First Jodrey Dive Of The Year

4 07 2009

Saturday, June 6th, 2009 ~

We had arranged for a handful of us to take a boat out to the Jodrey, seeing as the water temperatures were warming up nicely. It turned out that no one else was able to make it, so Steve and I had Jeff’s small boat all to ourselves.

We made our way over to customs, waited to be tended to, then went over to the “tie up tree.” We put our deco bottles and scooters in the water, and geared up.

We splashed in, drifted to the “cliff,” and dropped down to the wreck. We didn’t see much until we got right down to the wreck, which was not a good sign. We made a couple of turns around the bow, swam through the crane a few times, then swung around the bow again. The current was absolutely ripping around a part of the bow, and felt like it was going to flip me over at one point. Next time I’ll stay closer to the wreck, around that part, like Steve did…lol…

We came up the crack in the wall, did our deco, scootered back over to the boat, and ascended. Although the visibility was absolutely horrible, Steve was able to get some decent footage. The camera saw more than we did!

Bottom Time ~ 77 mins.
Avg. Depth ~ 165′
Water Temp. ~ 55
Visibility ~ 5′
Current ~ Freakin’ ripping

Steve, after the dive…

Me, after the dive…

After getting back to the dock, clearing customs, and unloading the boat, we headed up to the ice cream shop for a treat. When we were pulling out, we saw a collection of older cars in the Thousand Island Cruises parking lot. Some cool stuff!

I guess they had a little more horse power than ours…

So… it was a gorgeous day on the river, we had the Jodrey to ourselves, had ice cream, and saw some old cars. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday at all!





Zen Diving Canadian Invasion ~ 2008 ~ Part 1

12 08 2008

August 8th, 2008 ~

The weekend had finally arrived ~ The weekend that a gaggle of us from Zendiving.com were to gather for a weekend of diving fun, in Brockville. Some of our local friends joined us as well, but most were making the drive from the U.S.

 

 

Steve and I loaded up the van and trailer, and went to pick up Leigh. We had a bit of a bumpy ride with the trailer, and when we got to Leigh’s, had to slice off the hitch rest, so we didn’t snap the whole arm off… we were a little loaded down.

Leigh goofing about for the camera…

We were running a bit behind schedule in meeting up with the gang, so I called to assure that we would soon be there!! Once we arrived, we joked around about our packed van and trailer, unloaded some of our gear in various cabins, and finally headed off to Rockport Dive Centre. We chartered on out to the Kinghorn! For the Friday charter, there was myself, Steve, Leigh, Ken H., Jamie B., Andy H., Geoff, and Bob P. Chelsea and Kristen waited for us on shore. We dropped down, did our tour of the wreck, and came back up… a great dive! Thanks to Jeff Jr. for taking us out!

Bottom Time ~ 42 mins.

Max. Depth ~ 92′

Water Temp. ~ 73

Vis. ~ A bit hazy

We then ventured over to the Family Restaurant for some grub… There was also some can and creamer art that was created during this gathering! We had a ton of laughs, and Dave B. also met us there! Our group was growing! We chowed down, then decided on an evening dive at Centeen Park. Chelsea joined us for this dive as well! A few others had arrived and stopped by the park to say hello ~ Becki and Dan, and Pickenssssssssssss! Lol…

What a nice, relaxing dive. I even saw pieces of wreckage that I hadn’t seen before. There were just about every type of native fish on this dive, as well as one that wasn’t quite native… Pike, bass, gobies, suckerfish, and a suckerfish with a lamprey eel attached to it.. *shudder*

Bottom Time ~ 41 mins.

Max. Depth ~ 35′

Water Temp. ~ 73

Vis. ~ 30′

When we surfaced, Penny was there taking photos, and Bob also said hello! We also saw a large freighter pass by…

We headed back, had some great social time in Cabin 12! Reluctantly, we made our way back to our cabin, to get some rest for the next day’s charters!