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Easter Weekend Goodness

10 04 2010

Friday, April 2nd, 2010 ~

Good Friday! Yes, it is!

Erin was visiting from the mighty T-Dot, so we went on up to the quarry. Cam S. and Mark T were also going up, so we met them as well, with Connor.

As we were gearing up, we met with Todd and Isabelle, who were going to join us for Diving Goodness.

We entered at the beach, did our pre-dive checks, and sorted ourselves out at about 10′.

Erin, getting sorted out…
Erin, getting ready to head to the plane

Mark had his camera too…

Todd and Isabelle, lookin’ good!

Erin, also lookin’ good!
Supastaaa

We played about the plane for a bit…
Hanging about the plane

Cam, striking a pose…
In Vogue

Then went over to the boat. We took turns going through it, taking pictures, and a few of us even did a bit of a dance.

From there, we went down to check out the sub. Notice the hood ornament…

One of the gang had a bit of a regulator issue, so we made our way back up the wall, and came back in.

We had alot of fun, and it was great to go out diving with new friends!

Bottom Time ~ 46 mins
Max. Depth ~ 59′
Water Temp. ~ 42
Vis. ~ Stellar

Group Shot!

Sunday, April 4th, 2010 ~

Steve, Jay, and I headed down towards Morrisburg, to try and find another entrance to the river. Steve had seen some paths that looked promising, so we decided to check them out. We had the scooters with us, and wanted to do some exploring.

We found one of the entrances that Steve had seen, and took the path. It looked like it might be promising…

Road Less Traveled

Once we got halfway down the path, it turned to muck, and we knew that the van probably wouldn’t fare well in it. We got out for a look, and it wasn’t looking pretty. This is just the start of the muck…

Muck

We decided to just go over to Farran Park, as it was getting a bit late in the afternoon, and we wanted to dive.

It would be my first river dive of the year.. w00 h00! Steve and Jay had been down here on Friday.

We discussed our plan, and in we went. The vis wasn’t nearly as good as it had been for the guys, just two days prior. I guess the wind was moving in the wrong direction. Lol…

We headed south, to a wall, around it, then south some more. We had to stay pretty tight together, as the visibility was pretty crappy. We did see quite a few large fish ~ Carp, Catfish, and even a Pike. We came upon a big, dead carp, that Steve and Jay had seen on Friday. Most of the fish were still pretty sleepy, with the water temperature, but it was neat to see so many big ones.

We scootered around some different structures, then made our way back in. I was pretty chilled at this point, as I still seemed to have a leak in my suit.

Bottom Time ~ 64 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 85′
Visibility ~ 10′ and milky

It felt really good to be back in the river, and back to exploring in the river! This was the first time for me using the “red” scooter, since I blew it up last year, too. Man, it goes like stink, now that it is fixed!

Some pics of our grins, after the dive…

Big Scooter Grins

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Tags: Bloggy Thing, DIR, DIR Ontario, Diving, Diving Goodness, Farran Park, Gavin, GUE, Morrison's Quarry, Scooter Dive, St. Lawrence River
Categories : It's 2010!

Jodrey Times Two

13 08 2009

Saturday, July 18th, 2009 ~

A crew of us gathered together, for a weekend of friends and diving. We were off to the Jodrey! Steve was off doing instructor stuff, so I had to leave him behind in Kingston.

We all convened at Rockport Dive Centre, loaded the boat, and off we went. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and we were happy to get out diving, and to the Jodrey, no less! We had one full boat load on Saturday.

Ralph and Ed…

Oren…

Claudia and Sean…

Mer, Jackie, Oren, and Gina…

Jen and Jay…

Jen, Claudia, and I were diving together, and it would be my first time leading a Jodrey dive. My previous dives on it were with Steve, and he is the one with the “Spidey Sense” navigational skills. We discussed our plan on the surface, geared up, and in we splashed. We let a couple of the others go in before us, as we all had different profiles and run times, so the pair with the longer run time went in first.

Claudia, Jen, and I, doing predive checks, taken by Jackie Kaley…

We did our predive checks, and in we went. The plan was to drift over the edge, stay close to the wall, and hit the wreck at 140′. We came down on the “ghost line,” and hit the wreck in exactly the right spot. Woo Hoo!! We made our way around different parts of the bow, and circled the wheelhouse a few times, peering into doors and windows. The three of us really worked well together, and had a nice, relaxing dive. Coming up on the ascent, I missed part of the crack in the wall, that leads you to a nice spot for your 70′ gas switch, and eventually to a relaxing 20′ deco stop. It wasn’t that bad though, as we found some nice rocks to tuck in behind, to avoid the absolutely screaming current. I’ve not seen the current that strong here before. Not being at the normal deco spots wasn’t that bad, as we ended up closer to the boat anyway. We relaxed on the surface before climbing up and debriefing our dive. It seems everyone had a good dive.

Me, taken by Jackie Kaley…

Of course, we had the obligatory Kool Aid shots…

Once we cleared customs, and were allowed off of the boat, we headed back to Caiger’s for some grub! Ralph had arranged for a dinner there for us, and there was a little bit of everything to try.

We even had Birthday Ice Cream Cake!

Then it was off to sleep, for the next day’s adventures.

Sunday, July 19th, 2009 ~

Another sunny day, and another trek out to the mighty Jodrey. Today, we had a couple more people, and were able to get Jeff’s second boat.

Today was just Jen and I, as Claudia was joining Ralph, Ed, and Gina for today’s dive. We dropped in, did our predive checks, discussed our plan, and away we went.

As we descended, we were slightly more shallow than the last dive, and followed the pipe down to the wreck. We were only very slightly to the left of the ghost line on the way down, but still ended up in the planned spot. We did some exploring around the bow, peeked in a couple more doors and windows, and made our way safely around the wreck. On our ascent, we managed to stay on the crack up the wall, and got to the 20′ stop with no problems. We ended up having some pretty fun conversations during deco, to which Sean and Oren both laughed about later on. We also enjoyed feeding some zebras to the gobies.

Once we had fulfilled our deco obligations, we made our way back to the boat once again. I wouldn’t have believed it, but the current was actually stronger on the way back today than yesterday. Holy smokes, it was a-rippin’! We surfaced once again, with grins on our faces, and happy that we had found the right spots. I also had about a foot of hair cut off the previous Friday, and it was amazing to surface without a rat’s nest underneath my hood!!

Jen and I, taken by Jackie Kaley…

It was an amazing couple of days, diving with friends, with much laughter, and more diving goodness!

She-P shot!

Thanks to all of our friends who made the drive out to play!!

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Tags: Bloggy Thing, Brockville, Chan's Bloggy Thing, DIR, DIR Ontario, Diving Goodness, GUE, GUE Divers, Jodrey, St. Lawrence, St. Lawrence River, Technical Diving
Categories : Diving In 2009!

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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Tags: Bloggy Thing, DIR, Diving Blog, GUE, Jodrey, Rockport Dive Centre, Scooter, St. Lawrence River
Categories : Diving In 2009!

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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Tags: Bloggy Thing, Chan's Bloggy Thing, Cornwall, DIR, Gavin, GUE, Guindon Park, Lost Villages, Scooter Dive
Categories : Diving In 2009!

Mooring Day ~ Part One

13 05 2009

Saturday, May 9th, 2009 ~

Steve and I packed up both of our vehicles, and headed for the mighty Ktown, to help out with Mooring Day! We arrived on Friday night, met some of the gang for dinner, then headed to our hotel. Jen was in the room beside us.

Saturday morning, we headed to Northern Tech Diver, and it seemed that Steve and I took the long way… so we got there after Jen did. We loaded up the boat, then headed out to the City Of Sheboygan, to raise the mooring. It was pretty grey outside, and the weather was supposed to get a bit nasty in the afternoon, so we were on a mission! Myself, Steve, Jen B., James P., James F., Oren, and Kevin L. were all aboard, with Captain Annie at the helm.

Anne…

The City of Sheboygan is pretty far out, so we had to get to this one early, before the weather turned. There were rumours of some bad weather coming in the afternoon.

Kevin L. and James F. letting us loose…

James Y. and Sean came out in the little boat…

Once we arrived at the City Of Sheboygan numbers, Captain Annie lined up, and Jen threw in the shot line. Since I tend to get a little seasick, I got in the water as soon as I could. We gathered around the shot line, descending a bit, and did our bubble checks before going into the blue yonder. When we got down… BINGO!! We were right alongside the wreck. Nice one, Anne!! Steve and Oren sent up the line, and we had an amazing tour around the wreck. What amazing visibility too! This one has always been one of my favourites, and due to my upset tummy, the lake needs to be pretty flat for me to get to it. The lake can turn pretty quickly too.

I did notice that the mooring block had created a bigger crater in its resting spot, since I saw it last year. The hole seems to be getting quite a bit wider.

We ascended, and hopped back on the boat. We were all smiles, except for Jen, who had had a bit of a glove leak… doh…

Although, she still had a wicked dive, with her new 130s and 21w light.

Bottom Time ~ 35 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 96′
Water Temp. ~ 43
Visibility ~ 60′

Steve and Kevin L., hooking and bringing in the shot line…

The weather started to turn a bit. It started to really rain, as opposed to the light sprinkling we started out with. Hmm… do we carry on or head in? Doh… that was lightening… Holy crap… that one was close. Yep, we’re heading in. It would still take us about 30 minutes to get back. At one point, we all huddled in the Captain’s quarters, although I’m not sure how safe we were in a metal boat, with tanks for lightening rods. Perhaps it would hit the ladder first?

The weather let up a bit, and we had a visitor on our tail…

Captain Harold and Seadeucer with their new radar…

Harold stopped for a hello, then headed off again. The rain was on and off, as was the thunder and lightening.

We passed by one of the islands, and although the picture doesn’t show how cool it looked, here it is anyway…

Jen and I…

When we arrived back at the dock, we unloaded and went for some grub.

After lunch, Anne and Harold wanted to go for a splash too. The sun had come out a bit, so Steve, Jen, and I said we’d guard the boat. What better way to get over seasickness, than to just do it…. uh… right…

Anne took Sorobon over to the Munson, as it is pretty close, and sheltered by the bay.

James P. and Oren were also along for a splash. It would have been great to jump in, but I didn’t mind being boat guard. On the way out, there were a couple of Sea Doos playing in our wake…