Since Francois and Melanie had their first child last December, we hadn’t seen Francois in a while. But… he’s back in action! He and Steve went for a dive in the river on Saturday, and we were quarry-bound on Sunday.
Eric and Scott met us at our place, and we made our way up to the quarry. Along the way, we came upon a fellow towing a small airplane. Not something you see every day.
When we arrived, we were greeted with a fully open quarry, and absolutely amazing visibility. It’s not usually until about the first week of April, that the quarry is mostly open. Thanks go out to Mother Nature, who gave us a week of incredibly warm temperatures.
Evelyn had the fire pit going…
We could see the plane in full view, from the surface, at about 25’…
We could even see the boat at about 45’…
I decided to leave the camera at home today, so that we could work on skills. Eric and Scott were paired up, and Steve, Francois, and myself were a team.
We did our predive checks, dropped in, did bubble checks, stretched out, did modified valve drills, and headed down to the sub, for an ascent. We settled just above 60′, Steve blew a bag, handed it to Francois, and we made our ascent to the surface. We chatted for a minute, then went back down to the plane, where we did our valve drills.
We noticed that Eric and Scott were also doing an ascent, so we made sure that we gave them an audience. Eric is gearing up for T1, and is sharpening up his skills… very well, I might add. Although Eric did check above, before blowing the bag, Steve hid in his blind spot. Just as he threw it up, Steve moved in for the grab. That was met with a couple of middle fingers…lol. Since Scott and I were getting a bit chilly, he and I went in, while Steve, Eric, and Francois swam around for a few more minutes.
Bottom Time ~ 52 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 57′
Water Temp. ~ 41
Vis. ~ Great!
It is that time of year again, when some of the members of AIDA Canada and CASM come up to Morrison’s Quarry, for their free diving adventures under the ice.
This would be our third time watching our free diving friends under the ice, and the second time I had been invited to take some pictures of them. It is a pleasure to watch their mesmerizing grace under the water.
There were six of us in the water with them. I had my stills camera, and Steve had the video camera.
Harold and Anne were the special guest stars of the day, and came diving with us too…
I let Kevin take a stab at my camera, and he snapped a picture of me…
Then he donated his reg to the camera…
Steve took video of the day’s events…
Steve’s video…
Steve also brought in our red-shrouded scooter, that I blew up last year, to see if all of the hard work to fix it would pay off. It seems the fix worked!
Kevin found the other one, and had a joy ride.. Nice find…
After approximately 40 minutes in the water, I started to chill a bit, since we weren’t moving around much, and I had a leak in my drysuit. Kevin grabbed the reel and brought us back in.
What a beautiful day for a dive!!!
Bottom Time ~ 48 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 21′
Water Temp. ~ 40
Sunday, March 7th, 2010 ~
Today, there were more people in the water, and many more cameras. I think we all did a pretty good job of working around each other, and we all had alot of fun.
Posing for the camera… The other camera…
Getting the shot…
Philippe, having some fun…
We had yet another incredible day of watching our free diving friends dance under the ice. Even though the ice was almost non-existent at this time.
Bottom Time ~ 45 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 45′
Water Temp. ~ 40
Mike G., who rarely has a pic of himself…
Group shot of the free divers, with me at the end!
A great big thank you to Francois, and all of the members of CASM and AIDA Canada, for making two days of diving goodness memorable ones!
Steve, Jeremy, Kevin and I headed up to the quarry for yet another day of fun under the ice. The quarry had iced over once again, so we were back under the overhead. It was a bit of a grey day outside, but the sun did make an appearance here and there.
Here is an infamous self portrait…
The ice was not incredibly thick…
Once the hole was cut, Steve put the ice screw in…
Steve ran the line out to the plane, and we basically just messed around today, with a valve drill here and there. I had had a free flow on my stage reg, upon entering the water, so Kevin donated his reg to me, since he had an extra bottle.
Steve, chillin’…
Kevin demonstrated his arm dexterity…
Jeremy…
Steve took a picture of me, er.. flying…
A congregation…
We had a slightly shorter dive today, as I had a bit of a leak in my suit, and started to get chilled. The water temperature was also a bit cooler than it usually gets here, in the winter. We still had fun, and it was great to get in the water!
Bottom Time ~ 34 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 24′
Water Temp. ~ 34
It is a new year, and we celebrated as we always do, with a dive at Carriere Morrison!
Four of us met at the quarry, and were greeted with more slush than ice. The quarry had melted, and was a bit of fun to play with.
There wasn’t alot of sunshine out, so it was quite a bit darker under water. It made taking pictures in the ambient light a little more challenging.
Steve took the camera for a couple of shots, and Jay tried to hide from him…
I tried to hide from him too, but he still caught me…
Then he caught Eric…
From there, I was able to get my camera back, and I caught Steve, from upside down…
We played about the plane, and while Steve and Jay were dueling with their “light sabers,” I just happened to dart in to catch it, and it turned out to be my favourite shot of the day!
The year was another fun-filled and adventure packed one, as far as diving goodness goes.
We started off the year with our annual New Year’s Dive, then with many friends visiting for ice diving. Our ice diving party in January was a cold one. Picking Richard up at the airport, and hearing his story about him pleading for them to let him into the country, was absolutely hilarious. It didn’t help that on the coldest night of the year, and a full house, the power went out. Some of the gang slept through it all, but we know they were grateful for the propane heater we stuck in the basement for them. The rest of us gathered by the fire, through the wee hours of the morning. Then, of course.. we went diving.
The river started to break up in March, and we made our way down for a dive. The water was still 35, and we did have failures, but at least we managed them. It was good to get back in the rivaaa!
The free divers came back to the quarry, and it was fascinating to watch them and photograph them. Some of my shots ended up in their magazine as well.
Beneath The Sea was so much fun again this year. It was great to meet up with people that I don’t get to see very often, as well as friends that I hadn’t seen in about 20 years. It was really fantastic to catch up, Dave!! We also got to hang out with some of the pioneers of our sport, which was something I could never have even imagined. What an amazing experience. Becky and David, it was great to finally meet up with you!
We spent alot of time this year, looking for a few things… New entry points along the river, and that elusive truck. I can’t even count the hours we spent looking for that darn thing. No.. we still haven’t found it. Another journey for 2010!
Greg Mossfeldt came to hang out with us too, which was alot of fun!
Here is a link to Greg’s account of one of our dives, and his slideshow of pictures…
Mooring day in Kingston was an adventure. Jen and I were buddied up on Mooring Day 2, and although the seas were rockin’, I kept my cookies in check. On one of the wrecks, we had thrown in a shot line, and the two of us were going in, to see if we could find the line. There had been a report from another charter operator, that the line was missing. The shot line was right beside the wreck, and we found the mooring, which seemed in good condition. Vinnie James and Sean were right behind us, and had the lift bag to throw it up. Away we went, circling the wreck, for some fun. Jen and I went in one direction, and the other two went the opposite way. After doing a turn of the wreck, we made our way to the shot line, to pull it a little farther from the wreck. Once we did that, we turned around, and the mooring line had disappeared. We wondered if we were in the same place or not, looked around, and decided that we were. When Vinnie and Sean came back around, they were also in disbelief that there was no line. We looked for a minute, then out came the thumbs. We ascended alongside the shot line, and upon surfacing, were also boatless. It’s amazing how quickly a boat attached to a mooring line that isn’t, can float away. Anne quickly realized that the numbers she was on were different than the coordinates she was supposed to be on, so she made her way back to us. What an adventure! I think I was better off floating in the water, than in the rockin’ boat though…lol. Although I was green, I kept it together. Still, a great day, and a great adventure.
We had many trips out to the Jodrey, with friends from all over North America joining us. It was a really great opportunity to meet some more amazing people, and build new friendships.
We also were able to build on friendships we already had.
Through Steve’s journey to become a GUE Instructor, we met even more fabulous people along the way. One friendship that has become important to both of us, is with Guy Shockey. I don’t want to go on too much about him, as he might get a swelled head, but he is definitely one heckofafellow, and we are both glad to call him our friend.
Then came the Canadian Invasions. What started out as a half joke about people coming to dive with us, and camping out in our back yard, has turned into a two weekend diving extravaganza, with even more awesome people. Our first weekend in Brockville, and the second weekend in Kingston, with both Recreational and Technical charters, and scooter dives. This was the first time that we had added Ktown to the bill, and we are looking forward to it again in 2010!
After the Invasions, Harvey came to visit us, and a few of us had signed up to do the Naui Tech 2 course with him. It was great fun having Harvey along, and we had alot of fun during the course.
In November, Steve and I headed down to High Springs, for the GUE Conference, and the IE. We met more amazing people, and finally got to check out the Florida caves. The Conference was well worth going to, and the caves.. well, one word… WICKED!
All of the events planned were alot of fun, and it was just fantastic to meet up with other GUE folk from around the globe. It was even fun to have a little spot for “DIR Ontario” on opening day, at the Conference.
It was especially cool to meet JP and Anne Marie near the Ear at Ginnie!
Special thanks to Sheila and Steve, for putting up with me on my virgin kayak trip… 10 MILES!! Another special thanks to both George and Jeff, for showing us around the wet rocks! We loved it!! It was really wonderful to finally meet some of our friends face to face, instead of our internet meetings! Two words.. Amanda rocks.. 🙂
I still think our version of the Peanut Tunnel is amusing…
This is one of my favourite pictures from the trip, taken by Amanda Cotton…
We also got to take Flat Stanley cave diving in Little River. Picture taken by Jeff Schrieber…
On the last day of the conference, Steve, myself, Guy, and Dan decided to go up to Madison, for a couple of dives. Yet another amazing day.
I am not sure how many “incredible” words I can come up with, to describe how great this trip was. Um… can we move?
Upon returning home, we were greeted with snow and much colder temperatures. While the quarry was still open, it didn’t take long before it was frozen over.
We definitely had an extra spectacular year, and we are definitely looking forward to the adventures that 2010 will bring!
Double kudos to Steve and Guy, for becoming GUE Instructors!! w000000000t!! 😮
I have also done a Three Part picture video set, of some of the year’s photos!
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