Jacob Came To Town!

18 04 2011

Friday, April 8th, 2011 ~

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. 😛

Come back soon, ya hear!?


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Visitors!

6 02 2011

Saturday, February 5th, 2011 ~

Jen, Oren, and Chris P. came up to join in on some Ice Diving Goodness! We headed up to the quarry, where we also met up with Eric. It seemed that our hole had completely frozen over again, so we decided that it was a good time to reshape it, back into the hectagon that we like. We had double chainsaw action, and it was a group effort!

I cleared snow off of the picnic tables, for our doubles…

…and the hole was complete…

Planning our dive…

Jen…

We had a pretty good and fun dive, despite me being a little light, with my thick, heated  undies. I also managed a free flow on my backup reg. After I shut down my left post, we headed in.

On today’s dive, I put the DUI heated system on from the beginning, at 75%. What a nice feeling, to be consistantly warm. I was never chilled once. 🙂

Bottom Time ~ 42 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 44′ (Avg. 26′)
Water Temp. ~ 39F
Visibility ~ Pretty decent

 Chris, taking a picture of me, taking a picture…

From the quarry, we headed down to The Works, which seems to have become our favourite apres-dive place to eat, since Jean Burger burned down. Kevin also met us there. So.. after our meals, it was time to go see Sanctum!

Review tomorrow! 😀


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Even The Sunlight Freezes In Canada

19 01 2011

Saturday, January 15th, 2011 ~

Wo0 Hoo! Time for Ice Diving Goodness!

Frankie was in town, and Eric met at our place, to go up to the quarry. It seemed that Mother Nature had a snowstorm in store for us today, so we braved the roads, and headed for water.

When we arrived, there were a few other divers there, with the same intentions. There was already a hole cut, but we decided to cut another one, in our fancy hectagonal shape. Nice going, Steve!

Steve ran the line and tied it into the main line. From there, we headed to the plane, where we messed about for a while, then played around some more, while I took a few pictures.

Eric, Frankie, and Steve…

Steve, going under the wing of the plane…

Frankie, flying…

Eric…

We did a tour past the boat, and made our way back, playing around in the water, of course.

Frankie and Steve played light saber wars…

High Five!

..and.. what is the dive day, without a self portrait? I’m not sure what was up with my serious face, but I was definitely having fun. 🙂

Coming back in…

Bottom Time ~ 46 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 31′ (Avg. 18′)
Water Temp. ~ 35F
Visibility ~ Pretty decent

It was pretty chilly out, so it didn’t take long for our gear to start freezing up…

Evelyn told us that Zora had been guarding our van, during our entire dive. She didn’t even move when Evelyn came by!

Once we cleaned the cars off, we took a run up to see if Jean Burger had reopened yet. They were well on their way with rebuilding, but it was not ready yet! Oh well… at least it won’t be too much longer. Poutine is a staple after ice diving! We ended up going out to Buffet Des Continents, which is always yummy!

The drive home was a slow one, with all of the snow. Cars were in the ditches, left and right!

Sunday, January 16th, 2011 ~

Well, it was definitely another extremely frosty day, and we went diving. I decided to leave the camera behind today, and just play around in the water.  

When we arrived at the quarry, we noticed that someone had recut our hole, which was fine, but they clearly had motor oil in their chainsaw. This is extremely bad for both the water and our gear/drysuits. There is nowhere for the oil to travel, so it will sit in the hole, until the ice melts. It is much better to use vegetable oil, instead of motor oil. We have a designated chain saw for this.

It can be broken up with some Sunlight dish soap, but we hadn’t brought any with us, this time. Evelyn had some in the cabin, but it was frozen solid. Steve stuck it in front of the heater and wood stove to thaw.

After about a half hour, we were able to get some drops out, and cleared up the ice hole. *Phew*

We geared up and got in.

Today’s dive was a shorter one, and a very relaxing one. We just tinkered a bit, and swam through the boat and plane. We manipulated valves, and just hovered in the water for a while. Not our most exciting dive, but still very enjoyable.

Bottom Time ~ 36 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 55′ (Avg. 24′)
Water Temp. ~ 39F

Until next week!


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First Dive Of 2011

8 01 2011

Sunday, January 2nd, 2011 ~

Well, we had good intentions of diving on January 1st, but it just didn’t happen. We were way too lazy, and took the day off of everything. 🙂

Sunday, it was time to dive! We met Eric, Cory, and Raluca at the quarry, and were quite pleasantly surprised to see that it was still open. We have had some above normal temperatures, which seems to have kept things nice and unfrozen. I couldn’t believe that we hardly had any snow in our town.

The parking lot was still extremely icy, so I opted to wheel my doubles over to the beach area, instead of wearing them, as I figured I would probably wipe out. Well.. that proved to be the wrong decision.. I did wipe out, while wheeling them, giving me plenty of bruises, and an extremely black and swollen pinky finger. Murphy, murphy, murphy…

Oh well, time to dive…

Steve and I were going to run a permanent line from around 15′, past the plane, to the boat. That way, it will be easier under the ice, and we can also practice our cave diving skills. Cory and Raluca were working on skills, with Eric tagging along.

Steve had the reel as we dropped down, and away we went. We made our way to the plane…

 

Then towards the boat…

…to the wood stacks…

…and tied it off at about 70’…

I then handed Steve the camera, and he took a couple of pics of me…

As we made our way back to the plane, we met up with the rest of the gang, and swam back to the shallows. Steve also placed a line arrow at the beginning of the line.

We surfaced…

…and decided to back in for more.

Some shots of everyone…

Bottom Time ~ 57 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 75′ (Avg. 39′)
Water Temp. ~ 39
Visibility ~ Getting better

After our dive, we packed up, then headed to The Works, for some burgers. We were also celebrating Cory’s Birthday! Since mine was the following day, we both received coupons for a complimentary burger on our next visit. Sweet!

What a great way to spend the beginning of the year!


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2010 In Review!

8 01 2011

This year was another great one, as far as Diving Goodness is concerned!

We started the year off at the quarry, and ended it somewhere nice and warm.

Shot from New Year’s dive 2010, of Steve and Jay…

In March, our Freediving friends were back, and we got more shots and video of them…

Stills Video…

Steve’s Video…

We still kept up our skills and drills at the quarry, and had many friends join us there…

There was even this one time.. at band camp…

…and even friends that couldn’t be there, but sent a little piece of them to be with us…

Our first river dive of the year was at Farran Park, on Easter Weekend. Water temps. were around 41 …

Our friend, Jeff, finished off his Commercial Diving course, and it was great to have him back around!

Dives in Rockport…

Exploring in the St. Lawrence…

..and we even made friends with some sea creatures…

We spent a bit of time in Kingston, as Steve was teaching some Fundies courses. I either helped out or found my own friends to dive with…

We also made a few trips to the Jodrey, where we also had many friends visit and join us…

We did some investigating at some other sites as well…

I also met two of the most fascinating ladies ever: Edith and Sandra. They gave me so many details and stories about their childhoods, and growing up along the St. Lawrence River, before it was flooded. I could have listened to them for days. It was amazing to learn from them.

Eric also proved that it is entirely possible to dive out of a Mini. Doubles, scooter, and stages…

Fred came up to visit us in Kingston, and DIR Ontario organized seminars over two days. Fred gave us updates from the MCEP, CINDAQ, a line survey workshop, and a presentation on the Bosnia cave systems. Steve joined in and gave a seminar on Gavin Scooter Maintenance as well. It was a fun weekend!

Fred also presented us with a CINDAQ sensor, in the name of DIR Ontario, that would be placed in one of the cave systems, and when any of us go down to visit, we can retrieve the sensor, download the data, then replace it back into the system. Very cool stuff!

Thank you, Fred!

Then came the Invasions…

This was the 3rd Annual Brockville Invasion, and had grown 30 people strong. We had an excellent weekend of amazing people, alot of laughs, and some great dives. We had friends from all over North America.

This was the second year for the Kingston Invasion, the following weekend. Another amazing group of people…

This year, we also found tiny jelly fish in the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario. This was a pretty neat thing to see!

When the Jodrey was closed down to diving, due to an oil leak, we found another Tech wreck to dive.. The Oconto. This was definitely rock and roll. I imagine we will do this one again next year. 🙂

We gathered a crew together, and repaired the vandalized line to the Gaskin.

Then there was Mexico. We went for two weeks of bliss, in the Mexican caves. Well.. one week of bliss and the GUE Conference, and a second week of tired, working bliss that Cave 2 brought on. :p

We got to retrieve our CINDAQ sensor from Xtabay and download the data, which was really fun to do. I really enjoy the GUE Conferences, as it is not only full of interesting information, but it is awesome to meet so many people from all over the world, and put faces to the names that we see on the internet. This is the best part.

Cheers to yet another wonderful year of Diving Goodness, and another cheers to 2011!


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