Kingston Invasion ~ 2010

23 08 2010

Friday, August 20th, 2010 ~

Up and at ’em! I think I got up before the birds did, loaded the last little bits into the van, and started the trek to Kingston. Quite a few of the gang had arrived the night before, so I was going to meet them at the boat.

I arrived a little earlier than the gang, and got to hang out with Anne and Harold for a little bit.

Kingston Dive Charter docks…

Friends started to arrive, and the boat was loaded up. Since we only had one boat filled for the Friday, I sat out, in order for the others to have some Diving Goodness. The lake was flat too, which is about the only time I can go…lol. Oh well, I was still a very happy camper, and was very happy to see everyone.

Once everyone returned, went to hotel rooms, and freshened up, we headed over to The Pilot House for some dinner. From there, a bunch of us went to the Legion. It turns out that they happened to have karaoke that night, and we went to have some fun!

By the end of the night, I had been invited to sing at a benefit, to write songs with a Legion member, and was handed a business card, in case I wanted to do some recording. It really was a blast. I ended up singing a couple of duets with the guy running it, and we got alot of laughs with our renditions of Picture and Summer Nights. It really was a blast, and everyone there was fantastic. It was also one of the members’ Birthday, and she was happy to share her cake with all of us.

Such fun!!!

Saturday, August 21st, 2010 ~

We had two boat loads today, and since it was pretty windy, I opted to stay on shore. My tummy really does not agree with the lake, when it’s rocking and rolling out there. It didn’t look too bad in the bay, but with the wind, the prediction was definitely “Rock and Roll.”

I bid safe dives to everyone, went back to the hotel to do some work, then came back to hang out with the fellas at the shop.

I eventually wandered back over to the boats, greeted the peeps coming back from Diving Goodness, and they told me that it was definitely rock and roll out there, and that I would have been in the fetal position. Although, they still had a good time. *Phew*

I dropped all of the BBQ goodies off at Northern Tech Diver, and when Eric arrived (he wasn’t there for the Saturday charter), he, Steve, Frankie, and I went over to the quarry, to get me in the water! I was having serious Diving Goodness Envy!

We brought the scooters to mess around with, but the visibility was absolutely horrible, so wen decided to have some fun, ducking and dodging the walls of the quarry, while doing laps. Steve and I were in the lead, as a team of two, with Frankie and Eric behind us… er… well, they WERE behind us! That’s how bad the visibility was. Steve and I stopped to see if they would catch up, so we played around, while I attempted to take some pictures. The camera always makes the vis look better…

Steve took a couple of me too…

Since we couldn’t see anything anyway, I tied off the camera, and we went back to our laps, looking for Eric and Frankie. It is not a large quarry, so we figured we’d find them at some point.

Once we did a lap or two, we surfaced, to look for their bubbles.. There they were! Off we went again! Doh! They moved! We surfaced at the same time as they did, and we beelined it for them, on the surface, full of laughter. It was only the quarry, but it was still alot of fun.

Eric and Frankie…

Bottom Time ~ 33 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 25′
Water Temp. ~ 75
Visibility ~ 3′

Eric, trying to stay out of the rain…

We didn’t stay very long, as we had to get back to the shop for the BBQ!

When we arrived, the BBQ had begun! Chef Jennifer was well on the way, cooking all of the burgers. Thanks, Jen! I had already let the group know that I needed some Diving Goodness, so no one was left out to lunch… er.. dinner.

Chef Jen!

Sunday, August 22nd, 2010 ~

Today, I was going to attempt to get on a boat. It seemed that the lake wasn’t too bad, and there wasn’t much of a wind happening, so we figured I was safe! I even had my gear on the boat, when Anne called me, telling me that it was absolutely nasty out there, and that I would definitely not like it. *sigh* Suckage factor high, but I really did appreciate the call. So… down I went, to get my gear….

“Bye Bye, friends! Happy Diving!”

I returned to the shop, where I hung out with Mike and Scotty… darn it… couldn’t resist the deal that Mike found on some Air Jordans… All three of us got them. That, and we used the bunny to drain some tanks. See what happens when I can’t go diving? :O

When the second boat returned, I was waiting at the dock, so we could go get some early dinner!

You call that a knife? 😀

So.. apparently, everyone did have fun dives, and we did have alot of laughs on the surface. Next year… I’m on the boat.. I mean it!!!

Thanks for a wonderful weekend, everyone!!

Group shot…

Here is a short video of the weekend!


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Categories : Invasions, It's 2010!

Charmed In Morrisburg

19 07 2010

Saturday, July 17th, 2010 ~

Andy met Steve and I in Morrisburg, to do some exploring and scootering around Lock 23. There is always alot of current on this end of the river, so scooters are a nice tool to have here. The lock is one of many that were flooded in 1958, when the St. Lawrence was expanded, to fit the freighters that used the river for transport. There were complete villages relocated to accommodate the flooding.

When we arrived, we noticed that the water level was much higher than usual, and the waves were quite high, due to the wind. Hmm.. white caps on the St. Lawrence!

I’m sure the picture doesn’t do the waves justice, but below is one, just the same…

We unloaded our gear, and since the diver dock was missing (It was damaged over the winter), we had planned on putting the scooters in where the dock used to be, then giant stride off of the boat docks.

We got into the water, which was not hard, but did require a bit of thought as to how to clear the little lip on the dock with our fins on. With some slight navigation, the three of us were in the water, and made the swim over to the gear.

Our plan was to go Southwest from shore, do a bit of exploring, then head over to the lock system, and surface at the beach area. Trying to make it back to your entrance can sometimes be quite a task… even with scooters. We did our pre-dive checks, then down we went.

We made our way through the weeds, dropped down through the old channel, then started to drift. There were so many large fish! I saw the biggest carp I have ever seen in my life, and I even swore in my reg. It was right beside me, and was probably close to the same length as my body. Of all of the large carp I have seen, I have never seen one like this. He was a giant!

We saw just about every species of our St. Lawrence fish, and so large!

Once we got to the lock system, we played around, checking out the old lock doors, the mechanisms, and would sometimes find shelter from the current in spots. As we were in one corner of the lock, I managed to find myself picked up by an up-current. I was caught a little off-guard, but wheeled my scooter around, and hit the trigger for “down.” I did get lifted about 10′, but I managed to get back down rather quickly. *Phew!*

We scootered some more, drifted some more, played with a couple of bass, that swam right up to the little video camera that I had. I did actually get some video, but the camera malfunctioned a bit, due to some slight leakage.

When we got near the beach area, the surge of the crashing waves was insane. I wondered if I was going to get seasick…lol. We surfaced, carried our gear in to a shaded picnic table, and I waited with the gear, while Steve and Andy went for the vehicles.

Bottom Time ~ 82 minutes
Max. Depth ~ 41′
Water Temp. ~ 73
Visibility ~ 2′ to 40′, depending on where we were

As I sat there, there were two ladies sitting close by, asking about the conditions under water, and asking what we saw under there. It turns out that they had both lived in Morrisburg for all of their lives, and were there when the St. Lawrence had been flooded, in 1958.

I sat and listened to their stories, which were so fascinating…

Edith Baker actually had her house moved for the Seaway flooding. She said that they moved her house about three or four blocks, and that they had already laid out foundations for the moving houses. Edith also said that the moving of her house was unnecessary, as the park that her house used to be in was still there. Edith had lived there her entire life, except for the war years, where she lived in Calgary (from 1941 – 1945), when her husband was in the Air Force.

Edith used to drive their boat all along the old Seaway, and knew the currents like the back of her hand. She told me that she drove the boat around because she couldn’t drive a car! Since the St. Lawrence has been flooded, the currents have changed dramatically, and she will no longer drive the boat out there.

I also spoke with Sandra Bailey, who described walking along the Lock system when she was five years old, with one sister that was fifteen, and another that was 17. If she had upset them, they would make her walk along the one part of the Lock that only had one railing. Sandra says that she is still deathly afraid of heights, due to that missing railing. If she had been good, they would walk across one of the other sections, with all of the railings intact. She really liked those days.

Apparently, there had been a giant rock near the system, where some of the kids would dive into the water from. It wasn’t allowed, but everyone did it. It was also at a park near here, that Sandra learned to swim. There was a small alcove of the river that was sheltered from the current, and everyone would swim there.

Edith and Sandra told me that Morrisburg was once a town that had everything: a bowling alley, stores, theater, etc. … Now, all they have is a gift shop and a dollar store. That, and the IGA with the painting of the old Lock system on the side of it. If they want to buy clothes or anything, they have to drive to Cornwall or Ottawa.

Apart from having a most excellent and fun dive, seeing monster fish of every species, I met two very fascinating ladies, that I wanted to talk to all day. They told me that they come here every day to swim.

Thank you, Edith and Sandra!!! I will be back!

I think I grinned the entire drive home!

Video from the dive!


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Categories : It's 2010!

Zzzzzzzzzzoooooooooom!

5 07 2010

Saturday, July 3rd, 2010 ~

Steve was teaching a Fundies course in Kingston, and since he didn’t need my help, I went for a dip with Chris P. and Steve R. Chris brought Oren’s oreo scooter to play with, and I had mine with me for the weekend, so I decided to let Steve R. play with it, and I would take some video, with my little Go Pro camera.

We got in, made our way around the students, and headed for the boat at the back, where I handed off my scooter. I had given Steve a briefing on it beforehand, so he knew what to expect. He and Chris were zipping around in circles, and I am pretty sure I saw grins that could have swallowed up the entire quarry.

Here is some of the footage…

We did have a ton of fun, and I think they were hooked…

Bottom Time ~ 74 minutes
Max. Depth ~ 26′
Water Temp. ~ 71
Visibility ~ 10′

It seems they are still smiling…

We also met up with John and Sergio in the water…

Sergio gave me a “swim under” in the quarry. :p

We then watched as the class did their rescues, and of course, I had to take some pics…

It was such a gorgeous day, and it was made even better by diving with friends.

Thanks, Chris and Stephen!

Sunday, July 4th, 2010 ~

Today, Steve needed me to play camera person for his course, so I was handed the nice, big video camera, and filmed Dive #5.. The “Meat and Potatoes Dive!”

When the dive was finished, Steve took the camera back, and Chris, Stephen, and I went back in for a tour. The visibility wasn’t that great, so we just swam around a bit, retrieved the golf club that we had been playing with the previous day, and returned it to the quarry owner.

Another excellent adventure!

Bottom Time ~38 minutes
Max. Depth ~ 26′
Water Temp. ~ 73


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Jodrey Jodrey

21 06 2010

Saturday, June 19th, 2010 ~

Some of our US friends were visiting for the weekend, and we were slated to dive the Jodrey on both Saturday and Sunday. We loaded up the van, and met the gang at Jeff’s, for Diving Goodness!

Steve, Kevin, and Jay teamed up, as did Chris, Ed, and Piotr, then Sean and I.

Chris, Ed, and Piotr…

Sean, playing boat captain…

Me, being a completely silly git.. and with the “1” in the right place, added by Chris.

I’m lovin’ Ed’s shoes…

Sean and I dropped down to the bow, then went around to the starboard side. We saw alot of things that we had not seen before, and really enjoyed our dive. We stayed on the starboard side for the remainder of our dive, then made our way back home. A very nice and relaxing dive. Thanks, Sean!

Bottom Time ~ 62 minutes
Max. Depth ~ 166′
Water Temp. ~ 60

Our gear, under the boat…

Steve, Jay, and Kevin, after their dive to the engine room…

How many Gavins does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A short video, taken by Piotr, at our 20′ stop!

http://vimeo.com/13404956

Sunday, June 20th, 2010 ~

Well, today started out to be a great day. We loaded up the boat once again, and had another day of Jodrey Goodness planned. Jay and Kevin weren’t out today, so Steve was going to join Sean and I.

Piotr, posing with his fancy new badge…

Happy Father’s Day to Sean and Chris!

Once we got to the mooring tree, we tied in, put our bottles and scooters in, and in we went. We did our predive checks and headed down the wall. The current was a little bit stronger than the previous day, but it wasn’t unmanageable on the wreck.

We headed down to the bow, peeked through to the bathroom, near the crew’s quarters, swam down and around the crane, and saw some pretty cool stuff. What an awesome dive!

Bottom Time ~ 66 minutes
Max. Depth ~ 187′
Water Temp. ~ 60

Jeff lowered my camera down to me, during our 20′ stop, so I took a few shots.

I handed my camera over to Steve, and he took one of me too…

A fish that seemed pretty interested in what I was doing…

This turned out to be one of those days, where sometimes not everything goes as planned. It was a day where it was proven that team work is priceless, and buddy choices were golden.

Chris, Piotr, and Ed… I’d dive with you guys any day of the week. 🙂


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Brockville ~ July 5th & 6th ~ 2008 ~

7 07 2008

Steve and I headed down to Brockville on Saturday morning, to meet with friends, and go for a dive on the Daryaw. We were diving off of Stefan’s zodiac, and leaving from Mallorytown Landing. We arrived a bit early, and met up with a bunch of other friends, who were also heading out to the Daryaw on their zod, from the Henry Street Boat Launch ~ Steve S., Mat B., and finally got to meet with Greg Mossfeldt. When we got there, there was a huge freighter going by. It was definitely empty, as it was moving pretty quickly, and was sitting very high out of the water…

We chatted for a while, then headed over to Mallorytown to meet with Sean M., Martin R., and Stefan M. En route, we made a stop at Timmy’s, where we also ran into David H., Alan, and April. 😛

Steve, Martin, and Stefan…

The zodiac was pretty cool.. It was an 18′ boat, with a 90 hp, 4 stroke engine.

What I thought was great, was the stainless steel bar down the middle of the boat, where we were able to stand up all of our doubles on either side, and strap them in.

The Daryaw is about 11km from where we launched, but it really didn’t take long with this zodiac.. Holy smokes, does it move! We got to the mooring line, and tied off beside our other buddies, who were just about to drop in. The surface current was absolutely freakin’ ripping, and we had to put in a pull line, to make it over to the mooring line. Steve, Sean, and I were going to drop in first, do our dive, then man the boat while Stefan and Martin went down.

We geared up and in we went. Holy smokes… that surface current was absolutely nasty! Without the pull line, we’d have been picked up in Cornwall, I’m sure! This is one wreck, where you really do need to use the line to descend ~ The current is just way too strong to fight it on your own. We hand over handed it down, taking it slowly, and tucked in behind the wreck, where you are sheltered from the worst of the current. We went in for a peek of the coal chute, came back out, and checked out the holds. There is an air pocket in the second cargo hold that we also went in and said a quick hello to each other. You don’t breathe in here, but you can remove your reg and talk. Your voice changes a bit with the pressure as well. We left the pocket, and poked around a few places for a bit, then went over and drifted down the keel, and back up. The ascent was a bit easier than the descent, but you still had to use the line most of the time. When we surfaced, we were greeted by about 4 or 5 other boats tied off to the two moorings, and another zodiac tied beside ours (a rather nice one at that)!

Bottom Time ~ 62 mins.

Max. Depth ~ 82′

Water Temp. ~ 67 ~ Wet Gloves~ w00t!

Vis. ~ 25′ – 30′

When we surfaced, it seemed that Martin had ripped his neck seal, and was a little bummed out. Steve offered his suit to him, so that at least he hadn’t driven all the way from Quebec not to dive! Luckily it fit.. with little extra room in the turbos, but he was very grateful.

They dropped in for their dive as we manned the boat and relaxed in the sunshine. Did I mention that it was an absolutely beautiful day??? 😀

Stefan and Martin also had a good dive, and we headed back to shore. It seems that I got a little bit too much sun!!

Steve and I then went to see our friends, Kris and Jess. We sat around and chatted for a while, then Kevin dropped by as well, so I could give him Martin’s suit to repair. Steve and I ended up staying over, and Kevin made the drive back to Ottawa.

Sunday morning seemed to come early, and we met Stefan at Centeen Park at 8:30am. We were going to swim out to the Gaskin! We got in the water, did our predive checks, flow checks etc., then off to the Gaskin we went. It took us nearly 20 mins. to swim to the wreck, as the current was a lot stronger than usual. The current also gets a bit stronger at about 20′ off the wreck. We made it there, did a couple of turns of the wreck, then drifted off. We saw some really neat bottles, and a lot of periwinkles… there was also quite a bit of boat traffic, that we could hear. We drifted back to the entry point, where we saw the little black bass from last week, and about 100 of her little babies swimming in a small cloud. If I was a fish, I’m not sure I would have placed my eggs right near the entry point of a popular watering hole, but I guess she knows best. 😛 We debriefed and exited.

Bottom Time ~ 69 mins.

Max. Depth ~ 69′

Water Temp. ~ 67

Vis. ~ Stinky

We were meeting more friends for an afternoon swim to the Gaskin, and all I could think was… “uh… scooter time for the next dive.”

Our friends started to arrive one by one… Mat B., Ritchard F., Greg M., Steve S., Carmen C., Rick, and Mat’s wife and doggy too! The dog really wanted to come on the dive too…lol…

We chatted for a while, and watched as another giant freighter went by…

After our 3 hour surface interval, we dropped in with everyone. Steve and I had our scooters, and Steve was going to film everyone too!

Ok… we felt pretty dumb as we were going out… We would stop along the way to get footage of everyone, and the current was almost non-existent. How dumb do we feel now?  The current did pick up at the wreck, but not nearly as strong as it had been in the morning! Ah well… playing with the scooters is never a bad thing, anyway!

We gallivanted around the wreck for a while, got some footage of everyone going through the wreck, then headed back in search of a purse that we had found the previous week. After searching and searching, we finally found it. We thought Steve had put it in a barrel, but the barrel ended up being some rolled up carpet.

On both dives, we saw a ton of really big arsed fish! There was a school of Perch that I hadn’t seen before, and a bunch of super-sized carp. There were two that kind of freaked me out, when they came right up beside me, and were inches from my face! Man, those things were big!!! I think Steve got some footage of the Perch.

Bottom Time ~ 89 mins.

Max. Depth ~ 69′

Water Temp. ~ 67

Vis. ~ Stinky

I think we may have convinced Ritchard that he needs a scooter!

The whole gaggle of us, less Ritchard, headed over to Timmy’s for some sandwiches and great story-telling.

It’s really fantastic to hang out and dive with everyone on such a beautiful sunny day!

Here’s Greg and his cool car!


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Categories : Diving Chronicles Of 2008!

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