Three Sister Islands

17 06 2014

Sunday, June 15th, 2014 ~

While Steve was away, playing with WKPP and Suex-folk, Eric and I went out for a dip in the St. Lawrence. We went to our usual “leaving spot,” but wanted to go in a different direction.

Since we had more “go-go juice,” with the XK-1s, our plan was to go downstream, toward the Three Sister Islands, look around for a bit, then make our way back. Our max run time was going to be 2 hours, but we figured that we would have gas limitations, before that.

We went towards the Gaskin, first – we definitely saw the anchor, but the rest of the wreck was shadowed in a cloud – then made our way to the channel, where we drifted for a few minutes, then hit the triggers, along with the current. I swear, it felt like we were Superman and Jimmy, as we flew along with the current. I’m not sure who was who, but it sure was fun.

The water was a little bit higher than normal, and as we drifted along at around 100′, I’m sure that we were within spitting distance of the truck. We didn’t see it, but we knew we were close. It was hard to see anything, really, since the visibility wasn’t that great.

We made it to the islands, and we are pretty sure that we were in between the 2nd and 3rd island, as we hit a current “vortex.” The currents are strong, going through this area, and with the positioning of the islands, there are currents that wrap around them. We rode the “vortex” for a while, and as we both checked our compasses, we noticed that we were headed in the opposite direction. We had assumed that this was the case, knowing that the currents were different, here… and why we both checked direction at the same time.

We pointed tour scooters in a Northerly direction, and headed back. We were on the XK1’s full speed, for 20 minutes, as we scootered against the strong currents. I swear, it felt like I had done a serious weight-lifting workout, at the gym. That was some power! It only took us 20 minutes to get back, where it has taken us much longer, with our other scooters. Pretty impressive! We made our way up to 50′, then 40′, where we picked up the line, back to the bowl, near the entry, at around 20′.

We parked our gear at the log, and did a couple of valve drills, before coming in.

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 27 mins.
Max. Depth: 110′
Water Temp.: 59F
Vis. 10′ to 30′ (better in the channel, than near the Gaskin)

Pile o’ gear…

Eric, bringing his tanks back up…

Public Service Announcement, due to the Hydroplane races:

We were glad to be back in the River, doing some fun scooter diving! XK-1, for the win!


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XK-Won

25 05 2014

Saturday, May 24th, 2014 ~

A long day, but a great day of Diving Goodness, in and around the St. Lawrence River.

Our morning didn’t quite go as we had planned, so we ended up being a little later than we had hoped, at the river. We met Christian, and since the water was warming up, a little, we wanted to do a little bit longer of a scooter run. Of course, as soon as we arrived, the rain started to come down like baseballs. It lightened up enough, for us to bring our gear down to the water, then started again, as we tried to gear up. We had the big white van, so Steve and I each had an end of the van, and got dressed. As soon as we were ready, the rain stopped. Of course, right?

We had an extra scooter with us, that we were testing out, after a repair, as well as the camera. I opted to take the extra scooter, while Steve took the camera. It’s been a little while since I towed another scooter (Mexico cavezzz),  and I welcomed the practice. We did our gear checks, stretched out (still, winter undies), and were off. The visibility was not that great, and the water was a bit greenish, for this time of year. We scootered upstream for a while, then dropped into the channel. W00 H00! We saw quite a few dead gobies, along the way (more than usual), which were mostly wrapped in white fuzz. We drifted along, keeping a look out for anything neat. There were spots with many bottles, a lot of rock, periwinkle shells, and even the odd bass and sheepshead carp.

We made our way to the Unknown Hull, where Steve took a few pictures.

The visibility wasn’t that great, but he did get a few shots.

It was then time to go… We made our way up to 65′, where we eventually got up to the Gaskin. Poor thing, looks pretty rough, this year. It is sad, watching the bow fall apart.

I was starting to get pretty chilly, so I signalled to Steve, to turn the dive. We started to make our way back to the shallows, where we hung out for a bit, then made our way in. Ahhhhh…. Back  in the RIVA!!!

Bottom Time: 2 hours, 6 minutes
Max. Depth: 108′
Water Temp.: 51F
Vis.: Not great, for this time of year, but clearer in the channel.

 

Normally, when we get out, someone will stay with the scooters, until someone goes and drops their tanks, then comes back to bring them out. Alas, those days are over, for us… Even with my doubles on, I was able to pick up the XK1, with no issues, and bring it out of the water, with my stage bottle. Ahhhh…. Suex, I appreciate you (…and Steve)!!! 😀

When we got out, it was beautiful out, again!

After our dive, Steve and I headed over the border, to see Chris, Bob, Stacey, Lisa, Mario, Nate, Jen, Julie, and Hong! I didn’t get to taste Hong’s egg rolls, but I really look forward to it, another time!!! 😀

 

It was pretty late, when we got home, so we left the unloading for the next morning.

Diving Goodness, hanging by the fire, with friends = The Best!

Until next week!

 


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Turtle Turbo Alley

10 05 2014

Saturday, May 10th, 2014 ~ 

Ahhhh… We are finally back in the RIVER! With the tough winter that we have had, it has taken the St. Lawrence River a little bit longer to thaw/warm up, than usual. Today’s air temperatures are the nicest that we have seen (this year), at 22C… and sunny!

The van was packed, and we hit the road!

Surface shots taken by me. In-water shots taken by Steve, today!

I had only used my new scooter for a short time, on our last dive, and didn’t really get to do much, since the dive was cut a little bit short. Today, we planned on heading to either Ivy Lea, or to Island 99, for some scootering goodness! Steve was bringing one of the cameras, to practice with, too. On our way down, Frankie and Christian messaged us, to let us know that Ivy Lea was not fully open, but that there were people there, getting ready to open, for the following weekend. They gave us permission to dive there, which was most excellent!

Check-In…

It was finally warm enough to wear flippy floppies!

We got to our entry point, and the staff told us just to make sure that the boat launch was not blocked. No problem. I think we can handle that.

There are some crazy currents, here.

Steve and I finished our gear checks, and Frankie had a glove issue, so while he and Christian were tending to that, Steve took a few pics of me. The current was pretty strong, too.

Me, hitting the trigger…

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Cheese!

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We went back for Frankie and Christian, and away we went! There were turtles, everywhere! Small ones, medium-sized ones – they were everywhere!

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We even saw a few mud puppies…

 

This guy was standing his ground, as Steve neared him. He stood up, and stared him down.

 

We kept moving, and hit some crazy currents. There were even a few moments, where we had to aim our scooters straight down, as the current swept upward.

Christian…

 

Frankie Boy…

 

 

 

Poisson…

 

 

Yippppppieeeeeeee! What a ride!

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We went all the way around, and exited at the beach area. Since the camp ground wasn’t officially open, there were no people there, so we had the place to ourselves.

 

Bottom Time: 56 mins.
Max. Depth: 52′
Water Temp.: 46F
Vis.: A lot of green goop in the water

Christian and Frankie…

Rock on, dude!

I took one of Steve, too!

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We dropped our gear, and Frankie stood guard, as we went for a walk, to get the vehicles.

We did come back for him, though. He DID have our gear, after all.

 

Exit…

 

It was such a beautiful day, so we had to hang around, and talk about are most awesome dive!

 

We went for a quick bite to eat, and we headed our separate ways. I absolutely loved spending the day this way. Diving Goodness, friends, and… TURTLES!

 


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It’s (FINALLY) Spring!

16 04 2014

Sunday, April 6th, 2014 ~

This winter has been a terribly brutal one, and one that many Canadians didn’t think would end. It became a cruel joke, to which we stopped laughing, quite a while ago… until today!

The sun was out, and it was above 0C!!! FINALLY!! A great day to take the scooters for a ride! The St. Lawrence River is mostly open, but temperatures are still hovering around 32F and 33F. There are still flash freezings and ice floes, so it isn’t the safest place to be diving, right now. We went back up to the quarry, and I finally got to take my new XK1 for a spin!

We brought the gear to the water…

Frankie, Christian, and Mike teamed up, and Steve, Eric, and I teamed up – even though we were still all together. Our team of three was going to run a line over to the plane, the shark, the rock wall, then back over, so that we would have a large square, to scooter around.

Steve and Eric, after Steve ran the line…

I let Steve take the camera, for this most amazing shot…

There was some glove leakage, and in these temperatures, can be horrible. We ended up turning around, leaving the reel behind.

Christian and Mike…

As Eric says, it isn’t the easiest thing, to try and smile, with a frozen face!

I must say, even though I didn’t get to use my scooter very much, I am sensing a very strong bond. 😛

As Eric and I waited, we ran into Mike and Matt, who were going on a leisurely swim…

Back in we went, to retrieve the reel. Steve…

Eric…

Christian…

A selfie, of course. This time, with my turbo…

We made our way back in, with Steve’s chilly, soaked hands.

Bottom Time:
Max. Depth:
Water Temp.:

It was such a beautiful day, that there was some gear tinkering, after the dive/s.

There was even time for snuggles, with Zora…

A great day for Diving Goodness, and even though the quarry is fun, we cannot wait to get back into the River!!!

I have some good looking dive buddies! 😛 Mike, Eric, Frankie, Christian, Steve…

 

 


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Cavezzz, It Shall Be – Part Eight – The Last Couple Of Days

19 12 2013

Thursday, December 19th, 2013 ~ 

Today, a gaggle of us headed to Dos Pisos. Since there were so many of us, we staggered the teams… especially since we had about 100 meters of restrictive passage to go through, at the entry.

Dan, getting ready for Cavezzzz…

Our plan was to go right at the first T, and left at the second T…. which would have been great, if the lines had not been changed.

We brought our stages and fins down, trying to avoid the paths of red army ants. There were thousands of them!

Laurynn and Kathryn entered first, and the rest of us waited, while Steve fixed a manifold issue (which was fixable, thanks to some tools that we had). Then, Karen and John went in, followed by us – Me, Dan, Steve. Since Dan had flooded his light, the previous day, he had Becki’s light… except it wouldn’t fire. D’oh! Ok.. That’s the third failure for Dan, this week! I think he’s had enough! 🙂 John had an extra light with him, that he loaned to Dan – Thanks, John!

I led through the restrictive passage, then let Dan through, so I could see his light (this was planned). Steve had the Go Pro, in the back.

We dropped our stages a little early, and continued on. We approached Laurynn and Kathryn’s stages, and I stuck a “Ding Ding Cowbell” note in Laurynn’s stage bungee. 😛

We reached the spot where we thought the T was supposed to be, but it was not there. We swam for quite a while, and reached a T. Karen and John were on their way back, and signaled that they had turned right, and it wasn’t the direction that we had originally planned on going. It turns out that the first T had been cut back, and this was the second T, that we were supposed to go left at. So… Thanks to John and Karen, we went left.

There was some very pretty cave, along the way, with some beautiful decorations. We passed through a section that slanted upwards – clearly, to a small opening. There was quite a collection of bat guano, that had rolled down from the surface. We got to a spot that had “jaws,” and some more beautiful decorations, from top to bottom. We had a peek through the “jaws,” then turned around.

Bottom Time: 2 hours, 27 mins.
Max. Depth: 28′
Water Temp.: 77F

Chatting, after Diving Goodness…

A couple of little frogs, near the cars…

Steve, packing up…

We packed up, and were on our way.

As we passed through Tulum, we passed the yummy bakery. Maybe we will go back there, sometime!

Once at the shop, we started the tear-down and drying of our gear. We still could have fit in another day of diving, but it was supposed to be very rainy, and we needed our gear to dry. That, and Steve had some work to do, with the scooters. We opted for a “gear day.” It’s always a sad time, to be breaking down your gear, to leave Mexico cavezzz…

Our undergarments are going to need a good wash, when we get home…

We dropped off our gear, and tidied up some of our charging station, before dinner.

At the buffet…

Friday, December 19th, 2013 ~ 

Well, in hindsight, we could have gone diving, today… We did have things to do at the shop, so it was probably the right decision not to, but it doesn’t mean that we didn’t want to go diving. 🙂

We slept in a little, then went down to have some breakfast. We sat beside a man, sitting with his young son, and I couldn’t help but hear some of their conversation.

Boy: I would like a straw for my juice, please
Dad: You don’t need a straw
Boy: But I really want one (he had the saddest look on his face)
*The waiter brings him a straw – Happiness ensues*
*Boy drops straw on ground*
*Dad lectures boy on irony, and then calls son a Monkey Butt*

I was really trying not to laugh, since Dan had us in hysterics, earlier in the week, regarding Monkey Butt (Ok, I may have been the only one in hysterics). 🙂

We made our way back to the room, to finish packing – Yeah, that took a while. Trying to get the right combination of clothes vs. dive gear in each case, and keeping it under the 50 lb. mark, can be fun. We were finally successful.

We went down to the Seaside Grill, and met Becki and Dan for lunch. Huh… This is what resort life is like, during the day!

Then, off to the shop, to tend to our scooters, pay the dreaded bill, and finish packing the gear away.

Steve and Angelica…

We then headed back over to The Pub, where we met a bunch of our friends for some beverages, munchies, and “see ya next times.” We also met new friends, from Finland, and I finally got to meet Irene! w00t! We had a lot of fun, and of course, we had to get some gelato! Back to the resort, and in bed by a decent hour (what’s with that??).

The giant gingerbread house, in the resort…

Dan, wondering if he could sneak a piece…

Saturday, December 20th, 2013 ~

Packed and ready to go, we were able to have some breakfast, before we left. Then… It was time to go…

On the way…

Too bad, we were going to miss the Ricky Martin concert 😥

Giant wind turbine…

…and back to the car rental place, where they had their Christmas decorations up.

We arrived safe and sound, to this…

Well, it was a fantastic couple of weeks of  cavez and amazing friends.

See you next time (soon!), Mexico… We shall miss the CAVEZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ! 🙂


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