Chanb77's Weblog

Sunday, May 10th, 2009 ~ 

It was Mother’s Day, and I made sure that I called my mum on the way over to the shop. Steve had left a few minutes earlier than I did, as he was starting his ITC this morning, and wanted to get Timmy’s first. Jen wasn’t far behind me… literally… I think we just missed each other, passing in the hallway. We weren’t sure if the boats were going to go out, as the weather wasn’t looking too promising, and the internet told us that there would be possible storms later on, and high winds. 

My first thought was that I should probably stay off the boats today, as my tummy really doesn’t like the waves out on the lake. Of course, I thought about it for a while, hemmed and hawed, and without alot of persuasion from Anne and Oren, I loaded up the boat, geared up, and off we went. 

The winds are coming from the North! That’s a good thing! The waves won’t be bad!

We were going to attempt to raise the moorings on the Cornwall, the Glendora, and possibly a third, depending on the weather. Myself, Jen, James Y., Sean, and Nancy boarded  Sorobon once again. Oren and John were aboard Seadeucer. 

James Y. aka Vinnie…

Jen and Sean…

Nancy…

Anne even braided my hair for me…

All was well on the ride out, and Anne brought us to the numbers for the Cornwall. Anne said, “Now!” to throw out the shot line, and Sean tossed it in. My tummy was beginning to turn a bit, so I geared up and got in. The waves were really moving now, so the quicker I got in, the better. Once I was in, I was a happy camper. I made my way over to the shot line, where Jen met me shortly after. Instead of descending right away, we waited for Sean to come over, so that they wouldn’t lose sight of the shot line, with the waves rockin’ like they were. Once he was there, we set off.

There was “word on the lake” that this line was a bit entangled, so Jen and I figured we’d check it out before the boys came down to throw it up. Once we got down, once again, we were right at the wreck. Way to go Anne and Sean!!!

(That was for you CMaul)!

We saw the mooring line on the opposite side of the wreck, and made our way over to it. We followed it along, checked it as we went along, and once at the bottom chain, saw that it didn’t look to be in bad shape at all. The boys would be fine.

Since neither of us had done this wreck before, Jen and I decided to take a little tour down the middle of it. We came upon one of the paddle wheels, that was still intact, but fallen over, as well as the intact boilers. We decided to go check on James and Sean, and headed back toward the line. We met them half way, where they gave us the “ok” and carried on with their dive.

As Jen and I made our way to the line, we saw the line that the guys had successfully sent up, and although it was a bit jerky with the water movement, all looked fine and dandy. We continued around to where the shot line was, and it was clear that Jen and I both had the same thought. We noticed how close it had moved toward the wreck, and thought we should move it a bit, so that it didn’t get entangled in the wreck, as it was pulled up. We made our way to it, and Jen moved it over a bit.

Ok… let’s go home…

We went back over to where the line was…

Um.. yeah… it WAS here about 2 minutes ago…

The first thought through my head was that the boat was moored to it, and they were drifting…away. Jen and I looked at each other, and knew that we both weren’t seeing things. It really wasn’t there! Lol…

James and Sean were now on the scene as well, so the four of us headed back over to the shot line, where we ascended, and blew a bag.

When we surfaced… yup… no boat… lol… It didn’t take them long to get back to us though. Anne was going to bring in the shot line, and realized that it wasn’t there. She then realized that the numbers were off, so she immediately headed over to us, where we had a bit of a chuckle, and got back on board. It was a bit “rock and roll” with the waves, but we all got up safely. At least they were able to pull up the entire line, so it can be fixed and replaced.

“I swear there was a line there!”

I guess we can’t chalk that one up to David Copperfield. I don’t think he was in town on Sunday.

Bottom Time ~ 32 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 74′
Water Temp. ~ 42
Vis. ~ 40′

Once we had a debrief and a good chuckle, we headed over to the Glendora.

My tummy had not been too bad until this point, but with the bumping and grinding, I think I went instantly green. Jen said that I was a mix between grey and green. I really wanted to get back in the water, but couldn’t even bring myself to gear up. Argh… stoopid seasick.. pft… At least I didn’t give in to it… this time.

Jen was going to go in with Nancy, but they were not in the water long.

Once the boys came back on board, we headed back to the dock, with me in the fetal position, the entire trip back.

I did take a picture of James’ iPhone, where he had marked where we were…

I was able to sit up a few minutes before reaching NTD, and Jen noticed that the colour had returned to my face. They were all placing bets on how quickly I would kiss firm ground. 😉

Once back, we unloaded our gear, met the rest of the gang, then went to grab some grub. My tummy was still a bit funny, so I took most of my dinner to go!

Despite my churning tummy, the twisting waves, and the rocky weather, it was amazing to get back to Kingtson, for the diving, as well as hanging out with good friends. I can’t wait to get back out next weekend!