Today’s dive was at the quarry… an extremely busy quarry. There were cars as far as the eye could see! Well.. at least into the upper parking lot, as well as a full house, up by the toilets.
Today’s dive was a Fundies Tech upgrade checkout dive. I hadn’t been in the water for a couple of weeks (stoOpid work..lol), so I was happy to get in the water!
I got to play the role of “buddy,” which was also much fun! Fundies Dive 6! w00t! 🙂
Bottom Time: 28 mins.
Max Depth: 30′
Water Temp: 57F
Vis.: Not great – There were also an incredible number of OW checkout dives.
From there, we headed to Jean Burger, for lunch, then home! By noon!!! :O
Sunday, June 10th, 2012 ~
Today, Steve and I headed down to Centeen Park. Steve was taking a couple of fine folks out for their GUE DPV 1 Experience dive, in the St. Lawrence River, and I went along for the ride!
It was pretty busy at the park, although not crazy. For this dive, I used my “Big Girl Tanks (my 130s), which I have not used since the fall. Yes, they were still a little heavier than my AL80s. 🙂
A little boat that passed by the park…
We also had some visitors, who obviously didn’t care about the pretend foxes around them, as well as did not pay attention to the “police” tape that was put up for them, as a barrier!
My Big Girl Tanks, with my Purple AL80s in the background (I have my fancy Light Monkey wing on those!)…
We got in, did our checks, and our plan was to scooter upstream at about 30′, drop into the channel, drift, make our way back up to the Gaskin, play around for a while, then come back in.
The guys did a fantastic job, and as we came back into about 20′, they were congratulated with handshakes!
Way to go, guys!
Bottom Time: 78 mins.
Max Depth: 94′
Water Temp: 60F
Vis.: Not great in the shallows, opening up in the channel.
This is one heck of a dive mobile!
After the dive, Eric came to meet us, too. We had planned on doing another dive, so we switched our gear over to our AL80s, and grabbed a stage each. We also switched scooter bodies, so that we would have a longer burn time.
So… I can still report that there was no truck to be found… I swear, I think it must get moved when we dive. We did manage to find some wreckage that I swear we have seen before. It is an old piece of a wooden bow. I know it is the same one that we had seen on another occasion.. although, the current was very mild this time around, and I got to actually take a look at it! Once we got to a couple of small shoals, near the 3 Sister Islands, we decided to turn back towards shore. We stayed at depth for a while, hopeful for a truck sighting, but.. alas.. today was still not the day!
We passed by a bottle jug that we had passed on the way out, so we knew we still weren’t going to find that darn vehicle!
Still an excellent dive, and a lot of fun!
Bottom Time: 71 mins.
Max Depth: 99′
Water Temp: 60F
Vis.: Not great in the shallows, opening up in the channel.
Eric’s new camera!
Eric took a couple of pics of us, with his new camera! Taken by Eric Bourque…
This year has been another wonderful adventure, and we were blessed with some really amazing new and existing friendships.
We usually do a New Year’s Day dive, which we did, but it ended up being on the 2nd, instead of the 1st. There was not much snow on the ground, and the quarry was still open!
It did not take long for the quarry to freeze, and Ice Diving Goodness Season was upon us. I was very fortunate, to be able to test the DUI Heated Undergarment, too!
Then there was the release of the movie, Sanctum. A group of us went to see it, on its second night of showing, and decided to do a parody of it, the following day. We had quite a bit of fun, filming Sanked ‘Em. There were so many tears of laughter had, and thoughts of a sequel. Thanks to Chris Phinney, for his handy dandy camera work, and editing while being a passenger, on the way back home!
Then… Jacob came to visit, and try this ice diving thing! He was just in time, as this was the last weekend of an ice-covered quarry!
We were even able to take him down to the river, for some Scootering Goodness!
John Bailey got a bad ass tattoo!
We also hosted a GUE Meet ‘N’ Greet, which brought some new faces, and shared some information about GUE.
Andy and I, at the quarry!
Fred and Angelica came to town, too. It was really great to be able to share some of our dive sites with Fred, and to spend some time with both of them!
Raphael, Denis, Mick, and Mark came up for a visit too, and we went out for some St. Lawrence River diving!
We spent some more time doing some exploring, in the St. Lawrence River. We did some nice three hour dives, with our scooters.
Becky and I had threatened on many occasions to go diving together, and did not seem to be able to coordinate. Then the stars aligned, and Becky came up to dive with us! We had a blast!
I could have sworn that I saw David on one of the dives…
Becky took some shots of us, too (Below pics by Becky Kagan Schott)…
We then had the 2011 Brockville Canadian Invasion. This was the biggest group to date (50 people), and everyone was just absolutely wonderful. Thanks to all for being so wonderful!
I was also very fortunate to get one of the first Light Monkey wings, in which I started diving at the Invasion. This is a really nice wing, in which I have tried a few different tank combinations with.
*Thumbs up!* Thank you, Light Monkey!
Forest Rothchild did a write-up of his thoughts on the Invasion. Thank you, Forest!
Then came the Kingston Invasion, which was smaller this year, but still much fun!
After the Invasions, we were finally able to meet Heleen and Sander, who came to visit us from Holland. They had been to Alberta for a week, before seeing us, then we took them out for some dives, and to see the infamous plane! We had been looking forward to meeting them for a few years, and the time finally came! w00t!!!
Here are Heleen’s videos, from the Quarry, Kinghorn and the Back Mine!
I then took a trip to Seattle, while Steve left for his RB80 training, where I met some of the coolest kids on the block, and the “AGGAST” sisters were born! Leg Number One of the AGGAST (All Girls GUE All Star Team) sisters world adventures. This was the first time I had been in salt water, since before I had any GUE training. That is, apart from below the halocline… 😛 What an amazing place to dive, and a really fantastic GUE community. I can see why people love diving here! There are octos and wolf eels, and so much life! Anyone hiring in Seattle?
We even witnessed an octopus riding a wolf eel!
Laurynn’s video of the underwater rodeo!
My videos of Keystone Jetty (GUE day) and the Day Island Wall…
When Steve got back from his RB80 training, he hit the water with Blake and Steve S.
I ventured out with some other friends, too.
At the end of October, a group of us headed down to Mexico, for two weeks of Cave Diving Goodness. A few were taking Cave 1, a few taking Cave 2, and a few of us just going diving! We did some absolutely amazing dives, and each day, the dives seemed to be even more amazing, topping it off with a dive at Ox Bel Ha, on our last day.
One of our favourites was going to the Boa Restriction, in Grand Cenote/Sac Actun. Gorgeous cave and a lot of fun! Another highlight was Tux Ka Paxa, where we saw Mastadon bones. Just an absolutely incredible trip! That is, when we finally got there, and finally got our rental car. 😉 We even saw a Puma cross a jungle road, but still no “Tadantulas.” Well.. at least Steve and I didn’t see one. It seems everyone else did!
Me, in Dos Ojos…
Back to Canada, we went, where the water was significantly chillier than in the Mexico cavezzz… We still managed over an hour on the triggers!
Throughout the year, we made a couple more attempts at finding that darn truck, including the beginning of December.
We still haven’t found that thing, which brings us to the end of four years of looking for it. I think the other people that have seen it are photoshopping it into their pictures. Either that, or they move it, every time we go looking for it! 😀 Maybe next year! At least I got my new Santi undergarments in time for winter diving!
That brings us full circle, preparing for our season of winter ice diving. We recently went out to the quarry, to put in some “permanent lines,” for easier ice diving reference!
In between all of these adventures were also Fundamentals classes, in which Steve was teaching, and I was helping. Allan came up to intern, too!
I also had two photos chosen by National Geographic, in their Daily Dozen. At least one of them was supposed to have made it into the magazine, but I have no idea which issue. Two of them were made into Nat Geo wallpaper downloads. Thank you, Nat Geo! w00t!
A Year In Video…
If Steve and I have half of the adventures in 2012, that we had in 2011, we will be very lucky! *Cheers* to happy and safe Diving Goodness in 2012! Let the planning begin!!
So.. we decided to have another look for that darn truck… The one that people must be photoshopping into pics, as we still can’t find that stoOpid thing…lol. We have been searching for that thing on and off, for about 4 years.
Steve, Eric, Cory, Raluca, and myself went on the hunt. Although, today’s hunt would be shorter than other attempts, as the water was getting colder. We decided to go to the Gaskin first, then head south, and drift…
Gearing up…
Guess what??? Yeah.. we didn’t find it. We did have a fun dive though, and I was trying my new Santi undies, which were extremely warm. They would have been even warmer, if my suit didn’t flood, I’m sure. I was pretty much soaked, from head to toe, and it seems that I did not have enough weight with my new undies. At the end of the dive, I was extremely floaty. I guess a couple of extra pounds are needed with these babies!
Bottom Time: 1 hour, 3 mins.
Max. Depth: 101′
Water Temp.: 44F
Visibility: Not great, at all
Steve and Eric, with a hand action shot!
I guess I moved a bit too quickly on this one, and caused a bit of blur.. Doh…Cory and Raluca were tough, seeing as they only just got back from the warm cavez of Mexico. Congrats on your course, guys!
I was even a bit blurred with my self portrait.. sheesh…
At least I got a decent shot of the entry, as the sun was going down, behind the clouds…
Today’s dinner = Santa Fe!
It seems I will be reporting from the quarry, for our next dives! St. Lawrence, we’ll see you in the spring!
Well, I will start this entry off, by saying that this was the largest group I have ever organized. The majority of our group for Diving Goodness arrived either on Thursday night, or Friday morning, in time for the run out to the wreck of the Kinghorn. We had some breakfast at Caiger’s, then headed over to Rockport Dive Centre. There were 12 to take the first run on Rick’s boat, and 14 by scooter. I think that was the biggest GUE EDGE I have ever conducted, too…lol.
Raphael and I paired up, and we debriefed our dive plan, trip back in, and even towing, should it be required. This is a swimmable dive (on doubles), so even if we didn’t tow, we would still be in good shape. I led our teams to the line, and we headed out! Raph and I did tours of both the inside and outside, and there were Go Pro cameras a-plenty, taking video of our diving extravaganza!
We decided to head back in, so I hit the trigger… er.. at least I tried to. Two of my prop blades went flying into the abyss (ok, about 7′ down)! What the…? I did manage to pick them up, signaled to Raph, and started to swim. Wait a sec… it’s lunch time.. let’s hit it, partner! I signaled to Raph again, stowed my scooter (of course, being a bit bummed), and latched on to Raph’s crotch strap. Onward!
I have to say, that I was very pleased that we had discussed this whole towing thing, at the beginning of the dive. Raph did great, and when we reached the 55′ mark, I tapped off. We had a relaxing and leisurely swim back in. Thanks for the tow, amigo!!
After a couple of runs out to the wreck, in Rick’s boat, we reconvened on the deck at Rockport Dive Centre, and headed over to The Cornwall/Boathouse for lunch.. drysuits ‘n’ all. We took up the whole room, this time around. Tammi and her peeps were ready for us, as usual!
We got some food in our bellies, some laughter, and fun, then we walked back over for another run out to the wreck. Since I didn’t have use of my scooter (and thank you to Oren for the offer to use yours… while you made a bit of a drive… *cough*), I was going to jump in with Andy, for a swim along the line. Andy had some new tanks that he wanted to check out, and I would be doing my first test dive with the new Light Monkey wing! w00t!
We really took our time, and had an extremely slow and comfortable swim, partway to the wreck. We went back and forth, played with a few fish, and waved at some of our friends, passing by. I was seriously digging this wing. It is a 45# wing, that is put together very well, and has some really nice finishing touches (the heat shrink on either end of the corrugated hose). I was using it with a set of Luxfer AL80s, and I really did like the way it filled around the tanks. The edges are a bit wider than other wings, and it just felt really easy to trim out in. Very freakin’ cool wing! First test dive >> Like Factor = Extremely high.
After our dives, we headed back to Caiger’s, where we got ourselves sorted out, showered, and changed for dinner. We had a buffet of a bunch of extremely delicious foods, and we definitely filled the entire dining room. There was also a live band playing on “The Upper Deck,” that some of us checked out, before hitting the sack!
Saturday, August 13th, 2011 ~
Up and at ’em! We had boats going to the Keystorm and America, as well as to the Jodrey. We had most of the boats going out in the morning, with another afternoon run to the Jodrey.
Buffet breakfast for everyone, and boats loaded. I brought down lunches for each boat, and the morning runs were off! We had one bit of a miscommunication on boat departure time, so two friends ended up going for a shore dive.
Breakfast…
Loading up…
Relaxing after breakfast…
Carm and Steph…
Then the boats came back!
We then loaded up our boat, to head to our afternoon Jodrey dive.
On the ride out, I managed to get a good punch in the face, from a flying boat bumper, whacked my head on the boat, and with me being a bit pooped, I opted out of the dive. We were moored in a different place than usual, and my gut just said, “no.” It sucked to have to miss Jodrey Goodness, but I was also pretty pooped, with all of the organizing. I did gear up, and even got in the water, but it wasn’t my day. Yes, my buddy had someone else to dive with…
Instead, I had a bit of a nap on the boat, and took some pics. 🙂
A little shout out to DUI? 😀
Self portrait, of course…
When we got back, we unloaded, then got ready for dinner. This dinner was a little more fancy, and we had some extra delicious food! Thank you to all of the staff at Caiger’s!!
We also had a draw for some prizes. Thank you to Liquid Productions, Rockport Dive Centre, and Exploration Promotions for the prize donations!
We finished the night off with some karaoke… Ohh.. what a blast! Bill Baker is a crazy… wha???
Steph also got up for some singing magic!
Unfortunately, we weren’t able to have the bon fire that we wanted to have. A big thank you to Becki and Dan for bringing the S’mores goodies!!!
What a fun finish to the day!
Sunday, August 14th, 2011 ~
Well, today was the final day of the Brockville Invasion. We did a bit more loading, diving, unloading, bidding goodbyes, and taking more pictures. Today’s dives were the Vickery, a drift dive, and for the Tech divers, the Jodrey. I still wasn’t 100%, so I opted to stay aground, and wait for all of the boats to come in.
Fern and LoJack!
It really is amazing, how many wonderful people attend the Brockville Invasion. I have made so many new friends, and love to see friends that keep coming back. It does mean a lot to me, that people have so much fun on this trip. It is exactly why I do it.
A group shot… of most of the group, plus most of the reamining folks. Next year, I will allot a time and place for the pic, on the itinerary! We had 49 people attend, this year!
Below is Forest Rothchild, who did a really cool write-up on his Invasion experience. Thank you, Forest!
Well.. I have to say that I had an interesting evening, while waiting for Jacob’s late flight to arrive. I was already at the airport when I got the news, so I decided to run a couple of errands, then come back. I went to pick up Jacob’s Suex, then set the GPS on “Find Food.” It said that there was some “fast food,” about 3.8 km from where I was. Yeah… that was also a wild goose chase!
I finally made my way back to the airport, about 2 1/2 hours later than I originally arrived, and was happy to get a call from Jacob, saying that he was in the building! W00t! Out he came, and we set sail for our place! The adventure begins!
Saturday, April 9th, 2011 ~
We set Jacob up with some tanks, and we headed out to the quarry, where we hoped there would still be some ice left for his first ice dive. When we arrived, we saw that there was still quite a bit of ice coverage, but the beach area had a nice, open entry point.
We decided to bring the scooters out to play, as we hadn’t used them all winter, and wanted to give them a go!
Jen, getting her gear together…
There was definitely a bit of “Tom-Foolery” going on, as we broke up some of the slushy stuff.
Diving is serious stuff, you know… 🙂
Jen, bringing her gear to the water…
We even had a supervisor…
We finally got geared up and into the water. Steve and I were taking Jacob on a tour of the quarry, showing him the sub, the car, some rocks, and even the shark. I was able to get some video, with my little Go Pro camera.
*Warning: F-Bomb in the video!*
Bottom Time ~ 42 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 104′ (Avg. 41′)
Water Temp. ~ 39F
Visibility ~ Really nice
Jacob seemed to really enjoy his dive, and we definitely did have alot of fun.
We even fed him some Kool Aid Jammers…
…and we made Jacob an honourary Canadian, by giving him a Timmy’s Rrrrrrrrrrrrroll Up The Rim To Win coffee!
It was an excellent day of Diving Goodness, and we topped the evening off with some Vietnamese Cuisine!
Sunday, April 10th, 2011 ~
Since Jacob had already met the quarry, we decided to take him down to the St. Lawrence River. We had more friends join us, too!
It wasn’t going to be a very long scooter dive, but at least we could have a little fun in the River.
We split up into teams of two, and poor Eric got stuck with me, again. 🙂 We scootered out along the wall, then dropped into the channel. We didn’t go as far as we normally do, as the water was still a bit chilly, and we only brought our short bodies with us.
Jacob and Steve were in the lead, and the visibility was absolutely crappy. There was a bit of a glove issue, so Oren and Claudia headed back to shore. Eric and I continued on into the channel, and decided to pick our spot to drift back onto the wreck of the Gaskin. We both seemed to have the exact same idea as to where we were, so away we drifted… er.. well.. Where’s the current? Hmm.. Ok.. trigger, it is! We ended up right at the stern of the wreck. *High five!* We played around on the wreck for a little while, and then saw two beams of light approaching. Team 1 had also reached the wreck. We zipped around a little more, then went back in, cleaning off the line, as we went back. Eric and I took our time, and chose to swim back part of the way. It was a nice, relaxing way to finish up our dive.
As we neared the “Stop” sign, Oren and Jacob were heading out. Apparently, Jacob didn’t mind this cold water thing, and joined Oren for some more Goodness!
Bottom Time ~ 51 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 70′ (Avg. 42′)
Water Temp. ~ 39F
Visibility ~ Really crappy, thanks to the rain and grey skies
The rain had held off for most of the day, but started to sprinkle a bit, as we brought our gear up.
Yes, there was definitely some more Tom-Foolery going on… One Milllllllion Kool Aids…
Claudia was all ready for the rain!
I even snagged a picture of John’s fancy cave tattoo…
From the park, we went to our new favourite Brockville dining location, “Santa Fe,” where they have All You Can Eat Fajitas, every Sunday!
We made the trip back to Ottawa, and on to our next adventure: WalMart. Well.. I think we lost Jacob a grand total of three times. There is quite alot to see in the superstore, when you’ve been hanging out in the Mexico cavez for months! 🙂 Thank you, Jacob, for the Hoisen sauce and the pink Duct Tape!
Packing the scooter…
Jacob, I am glad that you were able to fit us into your busy exploring schedule. It was great to see you, and alot of fun getting back in the water with you, again. I didn’t even mind that 4am trip back to the airport! I did, however, find some zip seals under your pillow, and wondered if they were in exchange for the cutting device. 😛
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