Chanb77's Weblog

Sunday, March 22nd, 2009 ~

We were up again, and headed off to the quarry. When we arrived, the hole from the day before was still open, so there was no need for a chainsaw today. I decided to leave the camera behind again, so that I could just relax and enjoy the dive. I had enough shots of everyone from the previous day’s adventures!

We got in, and ran our line to the boat line. Frankie had his camera going as well, so he did get some of the day’s footage. Steve, Jay, and I took turns scootering through the boat and giving each other “the moose.”

We had yet another excellent adventure under the ice, at the quarry. As much as I welcome the warmer water and air temperatures, I am really going to miss the fantastic winter visibility of the quarry. It doesn’t quite stay as clear in the summer months, but is still a great place to work on skills.

Bottom Time ~ 41 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 43′
Water Temp. ~ 40
Vis. ~ Great!

Once we got out, we saw that the ice on the beach was a little breakable. We got rid of our gear, and headed back in for an ice breaking party. We had alot of laughs and broke up alot of ice!

The beach, once we were finished with it…

Jay, peeking out of his fancy divemobile…

Jen…. unpacking… rofl..

Frankie…

Now that the ice is melting, we will be having many more adventures with our friends in the river! We’ll still be at the quarry until the water warms up, but when it does, we are river bound once again! w000t!!

Sunday, March 15th, 2009 ~

This weekend, a bunch of free divers from Quebec and Toronto came up to the quarry for  some free diving, under the ice. 

We geared up, as they dressed and prepared. We had both still and video cameras, in order to capture the event. Once we got to the plane, I took a few shots to get the lighting right, and to prepare for the first divers to come down. 

They had three holes cut, direct lines to the surface, and lines connecting the holes. Mike had prearranged to get a “mermaid” shot, of one of the divers, sitting on a rock, by the plane.

 
I was able to get a couple of shots off from the side…

Here is the shot that Mike took, while I was shooting from the side.
Picture courtesy of Mike Grebler

Every couple of minutes, another diver would make their way down to the plane, which sits at about 25′, and there were even a few that would go down to the sub, at about 65′.

There were over a dozen divers coming down, saying hello, taking pictures, and even waving hello from inside of the plane.

Watching this “Cirque Du Soleil” under water was truly a mesmerizing thing to witness. The gracefulness and beauty of it all was just awe inspiring.

I’m really not sure that I would ever even consider doing what these people do, but I’m just amazed and happy to have been a spectator, and to have been able to catch some shots of them to share.

For more information on the freediving clubs, please see…

www.casm.info

and

www.aidacanada.org

Thanks again, gang!

Bottom Time ~ 49 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 28′
Water Temp. ~ 40
Vis. ~ Good!

Friday, March 13th, 2009 ~ 

Steve had a day off, so we decided to do what? Oh.. yeah.. go diving…  Jeremy was also off, so he met us up at the quarry for a skills dive. When we got up there, the gate was locked, so we went around to the back entrance, and around to the parking lot. 

We went over to inspect the hole, and the entire quarry was frozen over again. We hadn’t expected it to be, as it was breaking up the previous weekend. However, it wasn’t very difficult to break up the entry hole.

We geared up, got in, and off we went to the plane. Our goal of this dive was to work on skills.. valve drills, a couple of failures, tying in to another main line, and team formation. Steve was #1, Jeremy was #2, and I was #3.

After tying in to the main line, running to the boat, Steve had a primary light failure. We regrouped, and headed “out.” We cut the drill, then went on to the plane, to do our valve drills.

We did some finning as well, swam around a bit, then headed back in. It was really nice having the quarry to ourselves, on such a gorgeous day!

Bottom Time ~ 46 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 41′
Water Temp. ~ 39
Vis. ~ Great!

After our dive, we headed to the shop for fills, and to visit our good buddy Leigh. He’s been way too busy lately, and it was great to see him!

What a great way to spend a Friday!

Saturday, March 14th, 2009 ~

Today was the day… it was time to head back down to the RIVER!! Although it was still completely frozen over east of Rockport, it was magically open right where we wanted to dive. It was as if the river was calling for us, missing us over the winter months… Um.. ok…

Anyway, Steve and I met Kevin and Jeremy at Jeff’s dock, and went in for a splash. The UW camera stayed at home today, as the river is still only just above the freezing point, and I wanted to be prepared for anything.

The entry point did have some ice around it, but it was wide open just off of it. Jeff had the bubbler going as well, which was great.

Kevin and Jeremy splashed in first, followed by Steve and I. We did not head over to the Kinghorn, but swam west of the dock instead, where there are remnants of a wreck. We encountered a bunch of dormant bass, as well as sleeping crayfish. We swam about 20 minutes out, then made our way back in. As we tied our stage bottles in to the gear line, we saw Kevin and Jeremy behind us. They had gone the other way.

I had stayed pretty warm throughout the dive, although I seemed to have a small leak in my drysuit.

Bottom Time ~ 35 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 64′
Water Temp. ~ 33
Vis. ~ 30′ out, 50′ up

Although the water was hardly above the freezing point, it felt so good to be back in the river!

Despite the warmer air temperatures, Jeremy’s reg still seemed to have a nice frost to it…

Ahhhh… Spring is coming!!

Tomorrow, we’re headed back to the quarry to watch the free divers!