Skillz

7 07 2009

Tuesday, June 17th, 2009 ~

Today’s dive was just to get in the water and play around with skills, while Eric tested out his new TLS.

We did our predive checks, modified valve drills, and modified S drills, then dropped down to sort ourselves out. We made our way over to the plane, where Steve and I demonstrated full valve drills and S drills, as well as various finning techniques.

Eric was checking his buoyancy in his new suit, which seemed to be smooth sailing.

We goofed around a bit, then headed back in. We doffed our gear, then got back in the water, with just our drysuits on. Our goal was to demo the back fin on the surface, and for Eric to practice it. This was the first time that I had done it this way, and we did have quite a bit of fun with it.

Bottom Time ~ 25 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 23′
Water Temp. ~ 59 (Ahhh…. 5mm gloves)
Visibility ~ 30′

Here is a before and after:

Eric’s old suit…

Eric’s new suit…

Congratulations, Eric, and good luck with your upcoming course!!

W000t!


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The Quest For The Truck

5 07 2009

Saturday, June 13th, 2009 ~

There are rumours of an old truck, sitting in about 94′, in the St. Lawrence. Oren, Steve, and I were on a mission to find it! We know of a couple of people that dive it once in a while, and have given us a rough estimation of how to find it.

We took our gear down to the water, and prepped for the adventure.

Oren, after taking his scooter down to the water…

We dropped down, gathered up, and off we went. We dropped into the channel, and began to drift with the current, at 94′. We encountered many cool looking bottles, and even made it to a small island, but no truck. As we drifted, we did happen upon interesting dune-like formations of periwinkle shells, that we had never seen before. The periwinkle shells do cover alot of the channel, but we had not seen them in a desert formation like they were. It was very cool to see.

We also saw various bits of metal, strewn about, but nothing that indicated a truck should be there. We decided it was time to turn, and headed back against the current.

Even though we didn’t find the truck, it was still alot of fun looking for it.

Bottom Time ~ 89 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 106′
Water Temp. ~ 57
Visibility ~ 50′

Our day of diving was not yet finished!

Jay and Jen arrived, we had a bit of lunch, and planned another run upstream. This dive would be a bit shorter, and we would travel upstream, drifting back down onto the Gaskin, then back in.

Our collection of gear at the entry point…

We had an enjoyable and relaxing dive in the channel, finding an old boat motor, more metal bits, and many upside down bottles (this means they’ve been picked up before). We arrived back to the Gaskin, played around the wreck for a while, then headed back in.

Bottom Time ~ 77 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 105′
Water Temp. ~ 57
Visibility ~ 50′

Jen, Jay, Oren, Steve…

Jay, Jen, Oren, me…

We had some company when we surfaced as well. A couple of Airedales…

We had some other visitors as well. Or, perhaps we were visitors on their turf…

We can now refer to Steve as the Goose Whisperer… *ducks*

We packed up and met up with Eric, who had picked up his new suit.

Eric, striking a pose…

The side of our Dive Gear Transportation Unit (DGTU)…

We then sat around with Gill and Vian, having water and the most decadent pie I’ve ever tasted in my life. Thanks Oren!!! I’m not sure if I should really thank him or curse him for bringing such wonderful food, that makes my butt grow, just thinking about it. The thought of Almond Apple Cheesecake didn’t really appeal to me at first… Then I tasted it.. Holy smokes… As much as I love their Mumble Crumble pie.. this one takes the “cake.”

Ok.. off to sleep.

Sunday, June 14th, 2009 ~

We headed back down to Centeen Park, where we planned on going to the Gaskin, then veering off, to see what we could find. We noticed that there was a boat moored up to it before entering. When we got there, we really couldn’t see much other than silt, so we decided to keep going. No Gaskin today…

We scootered past it, and into the channel, where we reveled in the sites of more bottles, periwinkle shells, and generally just enjoying the water.

It was a similar dive to those we have done before, but we never seem to tire of it, as we always do see different things.

Bottom Time ~ 77 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 106′
Water Temp. ~ 57
Visibility ~ Depends on where you were – 5′ – 50′

Jay, giving his approval of our new DGTU…

Steve…

Myself and Jen…

The two fancy DGTUs…


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First Jodrey Dive Of The Year

4 07 2009

Saturday, June 6th, 2009 ~

We had arranged for a handful of us to take a boat out to the Jodrey, seeing as the water temperatures were warming up nicely. It turned out that no one else was able to make it, so Steve and I had Jeff’s small boat all to ourselves.

We made our way over to customs, waited to be tended to, then went over to the “tie up tree.” We put our deco bottles and scooters in the water, and geared up.

We splashed in, drifted to the “cliff,” and dropped down to the wreck. We didn’t see much until we got right down to the wreck, which was not a good sign. We made a couple of turns around the bow, swam through the crane a few times, then swung around the bow again. The current was absolutely ripping around a part of the bow, and felt like it was going to flip me over at one point. Next time I’ll stay closer to the wreck, around that part, like Steve did…lol…

We came up the crack in the wall, did our deco, scootered back over to the boat, and ascended. Although the visibility was absolutely horrible, Steve was able to get some decent footage. The camera saw more than we did!

Bottom Time ~ 77 mins.
Avg. Depth ~ 165′
Water Temp. ~ 55
Visibility ~ 5′
Current ~ Freakin’ ripping

Steve, after the dive…

Me, after the dive…

After getting back to the dock, clearing customs, and unloading the boat, we headed up to the ice cream shop for a treat. When we were pulling out, we saw a collection of older cars in the Thousand Island Cruises parking lot. Some cool stuff!

I guess they had a little more horse power than ours…

So… it was a gorgeous day on the river, we had the Jodrey to ourselves, had ice cream, and saw some old cars. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday at all!


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Town Under Water

30 06 2009

Wednesday, June 3rd, 2008 ~

We decided to head to Cornwall, for a mid-week splash in the river. On the way down, the sky was looking a little dark, and we could actually see the downpour from far away.

We also saw a deer running through a field, with a little shorty, trailing along behind her, in the long grass. I don’t think I’ve seen a fawn before.

Once arriving in Cornwall, there was evidence of the downpour, but the sun was shining, and there was even a rainbow…

We pulled into Guindon Park, geared up…

… and put the scooters on the shore…

Just before we entered the water, there was a fisherman, quite pleased with a rather large catch off of the dock.

We dropped down, and headed out. The visibility wasn’t that great at all, which isn’t a big surprise this time of year, nor is it surprising that the current was ripping. We came across a bunch of old building foundations, a sidewalk, and hit Old Highway 2.

Even though the visibility isn’t the greatest here, I never really get tired of exploring through the Lost Villages. I have yet to make it to the Paper Factory basement, but that is in the plans for the very near future! It will be a bit nicer once the water warms up a bit more. We did come across the line to it though, and cleaned off bits of it.

We headed back in to shore, and had some fun along the way. We saw some pretty big carp that didn’t seem too bothered by the fact that we were there.

Bottom Time ~ 31 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 33′
Water Temp. ~ 55
Vis. ~ 10′ with particulate in the water


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Brule Road Quarry

19 06 2009

Sunday, May 31st, 2009 ~

It had been last August since I had last been in the water with my friend, Andy, and he was game for a dive in Kingston! Andy made the trip up from the US side, to meet me at Dive Tech, where we harassed the local Candy Man for a while, then headed to Kingston, to meet up with the folks at Northern Tech Diver.

The charters weren’t going out that afternoon, as the weather had turned quite a bit, and the lake was too choppy for the boats. A bunch of us decided to head up to the Brule Road Quarry for some skills and thrills. Dan had a fundies course going on there as well, so we made sure to stay out of his way. Most of the gang taking the course were friends of mine, and it was nice to say hello.

Two “Dive Gear Transportation Units…”

Andy, geared up…

We headed over to the wonderful beach entrance, did our predive checks, and dropped down.

The quarry has a maximum depth of about 28′, and has a couple of small boats in it, a car, some shopping carts, and many beer bottles, from the campers.

When we descended, we made our way over the rocks, and as we made our way out, we steered clear of the lift bag, being used to mark the square pattern, being used by the Fundies course.

We did a nice, leisurely tour of the quarry, stopping to put beer bottles in the shopping cart (picking them up off of the ground, and adding them to the others), took a tour of the boats, and even checked out the car.

I decided this would be a good time to demonstrate the valve drill, so signaled Andy to watch. We had discussed this on the surface, so it was not a surprise. Andy also demonstrated that he could reach his valves and will be practicing the valve drill as well.

We did see a fish or two… We weren’t sure if it was the same fish or not, but if it was in a different place, perhaps we can count it as two?

We did the entire circuit of the quarry, then made our way back in, and discussed the dive on the surface, before getting out.

Bottom Time ~ 44 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 28′
Water Temp. ~ 63
Visibility ~ 25′

Gearing down, Andy noticed that I had GI Joes in the van, and that, of course, triggered some silliness..

We headed back to NTD, and loitered a bit, while the fundies class finished their exam. We got a shot of Mike, with his fancy dive bag…

…and a hood…

Boats from Kingston Dive Charters, with James’ little boat…

Vicky Marie…

The class finally finished, and I got a pic of them smiling…

I even snagged a picture of Marc, who was up visiting, giving Dan a hand…

Myself, Andy, Dan, and Marc went out for a bite to eat, shared some great conversation and a bunch of laughs, then all went our separate ways back home.

Andy, it was great going for a splash with you, and I look forward to corrupting you… I mean.. diving with you some more!


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