Even More Skillz, DPVz, & Free Divers!

4 08 2013

Saturday, August 3rd, 2013 ~ 

While Steve was teaching a DPV 1 course, I went for a skills dive with David J.! It also happened to be on a day where some of our free diving friends were in town! Of course, I brought the camera. We would do our main skills dive before the divers got there, then go back in for pics with the free divers.

David J., after our skills. Lookin’ good, Dave!

Bottom Time: 31 mins.
Max. Depth: 42′
Water Temp.: 55F

We came in, doffed gear, and met with our free diving friends. The plan was for us to go back and do a few more skills,  while the free divers set up their markers. Once we were done, we were to surface, and signal the guys to come in! Our timing was perfect, and we started at Morrie!

Eek! Shark!

I even got a shot of a couple of remoras…

Then, Philippe decided to go with no shoes, no shirt, no service…

Love it!

David J., getting read for his Fundies Pool Noodle specialty…

Then, we moved on to the sub. It was a bit chilly down there, so no one was there for long.

Then… craziness! How chilly was Philippe?? Pretty chilly!!!

What a blast, we had! Thanks for being my buddy, David J.!

Bottom Time: 54 mins.
Max. Depth: 54′
Water Temp.: 55F

Steve, Frankie, and Christian were doing their DPV stuff, while all of this shenaniganry was going on!

Christian and Steve…

I think Christian is happy with his new suit!

Frankie Boy!

Such a great group of guys!

See you back in March, under the ice!





Some Fundies Goodness

29 07 2013

Saturday, July 27th & Sunday, July 28th, 2013 ~ 

Another weekend of Fundies Goodness. Jen and I ran the grid line, blew a surface marker for the initial descent line, and took turns filming.

Saturday 
Total In-Water Time: 2 hours, 30 mins.
Max. Depth: 38′
Water Temp.: 71F

Sunday
Total In-Water Time: 2 hours, 3 mins.
Max. Depth: 37′
Water Temp.: 71F

Me…

Jen…

Heison was also visiting on Saturday, and had his fancy Diver Guy, with him!

Sasha, Steve, and Chris!

…and of course, diving is serious business, right??? 😛

Heison took some shots, too. I managed to save his scooter from a solo rock wall descent, even though he thought that I took it from him. 😀

Gorgeous day for Scuba School!





Got E.Motion-Al

22 07 2013

Sunday, July 21st. 2013 ~

Today was the day that I was trying out my new Santi E.Motion suit. I had it on deck to dive on Saturday, but our dive did not go ahead, as planned.

Since Steve was teaching, I made my way down to Brockville, and met Jen. We were going on a channel scooter/drift dive. Our plan was to scooter upstream from Centeen Park, then drop into the channel, and have some fun!

We hit the triggers, and away we went. Once we reached our planned channel drop, we started towards the channel. As we were making our way, we ran into some wreckage. A lot of wreckage. We sometimes see the odd plank of wood, but these piles were many, and strewn about for quite a distance. Of course, we had to have a look, so once we did reach the channel, we cut our planned drift time down by a few minutes.

While we were in the channel, there was a freighter that passed overhead. This is nothing new, and happens quite often. This one sounded like it was within spitting distance! There we were, drifting in the channel, in some pretty mild current, when the river bed started to shake, the current went from slow to “spit you out” kind of speed, and it was so loud, that every piece of our beings were pounding. I swear, we could feel our heart beats, in time with the freighter! We were just shy of 100′, so I knew we weren’t in any danger, but sheesh… talk about giving us some wide eyes!  After it passed, the current slowed down… *Sings Twilight Zone music*

We had reached our planned (make that, replanned) drifting time, so we started to make our way back up. Just as we got to 70′, we were staring into the stern of the Gaskin. How was that for planning? We went for a bit of a swim through it, then decided to swim off, a little. Jen found a couple of little treasures (no, they were not of the wreck-finding kind). 😛

As we came back up into the basin of the park, we came upon an extremely tangled Halcyon reel. Since we were going to do a few minutes of deco anyway, we decided to untangle it. Well, holy smokes… It was not an easy task, but we finally did it. It definitely took the both of us, to do it. We figured it belonged to the people running a course there, so we brought it in. As we surfaced, Jen asked if anyone was “missing” one. They were using it for a rescue scenario, and were just about to go back and pick it up! We saved them a bit of time and energy. 😛

Bottom TIme: 2 hours, 8 mins.
Max. Depth: 99′
Water Temp.: 73F
Vis.: 10′ to 40′

Mike met us over at Bud’s, for some dinner!

We caught three ducks on the back of a Sea Doo, but by the time I got my camera out, they were jumping ship. Go figure…

Oh, well! At least we had a really fun dive!

As far as my new Santi E.Motion suit goes, it fits absolutely perfectly, and was so comfortable to wear. I’m sure that if I had not had a P-Valve malfunction (duck bill valve), that I would have been a happier camper, but the suit was awesome. I can’t wait to get some more dives on it!!





Let’s Go Swimming… Through?

14 07 2013

Saturday, July 13th, 2013 ~

Steve and Dave were running through some skills, so I joined Christian for a dive! I brought my camera with me, too.

We had a nice, easy swim out to the plane, where we saw Steve and Dave. We hung out for a bit, waved, then carried on. Christian was going to show me a little swim-through… A swim-through?? In the quarry?? Whaaa???

Yes… Apparently, this does exist, and I had absolutely no idea. Ok, it’s not like swimming through a cave, or even part of a nice, tropical reef area, but… you can swim under a rock, in the quarry! This still fascinates me, that I had no idea it was there!

Thank you for showing it to me, Christian!

Not far from the swim-through..

A neat box, from when the quarry was in use. I wonder what it was for?

On our way back up to the boat…

Christian, swimming through the boat, and a random diver in the background…

Dave and Steve – Valve Drills!

Bottom Time: 54 mins.
Max. Depth: 100′
Water Temp.: 39F (at 100′, below a few thermoclines)

After our dive, Christian had a collection of goodies, for us! Some fresh bagels, vegan cream cheese, apples, and a collection of nuts and berries, and a taste of dark chocolate. What an awesome surprise! Thanks again, Christian!

What a fun day!

Steve, looking for the froggy, that was making a lot of noise…

Here… froggy, froggy!

Steve and Dave, after their dive!

Dave is such a happy fellow!

What a great day!





The Power House… Or, Thereabouts…

6 07 2013

Sunday, June 30th, 2013 ~ 

The good Doctor Oren decided to come up for the weekend, and we met at Guindon Park.

We decided to get in on the opposite side of the marina…

Getting gear together…

The plan was to go to the Power House, since we hadn’t been in a while.

We headed south, down the embankment, and up the other side. We drifted for a bit, but the visibility was so horrible, that we never ended up getting to the Power House. We did find a lot of other cool things, though!

There were some areas with some absolutely ripping current, and areas with none. It was a pretty fun ride!

We found a large structure, that we really weren’t sure what it was, but it had ties for ships to be tied up to it (obviously, before the River Flooding).

As we made our way back over to the north side of the embankment, we found a really large anchor. Probably one of the largest that we have ever seen.  We also found a tower, and a swing bridge.  It was a pretty cool day to find stuff!

As we made our way in, we had surfaced, to get a bearing on where we were. We blew a bag, in case there were any boats. Since there did not seem to be many boats at all, we decided to head towards the boat launch, to get out.

Yeah… there weren’t any boats, until the the little one that buzzed us, went overhead. I swear, we were inches from the prop. I felt the vibrations in my head. Normally, you can hear them coming, but this one was especially quiet. Scared the living pachoosies out of me! *Phew!* We were only in 6′ of water!

We came in safely, and parked our gear.

Bottom TIme: 2 hours, 37 minutes
Max. Depth: 77′
Water Temp.: 66F
Vis.: 2′ to 20′ (depending on where we were)

Although we didn’t make it to the Power House, we were all pretty excited to see new things!