Happy Canada Day!

24 07 2009

Wednesday, July 1st, 2009 ~

Happy Canada Day! Hmm.. what to do… How about go for a dive or two?

We packed up and headed down to Centeen Park. We thought we would give that elusive truck another attempt. Myself, Steve, Jay, Jen, and Oren made another run out with the scooters, and tried to find that darn thing, once again.

We saw things that we hadn’t seen before, which was a really good sign. We even saw what looked like a bit of a road, with rocks on either side. You’d think you’d find a truck near this, for sure, right? Yeah… not so much. We found bits of metal, pieces of this and that, bottles galore, but still no truck. We played amongst the periwinkle shells, then made our way back. The visibility was a bit stinky, and although we all stayed in our buddy teams, we ended up coming back at different times. Steve and I made it back first, followed by Sean and Oren, then Jen and Jay.

Bottom Time ~ 64 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 104′
Water Temp. ~ 62
Visibility ~ 15′

When we surfaced, our buddies for our second dive greeted us at the stairs, as well as Jeremy and Kevin, who were going out for a dive too.

We all had a bit of lunch, which consisted of some sandwiches that I had brought for everyone, and some veggies that Jen brought, then went for dive number two.

We headed out to the Gaskin, with scooters galore, and messed around for a bit, then came back in for some great fun and conversation. It was fun watching the Muffin Man get towed back, after he broke Bob’s scooter (*ducks*). Lol…

Bottom Time ~ 52 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 70′
Water Temp. ~ 62
Visibility ~ 20′ and milky

Superstar diver!

I think we celebrated Canada’s birthday in the best way possible… The River, scooters, and good friends.


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Categories : Diving In 2009!

The Quest For The Truck

5 07 2009

Saturday, June 13th, 2009 ~

There are rumours of an old truck, sitting in about 94′, in the St. Lawrence. Oren, Steve, and I were on a mission to find it! We know of a couple of people that dive it once in a while, and have given us a rough estimation of how to find it.

We took our gear down to the water, and prepped for the adventure.

Oren, after taking his scooter down to the water…

We dropped down, gathered up, and off we went. We dropped into the channel, and began to drift with the current, at 94′. We encountered many cool looking bottles, and even made it to a small island, but no truck. As we drifted, we did happen upon interesting dune-like formations of periwinkle shells, that we had never seen before. The periwinkle shells do cover alot of the channel, but we had not seen them in a desert formation like they were. It was very cool to see.

We also saw various bits of metal, strewn about, but nothing that indicated a truck should be there. We decided it was time to turn, and headed back against the current.

Even though we didn’t find the truck, it was still alot of fun looking for it.

Bottom Time ~ 89 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 106′
Water Temp. ~ 57
Visibility ~ 50′

Our day of diving was not yet finished!

Jay and Jen arrived, we had a bit of lunch, and planned another run upstream. This dive would be a bit shorter, and we would travel upstream, drifting back down onto the Gaskin, then back in.

Our collection of gear at the entry point…

We had an enjoyable and relaxing dive in the channel, finding an old boat motor, more metal bits, and many upside down bottles (this means they’ve been picked up before). We arrived back to the Gaskin, played around the wreck for a while, then headed back in.

Bottom Time ~ 77 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 105′
Water Temp. ~ 57
Visibility ~ 50′

Jen, Jay, Oren, Steve…

Jay, Jen, Oren, me…

We had some company when we surfaced as well. A couple of Airedales…

We had some other visitors as well. Or, perhaps we were visitors on their turf…

We can now refer to Steve as the Goose Whisperer… *ducks*

We packed up and met up with Eric, who had picked up his new suit.

Eric, striking a pose…

The side of our Dive Gear Transportation Unit (DGTU)…

We then sat around with Gill and Vian, having water and the most decadent pie I’ve ever tasted in my life. Thanks Oren!!! I’m not sure if I should really thank him or curse him for bringing such wonderful food, that makes my butt grow, just thinking about it. The thought of Almond Apple Cheesecake didn’t really appeal to me at first… Then I tasted it.. Holy smokes… As much as I love their Mumble Crumble pie.. this one takes the “cake.”

Ok.. off to sleep.

Sunday, June 14th, 2009 ~

We headed back down to Centeen Park, where we planned on going to the Gaskin, then veering off, to see what we could find. We noticed that there was a boat moored up to it before entering. When we got there, we really couldn’t see much other than silt, so we decided to keep going. No Gaskin today…

We scootered past it, and into the channel, where we reveled in the sites of more bottles, periwinkle shells, and generally just enjoying the water.

It was a similar dive to those we have done before, but we never seem to tire of it, as we always do see different things.

Bottom Time ~ 77 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 106′
Water Temp. ~ 57
Visibility ~ Depends on where you were – 5′ – 50′

Jay, giving his approval of our new DGTU…

Steve…

Myself and Jen…

The two fancy DGTUs…


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Soggy Dive…

15 06 2009

Sunday, May 24th, 2009 ~

We made arrangements to meet Kevin, Jeremy, Oren, and Sean, for a scooter adventure,  out of Centeen Park. On the drive down, we saw quite a few older cars that we gawked at along the way.

Here is one that I got a shot of, heading down the 416…

We were the first to arrive, and were greeted by a rather large tour boat, moored up to the far side of the park…

Here’s a slightly closer look…

I also got a shot of the Historical plaque, which shows some slight differences to the park since 1927…

Once everyone arrived, we got all of our gear together, and got ready to dive! Erin and Kevin A. also came by to say hello!

Oren, bringing his scooter down…

Sean, setting up…

Kevin and Jeremy’s Gear…

Ahh… Bless him… Thank you, Steve.

Kevin’s turn…

…and Jeremy…

We geared up, and in we went. Our quest today, was to find an old truck, laying in about 100′, across the channel. We did our predive checks, discussed our plan, and off we went. Oren was heading the adventure today, and we followed his lead.

Here is a shot of us just before descending, taken by Kevin Abe…

As we started out, I started to feel water in my drysuit. I wasn’t sure exactly where it was coming in, but I could feel a chilly spurt of cold water, every time I pressed my drysuit inflation. The water was a bit warmer, so it wasn’t a dive ender at this point.

We reached the channel, and drifted across, keeping our eyes peeled for the prized old truck. We played amongst the white bed of periwinkle shells until we came upon a rock wall. We had reached one of the islands. We decided to turn back, as we had to go against the current on the way back. We circled the little island, hit a couple of back eddys, and started the journey back to Centeen Park. We saw many large fish, including a few carp, pike, and even a gar pike.

At one point, we found an area with many tree roots and branches, which looked like something out of a Harry Potter movie. We weaved in and out of them, and saw even more fish amongst the trees.

When we arrived back to shore, we all surfaced with smiles and debriefed our adventure.

Although we didn’t find the truck, we still had a blast, and it was great to gather with everyone again.

Bottom Time ~ 86 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 112′
Water Temp. ~ 53
Vis. ~ Varied between 15′ – 40′ (better visibility in the channel)

After removing my drysuit, I actually had to pour water our of my feet… I’d say it was a bit of a soggy dive…

My wet socks and booties…

A little boat that cruised by…

..and, of course, the self portrait…

As we packed up, I noticed a little dragon fly, sitting on the sidewalk…

We did our circle checks, and headed out for a bite to eat. When we came out, we noticed a dragon fly on our grill. I really hope it wasn’t the one from the sidewalk…

Despite the fate of the dragon fly, we still managed to have more fun, laughter, and diving goodness on a Sunday afternoon.


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Another Diving Weekend ~ Day 2

1 05 2009

April 24th – April 26th, 2009 ~

 Day 2

Today was an unofficial DIR Ontario day! Steve, Francois, and I went down to Centeen Park, where we met up with Greg, Jay, Oren, Kevin, and Jeremy for our favourite scooter dive. The water is warming up a bit, but it still wouldn’t be as long of a dive as we normally do in the summer.  

We brought our gear down to the entrance and geared up.

 

As we geared up, we saw another couple of friends, going for a swim…

Scott W.  and Eric B….

 

Frankie also distributed a few scooter end caps…

 

Greg, analyzing gas…

 

Jay, Oren, and Steve…

 

Greg…

 

Frankie…

 

Kevin and Jeremy…

 

Once we got in the water, we did our checks, and formed our teams. There were eight of us, so we’d have to pay a bit extra attention to detail on remaining together. We dropped down to 15′, gathered ourselves, did bubble checks, and headed out.

Our plan was to scooter out into the channel, see what we could find, then drift back onto the Gaskin. This is one of my favourite dives, and could do it just about every weekend. We don’t seem to see many of the same things twice, and we always end up back on the Gaskin.

We headed out, stopping a couple of times, to keep together, and dropped down to the channel. Ok! Time to drift!

Umm… wait a second… Where’s the current? We hovered there for a couple of minutes, but the current forgot to show up. Huh… odd. The current does vary out here, but there is usually enough in the channel for a nice drift back to the Gaskin. Apparently, not today! We decided to hit the triggers again, and zig zagged around, having a bit of fun.

Of course, we did end up back at the Gaskin, and had some more fun, with all of us zipping around the wreck. It was time to turn the dive, and we headed back in.

Bottom Time ~ 68 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 80′
Water Temp. ~ 43
Vis. ~ 30 – 50′

We pulled the gear out, then headed for a bite to eat, to share our adventure and debrief!

 

From left to right:
Jay Roy, Francois Tremblay, Jeremy Jones, Oren Levstein, Kevin Ripley, Steve Blanchard, Chantelle Blanchard, Greg Mossfeldt…

 

Gotta love the new stickers… (plug for Mark Em at Dive Signs)!! 😛

Stay tuned for Day 3!


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Zen Diving Canadian Invasion ~ 2008 ~ Part 1

12 08 2008

August 8th, 2008 ~

The weekend had finally arrived ~ The weekend that a gaggle of us from Zendiving.com were to gather for a weekend of diving fun, in Brockville. Some of our local friends joined us as well, but most were making the drive from the U.S.

 

 

Steve and I loaded up the van and trailer, and went to pick up Leigh. We had a bit of a bumpy ride with the trailer, and when we got to Leigh’s, had to slice off the hitch rest, so we didn’t snap the whole arm off… we were a little loaded down.

Leigh goofing about for the camera…

We were running a bit behind schedule in meeting up with the gang, so I called to assure that we would soon be there!! Once we arrived, we joked around about our packed van and trailer, unloaded some of our gear in various cabins, and finally headed off to Rockport Dive Centre. We chartered on out to the Kinghorn! For the Friday charter, there was myself, Steve, Leigh, Ken H., Jamie B., Andy H., Geoff, and Bob P. Chelsea and Kristen waited for us on shore. We dropped down, did our tour of the wreck, and came back up… a great dive! Thanks to Jeff Jr. for taking us out!

Bottom Time ~ 42 mins.

Max. Depth ~ 92′

Water Temp. ~ 73

Vis. ~ A bit hazy

We then ventured over to the Family Restaurant for some grub… There was also some can and creamer art that was created during this gathering! We had a ton of laughs, and Dave B. also met us there! Our group was growing! We chowed down, then decided on an evening dive at Centeen Park. Chelsea joined us for this dive as well! A few others had arrived and stopped by the park to say hello ~ Becki and Dan, and Pickenssssssssssss! Lol…

What a nice, relaxing dive. I even saw pieces of wreckage that I hadn’t seen before. There were just about every type of native fish on this dive, as well as one that wasn’t quite native… Pike, bass, gobies, suckerfish, and a suckerfish with a lamprey eel attached to it.. *shudder*

Bottom Time ~ 41 mins.

Max. Depth ~ 35′

Water Temp. ~ 73

Vis. ~ 30′

When we surfaced, Penny was there taking photos, and Bob also said hello! We also saw a large freighter pass by…

We headed back, had some great social time in Cabin 12! Reluctantly, we made our way back to our cabin, to get some rest for the next day’s charters!


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Categories : Diving Chronicles Of 2008!, Invasions

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