US Thanksgiving Holiday Diving Goodness!

29 11 2012

Friday, November 23rd, 2012 ~

After arriving in the wee hours of the morning, our guests Tim F. and Eric P. had a bit of a rest, then we were up and at ’em, for some Quarry Diving Goodness! Steve was under the weather, so we had to leave him behind, and headed up to the Quebec side.

We also met Kevin L. up there, who was joining us for the day! It was a very grey day, but I brought my camera anyway, to see what kind of shots I could get. Without strobes, I knew that any shots below 40′ would be dull and grainy.

After our gear and bubble checks, I took advantage of the light in the shallows…

Eric P.

Tim F.

Kevin L.

We made our way out to the plane, where there was a new box of goodies…

We played around with the toys for a while (yes, we cleaned up after ourselves, and returned all toys to the box), and then found an extremity…

“Nice to meet you…”

You know… You can pick your friends, and you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your friend’s nose!

We then made our way to the boat, where we took turns swimming through…

Then, down for a visit to the sub, and back up…

Of course, we had to go and visit Morry (the resident shark) for a few pictures.

Bottom Time: 49 mins.
Max. Depth: 61′
Water Temp.: 48F

A great way to start the weekend!

We packed up, and went for a yummy dinner, at Boston Pizza!

Saturday, November 24th, 2012 ~

Today, we were back at the quarry, but added more friends, plus scooters! I decided to leave the UW camera at home, since the sun was hiding. At least I have some surface shots.

We haven’t seen THIS guy in a while!

A pic of the quarry…

Tim, flushing up to be the Michelin Man!

We geared up, and took the guys on a tour of the quarry. We were able to zip around the entire area, as well as drop down to see the cars. The water was pretty chilly down there, and I could actually hear the crispness of my exhaling bubbles… Yeah, yeah… Probably narc’d, right? 🙂 I swear, I can hear how cold my bubbles are!

Of course, we had a bit of Shenaniganry, before making our way back in.

Bottom Time: 50 mins.
Max. Depth: 105′
Water Temp.: 44F (below thermocline)

We dropped our gear off at home, then went out for some Viet Cuisine!

Sunday, Novemer 25th, 2012 ~

Timmy’s for breakfast, and then it was down to the Rivaaaaaaa! The sunshine was very welcoming!

Our group grew even more today, and we had decided on going to visit the old Chevy truck.

I think Oren is glad to be back!

There was also a bit of Gangnam Style going on…

Caught ya, Bob!

Steve jumped in for a glove leak test…

JB, about to gear up!

Discussing the plan of attack…

We teamed up in pairs, even though we were going to stick together. It is easier to keep track of one buddy, instead of 5. Poor Tim was stuck with me. 😛

We headed over to the Gaskin, took our bearing on the trigger, and headed towards the truck. Since the water is cooling off a bit quickly, we opted to stay on the trigger a bit longer, instead of drifting more. Once we thought we were getting close, we let up off of the trigger, spread out, and kept our eyes peeled. Tim and I were on the North side of the brigade, and I had a feeling that we were in the “right” spot, for the truck.

Sure enough, I saw a shadow, as we drifted along. I signaled to Tim, then signaled over to the other guys.. It’s here! It’s here!

w00t! Happy Dances, all around! We took turns checking it out, then made our way back to shore. We saw a fairly large pike, on the way back, and the visibility wasn’t all that great, but it was much better than it has been, lately.

Very much fun was had!

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 4 minutes
Max. Depth: 98′
Water Temp.: 46F

Of course, there was fun dive discussion, before everyone went on their travels home. It was really great to have such a great day of fun, and it was nice to have new visitors!

Y’all come back now, ya hear! 😛


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Categories : Twenty 12

Park It

12 11 2012

Sunday, November 11th, 2012 ~

After paying our respects for Remembrance Day, we ventured down to Centeen Park, to see how the visibility was doing, in the channel. We packed the 26s, since the water is chilling, and longer river dives will have to wait until late spring, now.

When we arrived, we saw hundreds of geese, taking over the waterfront. Since the city had removed the fake foxes and “police tape,” the geese had returned to the lawn. We were dodging goose “bombs,” everywhere we stepped.

A small section of geese…

James, John B., and Eric B. met us for some channel surfing. The sun was shining, which was really nice, and we had a surprise day of 20C, outside! What a beautiful day to dive!

We brought our gear down, and once we geared up and got in the water, it was definitely a bit chilly on our faces. It doesn’t take long to acclimate your face to the water, but that initial face dunk is definitely “refreshing.” We finished our gear checks, verified stage bottles, and were off. The visibility was definitely improving, but still had a bit of a milky glow to it.

We made our way to the park bench, and before carrying on with our plan, James and John decided to drop down into the channel. There was a bit of leakage going on, so they cut it a bit shorter. We carried on for another 7 minutes, then also dropped down. The visibility was fantastic! We saw a few neat bottles, and were in an area of silty dirt river bed. We did not see many fish on this dive, with the exception of a few unlucky ones, with a white “fuzz” wrapped around them.

As we drifted along, we came up to a spot where there were some giant boulders, as well as a small, rocky area, that was very interesting. There were a few items strewn about, including some large round tins. They were almost like giant paint cans. I didn’t touch them, as those kinds of items usually fall apart, if you do.

We spent a little time at depth, but made our way towards the wreck of the Gaskin before too long. The water temps are starting to drop, and our drifts are starting to get a bit shorter! Once there, we didn’t stick around very long, but headed back to the entry.

I really enjoy these dives. Even though we use the same entry when we are here, we always have different places to go and see, dependent on where we drop into the channel. I also enjoy the variance of the currents, and how they are never the same. That, and I have good buddies to play with!

The entry, also showing how low the water levels are, right now. The water is usually over at least the bottom step.

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 14 mins.
Max. Depth: 107′
Water Temp.: 48 F
Visibility: 20′ to 70′ in the channel

Once we got out, we did have some chatter, of course.

We also picked up our gear…

As we brought the gear up, the geese were also changing what side of the park to be on. They were quite leery of us, and would freeze, if we walked near them. I thought it was pretty funny when their procession halted, as I was about to walk through. They waited until I was done, then carried on, to the rest of the gaggle…

After packing up, we headed over to the pub for some Indian food and salad (well, that’s what I had). I have a feeling that there aren’t many river dives left in this season! Soon, we will be quarry-bound!


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Categories : Twenty 12

Make This One Count!

29 10 2012

Sunday, October 28th, 2012 ~ 

Since a few of us are otherwise occupied for the next few weeks, we wanted to do a really good dive, this week. We wanted to “make it count,” seeing as by the time we get back at it, we may be quarry-bound for the winter (Note: may be). 🙂

We met James, John, Cory, Raluca, and Eric at the River, and decided to go in from a different spot. We wanted to do a little looking around, in places that we hadn’t been yet. We brought our gear down to the water, avoided getting sucked into the mud, and discussed our plan. We had a few different options, and decided on an island to scooter around, drop into the channel, drift for a bit, then make our way back in. Steve, Eric, and I would be in front, with John, James, and CoRal in a line, behind us.

Muddy entry (it got pretty mucky, as we got in)…

Putting our fins on was a bit of a task, due to the animal that was the mud. We finally wrestled our fins on, and decided to surface swim out a bit, to do our gear checks. The weeds were plentiful and thriving, so we swam out past them. We got into about 10′ of water, and as we peeked under, we saw what appeared to be some pretty sweet visibility. Probably the best we have seen all year! W00 hoo!

Gear checks done, bubble checks, and upstream, we went! The visibility was absolutely amazing. We had a pretty easy go of it for a little while, and then hit some pretty strong current. We were still able to push through it, and had a few laughs along the way. Once we got to our target island, we turned, zig-zagged, and eventually made our way into the channel. We had a nice descent into the channel, where we hit some pretty rock ‘n’ roll currents. Blake, you weren’t kidding… Holy washing machine, Batman! :O There were some pretty crazy currents, upswells, downswells, and a few crazy depth changes. Whoa, Nelly! I can’t say that we all stayed shoulder to shoulder, but we did stick together, and were able to handle ourselves, while being tossed around, a little.

We then drifted for a little while, settled out, then came back up to about 70′, where we found some much easier current to drift with. We then came upon a little wreck that we had “found,” last year (it has been found before). With this amazing visibility, we were actually able to see it, this time. We then made our way back in, swam through the thick weeds, and back into the thick mud, to get out.

Bottom Time: 81 minutes
Max. Depth: 113′ (thanks to the downswell)
Water Temp.: 55F
Visibility: About 70′ (Crisp for about 15′, and a little milkier past that, to approx. 35′ – Best vis. all year)

A couple of group shots, with some smiley faces!

We did have just a few laughs, as we brought our gear up…

Yep… I think we made this one count! What a fun adventure!


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Scooter-Bound To The Eastcliffe Hall

24 10 2012

Sunday, October 21st, 2012 ~ 

Today’s adventure was to scooter to the Eastcliffe Hall, from shore. It is not an exceptionally easy task due to navigation, poor visibility, and some very strong currents.

We arrived to some locked gates at the park, so went next door, and did actually see someone working security.

Eric, chasing down the security fella, to find out where we could get in…

An entry that we did not use…

We checked out a couple of entry points, and opted on one close to the docks.

Since the boats are out of the water, we found a neat little spot where we dropped our gear in. It was extremely gooey here, and as we got in, there were places where we sank right down, into the mud. That made for some tricky fin donning and bottle clipping.

Once we finally got ourselves finned and clipped, we started off, out of the bay. The visibility was absolutely horrible, to the point where you couldn’t even see much past your hand, on your scooter. We knew the vis would be bad in the shallows, and we surface scootered out for a bit, until we got to the marker buoys. We dropped down, and we still could not see anything. The vis just wasn’t opening up. I could feel my thumb get a little itchy, and threaten to come out. I am not afraid of a little bad vis, but to do a 2 hour + dive in this stuff seemed just pointless.

I figured I would have a little faith, and see if we got a little reprieve from the milkiness. Finally, we started to see a little more of our scooters. Still not great, but it was getting better. Ok… my thumb tucked itself back around the goodman handle of my light, and we carried on. On our way out, there was a freighter that passed overhead, that was so incredibly loud, that it felt about 2 inches away from us (no, it wasn’t really that close). It made the earth shake!

After about 30 minutes on the trigger, the visibility really started to improve, and was actually really good! We took a couple of detours (which was inevitable, with the vis that brought us here), but finally made it to the wreck. The current was down, and about 30′ of vis, on the wreck. Way better than when Eric and I dived it last.

We scootered over some really nice sand banks, that could have been taken right out of a desert, as well as maneuvered over some large boulders and rocky areas, in absolutely ripping current.

We toured around, played for a bit, dropped into a couple of the holds, and decided to head back. Along the way, my scooter started to get very tired. Instead of drag behind, I hitched a ride on Steve’s crotch strap, and we were back on track, as we made our way through the shallows. There was quite a bit of surge going on, and I trying to keep from feeding the fish (yes, I was successful). 😛

La la la la la…. We’ll be there soon… La la laaaaaa.

We made it back to the mud, where we all had pretty big grins on our faces, from yet another most excellent adventure! It is definitely never boring in the St. Lawrence River!

Bottom Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
Max. Depth: 90′
Water Temp.: 57
Visibility: Varied from 3 inches to 25′ (but pretty milky). Really decent vis on the wreck.

Chatting, after our dive!

Dusk crept up on us, as we packed up…

Once we got packed up, we went to a neat little pizza joint, that Eric knew about. It took forever to get it, but once we got it, it was delicious!

So, I finally got to scooter out to this wreck. For one reason or another, I had not been able to do it! I look forward to doing it again, in the spring!

*Note to self* Bring Magnum. 🙂


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DUI Dog Demo Day Diving Goodness!

10 10 2012

Saturday, October 6th, 2012 ~

We loaded up the DGTU with gear to last us for the weekend. Once loaded, it seemed like we had enough for a week! We met Blake at a predetermined location, with Frankie and Eric V., behind us. It seemed that there was an important piece of gear that missed the loading process, so Blake and Steve went back to get it. I led the way to the border, in the white van.

We were going to stop for some food, but on the exit that said there was food… well, there were plenty of farmer’s fields, and not much else. I led us through some really pretty rural areas, which eventually led us back to the highway (read: I guess I took the long way back). We then decided to pull over in Brockville, instead. It was lunch time now, anyway.

After lunch, we got to the border, went through, and it did not take much time at all, to reach Alexandria Bay. This was my first time on the US side of the St. Lawrence… as far as shore entry goes! I found a great parking spot, as did Frankie, and we reached the place of Drysuit Goodness!

Just follow the sign!

Frankie, at the entrance…

We registered, found our way inside, said hello to our friends, and checked out all of the goodies! We did not get there for the beginning of the day, but were a little glad, since it had been raining pretty crazily, before we got there!

Faith, with some of our NTD friends!

There were plenty of suits and cuddly undergarments to try on…

Of course, we did not have any fun, at all…
(Just like band camp)…

Once we checked out some of the goodies, socialized a little, and maybe a little more, we decided that it was time to dive! We dropped our gear down at the water, reparked the vehicles, then geared up!

Steve, Blake, and I were a team, and our plan was to scooter around one of the islands, there. Frankie and Eric V. were also a team, and had a different plan.

We made our way out, and found spots with absolutely no current, at all. We made it to the island, and found a really old car/truck, that did not have a roof on it (Chris had told us about one with a roof). We found some really old lines, so decided to follow them for a while, around the island. There were other spots, where the current was extremely strong, and our headway was very slow!

It was a completely new area for us, and we really did enjoy it!

Bottom Time: 75 mins.
Max. Depth: 79′
Water Temp.: 62F
Visibility: Not bad

After our dive, we found our DUI friends, and I got some video of Susan doin’ it Gangnam Style (*snicker*).  We also met up with Chris, Damian, and Patty, before checking into our hotel (Thank you, Faith!).

Sunday, October 7th, 2012 ~

There happened to be a 50’s-type diner, right by our hotel, so we headed over for some Breakfast Goodness! It was like a place out of a Seinfeld episode… and they did actually have Seinfeld playing on a tiny little TV, behind the counter. 😛

After food, we reorganized our gear. Steve and Blake were heading back over to the Canadian side for a dive, while I was going to stay on the US side, and meet Sir Andy, for a dive!

There he is!

James was taking some divers out, who were trying out drysuits!

I thought I recognized these scooters!

Andy and I decided to try out some DUI Powerstretch undies. I have used the older models before, but had not tried out the newer material ones. I had tried them on the day before, and they were definitely snuggly! I talked Andy into trying them, too! *Grin*

We made our way over to the Islander entry, which I had never been to before. I had my short body, and Andy had his Mini G.

There is a really nice entry, and you can tie your scooters off to the hand rail, which is quite convenient. You just have to watch your step as you get in, due to the river rocks! I was slow, in order to stay sure-footed. *Clutz.*

Entry…

We did a little tour around the wreck, as I played with my Go Pro (video to follow, at some point). After a couple of turns around, we made our way toward the floating restaurant, where there are actually under water table settings. There were a few different tables, chairs around them, bottles on the tables, plates, cutlery, and even some jewellery strewn around. It was a pretty fun site! We kept going a bit further, and found a table setting for two! Really cute to see.

We then headed towards the channel, and we saw a massive school of small fish. They just kept coming, and coming, and coming… They were endless!! It was mesmerizing to watch them, and really good to see so much life in the river. There were literally thousands of them!

We wanted to keep our dive short’ish, since we were trying out these magnificent undies, and needed to get them back by 4pm! Back to the entry, out, changed, packed up, and out!

Andy was also doing it Gangnam Style…

Bottom Time: 58 mins.
Max. Depth: 97′
Water Temp.: 62F
Visibility: Not bad in the channel, milky in the shallows.

We were only about 100 seconds away from the event parking lot, so we hurried over… It was 4:03! As we pulled in, I noticed that I had a message from Faith, asking us where we were. Oops! They had packed up a little early, and were ready to roll!

Some of the DUI crew (including the fabulous BBQ chef)…

We handed over our nifty undies (I see a pair of these in my future, for 65F’ish waters), said our “See ya next times,” gave hugs, and took more pictures.. of course.

Susan and Faith: Two of the coolest ladies I know!

Andy also met up with a friend that he hadn’t seen in a while!

Andy and I then crossed the border, and went to Centeen, where we waited for Steve and Blake.

It was starting to get a bit dark, and with the darkness, came chilliness!

When they came ashore, they had done a 6 hour dive, and we were all ready for dinner! Timmy’s, for chili! Then, to Jen and Mike’s, where we stayed for the night!

Monday, October 8th, 2012 ~

Monday morning! Time to dive! Thanksgiving holiday means that we get an extra day of Diving Goodness! Eric, James, Blake, Steve, and I met for some channel surfing!

A bit of scooter checking, first.

Scooters and stages, ready to go…

We headed upstream for 40 minutes, then dropped into the channel. The vis was slightly better in the channel, but definitely nothing to write home about. We stuck together, and had a fun drift! We came back in, played in the shallows, then back in.

Bottom Time: 2 hours, 2 mins.
Max. Depth: 106′
Water Temp.: 62F
Visibility: Stinky, but not as bad as previous dives from Centeen!

Mat’s dogs were having a ton of fun, jumping off of the dock!

There were a few freighters that passed by, too…

I got to try on Steve’s refrigerator.. er… RB80, for size!

From left to right: Eric B., Steve, James, Me, Blake!

Then, meal time! Timmy’s seems to be the new destination of choice, for Chili Goodness!

It was really cool to see our DUI friends, try some new undies, dive in new places, and have just a TON of fun!! Yes, I know… Diving is serious business, right? 🙂

Until the next adventure!


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