Eric came to join Steve and I for a dive (crazy, I know…). We found a little spot in the river that Steve and I had been to before, but it had been quite a while. We figured we would give it a go, since we couldn’t get near Centeen, today (Canada Day celebrations).
We dropped our scooters in the water, then geared up. There were a few islands around, and we figured it would be neat to scooter around them. The entry is quite shallow, which was fun to put fins on. We had to go out quite a bit, in order to get ourselves ready to go. There were many very sticky and soft parts of the riverbed, which made it a little tricky to walk out. It wasn’t so bad, when taking the scooters out, but with tanks on, we sank in a little more. We just took our time, and all was well.
We started out, and saw some absolutely amazing rock formations, under the water. At first, we wondered if some of them might have been man-made, but if so, they would have been awfully hard to put there. Some were jagged, and others were perfectly smoothed down and square.
There was so much to look at, and we did not realize that the channel went this deep, here. Extremely cool dive, and one we will definitely need to do again!
Bottom Time: 57 minutes
Max. Depth: 104′
Water Temp.: 68F
Today’s dive was at the quarry… an extremely busy quarry. There were cars as far as the eye could see! Well.. at least into the upper parking lot, as well as a full house, up by the toilets.
Today’s dive was a Fundies Tech upgrade checkout dive. I hadn’t been in the water for a couple of weeks (stoOpid work..lol), so I was happy to get in the water!
I got to play the role of “buddy,” which was also much fun! Fundies Dive 6! w00t! 🙂
Bottom Time: 28 mins.
Max Depth: 30′
Water Temp: 57F
Vis.: Not great – There were also an incredible number of OW checkout dives.
From there, we headed to Jean Burger, for lunch, then home! By noon!!! :O
Sunday, June 10th, 2012 ~
Today, Steve and I headed down to Centeen Park. Steve was taking a couple of fine folks out for their GUE DPV 1 Experience dive, in the St. Lawrence River, and I went along for the ride!
It was pretty busy at the park, although not crazy. For this dive, I used my “Big Girl Tanks (my 130s), which I have not used since the fall. Yes, they were still a little heavier than my AL80s. 🙂
A little boat that passed by the park…
We also had some visitors, who obviously didn’t care about the pretend foxes around them, as well as did not pay attention to the “police” tape that was put up for them, as a barrier!
My Big Girl Tanks, with my Purple AL80s in the background (I have my fancy Light Monkey wing on those!)…
We got in, did our checks, and our plan was to scooter upstream at about 30′, drop into the channel, drift, make our way back up to the Gaskin, play around for a while, then come back in.
The guys did a fantastic job, and as we came back into about 20′, they were congratulated with handshakes!
Way to go, guys!
Bottom Time: 78 mins.
Max Depth: 94′
Water Temp: 60F
Vis.: Not great in the shallows, opening up in the channel.
This is one heck of a dive mobile!
After the dive, Eric came to meet us, too. We had planned on doing another dive, so we switched our gear over to our AL80s, and grabbed a stage each. We also switched scooter bodies, so that we would have a longer burn time.
So… I can still report that there was no truck to be found… I swear, I think it must get moved when we dive. We did manage to find some wreckage that I swear we have seen before. It is an old piece of a wooden bow. I know it is the same one that we had seen on another occasion.. although, the current was very mild this time around, and I got to actually take a look at it! Once we got to a couple of small shoals, near the 3 Sister Islands, we decided to turn back towards shore. We stayed at depth for a while, hopeful for a truck sighting, but.. alas.. today was still not the day!
We passed by a bottle jug that we had passed on the way out, so we knew we still weren’t going to find that darn vehicle!
Still an excellent dive, and a lot of fun!
Bottom Time: 71 mins.
Max Depth: 99′
Water Temp: 60F
Vis.: Not great in the shallows, opening up in the channel.
Eric’s new camera!
Eric took a couple of pics of us, with his new camera! Taken by Eric Bourque…
So, we made another attempt at looking for the elusive truck. The old Chevy truck that seems to hide from us, every time we look for it. We have been looking for this thing for about 5 years, and although we know we are all around the right area, we never seem to actually find it. Many other friends have found it, although I am starting to wonder if it actually exists, or if people keep photoshopping into their pics and videos, just to tantalize us. 😛
We arrived at Centeen Park, brought our scooters to the water, geared up, and in we went. The visibility was horrible, and there was a ton of green river snot (algae), floating everywhere. I actually caught a piece of it on my upper lip, as we scootered along.
Jenn E. even came by to say hello!
We have had a couple of friends try to help us in our quest, including the directions they follow, as well as another friend giving us GPS coordinates (thanks, Dave). I guess they would be more helpful if we actually plugged them in somewhere. Mike says that would be cheating, if we did that, but at this point, I don’t care. Lol… We’ve been looking for such a long time!!! Today, it did feel like we were getting close. We didn’t see the milk jugs that were supposed to be around the truck, but we did find an area where it was more flat, and what looked like a roadway. A truck should be near a roadway, right???
Oh well.. I guess we will have to continue our search on another day. We did see a fancy pike, though, and it was still a rather fun dive. As long as we still get to play in the water, it is a good day!
Bottom Time: 63 mins.
Max Depth: 96′
Water Temp: 46F
Vis.: Gross, with bits of green fluff.
Mike, James, and Jen B.
James and I! Me, with some serious dive hair! It looks like I also got a bit of sun, a neck seal rub, and cold water face! 😛
We topped the day off with some All You Can Eat Fajitas, at Santa Fe! Thanks for the torts, Penny! 😀
Since our Free Diving friends were not able to come out last year, it has been two years since we have seen them. We were happy that they were able to come out this year, and we were able to “shoot” them! Mike Grebler was also along for some Picture-Taking Goodness.
François Leduc is the current president of AIDA Canada, that the group is all a part of. They train in Quebec, and travel the world for competitions. It is a real treat to be able to share this with them!
The hole was nice an open, and the beach entry was the easiest it has been all winter.
Steve, Eric, and I timed our entry for when the Free Divers were ready, and were on our way.
Steve brought his scooter along, so that his video camera had more stability, and handed it off to Eric, while he took Serge’s for a test run. They would interchange, throughout the dive. 🙂
We made our way over to the plane, which would be our post, for the dive.
They started coming down, from one of their three entry points. Eric gets a Dive-By buzz from Philippe Beauchamp…
I find it absolutely amazing that these people are able to do this, and it still gives me the “heebeejeebees,” when I watch them swim from hole to hole. They are incredible to watch!
Warwick Long flies by for a pose!
Lionel Bernard has some fun!
AIDA Canada president, François Leduc…
Philippe even had fun with some bubbles…
I just love being able to be a part of this, and helping to make memories for the divers.
Of course, we had to take a couple of shots of us, too!
Steve…
Eric…
..and… of course, me hamming it up for a self-portrait!
Bottom Time: 49 mins.
Max Depth: 29′
Water Temp: 37F
Vis.: Not too shabby!
A wonderful group of people, and I look forward to some fun projects with them, this year! Thanks guys ‘n’ gal! 🙂
Airport pick-ups! Laurynn and Karen were first, followed by Sonya, and then Kathryn. I had a good parking spot, but since Steve went to do a coffee run, he lost his spot. Steve called as he was getting closer to us, in the line-up of cars that were being waived through. We had some luggage ready to throw into the back of his van, so that we didn’t get in trouble from the airport cops, and Karen was ready to jump into the passenger seat. Exchange complete! They were off! We waited for Kathryn, then were on our way home, too!
Once we got to our place, we directed people towards their sleeping spots for the next few days, chatted for a while, then to sleep!
Friday, February 17th, 2012 ~
Breakfast was at Cora’s, which is an exceptional place to eat!
We ate, chatted some more, then went back to the house, to load up. Off to the quarry, we went!
Eric and Steve both had their chainsaws, and worked on cutting the hole for us. We got ourselves ready to dive, and we were off to the races!
“Are we really doing this??”
Of course, there was some shenaniganry, as we readied to dive!
The princess was preparing for a surprise meeting!
We descended under the ice, and Eric ran the line out to the main line. Steve brought our video camera, as we had to document our US friends’ inaugural ice dive! Kathryn had her camera, and Jen brought along her video camera.
Sonya and Laurynn, with Steve in the background…
Karen and Kathryn…
Eric takes in the sights, above…
We had a most excellent dive, and there was much fun and Shenaniganry! Our friends had done their first ice dive, and even enjoyed it!!!
Bottom Time: 37 mins.
Max Depth: 44′
Water Temp: 39F
Vis.: Not too shabby!
Dinner was at The Works, where they stuck us in a cage… How did they know? Everything was delicious, and although there was a Squirrel Fail, there was much laughter and grins from the day’s dive.
We made our way back to our place, for cupcakes, chatter, and some video review! We also watched a slideshow of Kathryn’s shots!
A fun day!
Saturday, February 18th, 2012 ~
Today, we headed to Timmy’s for breakfast (with a few people sneaking to Booster Juice), then we were quarry bound. When we got there, there were about 5000 cars (ok, probably about 20) in the main parking lot, and even more in the back lot. It was definitely going to be a busy day at the quarry. One of the guys told us that they were moving out shortly, and we would be able to move our cars closer. Sweet!
We did not need to cut the hole again, so we took our time gearing up. Finally, the parking spots opened up, and we were able to pull our cars down. Woo hoo! Time to dive!
James, Oren, Chris, Mike, and Jen were also here today, and this time, Steve had the video housing on the scooter mount, to get some more cool footage of everyone. There were a couple of other cameras in the water, too (Kathryn, Chris, Jen, James.. if I remembered all of the cameras)! It was a camera day!
So, I guess it is fair to say that there was even more Shenaniganry to be had, today. This time, we had more players!
I think Eric was suspecting that he was under attack from the Princessi!
Yeah, he was right…
We even managed to get a group shot! Well… Everyone, except for me! 😛
Ice Push-Ups, anyone?
Hmm… What is that, hanging from Eric’s butt??? On closer inspection, he seems to have been Princessified!!
Bottom Time: 48 mins.
Max Depth: 38′
Water Temp: 37F
Vis.: The same!
Sonya found an ice heart! Sonya and Laurynn must love Canada. 😛
We were a big group, today! Yes, we were all DUI Dogs of the week! w00t!
After such Diving Goodness, we made our way to Ha Noi Pho for some delicious Viet cuisine!
The Biebs came along, and since he didn’t get to participate in the day’s Shenaniganry, he wanted to try this ice diving thing, too…
I think he approves.
Then he got into the booze…
A fun way to end the day!
Sunday, February 19th, 2012 ~
Finally, some sunshine! Today would be our last day of Ice Diving Goodness, with our AGGAST sisters!
It was also Eric’s Birthday! Karen and I snuck over to the store, while everyone started to order breakfast, at Booster Juice! We had the perfect cake, and were hoping that he didn’t see us walking back to the van, with it!
Then… Quarry bound, once again!
Today, we decided to follow the other line, and head down to the sub. It wasn’t long before there was.. Yes, you guessed it… Shenaniganry!
Laurynn and I, with a self-portrait!
We played around at the sub for a while, came back up, then moved the reel over to the plane line!
On our way back in, we noticed that someone was waiting for us…
Coming back to the entry/exit…
Bottom Time: 46 mins.
Max Depth: 55′
Water Temp: 37F
Vis.: More of the same!
However, the Shenaniganry did not end when we got out of the water. There was dancing, pilates, and new ways to position ourselves in the snow!!
Sonya shows us how it’s done!
Sonya and Steve do “The Sonya!”
AGGAST Supastaaaaaaaaaaaas!
James shows us his fancy moves, too!
I then received a snowball!
Pardon? I can’t hear you!!
Then, it was time for cake! I was trying to get everyone to corral Eric into the cottage, while I went for the cake! I almost got caught, and I think Eric knew that something was up. Oh well… He seemed to like his special Princessi cake!! 😛
From there, we headed up to the infamous Jean Burger, where we introduced our friends to Poutine! You can’t come to Quebec, and not have Poutine!
Sonya had heard of a covered bridge nearby, so we did a little inquiring, and figured out where to go! Steve and I had never been to it, so it was a really neat thing to see!
Road closed… Um… You think???
On the way back, we stopped at a spot on the side of the road, that had a natural spring water spout. People would come with empty containers, to fill them up with incredibly yummy, fresh water! We had driven by it so many times, but had never stopped!
We headed back to our place, where we chilled for a while, then to Swiss Chalet for some Dining Goodness, then to karaoke, to finish off the weekend’s fun and adventure!
I am very happy to know such wonderful people, and to be able to dive with friends from all over. What an excellent weekend of Shenaniganry and AGGAST Diving Goodness!!!
Shenaniganry WAS had in multitudes!!!
Thanks for such an awesome weekend!!!!!! Planning for the next AGGAST get-together MUST commence!!
A video, put together by Steve!
Whooooooooooooooooooooooomvaaaaaaaaaa!!!
Woo Hoo!! Team AGGAST also became DUI Dogs Of The Week!! w00t! 🙂
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