Since the guys ditched me on yesterday’s dive, I met up with Jen, and we headed towards Kingston, where we caught the tail end of the Santi Demo Day, before heading a little further west, to DIVE!
We had never been to this site before, and we knew that it was going to be a shallow dive, but we wanted to check it out.
Entry…
We did our gear checks, and descended… well, swam down through a jungle of weeds, in about 5′ of water, and about 5′ of visibility. Did I mention that there were weeds? Perhaps it was the west end’s version of a kelp forest, without the little gaps to swim through. What seemed like an eternity of swimming through this vast lake jungle, and low visibility, we finally reached open water. Yahooooo! With this open water, came even worse visibility, so we finally decided to turn back. I don’t mind low vis., but this went to about 2″, and nothing but jello-like silt… besides the iced tea drink pouch and a piece of tree.
We swam back for a while, then decided to blow a bag, and surface swim… only because we didn’t feel like navigating the jungle, again. Up went the bag, followed by us. When we reached the surface, we noticed how far we had gone. We were way past the far marker buoy, that you can see in the above photo. Ah, well… It was a beautiful day, and we did have quite a few laughs, as we made our way in. We did happen to see a bass, and what we thought were a bunch of little gobies (through the murkiness).
Bottom Time: 47 mins.
Max. Depth: 28′
Water Temp.: 68F/71F
Vis.: What vis.?
Fun Factor, Anyway: High
We wanted to get a selfie, with the water in the background, so we kneeled down…
How low can you go?
….and we got a water shot!
I think we will need to return later in the fall, when the weeds die off! The visibility will more than likely be better, and we won’t have to swim through a wall of jungle!
Well, what can I say? 2012 has been a year of adventure, and even took us to far away lands, that we never thought we would see!
Of course, we always start the year off in the confines of the icy cold quarry water.
Of course, it stays like this until the beginning of April…
In February, we had another AGGAST adventure! Laurynn, Kathryn, Karen, and Sonya came to the Great White North, for some of this Ice Diving stuff! Of course, we had a bunch of other friends join us, too!
There were even really neat cupcakes!
Our group shot!
Le Princessi was out to play, as well.
We did have a blast, and we even ended up being DUI Dogs!
In March, the free divers came back! They are such a great group of people, and the fact that they free dive under the ice, just blows me away!
Steve and I then went down to Mexico, and did the DPV Cave Workshop, with Danny. What an amazing week!
We had a couple of days off in between, and went diving with Laurynn and Kathryn. Kathryn took some wicked shots of us, in Minotauro!
Lowering scooters down at Nohoch, was pretty crazy, too…
On our last day, Fred took us to a spot along the ocean that had some flow coming out of it. It was a most awesome day, in the ocean!
Pic taken by Fred Devos…
We had many fun dives in the St. Lawrence River, with new friends and already made friends.
Then, the trip of a lifetime… We were invited onto Elena’s boat, and took a trip around the world (40 hours of travel), to Truk Lagoon. I don’t think I have enough words to describe how incredible this trip was. We met some great friends, were treated like royalty, and did some absolutely amazing dives.
I saw my first sea turtle, got dive-bombed by some big fish (which made me shriek), played with “Nemos,” and saw some of the most amazing wrecks, that I could ever imagine!
Below pics taken by Kevin Davidson…
Pic taken by Leigh Cunningham…
Once we returned, and got back into the River, our 5 year search finally resulted in the finding of that darn truck. Many others have seen it before us, but we just couldn’t seem to find it… until July, 2012. I guess we had to go to Truk, before finding the Truck? Wah wah wah…
Pic taken by Eric’s camera, on a timer…
Steve taught some Fundamentals and DPV 1 courses, as well as did some Rec to Tech upgrades.
Ken and Debbie came for a visit, too!
Mike, Ken, Debbie, Me…
We made it to Kingston, for a long weekend BBQ, just like old times!
Eric and I joined in on a charter with Bottom Time Diving, to help with the SOS Eastcliffe Hall mooring buoy. Luc, Frank, and Sandy had most of it covered, so Eric and I tidied up some of the line. Some crazy surface currents, there!
Then it was time for the 5th Annual Brockville Canadian Invasion! People came from far and wide, and a good time was had by all (I hope)! đ Fred Devos joined us, and gave us a presentation on the Mexico Cave Exploration Project (MCEP), with updates from Ox Bel Ha.
Jenni M was certified this year, and we went to the SOS BBQ, and a dive on the Connie! What a fun day!
The visibility has not been great in the River, this year. I wonder if it has something to do with how warm it got, so quickly. There is also a shortage of zebra mussles, these past couple of years. They are invasive, and cover absolutely everything, but they also give us better vis.
We did quite a few longer scooter dives, this year… and did some investigating in parts that we hadn’t been to before.
Our good friends at DUI made a trip to Alexandria Bay, and since it wasn’t too far, we went to visit! We also did a couple of dives (of course)!
Eric V., Susan L., Me, Steve, Frankie Boy!
Blake, Steve…
Andy, doin’ it Gangnam Style…
I even tried an RB80 on, for size…
We finally scootered out to the Eastcliffe Hall from shore, which was a lot of fun… Even though I came close to thumbing the dive, due to the 2″ visibility, which eventually turned into really nice vis.
…and even more dives, in different parts of the River!
Left to Right, Top to Bottom: Eric, Raluca, John, Corey, James, Steve…
Eric, CoRal, Steve…
We also had more friends come to visit, from the US! Eric P. and Tim F. spent their US Thanksgiving weekend with us. We spent a couple of days at the quarry, and a day at the River! We did have other friends join us, too!
Kevin L., Tim F., Me, Eric P. …
Left to Right, Top to Bottom: Eric P., Bob S., Tim F., John B., Oren L., Steve…
We then had a small army travel down to Mexico, for some cavezzzzzzz! There were over 30 in our group, and there were even more that we joined in with! Our group had different tasks, to help out with the Mexican Cave Exploration Project (MCEP), retrieving sensors from different systems, as well as helping out at Yax Chen/Ox Bel Ha. Thanks so much to Fred, Chris, Danny, Angelica, Jorge, and Eduardo for handling such a giant group, and helping everything to run so smoothly!
We visited many different systems, and were once again mesmerized by the Mexico CAVEZZZZZZ!
Me, coming out of Mayan Blue: B Tunnel. Pic taken by Ali Fikree!
Messing around in the basin of Mayan Blue. Pic taken by Ali Fikree!
Heleen also took some video of us, in Dos Pisos. What a stunning cave!
…and Xtabay/Chac Mool…
There are a few missing from the group shot, but most of us are here!
With such an event-filled year, it is hard to believe that we could beat this one!
Since Jenni M has now become Scuba Jenni M, I was hoping to introduce her to the River! I figured that a nice swim out to the Rothesay would be a nice, easy, and fun dive. Yeah… I guess I should have known better. The winds were blowing like crazy – enough to push the van, while driving on the highway – and when we arrived, there was some wave action going on. It didn’t look too bad, so we geared up.
There were some other divers just finishing up, so we hopped in, and did our gear checks. Once we started out to the jug, the waves and winds were absolutely insane. We had been pushed quite a distance away from the jug, and since Jenni M had been working so hard, it was time to thumb it. We had been swimming for quite some time, and there were ocean-like waves tossing us about. We made our way back to the beach, and climbed out.
It’s a bummer that we didn’t make it out, but we had to be on the safe side. Another group of divers pulled up, and asked what the conditions were like. When we told them it was pretty rough, they went down to check… and quickly came up, and left. Oh well, another day!
Since we had worked up quite an appetite, it was time to mosey on over to Northern Tech Diver, in Kingston, for a BBQ! We stopped by Jen B. and Mike’s new place, to check it out, and grab more people to join in the fun!
Master Chef Mike was doing the cooking, and did a superb job! Thank you James, Mike, Tom, and NTD! It was just like old times!
This year has been another wonderful adventure, and we were blessed with some really amazing new and existing friendships.
We usually do a New Year’s Day dive, which we did, but it ended up being on the 2nd, instead of the 1st. There was not much snow on the ground, and the quarry was still open!
It did not take long for the quarry to freeze, and Ice Diving Goodness Season was upon us. I was very fortunate, to be able to test the DUI Heated Undergarment, too!
Then there was the release of the movie, Sanctum. A group of us went to see it, on its second night of showing, and decided to do a parody of it, the following day. We had quite a bit of fun, filming Sanked ‘Em. There were so many tears of laughter had, and thoughts of a sequel. Thanks to Chris Phinney, for his handy dandy camera work, and editing while being a passenger, on the way back home!
Then… Jacob came to visit, and try this ice diving thing! He was just in time, as this was the last weekend of an ice-covered quarry!
We were even able to take him down to the river, for some Scootering Goodness!
John Bailey got a bad ass tattoo!
We also hosted a GUE Meet ‘N’ Greet, which brought some new faces, and shared some information about GUE.
Andy and I, at the quarry!
Fred and Angelica came to town, too. It was really great to be able to share some of our dive sites with Fred, and to spend some time with both of them!
Raphael, Denis, Mick, and Mark came up for a visit too, and we went out for some St. Lawrence River diving!
We spent some more time doing some exploring, in the St. Lawrence River. We did some nice three hour dives, with our scooters.
Becky and I had threatened on many occasions to go diving together, and did not seem to be able to coordinate. Then the stars aligned, and Becky came up to dive with us! We had a blast!
I could have sworn that I saw David on one of the dives…
Becky took some shots of us, too (Below pics by Becky Kagan Schott)…
We then had the 2011 Brockville Canadian Invasion. This was the biggest group to date (50 people), and everyone was just absolutely wonderful. Thanks to all for being so wonderful!
I was also very fortunate to get one of the first Light Monkey wings, in which I started diving at the Invasion. This is a really nice wing, in which I have tried a few different tank combinations with.
*Thumbs up!* Thank you, Light Monkey!
Forest Rothchild did a write-up of his thoughts on the Invasion. Thank you, Forest!
Then came the Kingston Invasion, which was smaller this year, but still much fun!
After the Invasions, we were finally able to meet Heleen and Sander, who came to visit us from Holland. They had been to Alberta for a week, before seeing us, then we took them out for some dives, and to see the infamous plane! We had been looking forward to meeting them for a few years, and the time finally came! w00t!!!
Here are Heleen’s videos, from the Quarry, Kinghorn and the Back Mine!
I then took a trip to Seattle, while Steve left for his RB80 training, where I met some of the coolest kids on the block, and the “AGGAST” sisters were born! Leg Number One of the AGGAST (All Girls GUE All Star Team) sisters world adventures. This was the first time I had been in salt water, since before I had any GUE training. That is, apart from below the halocline… đ What an amazing place to dive, and a really fantastic GUE community. I can see why people love diving here! There are octos and wolf eels, and so much life! Anyone hiring in Seattle?
We even witnessed an octopus riding a wolf eel!
Laurynn’s video of the underwater rodeo!
My videos of Keystone Jetty (GUE day)Â and the Day Island Wall…
When Steve got back from his RB80 training, he hit the water with Blake and Steve S.
I ventured out with some other friends, too.
At the end of October, a group of us headed down to Mexico, for two weeks of Cave Diving Goodness. A few were taking Cave 1, a few taking Cave 2, and a few of us just going diving! We did some absolutely amazing dives, and each day, the dives seemed to be even more amazing, topping it off with a dive at Ox Bel Ha, on our last day.
One of our favourites was going to the Boa Restriction, in Grand Cenote/Sac Actun. Gorgeous cave and a lot of fun! Another highlight was Tux Ka Paxa, where we saw Mastadon bones. Just an absolutely incredible trip! That is, when we finally got there, and finally got our rental car. đ We even saw a Puma cross a jungle road, but still no “Tadantulas.” Well.. at least Steve and I didn’t see one. It seems everyone else did!
Me, in Dos Ojos…
Back to Canada, we went, where the water was significantly chillier than in the Mexico cavezzz… We still managed over an hour on the triggers!
Throughout the year, we made a couple more attempts at finding that darn truck, including the beginning of December.
We still haven’t found that thing, which brings us to the end of four years of looking for it. I think the other people that have seen it are photoshopping it into their pictures. Either that, or they move it, every time we go looking for it! đ Maybe next year! At least I got my new Santi undergarments in time for winter diving!
That brings us full circle, preparing for our season of winter ice diving. We recently went out to the quarry, to put in some “permanent lines,” for easier ice diving reference!
In between all of these adventures were also Fundamentals classes, in which Steve was teaching, and I was helping. Allan came up to intern, too!
I also had two photos chosen by National Geographic, in their Daily Dozen. At least one of them was supposed to have made it into the magazine, but I have no idea which issue. Two of them were made into Nat Geo wallpaper downloads. Thank you, Nat Geo! w00t!
A Year In Video…
If Steve and I have half of the adventures in 2012, that we had in 2011, we will be very lucky! *Cheers* to happy and safe Diving Goodness in 2012! Let the planning begin!!
Up and at ’em! I think I got up before the birds did, loaded the last little bits into the van, and started the trek to Kingston. Quite a few of the gang had arrived the night before, so I was going to meet them at the boat.
I arrived a little earlier than the gang, and got to hang out with Anne and Harold for a little bit.
Kingston Dive Charter docks…
Friends started to arrive, and the boat was loaded up. Since we only had one boat filled for the Friday, I sat out, in order for the others to have some Diving Goodness. The lake was flat too, which is about the only time I can go…lol. Oh well, I was still a very happy camper, and was very happy to see everyone.
Once everyone returned, went to hotel rooms, and freshened up, we headed over to The Pilot House for some dinner. From there, a bunch of us went to the Legion. It turns out that they happened to have karaoke that night, and we went to have some fun!
By the end of the night, I had been invited to sing at a benefit, to write songs with a Legion member, and was handed a business card, in case I wanted to do some recording. It really was a blast. I ended up singing a couple of duets with the guy running it, and we got alot of laughs with our renditions of Picture and Summer Nights. It really was a blast, and everyone there was fantastic. It was also one of the members’ Birthday, and she was happy to share her cake with all of us.
Such fun!!!
Saturday, August 21st, 2010 ~
We had two boat loads today, and since it was pretty windy, I opted to stay on shore. My tummy really does not agree with the lake, when it’s rocking and rolling out there. It didn’t look too bad in the bay, but with the wind, the prediction was definitely “Rock and Roll.”
I bid safe dives to everyone, went back to the hotel to do some work, then came back to hang out with the fellas at the shop.
I eventually wandered back over to the boats, greeted the peeps coming back from Diving Goodness, and they told me that it was definitely rock and roll out there, and that I would have been in the fetal position. Although, they still had a good time. *Phew*
I dropped all of the BBQ goodies off at Northern Tech Diver, and when Eric arrived (he wasn’t there for the Saturday charter), he, Steve, Frankie, and I went over to the quarry, to get me in the water! I was having serious Diving Goodness Envy!
We brought the scooters to mess around with, but the visibility was absolutely horrible, so wen decided to have some fun, ducking and dodging the walls of the quarry, while doing laps. Steve and I were in the lead, as a team of two, with Frankie and Eric behind us… er… well, they WERE behind us! That’s how bad the visibility was. Steve and I stopped to see if they would catch up, so we played around, while I attempted to take some pictures. The camera always makes the vis look better…
Steve took a couple of me too…
Since we couldn’t see anything anyway, I tied off the camera, and we went back to our laps, looking for Eric and Frankie. It is not a large quarry, so we figured we’d find them at some point.
Once we did a lap or two, we surfaced, to look for their bubbles.. There they were! Off we went again! Doh! They moved! We surfaced at the same time as they did, and we beelined it for them, on the surface, full of laughter. It was only the quarry, but it was still alot of fun.
Eric and Frankie…
Bottom Time ~ 33 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 25′
Water Temp. ~ 75
Visibility ~ 3′
Eric, trying to stay out of the rain…
We didn’t stay very long, as we had to get back to the shop for the BBQ!
When we arrived, the BBQ had begun! Chef Jennifer was well on the way, cooking all of the burgers. Thanks, Jen! I had already let the group know that I needed some Diving Goodness, so no one was left out to lunch… er.. dinner.
Chef Jen!
Sunday, August 22nd, 2010 ~
Today, I was going to attempt to get on a boat. It seemed that the lake wasn’t too bad, and there wasn’t much of a wind happening, so we figured I was safe! I even had my gear on the boat, when Anne called me, telling me that it was absolutely nasty out there, and that I would definitely not like it. *sigh* Suckage factor high, but I really did appreciate the call. So… down I went, to get my gear….
“Bye Bye, friends! Happy Diving!”
I returned to the shop, where I hung out with Mike and Scotty… darn it… couldn’t resist the deal that Mike found on some Air Jordans… All three of us got them. That, and we used the bunny to drain some tanks. See what happens when I can’t go diving? :O
When the second boat returned, I was waiting at the dock, so we could go get some early dinner!
You call that a knife? đ
So.. apparently, everyone did have fun dives, and we did have alot of laughs on the surface. Next year… I’m on the boat.. I mean it!!!
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