Today, I was testing out the new DUI heated undergarments for the first time. I have the Powerstretch 300 undies, with two heated panels in the front, and one in the back. The heated booties and gloves would be left for another time. Today, was just the undies, themselves.
Others had been using the hole that we had cut, and had opened it up earlier. It wasn’t the same shape, but it was good enough.
I left the camera at home today, seeing as I was testing out the undies.
Frank Martin was at the quarry, taking some pics, and his wife asked me to take a few, with their camera, just below the surface of the water, before our dive.
Eric, taken by Frank Martin…
Steve, taken by Frank Martin…
Me, taken by Frank Martin…
Once we entered the water, we swam over to the plane, messed about for a bit, then headed over to the boat. It was there that I decided to turn on the undies. Ohhh… instant heat! I had only turned it on to 50%, and I could feel the heat immediately. What a nice feeling!
I gave Steve and Eric the “this rocks” signal, and we made our way back to the plane.
As we made our way back in, I reeled us back home. Hooray for warmth!
Bottom Time ~ 36 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 43′ (Avg. 22′)
Water Temp. ~ 37F
Visibility ~ Pretty decent
The air was pretty cold, so it didn’t take long for gear and zippers to freeze up.
It was really nice to have the wood stove going, in the cabin. Thanks, Evelyn!
Even the camera was a bit foggy…
Thanks to Frank, for taking a bunch of cool pictures! It was yet another good and warm day, under the ice!
Frankie was in town, and Eric met at our place, to go up to the quarry. It seemed that Mother Nature had a snowstorm in store for us today, so we braved the roads, and headed for water.
When we arrived, there were a few other divers there, with the same intentions. There was already a hole cut, but we decided to cut another one, in our fancy hectagonal shape. Nice going, Steve!
Steve ran the line and tied it into the main line. From there, we headed to the plane, where we messed about for a while, then played around some more, while I took a few pictures.
Eric, Frankie, and Steve…
Steve, going under the wing of the plane…
Frankie, flying…
Eric…
We did a tour past the boat, and made our way back, playing around in the water, of course.
Frankie and Steve played light saber wars…
High Five!
..and.. what is the dive day, without a self portrait? I’m not sure what was up with my serious face, but I was definitely having fun. 🙂
Coming back in…
Bottom Time ~ 46 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 31′ (Avg. 18′)
Water Temp. ~ 35F
Visibility ~ Pretty decent
It was pretty chilly out, so it didn’t take long for our gear to start freezing up…
Evelyn told us that Zora had been guarding our van, during our entire dive. She didn’t even move when Evelyn came by!
Once we cleaned the cars off, we took a run up to see if Jean Burger had reopened yet. They were well on their way with rebuilding, but it was not ready yet! Oh well… at least it won’t be too much longer. Poutine is a staple after ice diving! We ended up going out to Buffet Des Continents, which is always yummy!
The drive home was a slow one, with all of the snow. Cars were in the ditches, left and right!
Sunday, January 16th, 2011 ~
Well, it was definitely another extremely frosty day, and we went diving. I decided to leave the camera behind today, and just play around in the water.
When we arrived at the quarry, we noticed that someone had recut our hole, which was fine, but they clearly had motor oil in their chainsaw. This is extremely bad for both the water and our gear/drysuits. There is nowhere for the oil to travel, so it will sit in the hole, until the ice melts. It is much better to use vegetable oil, instead of motor oil. We have a designated chain saw for this.
It can be broken up with some Sunlight dish soap, but we hadn’t brought any with us, this time. Evelyn had some in the cabin, but it was frozen solid. Steve stuck it in front of the heater and wood stove to thaw.
After about a half hour, we were able to get some drops out, and cleared up the ice hole. *Phew*
We geared up and got in.
Today’s dive was a shorter one, and a very relaxing one. We just tinkered a bit, and swam through the boat and plane. We manipulated valves, and just hovered in the water for a while. Not our most exciting dive, but still very enjoyable.
Bottom Time ~ 36 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 55′ (Avg. 24′)
Water Temp. ~ 39F
Well, we had good intentions of diving on January 1st, but it just didn’t happen. We were way too lazy, and took the day off of everything. 🙂
Sunday, it was time to dive! We met Eric, Cory, and Raluca at the quarry, and were quite pleasantly surprised to see that it was still open. We have had some above normal temperatures, which seems to have kept things nice and unfrozen. I couldn’t believe that we hardly had any snow in our town.
The parking lot was still extremely icy, so I opted to wheel my doubles over to the beach area, instead of wearing them, as I figured I would probably wipe out. Well.. that proved to be the wrong decision.. I did wipe out, while wheeling them, giving me plenty of bruises, and an extremely black and swollen pinky finger. Murphy, murphy, murphy…
Oh well, time to dive…
Steve and I were going to run a permanent line from around 15′, past the plane, to the boat. That way, it will be easier under the ice, and we can also practice our cave diving skills. Cory and Raluca were working on skills, with Eric tagging along.
Steve had the reel as we dropped down, and away we went. We made our way to the plane…
Then towards the boat…
…to the wood stacks…
…and tied it off at about 70’…
I then handed Steve the camera, and he took a couple of pics of me…
As we made our way back to the plane, we met up with the rest of the gang, and swam back to the shallows. Steve also placed a line arrow at the beginning of the line.
We surfaced…
…and decided to back in for more.
Some shots of everyone…
Bottom Time ~ 57 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 75′ (Avg. 39′)
Water Temp. ~ 39
Visibility ~ Getting better
After our dive, we packed up, then headed to The Works, for some burgers. We were also celebrating Cory’s Birthday! Since mine was the following day, we both received coupons for a complimentary burger on our next visit. Sweet!
What a great way to spend the beginning of the year!
This year was another great one, as far as Diving Goodness is concerned!
We started the year off at the quarry, and ended it somewhere nice and warm.
Shot from New Year’s dive 2010, of Steve and Jay…
In March, our Freediving friends were back, and we got more shots and video of them…
Stills Video…
Steve’s Video…
We still kept up our skills and drills at the quarry, and had many friends join us there…
There was even this one time.. at band camp…
…and even friends that couldn’t be there, but sent a little piece of them to be with us…
Our first river dive of the year was at Farran Park, on Easter Weekend. Water temps. were around 41 …
Our friend, Jeff, finished off his Commercial Diving course, and it was great to have him back around!
Dives in Rockport…
Exploring in the St. Lawrence…
..and we even made friends with some sea creatures…
We spent a bit of time in Kingston, as Steve was teaching some Fundies courses. I either helped out or found my own friends to dive with…
We also made a few trips to the Jodrey, where we also had many friends visit and join us…
We did some investigating at some other sites as well…
I also met two of the most fascinating ladies ever: Edith and Sandra. They gave me so many details and stories about their childhoods, and growing up along the St. Lawrence River, before it was flooded. I could have listened to them for days. It was amazing to learn from them.
Eric also proved that it is entirely possible to dive out of a Mini. Doubles, scooter, and stages…
Fred came up to visit us in Kingston, and DIR Ontario organized seminars over two days. Fred gave us updates from the MCEP, CINDAQ, a line survey workshop, and a presentation on the Bosnia cave systems. Steve joined in and gave a seminar on Gavin Scooter Maintenance as well. It was a fun weekend!
Fred also presented us with a CINDAQ sensor, in the name of DIR Ontario, that would be placed in one of the cave systems, and when any of us go down to visit, we can retrieve the sensor, download the data, then replace it back into the system. Very cool stuff!
Thank you, Fred!
Then came the Invasions…
This was the 3rd Annual Brockville Invasion, and had grown 30 people strong. We had an excellent weekend of amazing people, alot of laughs, and some great dives. We had friends from all over North America.
This was the second year for the Kingston Invasion, the following weekend. Another amazing group of people…
This year, we also found tiny jelly fish in the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario. This was a pretty neat thing to see!
When the Jodrey was closed down to diving, due to an oil leak, we found another Tech wreck to dive.. The Oconto. This was definitely rock and roll. I imagine we will do this one again next year. 🙂
We gathered a crew together, and repaired the vandalized line to the Gaskin.
Then there was Mexico. We went for two weeks of bliss, in the Mexican caves. Well.. one week of bliss and the GUE Conference, and a second week of tired, working bliss that Cave 2 brought on. :p
We got to retrieve our CINDAQ sensor from Xtabay and download the data, which was really fun to do. I really enjoy the GUE Conferences, as it is not only full of interesting information, but it is awesome to meet so many people from all over the world, and put faces to the names that we see on the internet. This is the best part.
Cheers to yet another wonderful year of Diving Goodness, and another cheers to 2011!
Chanb77's Weblog 
Recent Comments