In It For The Long Haul

15 07 2013

Sunday, July 14th, 2013 ~

The St. Lawrence River was good and warm, so we had planned on doing a longer dive. Steve, Eric, and I were starting from Centeen Park, heading upstream in the shallows, into the channel, then back up, for planned deco. It seems we do quite a few dives from this entry point, which is true, but it is a different dive, every time!

The sun was pretty hot, so we got our gear into the water, as soon as we could…

We made our way upstream, switched scooters and stages, and down we went, into the channel. The visibility was pretty horrible, until we got down into the channel, where there was a significant improvement. We drifted for a while, Then started our gradual ascent, with our planned stops.

Bottom Time: 3 hours, 48 mins.
Max. Depth: 112′
Avg. Depth: 58′
Water Temp.: 68F
Vis.: Not very good; better in channel

As we did our 1 ATA deco stop, we heard some familiar voices behind us. Mike, Jen, and Julie greeted us, and gave us a hand with our gear (we were very thankful, for that).

Le Princessi also came out to play, on deco! 😀

We then headed to Boston Pizza, for after Diving Goodness Eats… We ended up getting home pretty late, but when you’re with friends, it doesn’t really matter. 🙂


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Let’s Go Swimming… Through?

14 07 2013

Saturday, July 13th, 2013 ~

Steve and Dave were running through some skills, so I joined Christian for a dive! I brought my camera with me, too.

We had a nice, easy swim out to the plane, where we saw Steve and Dave. We hung out for a bit, waved, then carried on. Christian was going to show me a little swim-through… A swim-through?? In the quarry?? Whaaa???

Yes… Apparently, this does exist, and I had absolutely no idea. Ok, it’s not like swimming through a cave, or even part of a nice, tropical reef area, but… you can swim under a rock, in the quarry! This still fascinates me, that I had no idea it was there!

Thank you for showing it to me, Christian!

Not far from the swim-through..

A neat box, from when the quarry was in use. I wonder what it was for?

On our way back up to the boat…

Christian, swimming through the boat, and a random diver in the background…

Dave and Steve – Valve Drills!

Bottom Time: 54 mins.
Max. Depth: 100′
Water Temp.: 39F (at 100′, below a few thermoclines)

After our dive, Christian had a collection of goodies, for us! Some fresh bagels, vegan cream cheese, apples, and a collection of nuts and berries, and a taste of dark chocolate. What an awesome surprise! Thanks again, Christian!

What a fun day!

Steve, looking for the froggy, that was making a lot of noise…

Here… froggy, froggy!

Steve and Dave, after their dive!

Dave is such a happy fellow!

What a great day!


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Even More Skillz

21 06 2013

Thursday, June 20th, 2013 ~

Christian and I met up for some more skillz!

Not much to say, really… We did valve drills, went down near the sub, did an ascent, back to the plane, and we called it a night!

Bottom Time: 51 mins.
Max. Depth: 52′
Water Temp.: 51F
Vis.: Great!


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Skillzzzz…

15 06 2013

Friday, June 14th, 2013 ~

Time for some skillz! Steve and I went to the quarry, where we were working on bottle rotations… hooray!

For the longest time, Steve has been pointing out how high my tanks sit on my back, even though the bands are as high as they can go, and we had already tried readjusting my harness… which we did again, tonight (at the end of the dive – a few times). I wasn’t quite balanced during the rotations, so we were trying to give me a bit more of a chance, and not have to work as much. By the end of the dive, my rotations were a bit smoother than when we started. *Phew* 🙂

Happy, “Going Diving” smile!Taken by Christian Laf…

Steve, giving a hand…
Taken by Christian Laf.

The harness adjustment did also seem to help. *Clap clap*

Another one, taken by Christian Laf…

I guess there really isn’t too much else to say, since we stayed in 14′ of water, playing with bottles.. back and forth, back and forth…

*Unclip, unclip, swing, unclip, clip, unclip, swing back, clip, clip, clip… Phew* It was good to do some practicing!

Bottom Time: 51 minutes
Max. Depth: 14′
Water Temp.: 53F

Christian, Fred, and Yiannis also came out to join in on the evening goodness!

Thanks to Christian, for the photos! I can’t believe that I didn’t even take one!

Me, taken by Christian Laf…


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Fun-Dies En Français!

13 06 2013

Sunday, June 9th, 2013 ~

Today was the final day of North America’s first GUE Fundamentals course, in French.. or… En Français!

I decided to join in on the last day, and take some photos. They had planned on two dives, which gave me plenty of time to play with the camera. Descent drill, fin kicks, s-drills, valve drills, blowing a bag, an ascent drill, followed by doing the rescue techniques. Then… “The Final Dive!”

Skillz…

After the ascent…

The first of the two dives went well, as did the Rescue portion of the dive. Steve was demonstrating, with Eric V.  as his “victim!”

Bottom Time: 38 mins.
Max. Depth: 30′
Water Temp.: 51FVis.: 30′

Then it was time for the FINAL DIVE! The guys worked really hard, and went through all of their skillz ‘n’ drillz for the final dive, before the exam.

Bottom Time: 34 mins.
Max. Depth: 28′
Water Temp.: 51FVis.: 30′

Group shot!

Félicitations, Christian et Stéphane!!!

Diving is serious business, you know. It’s not.. Mickey Mouse! 😛


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