Another Diving Weekend ~ Day 1

1 05 2009

April 24th – 26th, 2009 ~

 

Francois came down from Quebec, on Thursday night. We were going to head out to the river for some diving goodness! There were other friends that were to join us throughout the weekend. 

 

Day 1

 

Francois, Steve, and I went down to the river, and scouted out new entry points for the river. We headed down near Lock 21, to see about finding the entry for Lock 22. We ended up scouting out a few other spots, and even checked out the Upper Canada Village.

It looked promising, until we saw the steep rocks we’d have to climb down, with our doubles and scooters. The picture doesn’t show how steep it is, but it’s pretty rocky too…

We then saw something pretty promising…

…until we came upon more rocks, blocking entrance to the water. It would be a bit of a task to climb over them in tanks, and lift scooters over. It was too shallow to just push over. 

 

It was getting a bit late in the day, and we were itching to get in the water. We decided to head down to Morrisburg, and go for a dive at Lock 23. When we arrived at one of the three entry points, we saw that the water was pretty high, and the dock had collapsed a bit over the winter. I guess that’s what happens when it sits on tires.

It was still stable, so we put the scooters in and went for a ride.

Our mission was to head west from the dock, then drift onto the Lock system. Our scooters were on full pitch, and we were not making any ground at all. The current was absolutely screaming, and there was no way we could follow the original plan. This is not uncommon for this site, and we always have a back up plan, should this happen. In one spot, there was so much “gunge” flying through the water, it almost looked like an under water snow storm. My guess is that it was a result of the rain that we’ve had, as well as the algae lifting.

We drifted over to the Lock, and did a few passes up and around.. up and around. Francois and Steve both had the video cameras going, so we did get footage of this insane current today. When we drifted with it, it actually looked like we were using the scooters… quite funny.

We had originally planned on exiting back at the dock, but the current was that strong, that it proved to be more difficult than we thought, to get back to it, so we decided to drift down to the beach area.

We got there, surfaced with big grins, and debriefed about our adventure.

Bottom Time ~ 40 minutes
Max. Depth ~ 45′
Temp. ~ 43
Vis. ~ 20′ – 30′

Steve had his camera housing lid modified. Amazing results with the new lens…

 

I also got a camera mount for my scooter, but it will have to be modified, in order to accommodate the 8″ port.

 

Another great day in the river!

Francois and I…


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The Kinghorn!

30 04 2009

Sunday, April 19th, 2009 ~ 

 

Steve and I headed down to Rockport, to meet Kevin, James, and Jeremy for  a trip out to the Kinghorn. We planned on taking the short bodies, and take a short jaunt out to the wreck. We knew the water was hovering around 40, so we didn’t plan on a long dive. Kevin brought an extra Gavin for James.

 

When we got to the wreck, we did a few passes, checked out the inside, then reconvened to head back. Steve, James, and I were on the starboard side, when Steve had a bit of a freeflow. James decided to head off with the other two, while Steve took care of it, and I stood by.

When we got back to 40′, we hovered for a while, and we discovered that James had a bit of an issue with his scooter… it wanted to keep going..lol.. Kevin helped him to deal with it, and we made our way back in. There were a ton of crayfish milling about on this dive as well. They were big suckers too!

We got out and debriefed, with a few laughs and tales, and Kevin checked out his scooter.

 

I even found a little ring on the way in…

 

Bottom Time ~ 33 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 86′
Water Temp. ~ 40
Vis. ~ 30′

 

We packed up, got changed, then headed over to the BoatHouse for some grub!

It’s great to be back in the river!!!


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Good Friday At The Quarry

23 04 2009

Friday, April 10th, 2009 ~ 

 

After lounging around in the morning, we finally packed the van and headed out to the quarry. Steve was going to work on bottle rotations, and I was going to work on stowing a stage reg. I could stand to do it a bit quicker. 

 

We got there, and there were a few others there, getting back in the water, after a winter hiatus. We also saw a couple of other friends that we knew as well. The quarry was wide open and ready for action! 

 

Steve and I got in, did our pre-dive checks, and off we went to the plane. I left the camera behind again, so we could concentrate on skills. We got to the plane, and Steve started doing his bottle rotations. I watched him, then just started deploying and stowing my stage reg. He then passed me another bottle, for me to clip on. I tinkered with that for a while, and of course, I double clipped it on the hip D ring.. pft.. Start over…

I am definitely going to have to do some more work with that, and maybe some exercises to strengthen my hand a bit.

Once we were half satisfied, we headed back in.

Bottom Time ~ 32 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 23′
Water Temp. ~ 40
Vis. ~ 50′ Starting to get less crisp

Eric and Greg were waiting for us, and we sat about with them for a bit. We even had some fun with Eric’s Fusion suit…

 

We decided to get back in, and do some other skills. Eric joined us for this dive. We didn’t go to the plane, but hung around the deco rock, working on finning techniques and valve drills. Steve swam off a bit, then had an OOG (yes, it was a drill…lol). I rushed to him, donated my stage reg, went to my back up, then deployed my long hose for him, putting me back on the stage reg. All was well in the land of donation. We cut the drill, and carried on. We played with some rocks, then came back in… Ok.. I was the one playing with rocks…

Bottom Time ~ 30 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 17′
Water Temp. ~ 40
Vis. ~ 50′

Another excellent day in the water!

 

Happy Easter!


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To The Rothesay

12 04 2009

Sunday, April 5th, 2009 ~ 

 

Steve and I headed down to Prescott yesterday,  and did a little wreck from shore, called the Rothesay. It’s been quite a while since we’ve done this wreck, and it was good to get back to it.

 

 

This wreck went down from a collison, and was eventually used as target practice, and has been the victim of dynamite in the past. The boilers are still intact, and there are some neat things to see on this wreck, despite being pretty “banged up.” There is also a really neat swim through, and a few resident fish to visit with. It sits in about 28′ of water, so is often a pretty busy site during the summer months. 

 

The jug was down,  so we opted to swim out to 12′, then drift onto the line, which worked out great. We ended up drifting onto it, right in front of the wreck. We did a couple of turns, took pics by the boilers, as well as in the little swim throughs, then headed back. 

 

We didn’t stay out for long, but we had a nice, relaxing dive. The visibility wasn’t that great either, as there had been quite a bit of rain during the week. Still fun!

 

Bottom Time ~ 32 mins.

Max. Depth ~ 27′

Water Temp. ~ 40

Visibility ~ 20′ and milky

Entry point…

 

Upon returning home, it seems that my first trip to the river with the camera was unsuccessful. Apparently, I need to learn how to focus properly in low visibility. Oh well.. learning curve! 🙂


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Beneath The Sea ~ 2009

4 04 2009

March 27th – 29th, 2009 ~ 

Here we are again. Another trip to the mighty New Joisey, for Beneath The Sea. I woke at the unearthly hour of 3:30 am, and headed down to Rockport to meet the gang. Once there, we piled into James’ truck, and Tony followed behind with the booth.

Once over the border, we stopped at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. In the parking lot, we saw a truck with a very interesting passenger…

or four…

We ate,  and we headed out on our way… Not without me purchasing a crazy, quacking Easter duck from the store. James wouldn’t let me play with it in the car. 😀
We arrived at the Meadowlands at about 2:30 pm, and started unloading the trailer.

By the time the show started, we were just about finished setting up.

A few of us headed over to the Tech Party, after the show, for some grub, a couple of bevvies, and some great company. We had an awesome night. Thanks to Corey and Joel for keeping us entertained. I’ve used the word of the day a few times since that night.

Jen…


Saturday was another good day at the show. We had alot of friends stop by for information and some friendly banter. We even went for lunch with George and Christine, which was a blast.  It was also great to meet many people that I’ve corresponded with online, in person.

Becky,  David and I…

Yasuko…

We even saw Alessandra there, who we had met in Mexico, last November…


Saturday evening, Jen B. and I went out for dinner with the wonderful folks at DUI, and had a most excellent time! I still can’t believe I ate alligator! I loved listening to diving stories, and being in the company of wonderful people. It was great to finally catch up with you, Dave!!

In our quest to find the restaurant, we passed by the New Jersey Devil’s arena.

Edit: Ok.. it turns out they were  playing against Carolina, but the Sens were definitely in town. I stood in front of their tour bus, while people were taking pictures and getting autographs a bit earlier. 😉


After dinner, we headed back to one of the hotels, where we sat and listened to the wisdom of some of diving’s pioneers. It was incredible to be in the same room as some of the people that have helped to shape the sport that we know and love, and to hear the stories of their experiences.  I could write an entire “Bloggy Post” about that alone. I also had the opportunity to meet Zale Parry, during the show, which was also a treat.

Sunday, another great day, and we met even more people, saw some great booths, and had alot of fun. Susan Long, from DUI, did our prize draws for us as well!

Chris and Sarah…

Ron and Quintin…

After the show, we tore down the booth, packed it up, and headed out once again. We had a bit of fun while packing up..

On the way back, we ran into a freak rain and lightening storm, which lit up the entire sky, and caused alot of accidents on the freeway. There were some scary looking ones.

We sang many songs to keep James awake in the truck. I’m not sure if he was happy about that or not…lol… We crossed the border, somewhere near 3 am, and headed back to Rockport. I picked up my car, and made the trip back to Ottawa. I “landed” at 5am, and it didn’t take long for my head to hit the pillow.

Despite the long days and sore feet, Beneath The Sea was definitely worth the trip once again. I was able to meet up with friends from the past and present, and to learn about how parts of our diving world were shaped.

Thanks to everyone that hung out with us and to Bob Sherwood, for some great insight, and in helping me get Alek’s book signed.

Jen and Bob…

Corey…

Becky and David…

What a wonderful weekend, and I can’t wait until next year!

David and James…


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