snap on my tow leash was broken! Not the best fix, but I happened to have an extra double ender attached to my D ring, and saved the day! *phew!* It’s not a tough swim back from the Gaskin, but I kinda like playing with my new friend. A most awesome dive, and I think we all had permagrins on our faces!

Bottom Time ~ 113 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 87′
Water Temp. ~ 61
Vis. ~ Anywhere from 10′ – 35′

Upon further inspection of my bolt snap, it appears that it just slipped through the end… it wasn’t broken at all.. just a bit faulty…

Steve and Jay after the dive…

Steve, Jay and I then went for some grub, and looked pretty funny wheeling the scooters into the hotel room…

Ok.. this one’s blurry, but I still like it…

We watched some GUE expedition footage, then off to sleep!

Sunday, June 15th, 2008 ~

We were up and at ’em early, and met the gang at Dive Tech! We tinkered with gear for a bit, got a couple of fills, and I even picked up the mask straps for the ZD trip!

We went back to Centeen Park, where the Big Ships were still there, and we also saw a couple of other friends, Steve S. and Blake, who were also going out for a scooter dive.

We geared up and planned on going across the channel, to the periwinkle shell bed, and look for an ancient sleigh that had gone through the ice, in horse and carriage times. Apparently the bones are still there too. We debated on going out to the island as well, which isn’t much farther across than our intended destination. We decided to play it by ear, and see what the current was like. We got in, scootered out across the channel, and found the bed of periwinkle shells. We drifted along from here, looking at the tons of old bottles out there. Jay found a really cool big ol’ jug that we all ooh’d and ahh’d over, as well as others we all took a gander at. We never did find the sleigh, which is ok, because it means we just have to go back again to look for it!

We ended up crossing paths with Steve S. and Blake too!

Since scootering the Gaskin is our new favourite pastime, we went back again, and saw more divers that were wide-eyed at these big black water machines…

We then drifted back, and played in the shallows for a bit!

Another most excellent dive!!!

Bottom Time ~ 106 minutes
Max. Depth ~ 100′
Water Temp. ~ 61
Vis. ~ 10′ – 35′

We surfaced at the entry point, where alot of folk greeted us and asked us if we were “scooba divers or a motorcycle gang.”

What an excellent couple of days of learning and experience on the trigger!

Some of the kids playing at the park…

Oren, giving the moose…

Jay and Steve…

Jay and I…

Some more pics!

…and the proud papa…

w00000000000t!

Sunday, June 8th, 2008 ~

Myself, Steve, Leigh, Francois, and a few people from the shop Leigh works at headed down to Rockport Dive Centre, for a charter out to the Keystorm!

Captain Larry…

The Keystorm is on the US side, so it is necessary for us to go to customs before heading to the wreck. It makes the day longer, but the water was nice, the day was hot, and the scenic views in the 1000 Islands are gorgeous!

Someone’s little shack…

Coming up to Boldt Castle (US Customs)

Boat house…

Steve tying up to the dock…

We had to stay on the boat until the Customs Officers called our names and cleared us, then we jumped on land for a few minutes…

Then, off we went to the Keystorm!

Power Station of Boldt Castle…

The gang!

We even passed by the 1000 Islands Tour boat!

Steve, Francois and I were teamed up for the first dive, while Leigh helped out a girl from the shop, and her visiting father. There were also another team of 2 from the shop. There was a bit of a surface current, so getting to the mooring line was a small task.

We dropped down to the wreck, and were on the pilot house! Francois had his camera and got some amazing footage. We dropped down into the holds and toured around for a while.

This was my 2nd dive with my E8-130s, and I had a stage as well. I felt a little head heavy, and was compensating by dropping my knees… pft… Sheesh.. just when I thought I had my trim in check, I changed up my gear, and am starting over again. I guess I’ll be in the quarry, working on my trim again this week.

In any event, we still had a good dive, and seeing that wreck is just amazing. I don’t think I could tire of that one.  (Good thing, as we were about to have our surface interval, then do it again…).

Bottom Time ~ 49 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 97′
Water Temp. ~ 57
Vis. ~ 30′ – 60′

On the surface interval, Captain Larry cooked us up some hot dogs and hamburgers!

The gang, chillin’…

OO.. and me! (Up pulled one of Wayne’s boats beside us… one that we’ll likely be on in August!).

Frankie…

It was time for the second dive!

Leigh joined us for this dive, and the four of us dropped down to the props at about 110′. We decided to tour the port side a bit, to see the fishies, although the current is a bit stronger on that side. We came back around to the starboard side, and there’s a place at about 70’ish, that you can swim under the wreck, and come up on the other side, to a shoal, with loads of fish! We did that, and tooled around the shoal for a bit, then back around for the ascent. My ascents are coming along.

Bottom Time ~ 48 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 111′
Water Temp. ~ 57
Vis. ~ 30 – 60′

Once back on board, we doffed our gear and had some cookies! We changed and headed back to Rockport.

A houseboat…

Leigh’s shirt…

Another little shack…

Some canoes…

..and Captain Larry’s boat during the week!

When we got back in, Jeff greeted us and tied up the boat…

They called us in at customs, and we waited patiently on the boat. They let us back in!

w000000t!

We unloaded the gear, tipped the wonderful Captain Larry, and were on our way back home, to watch the footage!

Another fantastic day on the St. Lawrence!