Chillin’ & Driftin’…

25 11 2011

Sunday, November 20th, 2011 ~

Steve and I headed down to the St. Lawrence River, to meet Blake and Eric. We know there aren’t going to be many St. Lawrence dives left in the season, so we want to make the most of our time, before the deep freeze. We met at Teapot Island Bay (it has many names; this just happens to be what I’ve known it as), and planned on scootering over to the Rockport Wall, drifting for a while, then scootering over to the wreck of the Kinghorn, then in at Rockport. We placed cars at each location, to make life easier.

Entry…

We took our gear into the water, changed, then went to drop a vehicle off in Rockport. As we got into the water, there was so much mud, that it made putting fins on a bit of a challenge. We very slowly made our way into slightly deeper water to do our predive briefings and gear checks. The mud was so bad, that we had to go right up into each others’ face to verify our stage bottles and do bubble checks.

We surface scootered over to the bowl to avoid mud, weeds, and bad vis. Once we got there, we went four across, until we got to the wall. We made our way down to 100′, where it was quite a bit darker, and enjoyed both scootering and drifting across the wall. We saw a few big fish, and directed ourselves toward where we thought the line to the Kinghorn would be. Voila… we found it, and continued on to the wreck. We played around a little, and once inside, Eric asked me if I was cold (since I usually get cold). I signaled that I was good to go! Then.. I guess I had it in my head, and I began to feel chilled.. Bahh! *Signal*… er.. Eric? I think I might be a little chilly, now…

So.. we turned and headed for shore in Rockport, with Steve and Blake coming along shortly after. Eric and I did notice that we had to dial back a bit on our scooters, as Steve and Blake’s RB80s did seem to cause a bit more drag in the water. Interesting note!

We definitely had a really fun dive! I did get some video, but it was quite dark…

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 8 mins.
Max. Depth: 106′
Water Temp.: 48F

Exit…

I sat with the gear, while the fellas went for the vehicles…

 

Of course, there was just enough time for some silliness…

Once everyone came back, we loaded up and went to Boston Pizza for some grub! Let’s hope we can get back to the river next week! Winter is coming!


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Heleen And Sander Came To Town!

3 09 2011

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011 ~

After a crazy day of work, I filled up the Dive Gear Transportation Unit, and headed to the airport. I only had to do two circles around, and I found my passengers! Our friends from Holland were here! w00t! I finally got to see them in person, and would be spending the next few days diving and talking about everything under the sun!

Our first stop was the Quarry, directly from the airport, as the plane was a must-see for Heleen!

I brought my camera along, for some pics, and we jumped in the water. We went straight to the plane for some pics, then to the boat, sub, and back to the plane for more pics and most excellent Diving Goodness fun! It was definitely fantastic to finally get in the water with Heleen and Sander!

Sander and Heleen, over the infamous plane!

w00t! Myself and Heleen!

Sander, giving the moose ears!

Coming back in…

Bottom Time: 41 mins.
Max. Depth: 55′
Water Temp.: 60F
Visibility: Goodly

Off to Boston Pizza, for some delicious dinner, and to meet Steve!

Wednesday, August 31st, 2011 ~

Today, we were heading down to Rockport, to go for a scooter run to the Kinghorn (thank you for the extra scooter, KR). We had a few errands to run in the morning, and I cooked us a big breakfast, so it was early afternoon before we got to the shop.

We made our way to the wreck, played around on the outside, then headed inside, to swim around the core of the wreck. It seems that the wreck has deteriorated even more, and it appears that there have been a few deck beams that have fallen in. I still never tire of seeing the view of ambient light, up through the inside of the wreck, through the wheel. We made our way back, and back up, onto the boat. What a fantastic dive! I think Heleen and Sander liked this one! 

Bottom Time: 64 mins.
Max. Depth: 90′
Water Temp.: 69F
Visibility: Not too shabby

Yummy… Kool-Aid…

After our dive, we topped it off with some ice cream, from the upstairs shop! Mmm.. Rolo…

Jeff and Sander were chatting, so we grabbed Sander an ice cream, too… or.. did we?? 😀

We headed back, and were able to make it back in time for the last 10 minutes of Steve’s Final Hockey playoff game! Way to go, Steve!

When we got back, we unpacked, and had some fun with the neighbours…

Thursday, September 1st, 2011 ~

Today, we had planned on going down to the river, for a scooter dive, but decided to go a little closer, so we could do some tourist stuff, after our dive. Quarry? Meh.. went there on Tuesday.. Hmm.. How about Back Mine? Steve and I hadn’t been there in over a year, and this would be a great time of year to go. The water is always extremely cold, as this mine was built into a mountain, and the water does not see sunlight. Although there is a covered dome overtop of the site, there is a large area of open water, where we dive. There is a mine shaft that starts at about 120′ deep. It is an absolutely beautiful dive, but as I said… is cold.

We took the ferry across to the Quebec side, and once we arrived, we took a bit of a jaunt up to the top, to take some photos.

 There happened to be a photographer there, doing a photo shoot, and he was gracious enough to take some shots of us, too! Thank you, Rick!

Once we entered the water, we made our way to the other side of the open water area, saw the old truck, old line, and other interesting formations. There was obviously not much ambient light, so it was a bit murky… and crisp. We surfaced on the opposite side, had a chat and a laugh, then headed back down. We showed Heleen and Sander the grim reaper sign, then made our way back in.  

Good thing we were already hooked up…

Bottom Time: 45 mins.
Max. Depth: 105′
Water Temp.: 38F
Visibility: 25′

After we packed up, we made our way downtown, to the Byward Market, where we grabbed a snack from the Chip Wagon. We just had to introduce Sander to poutine! We did a bit of a tour of the Parliament buildings, the lock system, and a few other cool buildings.

On the way back, we stopped to pick up some BBQ and sweet corn!

What a fantastic day!

Friday, September 2nd, 2011 ~

Well.. today was the day that we were all departing for different places. Heleen and Sander were on their way home, Steve was heading to Florida, and I was going to Seattle, for the Team AGGAST adventure.

It was so amazing to finally meet our friends from overseas, that we have been corresponding with, e-mailing, and sending so many pictures back and forth with. We were able to give them a little taste of Canada (besides their adventures in the Rocky Mountains, before they got to us), with Tim Horton’s, Kool-Aid, hockey, poutine, the Parliament buildings, maple syrup, and some of the diving we have to offer. What an amazing time for us, too… please come back!! See you next year!! 😛

Here are the links to Heleen’s Canada videos!

The Quarry and The Kinghorn…

Back Mine…

 

 

Canada…

http://wethorse.nl/Canada11/index.htm

Other Wethorse videos can be seen at: www.wethorse.nl


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Hola Amigos!

7 06 2011

Monday, May 30th, 2011 ~

Yippee! Fred and Angelica were in town! We decided to head to a Vietnamese restaurant for some delicious cuisine and some great chats. We ended up talking for quite a while, and with the restaurant’s closing time at 9pm, we  realized we were a little over our time. Time to go back to our casa for a tour, a beverage, and some more hang time. 🙂 

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2011 ~

We were a little behind schedule, thanks to some gnarly construction on the 416, but we were on our way to Centeen, where we were meeting Mike, Michel, and our special guest star, Fred! When we finally got there, we put our gear together for some Diving Goodness!

Fred, in the background, putting his fins together…

It was nearing dusk as we got into the water, which we knew was going to turn into a night dive. Sweet!

Gear checks, dive plan, and away we went. We hit the trigger, heading upstream, then dropped into the channel at the park bench. The visibility was pretty stinky on the way out, but it did get better as we hit the channel, apart from the darkness. 

Our plan was to bring us back to the Gaskin, where we did a couple of passes over and through, before heading back in. It had been a while since Steve and I had done a night dive here, and everything did look so different. Especially not being able to see farther than your light would shine. It was alot of fun! Fred even stayed warm in our “frigid” waters! 😛

 Bottom Time ~ 78 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 94′
Water Temp. ~ 55F
Vis. ~ Stinky, until we got a bit deeper into the channel

After the dive – Michel, Fred, Steve, Mike…

After we packed up, we had to do the Canadian thing, and hit Tim Horton’s. Fred went to pick up Angelica, and we met for something to eat. Before we knew it, it was 1 am on a “school night!” Time flies when you’re having fun. 🙂

Fred and Angelica.. Now THAT’S Canadian!

Fred, Me, Steve…

Sunday, June 5th, 2011 ~

I requested the day off of my Fundies Filming duties that I had been on on Saturday, and was able to join Fred and Jen for some more Goodness in the River, Sunday! We met at Jeff’s, and since there was a charter heading out to the Kinghorn, we were able to hop on it with our scooters, and scooter back in to shore. Angelica came with us on the boat too! We did our gear checks on the boat, as there is usually a nice surface current here. We jumped in, tied onto our “turbos,” and down we went. It has been a while since I have taken a boat here, but since it is high boating season, diving off of the dock is not permitted until the late fall. So, it was jump in off of the boat, and scooter back, getting back onto the boat as we get back in.

As we got to the wreck of the Kinghorn, we drifted along the top of the deck, to show Fred the wreck, then went for a tour inside, taking time to look at everything. We did another tour around the outside of the wreck, then came back around the starboard side, where we picked up the line, heading back. Along the way, we saw a few really large carp! I came upon a rather large crayfish, and played with him a little. As he scurried backwards, Fred got behind him. As he was going to greet him, I signaled to Fred to look behind him… An extremly large carp was sneaking around us. Jen also saw quite a few of her “little guys” along the way, and showed them to Fred.

Bottom Time ~ 48 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 91′
Water Temp. ~ 55F
Vis. ~ Not bad at all!

Jen, Fred, and I, taken by Angelica!

After packing up, the four of us went for a nice lunch at the Boathouse Restaurant, overlooking the water. It was really great to see Angelica and Fred, and also getting in some fun dives. Thank you, Fred and Angelica! See you soon!

Me, Angelica, and Jen, taken by Fred!

After lunch, Jen and I lingered for a little while, then went to top the day off with some dessert!

Cheers!


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Ahoy To The Kinghorn

21 10 2009

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 ~

Since my other half was working, Andy and I decided to take a run out to the Kinghorn, with his fancy new Mini G. He was hoping that the last challenge of weighting was exactly that… the last challenge.

We stopped at Caiger’s, to see if we could meet up with Yasuko, who was on a charter that day, but they had not come in yet, so back to Jeff’s we went. We took our sweet time getting ready, as it was a gorgeous day, and we decided to have a bit of a snack before diving.

Ok.. enough snacking.. time to dive. Another two buddy teams surfaced before we got in, and said the visibility was improving. Andy and I got in, did our predive checks, and noticed some funky black clouds over the river. We got through our checks, and headed out. As we followed the line out, I could feel water coming in through my neck seal. I knew I needed to replace it, but I was hoping to get a few more dives out of it. I guess this was it.

I knew it was going to be a short dive, and that it would be me that called it, but I figured we could at least get to the wreck. We came upon the bow of the Kinghorn, paid respects to Doug’s plaque, then made our way down to the stern. Ok… time to call it… I had already communicated to Andy, that my neck seal was pooched, so he was waiting for my call. As we swam over the deck, we came upon one of the holds. We looked at each other, smiled, and down we went. We had to swim that way anyway, we may as well go in. You know… since we’re there and all. 🙂 We swam inside, checked out the artifacts, then made our way back up and back to the line.

We saw some pretty big carp on the dive, as well as a couple of pike. Although it was a short dive, it was still alot of fun. I’m sure the bruise on my shin will heal quickly…lol.

Bottom Time ~ 37 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 91′
Water Temp. ~ 60/61
Visibility ~ 35′ – 30′

When we got out, I had received a text from Yasuko, so we ended up seeing her after all!


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Canadian Invasion ~ Brockville Edition

20 08 2009

Friday, August 7th, 2009 ~

I had packed the van the previous night, so that I was ready to roll in the morning. This was going to be the first weekend of the two Canadian Invasions, and we were meeting at the Bridge Island Resort, in Mallorytown.

When I arrived, there were already folks convening and getting gear ready!

Eric V. and Frankie…

Pickens…

Brent…

Bob P….

Randy…

Stephanie…

Piotr…

Andy…

Jamie and Rod…

Hmm.. it seems Chris was able to avoid the camera…

We organized the convoy, and went over to Rockport Dive Centre, to see Jeff. There were 13 of us to dive, which was a bit many for the Shaleka J, so 5 of us were going to scooter out to the wreck!

Chris M., getting ready to scooter (got him this time)…

Bob P., getting ready on the boat!

I had never navigated this dive from shore before, and was looking forward to the adventure! We dropped down, found the line, and headed out. Chris, Piotr, and I were in the lead, with Francois and Eric behind us. Frankie also brought his HD video camera. We got to the end of the line, and didn’t see anything. The visibility wasn’t that great, so we moved forward a little bit more, taking a bearing off of the line. That didn’t work. We went back to the line, and I looked to the right… Ohh.. look at that.. a big bow in the murk. I signaled to my team mates, and around the wreck we went. We saw the boat divers on the wreck as well, and I managed to give a couple of high fives to a bunch of people. We went inside for a bit, then came back out and headed back. What a fun dive!

Bottom Time ~ 54 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 92′
Water Temp. ~ 71
Vis. ~ Stinky

We broke for lunch, and went over to the Boathouse Restaurant. Notice Andy got in both pictures.. 😀

What would an Invasion be without stacking things??

After lunch, we headed back over to Jeff’s for a second run out to the Kinghorn. Chris was sitting this one out, so I took his scooter. Piotr and I teamed up, and Frankie and Eric were a team, once again.

We followed the line out again, but were able to get to the wreck in one this time…lol. We had a leisurely swim around the wreck, greeted some of the other divers, and went back in.

Bottom Time ~ 50 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 94′
Water Temp. ~ 71
Vis. ~ Still Stinky

We headed back to the Bridge Island to meet up with more arriving folk, then went over to the Boathouse again, for a party!

Everyone had arrived, once we got to the Boathouse, and there were so many of us, that we had to line up tables in two rows. We laughed and had a great time, even though Mr. Karaoke Man didn’t get there. Oh well… I can sing without music.

Saturday, August 8th, 2009 ~

We had four boats for the entire group: Two boats of Wayne’s and 1000 Islands Pleasure Diving, leaving out of Caiger’s, and two boats of Jeff’s, leaving from Rockport Dive Centre. We were all heading to the Keystorm, as the Poker Run was going on again, and we were limited to which wrecks we could do. It’s better to stay out of the channel with speeding boats nearby. Apparently, every dive boat in the water, was also headed for the Keystorm. It was going to be one busy day on that wreck.

Steve and I, playing around…

Cap’n. Jeff!

Steve and I were buddied up, and Chris, Piotr, and Jen were joining us as a group. Steve had the video camera, and he and I pointed the scooters down on the hull side, and down we went. We stopped at about the 85′ mark, and went underneath the wreck, to wait for the second gang. Steve filmed them coming down. It was kind of fun to have the scooters on this wreck, as we have always just swam this one. We did a tour down by the props, waved to our other friends, then played around in the cargo holds. We then followed the wall around for a bit, but didn’t see much of anything but wet rock. Coming back, we were right on the anchor. Alot of fun!

Bottom Time ~ 44 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 111′
Water Temp. ~ 71
Vis. ~ 20′ ish

In between dives, Steve and Mer went over to investigate the other group’s boats!

There are always the Kool Aid shots…

Steve, playing in the water…

The Poker Run was going on again, and since there were fewer boats than last year, it really wasn’t so bad. I caught a picture of one little boat in the air.

Oh.. what’s that? A police boat! I need a picture of them…

Um.. no, I didn’t mean for you to come over…

They were pretty friendly, and just checking up on us, to make sure that the speedy boats were cooperating.

Once we were all back on board, we headed back to shore, picked up a few goodies, and convened for some BBQ goodness! We had giant steaks and chicken (thanks to Jen for bringing the meat), potato salad, chips galore, a draw for some prizes (thanks to Rockport Dive Centre and Dive Tech for the donations), and plenty more laughs. Thanks to Pickens for his master cookery on the BBQ too!

Sunday, August 9th, 2009 ~

Today, we were on different runs. Wayne’s boats headed out to the Vickery, then to do a drift dive, and Jeff’s boats were headed off to the Jodrey.

Junior was overseeing the plans…

We tied up to the mooring tree, and prepared for our dive. Chris was a bit under the weather, so Piotr was going to join Jen and I.

We did our predive checks, then drifted to our descent spot. Once we got to the edge of the wall, down we went. It seemed that the current was an extra bit strong today, so on the way down, it felt like we were being carried over a bit. When we got down to 140′, we didn’t see the wreck. We descended a little more, then realized that we were definitely in the wrong spot. I could have sworn that the current had taken us farther past, so I figured we should go a bit west. We scootered along the wall, until we hit even stronger, screaming current, and I realized that we were on the wrong side of the wreck. The current gets even stronger, heading out near the channel, so we turned around, and got a bit more shallow. We scootered for a couple of minutes, then voila!! We were on the wreck! Judging by the distance that we travelled back and forth, we had to have been right at the hull, when we descended. Since it’s quite dark, and you don’t have any ambient light at the hull, neither of us knew that we actually were right beside the wreck. So… we didn’t actually get to spend much time on the wreck, and I have to take alot of that responsibility. I could actually blame it on Chris, on the boat, as just before the dive, he said to Piotr, “Just follow Chan. She knows where she’s going.”

Right.. famous last words! Lol.. well.. it was still an interesting experience, and we still did have alot of fun! Scootering in mid water at depth was actually a really cool experience. I guess the next case of Kool Aid is on me! Oh wait.. I did bring the Kool Aid… good call.

When we returned to shore, we packed up and headed back over to the Family Restaurant, to meet a bunch of the gang from Wayne’s boats, before everyone departed. Becki had the best napkins…rofl.

We shared our stories from the weekend’s dives, shared even more laughter, and enjoyed each other’s company.

It was really amazing to see alot of friends from last year, and we also made some new ones. Last year’s group was 18 people, and this year, we grew to 28, and two different weekends, in two different towns/cities. What an awesome group of people. I can’t wait until next year!


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Categories : Diving In 2009!, Invasions

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