Dary-Ary-Ary-Aw!

28 09 2014

Sunday, September 28th, 2014 ~

Today was going to be an adventure! Jen and Mike took us out for a cruise, launching from the Brockville public boat launch.

We put the boats in, loaded up, and away we went!

The ride out was pretty fun, in the two zodiacs. I managed to cling on, even when my butt got some air time, thanks to  a couple of the waves. At least I had my drysuit on. 😛

We anchored in a spot upstream, and north of the wreck. We had scooters, so we didn’t mind the extra jaunt. We preferred the shelter from the ripping current! We were able to jump in, and do our gear checks, beside the channel marker, with ease. Bottles were also checked and verified. We dropped down, settled out, and scootered into the channel, where the Daryaw sits. As we made our way, my reg started to breathe a little tight. Got a breath, didn’t get a breath… I reached down, and the knob had mostly closed. I guess my AL40 deco bottle had somehow rolled it off. We had checked our bottles/gauges at the surface, and I even breathed it in the water. I know that I had turned it on. Oh, well… It’s on, now – carry on.

We reached the wreck, which is sitting upside down, and Frankie and Dany went inside. Steve and I poked around a bit, went up into the air hole (as the season progresses, and more divers are on the wreck, the air pocket gets larger). You can surface in it, but I wouldn’t recommend breathing the air, in there!

We checked out the other holds, and to stay on schedule, for our awesome sauce boat captains, Steve and I motioned to Frankie and Dany, that we needed to get our drift on! We drifted along, and decided to go up and over the south wall, to check out the other “valley.” There was a lot of neatness, there! We found a rather large anchor, a few large fish, and some very interesting rock formations. What an absolutely fantastic dive!

Eventually, we made our way back over the wall, and headed north, where we did our deco, blew an SMB, and waited for Jen and Mike to collect us. Absolutely LOVED that dive!!!

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 38 mins.
Max. Depth: 91′
Water Temp.: 64F
Vis.: 25′

Wheeeeee! We made it back to the public docks, with minimal butt ejection, and waited our turn to remove the zodiacs.

As we waited, I even tasted a crab apple, right from the tree (Jen made me do it) … 😛

It was definitely a spectacular day! Diving Goodness, good friends, shipwrecks, anchors, some ripping current, and FUN! Thanks for taking us out, Jen and Mike!


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Back To The Mother Ship

27 09 2014

Saturday, September 27th, 2014 ~

w00t! Today, we were going back to the Jodrey!

Some of our Québec buddies were joining us, for a splash, too!

Steve, Frankie, Dany, and Larry…

We did our mandatory customs stop, at Boldt Castle, and we were on our way!

Steve and I had planned on scootering to the stern, and possibly going inside.

On the descent, I had some really strange sinus thing going on, that was not normal, for me. I was able to clear without issue, so I kept on.

We noticed that the current was down at the bow section, but as we neared the stern, it was absolutely screaming. Thank goodness, for our most excellent scooters! The visibility was also pretty horrible, which was a little surprising, seeing as the water temperature had dropped, just a little bit, since our last dive here. The vis usually improves, as the water temperature drops.

Steve and I made our way to where we were going to go inside. The current was absolutely ridiculous, and I just wasn’t feeling 100% (sinus thing was messing with me, a bit), so I motioned a “no,” to Steve, to going in. As much as I wanted to, I figured that we could go in another day. The wreck wasn’t going anywhere. Ah, well…

We continued around the stern for a bit, checking out other extremely cool bits of Jodrey (I never get sick of this wreck), then made our way back to the bow, where we started up the wall, for deco.

We did most of our 20′ stop at the deco stool, then made our way over to the bowl, and did our 6-up!

Another amazing Jodrey day!

Ahhh… such goodness, and smiles all around!

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 51 mins.
Max. Depth: 204′
Water Temp.: 64F


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DPVz

15 09 2014

Sunday, September 14th, 2014 ~

I wasn’t sure whether or not I was going to dive today, since I had a bit of an issue with my arm, the previous Monday (minor surgical procedure – yes, everything is fine). I did want to give it a try, so I figured that joining in on Steve’s DPV-1 class was a good idea. Of course, I brought the camera along, too.

Valve drills, stowing drills, OOG + towing drills, and all of that fun stuff. I stayed in the background, taking some photos, and stretching my arm out, a little. I wondered if the suit squeeze would bother it, but it didn’t. *Phew*

(Don’t worry, KK, we wear drysuits – I didn’t get the sutures wet) 😛

The team, on the trigger…

We scootered over to the Gaskin, then right back in, with some more skills, and an ascent. I can’t give away all of the fabulous skillz that the course ensues, so I will be a little bit vague with my details!

It was a fabulous day, and although the visibility was pretty stinky, it felt really good to be in the water! The camera does make the vis look better than it actually was.

Selfie, during an ascent drill!

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 38 mins.
Max. Depth: 55′
Water Temp.: 68F
Visibility: Stinky – like gym socks

Way to go, team! Well done!


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Testing The Water

15 09 2014

Sunday, September 14th, 2014 ~

Well, I wasn’t sure if I should have gotten in the water today, but… well, I figured I would give it a try. I had had a small surgery, six days prior, and the doctor told me that I should probably stay dry for a couple of weeks. I did explain that we used drysuits, and if we could help it, stayed dry. She was a little “iffy,” but told me to play it by ear… so I did!

The surgery was just off of my shoulder, so I wasn’t sure how the harness would feel, as well as any drysuit squeeze. Steve was teaching a DPV class, so I came along… and brought my camera!

Luckily, I could just hover a bit, while everyone was doing their skill requirements.

We eventually hit the triggers, and headed over to the Gaskin.

We didn’t stay very long, though. I was hoping to take a Project Baseline shot, but there were skillz to be done! 😛

I didn’t feel any discomfort in my arm (it was the left one, so not my primary scooter arm), which was excellent!

Back to the shallows, for SMB deployments, OOG towing, and ascents. Great work, team!!

Small pieces of wreckage, along the skills path…

Great team work!

We have been noticing an extraordinary number of dead eels, this year. It is not normal, and we are starting to help monitor this situation…

Ahhhh… I was so happy, to be in the water! I did catch Steve, in the background, dumping the gas out of his suit, on our ascent!

Ascent selfie!

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 38 mins.
Max. Depth: 55′
Water Temp.: 68F
Vis.: Not fantastic (camera makes it look better than it is)

 

Way to go, guys ‘n’ gal!

 


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Outbound To The ECH

2 09 2014

Sunday, August 31st, 2014 ~

Chrysler Park Marina was the meeting spot, today.  Myself, Steve, Eric B., and Oren planned to scooter out to the wreck of the Eastcliffe Hall.

I had lubed up my TiZip, and jumped in the water, to make sure I was leak-proof… Yep. All sealed up!

The entry was a bit rocky, so we formed an assembly line, to put our gear in the water.

Eric was showing off his Healthy Seas socks (socks made from recycled fishing net)!

>>Check out Healthy Seas<<

Our turbos…

As we started out, we surface scootered for part of the way, to avoid the weeds. It wasn’t a very nice day, so there weren’t any boats around. We descended, and the visibility was not as horrific as the last time we made this run out to the wreck. You could barely see your hand on your scooter handle, and that is not an exaggeration! It was a little bit better than that, and improved even more, as we got a bit of depth, away from the marina.

We then took a compass bearing, and zig-zagged until we saw some debris, which brought us to the wreck. Success!

Only 35 minutes, from the corner – which is great timing. It has taken us an hour to get to the wreck, on an occasion, or two.

We checked out various parts of the wreck, and when the first person called a stage switch, I was very surprised at how much gas I still had in my stage bottle. I had been monitoring my gas, but didn’t realize how little I had been using – Yay, gym! I am happily making some progress! w00t w00t!

We made our way inside of a section, where we saw the tail end of an extremely large eel. As we got closer to him, he tried to sneak under part of the wreck structure, so we didn’t see him. We swam by him, but didn’t dare bother him. That was one very big eel – I would say he was at least a meter long. We have seen a few large eels on this wreck, in the past!

Time to drift off, and look for cool stuff! We did that for a while, then made our way back in. Right on target!

What a fun dive!

Bottom Time: 2 hours, 14 mins>
Max. Depth: 72′
Water Temp.: 69F

Due to the raging current, we didn’t bring a camera with us, on this dive. Only surface pics. 🙂

Such a fun dive, and we were changed and packed, just before the storm of impending doom came in!

The sky was pretty… just before the sky went black, and I was white-knuckling it, on the drive home!

Thanks for the great dive, friends!

 


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