Three Sister Islands

17 06 2014

Sunday, June 15th, 2014 ~

While Steve was away, playing with WKPP and Suex-folk, Eric and I went out for a dip in the St. Lawrence. We went to our usual “leaving spot,” but wanted to go in a different direction.

Since we had more “go-go juice,” with the XK-1s, our plan was to go downstream, toward the Three Sister Islands, look around for a bit, then make our way back. Our max run time was going to be 2 hours, but we figured that we would have gas limitations, before that.

We went towards the Gaskin, first – we definitely saw the anchor, but the rest of the wreck was shadowed in a cloud – then made our way to the channel, where we drifted for a few minutes, then hit the triggers, along with the current. I swear, it felt like we were Superman and Jimmy, as we flew along with the current. I’m not sure who was who, but it sure was fun.

The water was a little bit higher than normal, and as we drifted along at around 100′, I’m sure that we were within spitting distance of the truck. We didn’t see it, but we knew we were close. It was hard to see anything, really, since the visibility wasn’t that great.

We made it to the islands, and we are pretty sure that we were in between the 2nd and 3rd island, as we hit a current “vortex.” The currents are strong, going through this area, and with the positioning of the islands, there are currents that wrap around them. We rode the “vortex” for a while, and as we both checked our compasses, we noticed that we were headed in the opposite direction. We had assumed that this was the case, knowing that the currents were different, here… and why we both checked direction at the same time.

We pointed tour scooters in a Northerly direction, and headed back. We were on the XK1’s full speed, for 20 minutes, as we scootered against the strong currents. I swear, it felt like I had done a serious weight-lifting workout, at the gym. That was some power! It only took us 20 minutes to get back, where it has taken us much longer, with our other scooters. Pretty impressive! We made our way up to 50′, then 40′, where we picked up the line, back to the bowl, near the entry, at around 20′.

We parked our gear at the log, and did a couple of valve drills, before coming in.

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 27 mins.
Max. Depth: 110′
Water Temp.: 59F
Vis. 10′ to 30′ (better in the channel, than near the Gaskin)

Pile o’ gear…

Eric, bringing his tanks back up…

Public Service Announcement, due to the Hydroplane races:

We were glad to be back in the River, doing some fun scooter diving! XK-1, for the win!


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Categories : Two-Oh-One-Four

XK-Won

25 05 2014

Saturday, May 24th, 2014 ~

A long day, but a great day of Diving Goodness, in and around the St. Lawrence River.

Our morning didn’t quite go as we had planned, so we ended up being a little later than we had hoped, at the river. We met Christian, and since the water was warming up, a little, we wanted to do a little bit longer of a scooter run. Of course, as soon as we arrived, the rain started to come down like baseballs. It lightened up enough, for us to bring our gear down to the water, then started again, as we tried to gear up. We had the big white van, so Steve and I each had an end of the van, and got dressed. As soon as we were ready, the rain stopped. Of course, right?

We had an extra scooter with us, that we were testing out, after a repair, as well as the camera. I opted to take the extra scooter, while Steve took the camera. It’s been a little while since I towed another scooter (Mexico cavezzz),  and I welcomed the practice. We did our gear checks, stretched out (still, winter undies), and were off. The visibility was not that great, and the water was a bit greenish, for this time of year. We scootered upstream for a while, then dropped into the channel. W00 H00! We saw quite a few dead gobies, along the way (more than usual), which were mostly wrapped in white fuzz. We drifted along, keeping a look out for anything neat. There were spots with many bottles, a lot of rock, periwinkle shells, and even the odd bass and sheepshead carp.

We made our way to the Unknown Hull, where Steve took a few pictures.

The visibility wasn’t that great, but he did get a few shots.

It was then time to go… We made our way up to 65′, where we eventually got up to the Gaskin. Poor thing, looks pretty rough, this year. It is sad, watching the bow fall apart.

I was starting to get pretty chilly, so I signalled to Steve, to turn the dive. We started to make our way back to the shallows, where we hung out for a bit, then made our way in. Ahhhhh…. Back  in the RIVA!!!

Bottom Time: 2 hours, 6 minutes
Max. Depth: 108′
Water Temp.: 51F
Vis.: Not great, for this time of year, but clearer in the channel.

 

Normally, when we get out, someone will stay with the scooters, until someone goes and drops their tanks, then comes back to bring them out. Alas, those days are over, for us… Even with my doubles on, I was able to pick up the XK1, with no issues, and bring it out of the water, with my stage bottle. Ahhhh…. Suex, I appreciate you (…and Steve)!!! 😀

When we got out, it was beautiful out, again!

After our dive, Steve and I headed over the border, to see Chris, Bob, Stacey, Lisa, Mario, Nate, Jen, Julie, and Hong! I didn’t get to taste Hong’s egg rolls, but I really look forward to it, another time!!! 😀

 

It was pretty late, when we got home, so we left the unloading for the next morning.

Diving Goodness, hanging by the fire, with friends = The Best!

Until next week!

 


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Categories : Two-Oh-One-Four

A Different Route

20 11 2013

Saturday, November 9th, 2013 ~ 

For today’s dive, we were getting in at St. Lawrence Park, then drifting and scootering to Centeen Park.

Entry…

Gear at the entry…

We decided to go upstream a little bit, to the little wreck that we came across, a few years ago. Steve had rebuilt the motor in my Little Red Rocket, so we were testing it out, along with another one that he had rebuilt, that he was using. We had an extra one, for back up.

Very short video of the little wreck, from a previous dive *WARNING* VERY POOR QUALITY* 🙂

https://vimeo.com/32125823

We had a quick look, and then made our way south (thanks to Mike, for turning off my back-up light). We dropped into the channel, and back up to the other side, where we started to drift. There were a couple of spots where there wasn’t much current, so we hit the triggers for a bit.

We found a few new spots that we had not been to before, and there were some really neat rock formations. We have seen horse harnesses in the river, but not as many as I saw, today (they were to the right of me, so the others didn’t see the first few). There were three harnesses, all within about 50′ to 100′ from each other. Sadly, I’m sure that it did not end well for those horses (from the “olden days”). We also saw an air stack that appeared to be from a very large ship (freighter, perhaps). We also noticed that they may have tried to recover it.

There were a lot of really cool places along this route! A definite redo is in order!

It seemed that both of our rebuilt motor scooters were in most awesome form, and as we hit our turn time, we made our way a bit more shallow, until we reached the “Unknown Hull,” where we had a little look. It has been a while since we have been to this little one, too! Then, onward to the Gaskin! Mike had found a little leprechaun Halloween figurine, and after having some fun with it for a while (sticking it in Steve’s scooter strap), Steve passed it to me. As we got to the Gaskin, I placed it outside the wreck, for good keeping. He shall guard the wreck, now. At least, I hope he does. That poor wreck is falling apart.

We hit the triggers for home, did our deco stops, and as we were heading in, I noticed a very small gar pike. It may have been the same one that I saw a few weeks ago. He gave us a little show with his mouth. They are such neat looking fish!

Bottom Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Max. Depth: 113′
Water Temp.: 50F
Vis.: Decent, but dark. No sunlight to light up our day!

Thanks to Chris, who gave us the Santi Panties Dance, in his undies that he won at the Invasion!

Yes… I did show him a few of the moves, but he had some good ones of his own, too!

Well, I couldn’t get a pic of the exit, but you may have seen some Centeen Park pics, in previous Bloggy Thing entries. By the time we retrieved the vehicles (we had one at Centeen), loaded them, and got changed, it was a bit dark.

With that, I leave you with a selfie, at the entry!


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Categories : 2000 + 13

Smells Like Centeen Spirit

14 10 2013

Sunday, October 13th, 2013 ~

We packed up, and made our way down to Brockville, for some scootering and drifting Goodness! We brought the gear to the water, geared up, and away we went, upstream.

Frankie, Eric V., Christian St-P., and Dave were heading out to the truck, too.

As we made our way up, the “Little Red Rocket” scooter seemed to be struggling, a little. At 15 minutes, it just didn’t seem to be running right. At 18 minutes, it really felt tired. So… I passed it to Cas, and Steve towed me into the channel. Since we were on a drift dive anyway, it wasn’t a big deal.

We drifted for about 40 minutes, and saw a bunch of different things. I found a cooking pot lid. It didn’t make a great frisbee, so I tried it on as a hat. Since it wasn’t great for either purpose, I placed it back down onto the periwinkle shells. We found a couple of pieces of broken china, some bottles, barrels attached to wooden planks (they looked like they had been there for a while), and we even saw a Gar Pike. I haven’t seen one of those in quite a while, so it was neat to see it. He even opened his mouth, and we saw his razor-sharp teeth!

As it was time for us to start making our way in, I tried my scooter again. It was trying, and I was at least able to make it back up, for most of the way. Then, it was just sleepy, so I passed it off to Cas again, and Steve towed me back up into the shallows. We hung out at 20′ for a few minutes, met up with Frankie and Eric, and went up and in.

Quite a fun dive! I tried out my new Santi 9mm hood today, and it was really warm! It felt like I had a heater on my head!

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 52 minutes
Max. Depth: 105′
Water Temp.: 62F

Cas, bringing up some gear!

Sofie, with the dolly, guarding the sthcooterthz!

Duo selfie…

Some of the group! Eric V., Dave, Frankie, Steve, Christian St-P…

I hope my Little Red Rocket is ok! Until the next dive!


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Categories : 2000 + 13

Anchor’s Away!

16 09 2013

Sunday, September 15th, 2013 ~

Well, since we never go to Centeen Park (a little bit of sarcasm, there), we decided to go for another scooter/drift dive, entering at the park. Frankie was down for the day, and Eric B. joined us, too.

We hit the triggers upstream for a bit, then dropped into the channel. We headed up the embankment on the other side, and started to drift. We found a lot of wreckage along the way, some cool bottles, and a lot of things that we had not seen before. We then came upon a very large anchor, that Steve had seen before. This thing was absolutely massive. The chain links were bigger than Steve’s hand. The current is a little strong in this area, so we didn’t stay long, but it was a really neat thing to see. I hope we can find this one again!

Apart from that, we did have quite a few laughs, made our way back up, did a little deco, then headed back in! Just another day in the Riva!

Bottom Time: 2 hours, 6 mins.
Max. Depth: 108′
Water Temp.: 68F


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Categories : 2000 + 13

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