Jacob Came To Town!

18 04 2011

Friday, April 8th, 2011 ~

Well.. I have to say that I had an interesting evening, while waiting for Jacob’s late flight to arrive. I was already at the airport when I got the news, so I decided to run a couple of errands, then come back. I went to pick up Jacob’s Suex, then set the GPS on “Find Food.” It said that there was some “fast food,” about 3.8 km from where I was. Yeah… that was also a wild goose chase!

I finally made my way back to the airport, about 2 1/2 hours later than I originally arrived, and was happy to get a call from Jacob, saying that he was in the building! W00t! Out he came, and we set sail for our place! The adventure begins!

Saturday, April 9th, 2011 ~

We set Jacob up with some tanks, and we headed out to the quarry, where we hoped there would still be some ice left for his first ice dive. When we arrived, we saw that there was still quite a bit of ice coverage, but the beach area had a nice, open entry point.

We decided to bring the scooters out to play, as we hadn’t used them all winter, and wanted to give them a go!

Jen, getting her gear together…

There was definitely a bit of “Tom-Foolery” going on, as we broke up some of the slushy stuff.

Diving is serious stuff, you know… 🙂

Jen, bringing her gear to the water…

We even had a supervisor…

We finally got geared up and into the water. Steve and I were taking Jacob on a tour of the quarry, showing him the sub, the car, some rocks, and even the shark. I was able to get some video, with my little Go Pro camera.

*Warning: F-Bomb in the video!*

Bottom Time ~ 42 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 104′ (Avg. 41′)
Water Temp. ~ 39F
Visibility ~ Really nice

Jacob seemed to really enjoy his dive, and we definitely did have alot of fun.

We even fed him some Kool Aid Jammers…

…and we made Jacob an honourary Canadian, by giving him a  Timmy’s Rrrrrrrrrrrrroll Up The Rim To Win coffee!

It was an excellent day of Diving Goodness, and we topped the evening off with some Vietnamese Cuisine!

Sunday, April 10th, 2011 ~

Since Jacob had already met the quarry, we decided to take him down to the St. Lawrence River. We had more friends join us, too!

It wasn’t going to be a very long scooter dive, but at least we could have a little fun in the River.

We split up into teams of two, and poor Eric got stuck with me, again. 🙂 We scootered out along the wall, then dropped into the channel. We didn’t go as far as we normally do, as the water was still a bit chilly, and we only brought our short bodies with us.

Jacob and Steve were in the lead, and the visibility was absolutely crappy. There was a bit of a glove issue, so Oren and Claudia headed back to shore. Eric and I continued on into the channel, and decided to pick our spot to drift back onto the wreck of the Gaskin. We both seemed to have the exact same idea as to where we were, so away we drifted… er.. well.. Where’s the current? Hmm.. Ok.. trigger, it is! We ended up right at the stern of the wreck. *High five!* We played around on the wreck for a little while, and then saw two beams of light approaching. Team 1 had also reached the wreck. We zipped around a little more, then went back in, cleaning off the line, as we went back. Eric and I took our time, and chose to swim back part of the way. It was a nice, relaxing way to finish up our dive.

As we neared the “Stop” sign, Oren and Jacob were heading out. Apparently, Jacob didn’t mind this cold water thing, and joined Oren for some more Goodness!

Bottom Time ~ 51 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 70′ (Avg. 42′)
Water Temp. ~ 39F
Visibility ~ Really crappy, thanks to the rain and grey skies

The rain had held off for most of the day, but started to sprinkle a bit, as we brought our gear up.

Yes, there was definitely some more Tom-Foolery going on… One Milllllllion Kool Aids…

Claudia was all ready for the rain!

I even snagged a picture of John’s fancy cave tattoo…

From the park, we went to our new favourite Brockville dining location, “Santa Fe,” where they have All You Can Eat Fajitas, every Sunday!

We made the trip back to Ottawa, and on to our next adventure: WalMart. Well.. I think we lost Jacob a grand total of three times. There is quite alot to see in the superstore, when you’ve been hanging out in the Mexico cavez for months! 🙂 Thank you, Jacob, for the Hoisen sauce and the pink Duct Tape!

Packing the scooter…

Jacob, I am glad that you were able to fit us into your busy exploring schedule. It was great to see you, and alot of fun getting back in the water with you, again. I didn’t even mind that 4am trip back to the airport! I did, however, find some zip seals under your pillow, and wondered if they were in exchange for the cutting device. 😛

Come back soon, ya hear!?


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Categories : Wow... 2011!

To Dive Or Not To Dive? That Is The Question…

25 11 2010

Saturday, November 20th, 2010 ~

Steve and I headed down to Kingston, to pick up Steve’s new drysuit. Oren was also going to meet us there, in the hopes of getting in some Diving Goodness.

Raluca and Cory also made the trek, as they were picking up their new scooters, and Raluca’s new suit. Cory’s was still in production.

We hung about for a while, while suits were tried on, seals were cut, and pics were taken.

From there, we headed to the Loyal Oarsman for some grub. I was beginning to think that our dive would be postponed. It was starting to get dark, and the air was pretty chilly.

Cory and Ral…

After dinner, the decision was made… Oren, Steve, and I were going to swing by Centeen Park, for a night dip on the Gaskin. It had been a while since Steve and I had done a night dive, so we were in!

We geared up pretty quickly, brought our short bodies to the water, and got in. 

Gear checks were done, and away we went. It seems the line that we laid a few weeks back was in good order. The visibility in the water wasn’t as good as we thought it would be, but it wasn’t too bad.

Once we got to the wreck, we noticed that there was a bit more damage, and the block had moved. It was very difficult to distinguish what exactly had happened, due to the darkness, but there were a few drag marks in the silt.

We did a quick tour inside the wreck, then decided to drift a little bit. We did a little investigating, but all was barren. We headed back to shore.

Once in the shallows, we noticed quite a few mud puppies and crayfish, so we played amongst them for a bit, before coming in. It was a short dive, but worth getting in the water. I missed diving last weekend!!

Bottom Time ~ 34 minutes
Max. Depth ~ 67′
Water Temp. ~ 47
Visibility ~ Dark 😉


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Categories : It's 2010!

Centeen Or Bust…ed…

19 10 2010

Sunday, October 17th, 2010 ~

 

 

After having a very lazy Saturday, Steve and I had our arms twisted for some Sunday Diving Goodness. Yes, it was quite difficult to do that arm twisting…

Cory and Raluca were going to head to the Gaskin, and Steve, Eric, and I were going to have another look for that truck. Apparently, it does exist, as Kelly, Dave, and Warren found it last week! We gave Cory and Raluca a lift to the Gaskin, then headed off in search. We took a bearing south, hit the channel, then back up on the other side, where we started to drift. Steve was in the middle, I was on the left, and Eric was on the right. The visibility wasn’t the greatest, but we stayed just far enough where we could still see each others’ lights, and were still able to mow the lawn a bit.

We found another sleigh, some pots, bottles, and drifted amongst the periwinkle shells, but still no truck. I had the camera rolling, in case we came upon it, and I could have that magic moment on film! Yeah.. not… lol. I had the little Go Pro HD960 with me for the first time, and wondered what kind of footage I would get, not having any lights for it. The standard one is alot of fun, but does not pick up alot of ambient light at around 100′. I guess we’ll see with this one!

We decided to cross back over, and hit the trigger upstream again, to see if we could locate it there. We did find alot of very interesting bits of wood, bottles, and even a science beaker, but alas.. no truck. We decided to move a bit more shallow, and were amazed at how upstream we were, as the current was pretty strong, and we had drifted quite a bit, before going back upstream. We decided not to go back to the wreck, but check out the route back from the shallows. We came across some people carving pumpkins, so I got a very quick shot of that. I have still never done that…

We got back to the park, and played around in the shallows some more. Steve and Eric pulled out their Kool Aids… Mmm… Blue Raspberry!

Eric…

When we came in, Cory and Raluca were also in the shallows, working on some skills. We all finished up, doffed our gear, and headed to “Santa Fe.” We tried to go there last week, but it was closed for Thanksgiving. It was a new place for us, and we were anxious to try it. Southwestern food, and it happened to be All You Can Eat Fajita night! Oh boy… They were definitely yummy!

Bottom Time ~ 98 minutes
Max. Depth ~ 102′
Water Temp. ~ 57
Visibility ~ 15′

Steve…

Cory and Raluca…

I couldn’t resist taking a pic of this. There are election signs all over the place, but these ones stood out a little…

Yet another excellent adventure, even though we still have not found that elusive truck!


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Categories : It's 2010!

St. Lawrence Rivaaa…

28 07 2010

Sunday, July 25th, 2010 ~

To start off the day, we were very surprised to see a few visitors on our street. There were a few neighbours outside, wondering where these little ones came from…

Since I had to miss Steve and Jay’s epic 5 1/2 hour dive yesterday, I was definitely coming out for some fun today. Myself, Steve, Eric, Jay, Chris P., and Oren all met at our usual Centeen Park spot, for some more adventure.

Steve and I got special presents from Netherlands…

We got ourselves down to the water, put gear in, did our checks, and discussed our dive plan. We were in two groups of three, and planned on scootering 40 minutes upstream, then duck into the channel to drift and explore. This would be scootering longer in the shallows than we normally do, so we were hoping to find some neat things. Chris, Oren, and I were the second team of three, and since the visibility wasn’t great in the first bit of our journey, we quickly came upon a few single tank divers, that were very surprised to see a bunch of divers on big, black machines. We stayed out of their way, and continued on. Passing our “regular” spot that we drop in, we did see some really interesting formations, some debris from boats, and a few lines that didn’t really lead anywhere. We had reached the 40 minute mark, gathered up, ok’d each other, and off to the races..

Wait a sec… Oren… ok? Nope… scooter not ok… Scooter not feeling well… Doh! Time to head back. The other three continued on, and we headed in the other direction. Since we had plenty of gas, and could use the current to our advantage, we decided to drift back at 65′, so we could at least make our way to the Gaskin. I towed Oren for a little bit, then we drifted. There wasn’t a whole lot to see, where we were, but there were a few nice bottles here and there. We were all very aware of our gas, and still had plenty. Our original dive plan was somewhat still in the works, we just didn’t go as far as the other three, and didn’t go down into the middle of the channel. We knew we were getting close to the wreck, as the visibility got a bit worse, and we were at the right depth. It was at this time, that we just happened to see three lights come up on us. Now.. how on earth we were in the same place at the same time, was pretty cool! Since we had still followed our drifting portion of the plan, we just happened to sync up in the right place.

Instead of heading to the wreck, we decided to keep on going past it, then moved up a bit more shallow. The six of us drifted together for a bit, then the other three scootered away. We made our way a bit more shallow, and followed the wall back to our entry.

Although we didn’t get to see some of the amazing things that the other three saw, we still had fun, and still had an adventure. It was good that we had discussed our “failure” plans at the beginning of the dive, and we were on the same page.

Bottom Time ~ 2 hours, 21 minutes
Max. Depth ~ 72′
Visibility ~ 5′ – 40′

Along the way, I found a neat sun hat, that I had to bring along with me. I ended up scootering with it on for a while, and I think Chris and Oren nearly choked on their mouthpieces…

Jay…

Eric, analyzing gas…

Steve, while we were unloading gear…

Oren and Eric…

Chris P….

Eric, with his magic carpet.. that he left behind.. doh…

This little guy snuck in for a shot, as I was taking a pic of the gear. I didn’t even see him until afterwards!

It was nice to see Stephanie and Carmine again too!

Until next week’s adventure!


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A Ride At Centeen Park…

21 07 2010

Sunday, July 19th, 2010 ~

Myself, Steve, Jay, Andy, and Eric met up at the mighty St. Lawrence, for some adventure out of Centeen Park. It was a pretty busy place, and we ran into quite a few people that we both had and hadn’t seen in a while. Apparently, there had been about 5 charter boats on the Gaskin, with another couple of boats circling, waiting for their turn on one of the two mooring blocks. I guess visibility wasn’t going to be the best today…

By the time we got into the water, did our pre-dive checks, and ducked under, we saw that not only was the visibility bad, it was horrible. The five of us stretched out, checked for bubbles, then Steve gave us all the “ok” sign, in which we all returned… we’re off…

Ok.. so.. Jay and Steve were in the lead, with Andy, myself, and Eric behind.. wait a second… I don’t see Eric… “One, two, three..” sets of bubbles… *look behind me*… no Eric. So.. I stopped to wait for him, as I watched the others go off into the abyss. Hmm… still no Eric… I did a quick pass back, then back up. I was about to surface, when I heard his scooter, and went directly to him. *Phew!* We decided to continue on, in hopes of running into the others. We past the corner of the park, then surfaced, to see if the others were there. Ok… not here… We discussed it, and since we knew the plan, we decided to descend and continue on with the plan. Perhaps they were waiting for us near the channel drop.

I swear I thought I heard their scooters at least once, along the way, but you really couldn’t see anything more than about 7′ away from you. We continued along the wall, and still no friends. We reached the spot where the channel drop was to be, and decided to head back to the entry. We weren’t sure whether or not they would have dropped into the channel without us, so we scootered back.

Once we got there, there were no signs of them. We had another discussion, and decided to head over to the Gaskin. If the visibility was that stinky, we would just turn around.

Finding the line out wasn’t very hard, but I had to look twice at the hoop, to get the right bearing on it. Voila.. we have a line! We came close to thumbing it, but we were very close to the wreck, and this is where we always end up after a channel drift dive, so we proceeded. The visibility was horrible, but we plugged on.

Once we got there, we went for a couple of tours through the wreck, which is in such poor shape. It’s sad to see the state of it now, even the changes over the last five years. The visibility actually improved on the wreck. We messed around a bit, then gathered up to head back. Wait a second.. what’s that??

A light! Another light! Holy smokes.. and another! w00t! We had found our friends! We played around some more, then drifted off for a bit, before heading for home. This is about the time that my little video camera malfunctioned, so some of the most fun video bits never made it.

Upon discussing our separating with the other three, it turns out we surfaced within 120 seconds of each other, and must have passed each other at least once, without being able to see each other. They tell us that the visibility was much better in the channel. Bah!

Oh well.. Eric and I still had alot of fun, and it was kind of fun doing the navigating. 🙂

Bottom Time ~ 110 minutes
Max. Depth ~ 70′
Water Temp. ~ 73
Visibility ~ 2′ – 20′

Andy…

Jay…

Eric and Steve…

Eric and I… (Congrats on your Tech 1, Eric!)

As we were doffing gear and getting changed, a little boat went over the Gaskin…

We finished the day off with some Swiss Chalet, wished Jay a “Happy Almost Birthday,” then to Dairy Queen for dessert… Eric’s favourite! Dairy Queen was decorated with sunflowers, which I thought was quite nice…

We also saw a fellow pull up in a rather large pickup truck…

From there, we pan over to Eric’s divemobile. It is entirely possible to dive out of a mini.. doubles, a stage, and a standard body…

I caught a picture of a really old car, about to pull out of a driveway, in Brockville…

It was another day of Diving Goodness out in the River, with friends!


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