It’s (FINALLY) Spring!

16 04 2014

Sunday, April 6th, 2014 ~

This winter has been a terribly brutal one, and one that many Canadians didn’t think would end. It became a cruel joke, to which we stopped laughing, quite a while ago… until today!

The sun was out, and it was above 0C!!! FINALLY!! A great day to take the scooters for a ride! The St. Lawrence River is mostly open, but temperatures are still hovering around 32F and 33F. There are still flash freezings and ice floes, so it isn’t the safest place to be diving, right now. We went back up to the quarry, and I finally got to take my new XK1 for a spin!

We brought the gear to the water…

Frankie, Christian, and Mike teamed up, and Steve, Eric, and I teamed up – even though we were still all together. Our team of three was going to run a line over to the plane, the shark, the rock wall, then back over, so that we would have a large square, to scooter around.

Steve and Eric, after Steve ran the line…

I let Steve take the camera, for this most amazing shot…

There was some glove leakage, and in these temperatures, can be horrible. We ended up turning around, leaving the reel behind.

Christian and Mike…

As Eric says, it isn’t the easiest thing, to try and smile, with a frozen face!

I must say, even though I didn’t get to use my scooter very much, I am sensing a very strong bond. 😛

As Eric and I waited, we ran into Mike and Matt, who were going on a leisurely swim…

Back in we went, to retrieve the reel. Steve…

Eric…

Christian…

A selfie, of course. This time, with my turbo…

We made our way back in, with Steve’s chilly, soaked hands.

Bottom Time:
Max. Depth:
Water Temp.:

It was such a beautiful day, that there was some gear tinkering, after the dive/s.

There was even time for snuggles, with Zora…

A great day for Diving Goodness, and even though the quarry is fun, we cannot wait to get back into the River!!!

I have some good looking dive buddies! 😛 Mike, Eric, Frankie, Christian, Steve…

 

 


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Free-Z-Dive 2014!

10 03 2014

Saturday, March 8th, 2014 ~

Well, it is that time of year, again! When our free diving friends meet with us, for some under ice fun and Shenaniganry! I still cannot believe what these guys and gals do – Diving, under ice, in wet suits, and… No.. Tanks! I also still cannot believe that they think that WE are the crazy ones! 😛

Chris P. and A.J. were visiting, and Christian also joined in!

We devised a plan, and got into the water. The free divers had three holes, in deeper water, while ours was in about 2′ of water, in the beach area. Our gear checks were done, cameras were ready, and we made our way to the plane. Steve had the D200, and I had the D100, so there would be no shortage of pictures.

Steve, making sure the settings were ready to go, on the D200.

We got to one of the holes, and a couple of free divers were getting ready to duck under.

Getting ready to dive.

In the first set of free divers, we were serenaded by the Piano Man, Jean-Sebastian Bourassa…

Play on, Maestro!

I was then greeted with a fly-by, from Superman Philippe Beauchamp…

Where is your red “S?” 🙂

This photo was aptly named by Chris Phinney…

Natalie Hebert, featured in, “The Ballet Photo.”

Freedom

Hanging out in First Class.

Christian St-Pierre and Natalie Hebert talk about the weather (the frozen glove-leaking kind)…

Chance meeting, with Christian and Nathalie.

I had no idea that Neo could dive.

Entering the Matrix.

We even got to watch a performance of Blue Man Group!

Blue Man, checking his camera, after he took a picture of me!

Ninja!

…and another one of Philippe…

François Leduc, giving us a pose!

El Presidente

A.J. Vertlieb and Chris Phinney, chillin’…

A.J. and Chris seem to be having fun!

Once the free divers started to come down in slower shifts, we realized that we were getting a little chilly, too. Time to go in.

Pack it up, pack it in!

Chris brought the line in, and I snuck a couple of extra pictures (yeah, I know… I have already taken about 200, today)…

Time to get out.

The entry/exit hole was a bit deeper than we normally have it, but since there were other divers there, when we arrived, we didn’t want to stick the chainsaw in, while they were in the water. It was not an issue for most. Let’s just say that in my vertically challenged 5’4″ state, and the ice being a little taller than my knees, I was not expecting the most graceful exit. I was also dealing with a pulled (or slightly torn) muscle in my leg, so that would make it even more challenging.

I opted on getting out of my tanks at the entry, and thanks to A.J., they mysteriously made it back to our van (you rock. A.J!).

A.J. and Chris P.

Bottom Time: 39 mins.
Max. Depth: 22′
Water Temp.: 37F
Vis.: Not too shabby

I still ended up with a complete arm flood, thanks to my glove rings, that I did not switch out (my own fault). :/

I think that François was turning into a Popsicle, here…

The Ice Man cometh.

I’m pretty sure that Philippe was, too. I still can’t believe that these guys are in wetsuits.

I cannot thank these guys ‘n’ gals enough. They are wonderful people to dive with, and a lot of fun.

For more information on the goings ons in the free diving community, see the CASM and AIDA websites!

CASM

and

AIDA

Group shot!

Bad ass, under ice free divers!

This is probably the best selfie that I have ever experienced! Thanks for a great day, friends!

Best. Selfie. Ever.


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Oren’t You Glad We Went Diving?

17 02 2014

Sunday, February 16th, 2014 ~

We hadn’t seen Oren in a while, and he finally escaped the holds of his practice, and came out for some Ice Diving Goodness! The three of us got into the water, and while Steve was helping a couple of nice fellows with a scooter, Oren took the reel, and the two of us headed to the boat. I took the “new” camera (and attached lighting devices), and was trying to play with the settings… enough so that I didn’t have washed out pictures, and uneven lighting… *cough*

Not the best shot, but at least it’s not blurry.

Oren, going into the boat.

Cheese!

Mandatory Selfie

Steve eventually joined us (the other two guys came over at the same time), and our team of 3 was reunited.

Steve, hangin’ with the Oreo scooter.

Oren and his canisters.

 

Steve took the camera, and took a pic of me, too.

I confiscated the Oreo scooter.

We made our way back up to the plane, since there were two of us with glove leaks. The rings that I have put on my suit are used, and apparently, they do not seal.

Oren, bringing the reel to the plane.

 

 

Da Plane!

Da plane… From the front.

Going over to pick up the reel.

Steve and the Oreo, once again.

…and, of course, one more selfie…

Fromage. :o)

Bottom Time: 47 mins.  (Not easy, with a completely flooded arm – thanks to my faulty glove rings) 🙂
Max. Depth: 42′
Water Temp.: 39F
Vis.: Pretty nice!

When we doffed our gear, at the cars, it just so happened, that I was completely soaked, up my arm. I had to wring it out! I think I will put my other set of rings back on! I know it isn’t the suit, and I know where the water is coming in. So… back to my “primary” glove rings!

We still did have a blast, and taking pics with the new camera was a lot of fun!

…and, yes… Oren DOES still dive! 😛


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Bloody Nora… I Bet He Thinks We’re Barmy!

3 02 2014

Sunday, February 2nd, 2014 ~

This British fellow, by the name of Marcus, showed up at our door, and asked to go ice diving. What kind of people would we be, if we turned him away??

Yes, we did know he was coming, and we had some gear ready for him. Of course, we had to take him to Tim Horton’s, along the way. We needed to show Marcus all of the Canadian things that we do, eh?

https://i0.wp.com/www.northlondonbaseball.com/sites/default/files/images/tim%20hortons.jpg

We arrived at the quarry, where Eric and Christian met us, as well. Steve had the “new-to-us” camera/strobes, and I had the older camera. I wanted to take pics, too! Eric ran the reel. We had briefed Marcus as to our usual plan, and took turns going under. I went ahead of Marcus, and turned to wait for him. He didn’t seem to mind this icy cold hole in the water, so we did our bubble checks, and away we went!

Marcus entering the water. Christian behind him, and Eric in front of him…

Steve, with the new-to-us camera…

Pic of me, taken by Steve…

I caught Eric at the plane…

After I took Eric’s pic, I got a signal, from Marcus… He was saying… “Please, can we go in? I am rather Parky…” …which I cannot blame him for. It turned out that he had had a complete arm flood, thanks to a glove leak. D’Oh!

At least I was able to talk him into going back under, to take a few pictures. 😛

“Psstt… Marcus… Wanna go back down?”

“Why, yes. Yes, I do!”

“Just for a little bit, plz.”

“Ok. I’m done, now.”

Bottom Time: 21 mins.
Max. Depth: 21′
Water Temp.: 37F

I think Marcus quite liked that, even though it was a little short.

Yep… He enjoyed that…

The other fellas came in, after we had doffed our gear.

Christian…

I was goofing around, stuck the camera in the water, and clicked (my face was not in the water)…

We had shoveled, “GUE UK,” into the snow, but since our dive was cut a little short, I didn’t get any pics of it. Eric gave me his tanks, and Steve and I went back under. It wasn’t the best effort, but with the snow being very slushy, topside, it was tough to shovel. Oh, well. We tried!

Steve and I both had glove leaks, so we didn’t stay back under, for long.

As we do with many of our guests, that have not been to the Great White North before, we took Marcus to our favourite aprés dive spot, for some poutine. I think we got him hooked on Timmies and poutine. Sorry about that, Marcus. 😛

We did have a great time, and even met up again, the following weekend, for some Winterlude fun!

Thanks for the fun, Marcus! Come on back and see us, sometime! There are a few months of the year, when the water isn’t frozen, and other fun dives to do! w00t!


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Back To Reality – Oops, There Goes Gravity…

21 01 2014

Sunday, January 20th, 2014 ~

Happy New Year! Ok, we were a little late in getting back into the water, after Mexico. How could we not be? Going from the 77F cave water, and coming back to the frozen stuff?

Oren came for a dive, so he convinced us. Otherwise, we may have been content with sitting on the couch, watching our videos, from the Mexico cavezzz…

As we got changed in the cabin, I noticed that I had grabbed my 6mm Santi hood, instead of my 9/7mm Santi hood. That was definitely not going to be warm enough. Thank goodness, Steve had his spare WP hood with him, so I could use that one. It was too big on me, and I had quite a bit of space at the front, between my head and the front of the hood – Oh, well… I can’t be fussy, today. It seems that I had also taken my glove liners off of the wall, but failed to put them in my gear bag. Sheesh… It’s just not my day, is it? Thankfully, Oren had a spare set, and we were dressed for Ice Diving Goodness. We also brought the “new” camera, to try out the strobes, for the second time.

Steve ducked under, first. Oren followed, and then me… ACK! H-H-H-H-HOLY SHEEEEEET! That was some exceptionally cold water, flooding into the hood. I had never had that feeling before, and it literally took my breath away. I kept wanting to breathe through my nose (duhhh), and was very uncomfortable. The long neck on the hood was also restricting me from turning my head, and I really didn’t like it. Of all of the years that I have been diving (including my years of ice diving), this is the most uncomfortable that I have ever been. I did NOT want to be under the ice, feeling like this.

I hovered in the opening for a little while, to see if the feeling would dissipate. I signaled to Steve, to let him know that I was “so-so,” and that I wanted to “hold,” for a minute. He took a few pictures, and as he did that, my head got used to the shocking cold, and I was fine. *Phew* What an odd feeling! Mark my words, I will never allow myself to forget my own hood, again! At least… I’ll try not to. 😉

Steve kept the camera for a little while, so I picked up the reel, and ran it to a semi-permanent line, that someone else had run, this year.

We swam over to the plane, and noticed that the toy box had been moved, and there were toys strewn all over the place. Of course, we had to pick them up, and put them away.

Then, Steve handed me the camera.

Oren…

Steve…

Me, flying with the plane (by Steve)…

Oh, look! It seems that my selfies are contagious! 😀

Me, at the controls…

Steve, playing piano (I had no idea that he could play) 😉 …

We then made our way back to the shallows for a few pics.

Bottom Time: 38 mins. (that was a short one!)
Max. Depth: 26′
Water Temp.: 37F

The pics didn’t turn out as nicely as we had hoped, but there is definitely a learning curve to this camera/strobe combination thing.

Since we hadn’t seen Oren in a while, we had to celebrate with some poutine, from Jean Burger.

*Note To Self* Your (warm) hood is extremely important, and you should never forget to bring it. 37F water flooding like a water fall, into the top of your hood is morbidly uncomfortable, and not something that I recommend to anyone… 😀

Oren, I am also sorry for soaking your glove liner. 😀

Some theme music, for me to remember my warm hood…


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