River, you say? I’m in! A small gaggle of us went for a tour! It was time to test the truck location (meaning, to see if we could locate it again), and show it to our friends that had yet to see it! At least, that was the plan…
Myself, Steve, Chris P., Oren, Jen B., Mike, and Michel had scooters, and were willing to travel… in the water… to the truck… we hoped!
Our first stop was the Gaskin, since our bearings had been from there. We reached it, headed South, then east, then for a drift! The current wasn’t moving as quickly this time around, so it did take a little longer, moving along the channel.
Wouldn’t you know it… TRUCK! SWEET! That is three times, now (although, I missed one of the times, due to my ripped neck seal). Jen had her camera with her, and got some video. So, yes… There is videographic evidence that we have seen the truck! No photoshop involved! w00t!
More visitors! Ken and Debbie came up for a splash! We were going to go for a nice, leisurely swim out to the Gaskin, to introduce Debbie to the Riva! Steve was tending to the fill station, so Mike P. came out to buddy up with me.
We had our dive breifing, gear checks, and off we went! It had been a while since I have done a swim out to the Gaskin!
There wasn’t a whole lot of current on the way out, until the last 20 kicks, where it usually picks up. The visibility was absolutely horrible, and we couldn’t even see the wreck, once we reached it!
The swim back was a cinch. We had a little help from the current, bringing us back to our entry!
Bottom Time: 62 mins.
Max Depth: 59′
Water Temp.: 73F
Ken…
Mike…
Me!
Then, time for some Boston Pizza!
Ken and Debbie, thank you for coming to visit! Tt was great to see you and dive with you! Please come back for some more Diving Goodness!
Hong was coming up to meet us for some Diving Goodness, in Brockville! The plan was to go for a dive with Hong, then for a scooter dive, afterwards. Well… we suited up, and then I had that horrible feeling, when the latex seal on your drysuit just pulls apart, ending your hopes of a dive. Normally, I would have just used some duct tape, as a quick fix, but this was irreparable… from top to bottom, on an angle, and all the way down. *Le sigh* I guess I would be watching from the sidelines, today… and I would have a long wait.
Hong and Steve got into the water, did gear checks, then went for a swim. They went to the Gaskin, swam around for a while, then came back. I would give more details, but sadly, I wasn’t there… đ
Hong and Steve, doing gear checks, and debriefing…
Hong, waving, as they descend!
Raluca went in for a splash, before her dive! It was pretty hot and humid out!
It appears that they did have a good time.
Uh ohh…. Now that Hong has touched a scooter, I fear it will not be long before he will “need” one in his gear collection!
Who is that, you ask?
…and Hong’s bad a$$ hat!
Eric strikes a pose!
Cory gets in the water…
…followed by Raluca…
Gear checks, and another dive briefing…
Hong was kind enough to wait around with me, while the others went for a bit of a scooter dive. We tried to stay a bit sheltered from the sun, by hanging out under a tree.
When everyone came back, it was time for dinner! Sadly, our favourite fajitas place was closed down… *Sniff*
While it did really suck to watch everyone else dive, it was still a nice, relaxing day by the water. đ
I guess that’s about it, for this week! *Off to get my neck seal repaired!*
It is hard to believe, but after 5 years of searching for that elusive old Chevy truck, we found the darn thing. Yes, other people have found it, and even with others’ directions (including GPS coordinates, that we hadn’t used), we were still not able to find the thing.. until today.
Scooters, taken by Eric Bourque…
The goal of the dive was not even to search for the truck! We scootered upstream, dropped into the channel, then drifted. We drifted for a while, then came back up to 65′, where we ended up at the Gaskin.
Since we had time and gas, we took a bearing off of the Gaskin, scootered south, then east, then drifted… It was myself, Steve, Eric, and James, and since the visibility was not that great, we spread out enough that we could still see each other and our lights, but also enough so that we could cover a good bit of ground. I was on the far left side, then Steve, then James, then Eric.
We were all keeping our eyes peeled, when up ahead, I saw a very slight darkness in the ground. This is normal though, as the riverbed does change in places, form periwinkle shells to dirt, and vice versa. Just to be sure, I hit the trigger… HOLY CRAP!!! IT’S A TRUCK!!!
I signaled like a mad lady, and everyone scootered over. It did occur to me that they might think I was pulling an “Out Of Gas,” but since we were on the lookout for something that we had been searching for for years, I was confident that they would realize that it was definitely fast signal worthy.
I think we did happy dances for about 10 minutes (Ok, it might have been 5, but it seemed longer). We swam and scootered around it, checking it out. From the size of it, it is definitely an easy target to miss, especially in visibility like this!
Of course, there was absolutely no photographic or videographic evidence of this dive… I guess we will just have to go back!
Bottom Time: 2 hours, 11 minutes
Max. Depth: 105′
Water Temp.: 68F
Most excellent!
James, Steve, me, Eric. Taken by Eric Bourque and his camera timer. đ
Also, a shout-out to Laurynn! We found it on your Birthday! w00t! đ
This year has been another wonderful adventure, and we were blessed with some really amazing new and existing friendships.
We usually do a New Year’s Day dive, which we did, but it ended up being on the 2nd, instead of the 1st. There was not much snow on the ground, and the quarry was still open!
It did not take long for the quarry to freeze, and Ice Diving Goodness Season was upon us. I was very fortunate, to be able to test the DUI Heated Undergarment, too!
Then there was the release of the movie, Sanctum. A group of us went to see it, on its second night of showing, and decided to do a parody of it, the following day. We had quite a bit of fun, filming Sanked ‘Em. There were so many tears of laughter had, and thoughts of a sequel. Thanks to Chris Phinney, for his handy dandy camera work, and editing while being a passenger, on the way back home!
Then… Jacob came to visit, and try this ice diving thing! He was just in time, as this was the last weekend of an ice-covered quarry!
We were even able to take him down to the river, for some Scootering Goodness!
John Bailey got a bad ass tattoo!
We also hosted a GUE Meet ‘N’ Greet, which brought some new faces, and shared some information about GUE.
Andy and I, at the quarry!
Fred and Angelica came to town, too. It was really great to be able to share some of our dive sites with Fred, and to spend some time with both of them!
Raphael, Denis, Mick, and Mark came up for a visit too, and we went out for some St. Lawrence River diving!
We spent some more time doing some exploring, in the St. Lawrence River. We did some nice three hour dives, with our scooters.
Becky and I had threatened on many occasions to go diving together, and did not seem to be able to coordinate. Then the stars aligned, and Becky came up to dive with us! We had a blast!
I could have sworn that I saw David on one of the dives…
Becky took some shots of us, too (Below pics by Becky Kagan Schott)…
We then had the 2011 Brockville Canadian Invasion. This was the biggest group to date (50 people), and everyone was just absolutely wonderful. Thanks to all for being so wonderful!
I was also very fortunate to get one of the first Light Monkey wings, in which I started diving at the Invasion. This is a really nice wing, in which I have tried a few different tank combinations with.
*Thumbs up!* Thank you, Light Monkey!
Forest Rothchild did a write-up of his thoughts on the Invasion. Thank you, Forest!
Then came the Kingston Invasion, which was smaller this year, but still much fun!
After the Invasions, we were finally able to meet Heleen and Sander, who came to visit us from Holland. They had been to Alberta for a week, before seeing us, then we took them out for some dives, and to see the infamous plane! We had been looking forward to meeting them for a few years, and the time finally came! w00t!!!
Here are Heleen’s videos, from the Quarry, Kinghorn and the Back Mine!
I then took a trip to Seattle, while Steve left for his RB80 training, where I met some of the coolest kids on the block, and the “AGGAST” sisters were born! Leg Number One of the AGGAST (All Girls GUE All Star Team) sisters world adventures. This was the first time I had been in salt water, since before I had any GUE training. That is, apart from below the halocline… đ What an amazing place to dive, and a really fantastic GUE community. I can see why people love diving here! There are octos and wolf eels, and so much life! Anyone hiring in Seattle?
We even witnessed an octopus riding a wolf eel!
Laurynn’s video of the underwater rodeo!
My videos of Keystone Jetty (GUE day)Â and the Day Island Wall…
When Steve got back from his RB80 training, he hit the water with Blake and Steve S.
I ventured out with some other friends, too.
At the end of October, a group of us headed down to Mexico, for two weeks of Cave Diving Goodness. A few were taking Cave 1, a few taking Cave 2, and a few of us just going diving! We did some absolutely amazing dives, and each day, the dives seemed to be even more amazing, topping it off with a dive at Ox Bel Ha, on our last day.
One of our favourites was going to the Boa Restriction, in Grand Cenote/Sac Actun. Gorgeous cave and a lot of fun! Another highlight was Tux Ka Paxa, where we saw Mastadon bones. Just an absolutely incredible trip! That is, when we finally got there, and finally got our rental car. đ We even saw a Puma cross a jungle road, but still no “Tadantulas.” Well.. at least Steve and I didn’t see one. It seems everyone else did!
Me, in Dos Ojos…
Back to Canada, we went, where the water was significantly chillier than in the Mexico cavezzz… We still managed over an hour on the triggers!
Throughout the year, we made a couple more attempts at finding that darn truck, including the beginning of December.
We still haven’t found that thing, which brings us to the end of four years of looking for it. I think the other people that have seen it are photoshopping it into their pictures. Either that, or they move it, every time we go looking for it! đ Maybe next year! At least I got my new Santi undergarments in time for winter diving!
That brings us full circle, preparing for our season of winter ice diving. We recently went out to the quarry, to put in some “permanent lines,” for easier ice diving reference!
In between all of these adventures were also Fundamentals classes, in which Steve was teaching, and I was helping. Allan came up to intern, too!
I also had two photos chosen by National Geographic, in their Daily Dozen. At least one of them was supposed to have made it into the magazine, but I have no idea which issue. Two of them were made into Nat Geo wallpaper downloads. Thank you, Nat Geo! w00t!
A Year In Video…
If Steve and I have half of the adventures in 2012, that we had in 2011, we will be very lucky! *Cheers* to happy and safe Diving Goodness in 2012! Let the planning begin!!
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