Chanb77's Weblog

Friday, June 26th, 2009 ~

I packed the DGTU #2 with two sets of doubles and a scooter, and made the journey to Kingston. Steve was already there, interning on a Fundies course, and I was going to meet Andy for some diving goodness.

I arrived at the shop early, and attempted to use my little old laptop. Booting it up was painfully slow, and I wasn’t having much success. I finally got frustrated, and James and I took off to the store, to purchase a netbook. I’ve been wanting one of those little guys for a while, and it was the insubordination of my laptop that finally pushed me over the edge.

In our quest for the netbook, James found a purchase for himself, which proved quite humourous, when we returned to the shop. Apparently, the super soaker is 20 years old now, and they’ve come out with an Anniversary Edition…

James caught a rabbit…

…and a Mike…

Since I received news that my dive buddy was running a bit late, I headed over to the quarry, with the class, for a few class pictures.

Steve, and our DGTU #1…

Dan…

Steve, getting his students ready…

I like this one of Guy…

When the class had finished their day, and Andy made it to town, we all went out for some grub, and called it a night.

Saturday, June 27th, 2009 ~

Saturday, we all met at the shop, and tried to get on a boat. The boats were fully booked, so we were contemplating which shore dive to do.

While the boats were loading, I also ran into David and Cynthia, from California, that I had chatted with earlier in the year.

Here’s David, with his left chest clip…

David and Cynthia…

Andy, Jenn E., and I decided to head over to Amherst Island. We packed up DGTU #2, and headed for the ferry.

We arrived at the public dock, and came upon some really nice people fishing, with a ton of questions about diving.

Andy and the entry point…

Exit…

I had never been to this site before, and would really be putting my compass skills to the test. We were given a brief description of what we might find, and that there was a rock wall to follow.

We entered the water, did a briefing, and headed off to explore. The visibility wasn’t that great above 20′, but the water was pretty warm. We were swimming amongst the weeds for a bit, then decided to go down the sloping silt for a bit, to see if we could find the wall. When I say silt… holy smokes… That bottom layer had such loose silt on it, that you could probably put your arm right down through it, and still not feel the bottom. There was a definite thermocline at 21′, and you could actually see the haze of the warmer water above it. The visibility was much better at 21′.

We saw alot of dirt, weeds, the odd little fish, some pipe, and some rather large Sheepshead Carp. There were quite a few of them, although very elusive. We did find a few old pots and pans, as well as a couple of bowls, urns, and bottles. Other than that, not much else. We never did find that limestone wall. After deciding that we had seen enough dirt for one day, we turned the dive, and headed back in. I took a bearing on my compass, and we had a nice swim back.

When we surfaced, I was very pleasantly surprised to see that we were right at the dock, where we started. Wow… those compass things really DO work!

Bottom Time ~ 67 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 36′
Water Temp. ~ 68 above thermocline; 60 below
Visibility ~ 10′ – 40′

Andy and I…

Jenn, playing with my P Valve…lol…

We packed up, and headed back over to the ferry, where we took a ride back over to the main land.

It seems my iPod was following along the same path as my laptop, and would not work. Sorry… no Lady Gaga on the way back to the shop.

We felt like getting back into the water, so we headed over to the Brule Road Quarry, and Andy and I dipped in for some skills.

Bottom Time ~ 38 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 26′
Water Temp. ~ 66
Visibility ~ 5′ – 20′

A big group of us ended up going to Montana’s for some food, then to sleep!

Sunday, June 28th, 2009 ~

There was a charter available for us, so myself, Andy, Kevin, Dave H., Cynthia, Sean, and Claudia joined Anne on Sorobon for some diving goodness!

The lake was pretty flat, so I was good to go.

We went out to the Marsh for our first dive. The Marsh is a three masted schooner, sitting upright, in about 80′ of water. The bow sprit is completely intact, and still has ropes and chains hanging from it. This is one of my favourite Kingston wrecks.

We descended down to the wreck, and made a couple of passes up and down, looking at the dead eyes, then heading to the bow, to get a good view of the front of the wreck. I always seem to do that on this wreck. It’s hard not to, when it is so stunning to look at.

Bottom Time ~ 35 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 79′
Water Temp. ~ 49
Visibility ~ 20′

Seeing as the lake was still flat when we surfaced, my stomach allowed me to do a second dive, which was on the Maple Glen.

I had never done this wreck before, and was pleasantly surprised by how much there was to see on it. We descended to the wreck, and came up to a set of very large boilers. There was wreckage spread out over quite a distance, and really kept my interest. We then came up to a very large prop, which was also pretty amazing to see.

Bottom Time ~ 38 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 69′
Water Temp. ~ 47
Visibility ~ 20′

What an awesome day on the lake, and I did not feed the fish!

We returned back to the shop, where we unloaded the boats, and missed the torrential downpour of rain.

It was another most excellent weekend of diving goodness, and hanging out with friends!

Guy, Dan, and Steve ~ The Dream Team!

Andy, looking sharp in his new “DIR Ontario” jacket!