Chanb77's Weblog

The day had come… This was the last leg in the ZD Canadian Invasion tour. We got up early, loaded the van and trailer once again, and headed over to Caiger’s. Toast again for me.

We headed over to customs again, as our first dive was on the Vickery. I hadn’t done this dive before, and was looking forward to it.

Steve, Leigh, and I dropped down, and headed down the line. The current is absolutely ripping here, until you get over the wall, and get into the wreck. Luckily the line is there, so you can play flag pole.

We ventured over the wall, and let go of the line, heading over to the wreck. We went inside for a peek, and were sheltered from the current.

What a cool wreck… Even with the ripping current, this wreck was a fun one. As we swam across the deck, I peeked over the bow, and felt the current pushing my face back. We drifted back over to the line, then swam off of it a bit, checking out the periwinkle shells and seeing if there was anything interesting behind the rocks. We didn’t find much, so went back and did our ascent. I’ll definitely have to do this wreck again!

Bottom Time ~ 36 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 104′
Water Temp. ~ 73
Vis. ~ Much nicer here

We then headed over to Jeff’s dock, where there is a Canadian customs dock. We couldn’t touch land, and we were a bit warm, so Steve, myself, and Jen splashed in for a cool off. As long as we didn’t touch the dock or the bottom, we were good to go.

Thank goodness for my She-P!

They allowed us back in the country, and we headed over to the Kinghorn again. This time, Ken and Dave loaned us their X Scooters! Steve and Leigh had them first, and I tagged along beside them down the line. The current was a bit stronger than it had been on Friday, so it took me a bit longer than the scooter boyz to get to the descent line…

We descended, swam around, and the boys took turns buzzing me with the scooters. Finally it was my turn… The leash was a bit too long for my short arms, but what fun it was. They are a little more “squirrely” compared to a Gavin, but very quick to turn, and pretty easy to handle. If I had money to burn, I’m sure I’d get one of these for boat diving! Thanks to Dave and Ken for letting us try them! Pretty fun dive! We also noticed that Jamie and Andy had served up a plate of dead Gobie and Crayfish inside the wreck.

We waved to all of our Zen friends as we passed as well!

Bottom Time ~ 49 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 92′
Water Temp. ~ 73
Vis. ~ A bit hazy

We returned to Caiger’s, where some people had to get going on their long drives home, and a bunch of us gathered for another round of laughter and food. I don’t think any of us will look at wet naps the same again… thanks Leigh…Lol…

A great big thank you to everyone for travelling so far, to come diving with us. I had not planned a diving trip before, and you all made it so easy. Thanks to everyone for helping out, and to Pickeeeeeeeeennnnnnnssss for cooking our BBQ (It was all you!). I have learned a few things along the way, that will aid in planning next year’s trip as well.

I would also like to thank Dive Tech for donating T Shirts for the raffle, Jeff at Rockport Dive Centre, for the dive and for also donating T Shirts, Thousand Islands Pleasure Diving (Wayne, Chantal, Scott, and Jim) for accomodating us on the charters, and for keeping the speed boats at bay… Andy and Jamie for helping out with the raffle, Pickens again, for donating prizes for the raffle.

…and to absolutely everyone who joined us for diving goodness and laughter. Thank you so much for the gift as well. I can’t get over how amazing all of you were, and how thoughtful it was. You even put up with me during the raffle… ROFL…

I’m still in awe over how incredible this group of people was to be with… on land and in the water. Amazing people and solid divers.

Thanks for enjoying the weekend!

Come back soon eh?

Saturday, August 9th, 2008 ~

We were up and at ’em early, and headed over to Caiger’s. We loaded our gear onto the Osprey, and headed into the restaurant for breakfast. Seeing as I normally turn green on boats, I ordered some Rye toast and water… that was plenty for me.

We boarded and headed out to Boldt Castle, to go through customs. Penny, Bob, Dave B., Ken H., Kristen H., Oren L., Sean M., Becki, Dan, Dave P., Jean, Steve, Leigh, and I were diving from the Osprey, and Geoff, Jamie, Andy, and Bob P. were diving from the Island Diver. It would have been great if we could have been on the same boat, but there were just too many of us!

Geoff and Jamie (notice the Shark Bites T Shirt!)…

Krisren, Ken, Pue, Bob, Pickens, and Dave B….

Bob, Pickens, Dave B., Becki, Dan, Jean…

Sean, Steve, and Oren…

Andy, Chelsea, and Bob P….

Leigh…

There was a poker run going on in the river, so there were these great beasts of boats flying through the water at high speeds, and sometimes flying through the air. As cool as it was, we were about to be in the water, and we didn’t fancy getting our heads chopped off by flying boats. There were a handful of charters already on the wreck, and it wasn’t safe at all, with the boats flying by. Another boat captain radioed in to the Coast Guard, and they came in until all the dives were done.

Steve, Leigh, and I teamed up and dropped in first. We were on the basket mooring, in about 20′ of water, so we hung out under the boat, while Steve filmed everyone splashing in. We dropped down, filmed as we descended, and went down to the props. We made our way back up the deck side, and went underneath the wreck, and up to the shoal, where we filmed some more. We went back under, and made our way back up for an ascent. Very cool dive.

Bottom Time ~ 48 mins.

Max. Depth ~ 100′

Water Temp. ~ 73

Vis. ~ 25′

When we surfaced, the speed boats weren’t coming as close to us as they were before, and we could actually admire them. We had been asked by the Coast Guard not to venture into the channel for our next dive, which was supposed to be the America, so we opted for another dive on the Keystorm. Since the boat was a-rockin’ from all of the wake, I opted to chill on the boat for the second dive, while the others splashed in. Yes, I know it would have been better for me in the water, but I just didn’t feel 100%, and the sun had beaten me up a bit, so I basked in the shade for a while. When the others came back aboard, I helped lift stages and remove fins as they came up.

As we made the trip back to the docks, we watched the poker run boats speed by, making rooster tails, and flying through the air. There were even helicopters flying by, right overtop of the boats. It was a pretty amazing scene!

We made it safely back to Caiger’s, and headed back to the plantation for a BBQ. There were laughs a plenty at this gathering. Pickens was the head chef, who offered to cook our steaks and chicken for us… What a cook! Pickens…. you rock! After a delicious dinner, we had a raffle for various prizes. It seemed that every ticket I pulled belonged to Pickens, so he wound up with alot of Canada swag and a couple of T Shirts. Everyone walked away with a prize or two though! I have to say that this was one of the most amusing evenings I’ve encountered for a very long time… I still can’t believe I didn’t pass out from embarassment… rofl… literally… ;o)

Penny, Bob P., Chelsea, Geoff, Ken, and Kristen, with Oren in the background…

Chelsea, Geoff, Ken, Kristen, Andy, WB…

Geoff, WB, Andy, Dave B., Becki, Dan…

After the raffle, I was presented with the most thoughtful gift. Everyone had chipped in and had a glass figure custom made for me. It is a girl diver on a wreck, which was based on the Picton wreck. She even has doubles on! :o) I never imagined anything like this, and it even brought tears to my eyes. Thank you so much to everyone…

Andy and Jamie!

Pickennnnnnnsssssssssss…

A bunch of us decided to go for a night scooter dive at Centeen Park! Myself, Steve, Leigh, Ken, Dave B., Oren, Jean, and Stephane hit the road! When we got there, Hubert Chretien was leading a group of physically challenged divers in the water… such an amazing thing to see.

We geared up, got in, and headed out to the Gaskin. I imagine it looked like quite the light show out on the wreck! I’m sure the two swimming divers on the wreck didn’t expect to see 8 people on machines, with light sabers. We had a fantastic time driving around the wreck, and I wish we had had the camera. It was absolutely spectacular! We saw some sheephead carp and some little round fish that we only seem to see at night. I’m not sure what they are.

When we surfaced, we were all reflecting light off of our teeth, from the size of the grins on our faces. What a wicked dive!

Bottom Time ~ 44 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 69′
Water Temp. ~ 73
Vis. ~ Darkish…lol…

I wanted to get a shot of all of the scooters, but by the time I brought the camera down, half of them were gone… doh!

We headed back to the cabins, where we had a quick bevvie and headed to sleep!