Brockville Canadian Invasion ~ 2011

17 08 2011

Friday, August 12th, 2011 ~

Well, I will start this entry off, by saying that this was the largest group I have ever organized. The majority of our group for Diving Goodness arrived either on Thursday night, or Friday morning, in time for the run out to the wreck of the Kinghorn. We had some breakfast at Caiger’s, then headed over to Rockport Dive Centre. There were 12 to take the first run on Rick’s boat, and 14 by scooter. I think that was the biggest GUE EDGE I have ever conducted, too…lol.

Raphael and I paired up, and we debriefed our dive plan, trip back in, and even towing, should it be required. This is a swimmable dive (on doubles), so even if we didn’t tow, we would still be in good shape. I led our teams to the line, and we headed out! Raph and I did tours of both the inside and outside, and there were Go Pro cameras a-plenty, taking video of our diving extravaganza!

We decided to head back in, so I hit the trigger… er.. at least I tried to. Two of my prop blades went flying into the abyss (ok, about 7′ down)! What the…? I did manage to pick them up, signaled to Raph, and started to swim. Wait a sec… it’s lunch time.. let’s hit it, partner! I signaled to Raph again, stowed my scooter (of course, being a bit bummed), and latched on to Raph’s crotch strap. Onward!

I have to say, that I was very pleased that we had discussed this whole towing thing, at the beginning of the dive. Raph did great, and when we reached the 55′ mark, I tapped off. We had a relaxing and leisurely swim back in. Thanks for the tow, amigo!!

Bottom Time: 47 mins.
Max. Depth: 90′
Water Temp.: 71F
Visibility: Decent

Me, sportin’ the Grape Kool-Aid shirt…

After a couple of runs out to the wreck, in Rick’s boat, we reconvened on the deck at Rockport Dive Centre, and headed over to The Cornwall/Boathouse for lunch.. drysuits ‘n’ all. We took up the whole room, this time around. Tammi and her peeps were ready for us, as usual!

We got some food in our bellies, some laughter, and fun, then we walked back over for another run out to the wreck. Since I didn’t have use of my scooter (and thank you to Oren for the offer to use yours… while you made a bit of a drive… *cough*), I was going to jump in with Andy, for a swim along the line. Andy had some new tanks that he wanted to check out, and I would be doing my first test dive with the new Light Monkey wing! w00t!

 

We really took our time, and had an extremely slow and comfortable swim, partway to the wreck. We went back and forth, played with a few fish, and waved at some of our friends, passing by. I was seriously digging this wing. It is a 45# wing, that is put together very well, and has some really nice finishing touches (the heat shrink on either end of the corrugated hose). I was using it with a set of Luxfer AL80s, and I really did like the way it filled around the tanks. The edges are a bit wider than other wings, and it just felt really easy to trim out in. Very freakin’ cool wing! First test dive >> Like Factor = Extremely high.

Bottom Time: 35 mins.
Max. Depth: 56′
Water Temp.: 71
Visibility: Decent.. still.

I think Chris enjoyed the dives…

Piotr, too… Lovin’ the jet fuel!

Reconvening…

After our dives, we headed back to Caiger’s, where we got ourselves sorted out, showered, and changed for dinner. We had a buffet of a bunch of extremely delicious foods, and we definitely filled the entire dining room. There was also a live band playing on “The Upper Deck,” that some of us checked out, before hitting the sack!

Saturday, August 13th, 2011 ~

Up and at ’em! We had boats going to the Keystorm and America, as well as to the Jodrey. We had most of the boats going out in the morning, with another afternoon run to the Jodrey.

Buffet breakfast for everyone, and boats loaded. I brought down lunches for each boat, and the morning runs were off! We had one bit of a miscommunication on boat departure time, so two friends ended up going for a shore dive.

Breakfast…

Loading up…

 

Relaxing after breakfast…

Carm and Steph…

Then the boats came back!

We then loaded up our boat, to head to our afternoon Jodrey dive.

On the ride out, I managed to get a good punch in the face, from a flying boat bumper, whacked my head on the boat, and with me being a bit pooped, I opted out of the dive. We were moored in a different place than usual, and my gut just said, “no.” It sucked to have to miss Jodrey Goodness, but I was also pretty pooped, with all of the organizing. I did gear up, and even got in the water, but it wasn’t my day. Yes, my buddy had someone else to dive with…

Pooped (+ sucker punch + head whack) + Jodrey = Thumb.

Instead, I had a bit of a nap on the boat, and took some pics. 🙂

A little shout out to DUI? 😀

 

Self portrait, of course…

When we got back, we unloaded, then got ready for dinner. This dinner was a little more fancy, and we had some extra delicious food! Thank you to all of the staff at Caiger’s!!

We also had a draw for some prizes. Thank you to Liquid Productions, Rockport Dive Centre, and Exploration Promotions for the prize donations!

We finished the night off with some karaoke… Ohh.. what a blast! Bill Baker is a crazy… wha???

Steph also got up for some singing magic!

Unfortunately, we weren’t able to have the bon fire that we wanted to have. A big thank you to Becki and Dan for bringing the S’mores goodies!!!

What a fun finish to the day!

Sunday, August 14th, 2011 ~

Well, today was the final day of the Brockville Invasion. We did a bit more loading, diving, unloading, bidding goodbyes, and taking more pictures. Today’s dives were the Vickery, a drift dive, and for the Tech divers, the Jodrey. I still wasn’t 100%, so I opted to stay aground, and wait for all of the boats to come in.

Fern and LoJack!

 

It really is amazing, how many wonderful people attend the Brockville Invasion. I have made so many new friends, and love to see friends that keep coming back. It does mean a lot to me, that people have so much fun on this trip. It is exactly why I do it.

A group shot… of most of the group, plus most of the reamining folks. Next year, I will allot a time and place for the pic, on the itinerary! We had 49 people attend, this year!

Below is Forest Rothchild, who did a really cool write-up on his Invasion experience. Thank you, Forest!

Link to write-up on TDS…  http://thedecostop.com/forums/showthread.php?t=48322

Below is a little video of some of the stills! Come on back next year, ya hear!


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One Schott!

27 07 2011

Thursday, July 21st, 2011 ~

So.. Becky and I had threatened to go diving together many times, over the last few years, and the stars aligned just right, to a weekend that we could. Dave was unable to join us, and even though we missed him terribly, Becky and I knew that we would have much Girl Diving Goodness Fun (ok, we did allow some fellas to join us).

We decided on The Works for dinner, after much chatter and laughter, where we introduced Becky to some interesting burger concoctions and combinations, along with our beverages served in measuring cups. We ended up chatting and laughing our fool arses off until the early hours of the morning. Thanks to some of our western friends for some hilarious back and forth banter!

Friday, July 22nd, 2011 ~

Well, we meant to dive today… Let’s leave it at that… 😀 We did have a good time catching up and talking about.. Well.. Everything! We also prepared for the following day’s dives.

Saturday, July 23rd, 2011 ~

We were up an out early, and made our way to Rockport Dive Centre, for a dive on the Jodrey. Becky, Eric, and I were teamed up, and Frankie and Steve were heading to the engine room. Becky also brought her camera along, and took some really cool shots of us, on the bow. Thank you, Becky!!

Me, on the bow of the Jodrey, taken by Becky Kagan Schott…

Eric, on the Jodrey, by Becky Kagan Schott…

We had a nice, relaxing deco, made our way back up the wall, and back to the boat. We did meet up with Steve and Frankie on deco, too.

Frankie, by Becky Kagan Schott…

 

Steve snuck over to say hello, too – by Becky Kagan Schott…

Bottom Time ~ 71 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 163’
Water Temp. ~ 73F
Visibility ~ 40’ (best we’ve seen in a while)

Once we arrived back at the dock, we headed down to the Cornwall, for some grub, then back home.

Sunday, July 24th, 2011 ~

We managed to get a charter to the Keystorm and America – Thank you, Rick! We were at Caiger’s for an afternoon charter, and we did seem to have quite a lot of gear.

Once we got underway, it was after 3pm. We headed to customs first, then to A-Bay for some petrol. While Rick gased up, we chatted, and even played with the resident kitties.

Becky!

Then, we were off! Andy, Eric, Becky, and I teamed up, Frankie and Steve, and Cory and Raluca too. The plan was to go down to the prop for some photos, then make our way back up. We spent the majority of our time at the prop, then made our way back up and in. Thanks again for the shots, Becky! You rock! It was great to see Andy again, too!

Bottom Time ~ 48 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 75’
Water Temp. ~ 73F
Visibility ~ 40’

There were, of course, more shenanigans on the boat…

From there, we headed over to the America. It had been a while since I had actually been on it, so I was actually looking forward to it. We had some directions to where a large anchor was, so after doing a pass of the wreck, we hit the trigger to find it… We followed our directions to a “T,” and lo and behold, there it was! Sweeeeet!! Doh.. Becky didn’t have her camera on this dive, and it was Murphy’s Law that there was something so cool to get shots of. J

We had a peek at it, then went a little bit further on, to see if there were more cool things to see. We didn’t travel too far off, before turning back to the wreck. We did a quick pass underneath the America, then headed in.

Bottom Time ~ 48 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 75′
Water Temp. ~ 73F
Visibility ~ 40’

Homies…

Look! Andy’s here!

On our way in, the sun was setting over the River, and was the perfect end to some extremely fun dives. We arrived back at Caiger’s, where we had to wait for customs to clear us, before getting off of the boat. This took a while. We waited, and waited, and started to get absolutely molested by mosquitoes. We were sitting targets for these man-eaters!

On the way in…

Finally, Rick came back with the good news that we were allowed back into Canada, and could start making our escape from the crazy mossies. I think it was close to 9:30pm, when we were unloading our gear. By this time, we were pretty hungry, and made our way to Boston Pizza, in Brockville, then home.

A wonderful day of extreme fun, and most awesome Diving Goodness!! W00t! J

On Monday morning, we gave our hugs goodbye, to Becky, and wished her a safe trip home.

Please come back and play, Becky!! We had a blast!!! There are many wrecks waiting for you to see! w0000000000000000000t! Next time, Dave needs to come, too!! Xoxo J

　

Wait a second.. Perhaps Dave was there!! 😉

　

　

　

　

　


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Along The Waterfront

22 07 2011

Sunday, July 17th, 2011 ~

Time to dive! We loaded up and headed down to Centeen for.. yes.. some Diving and Scootering Goodness! Shocking, I know. Mike and Michel met us there, and were coming out as well.

What a stinkin’ HOT and humid day. It made gearing up a little tough, but since it is not snow and ice, I do not want to complain too much. The park was very busy with swimmers today too, so we were careful to stay out of everyone’s way, as we brought our gear down to the water.

Getting our gear ready…

We got in the water, and debriefed. Our plan was to travel upstream for 60 minutes, then drop into the channel, and do some exploring in spots that we have not been to before. As we moved along, we could hear a freighter approaching, which is quite typical for this area. We were in 24′ as one passed over, and even though this is an event we are used to, this one sounded like the earth was about to implode. It was not even directly above us, as we were a bit shallow for freighter passing. That was some serious metal going by!

As we dropped into the channel, we came upon a cliff wall that was extremely cool. We had not seen this before, so we already knew that we were in new territory. There were so many very interesting formations, and pieces of wreckage. There were another two freighters that passed over, but not nearly as ground-shaking as the first one.  

Once we got into the channel, we got into some serious Rock ‘n’ Roll current, and the visibility improved. We stayed pretty close together though, and even played around in the current. I pointed my scooter against the current, and was still being pushed backwards. What a ride!

We stayed in the channel for about an hour, as planned, then made our way up. Of course, we did make it to the Gaskin on the way back, did a quck tour, then headed in.

On deco, I found a quarter (lucky me), which I lost somewhere on the way back to the van (not so lucky me)!

Bottom Time ~ 2 Hours, 57 Minutes
Max. Depth ~ 108′
Water Temp. ~ 71F
Vis. ~ Stinky in the shallows, but quite nice in the channel

Chart of our path (thanks to Steve)…

Steve’s and my gear, after the dive…

Mike, Michel, and Steve…

Me, sporting some fancy sunglasses that I found at about 95′ (Yes, the ones on top of my hat)…

Until next week’s adventure!


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Jacob Came To Town!

18 04 2011

Friday, April 8th, 2011 ~

Well.. I have to say that I had an interesting evening, while waiting for Jacob’s late flight to arrive. I was already at the airport when I got the news, so I decided to run a couple of errands, then come back. I went to pick up Jacob’s Suex, then set the GPS on “Find Food.” It said that there was some “fast food,” about 3.8 km from where I was. Yeah… that was also a wild goose chase!

I finally made my way back to the airport, about 2 1/2 hours later than I originally arrived, and was happy to get a call from Jacob, saying that he was in the building! W00t! Out he came, and we set sail for our place! The adventure begins!

Saturday, April 9th, 2011 ~

We set Jacob up with some tanks, and we headed out to the quarry, where we hoped there would still be some ice left for his first ice dive. When we arrived, we saw that there was still quite a bit of ice coverage, but the beach area had a nice, open entry point.

We decided to bring the scooters out to play, as we hadn’t used them all winter, and wanted to give them a go!

Jen, getting her gear together…

There was definitely a bit of “Tom-Foolery” going on, as we broke up some of the slushy stuff.

Diving is serious stuff, you know… 🙂

Jen, bringing her gear to the water…

We even had a supervisor…

We finally got geared up and into the water. Steve and I were taking Jacob on a tour of the quarry, showing him the sub, the car, some rocks, and even the shark. I was able to get some video, with my little Go Pro camera.

*Warning: F-Bomb in the video!*

Bottom Time ~ 42 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 104′ (Avg. 41′)
Water Temp. ~ 39F
Visibility ~ Really nice

Jacob seemed to really enjoy his dive, and we definitely did have alot of fun.

We even fed him some Kool Aid Jammers…

…and we made Jacob an honourary Canadian, by giving him a  Timmy’s Rrrrrrrrrrrrroll Up The Rim To Win coffee!

It was an excellent day of Diving Goodness, and we topped the evening off with some Vietnamese Cuisine!

Sunday, April 10th, 2011 ~

Since Jacob had already met the quarry, we decided to take him down to the St. Lawrence River. We had more friends join us, too!

It wasn’t going to be a very long scooter dive, but at least we could have a little fun in the River.

We split up into teams of two, and poor Eric got stuck with me, again. 🙂 We scootered out along the wall, then dropped into the channel. We didn’t go as far as we normally do, as the water was still a bit chilly, and we only brought our short bodies with us.

Jacob and Steve were in the lead, and the visibility was absolutely crappy. There was a bit of a glove issue, so Oren and Claudia headed back to shore. Eric and I continued on into the channel, and decided to pick our spot to drift back onto the wreck of the Gaskin. We both seemed to have the exact same idea as to where we were, so away we drifted… er.. well.. Where’s the current? Hmm.. Ok.. trigger, it is! We ended up right at the stern of the wreck. *High five!* We played around on the wreck for a little while, and then saw two beams of light approaching. Team 1 had also reached the wreck. We zipped around a little more, then went back in, cleaning off the line, as we went back. Eric and I took our time, and chose to swim back part of the way. It was a nice, relaxing way to finish up our dive.

As we neared the “Stop” sign, Oren and Jacob were heading out. Apparently, Jacob didn’t mind this cold water thing, and joined Oren for some more Goodness!

Bottom Time ~ 51 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 70′ (Avg. 42′)
Water Temp. ~ 39F
Visibility ~ Really crappy, thanks to the rain and grey skies

The rain had held off for most of the day, but started to sprinkle a bit, as we brought our gear up.

Yes, there was definitely some more Tom-Foolery going on… One Milllllllion Kool Aids…

Claudia was all ready for the rain!

I even snagged a picture of John’s fancy cave tattoo…

From the park, we went to our new favourite Brockville dining location, “Santa Fe,” where they have All You Can Eat Fajitas, every Sunday!

We made the trip back to Ottawa, and on to our next adventure: WalMart. Well.. I think we lost Jacob a grand total of three times. There is quite alot to see in the superstore, when you’ve been hanging out in the Mexico cavez for months! 🙂 Thank you, Jacob, for the Hoisen sauce and the pink Duct Tape!

Packing the scooter…

Jacob, I am glad that you were able to fit us into your busy exploring schedule. It was great to see you, and alot of fun getting back in the water with you, again. I didn’t even mind that 4am trip back to the airport! I did, however, find some zip seals under your pillow, and wondered if they were in exchange for the cutting device. 😛

Come back soon, ya hear!?


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2010 In Review!

8 01 2011

This year was another great one, as far as Diving Goodness is concerned!

We started the year off at the quarry, and ended it somewhere nice and warm.

Shot from New Year’s dive 2010, of Steve and Jay…

In March, our Freediving friends were back, and we got more shots and video of them…

Stills Video…

Steve’s Video…

We still kept up our skills and drills at the quarry, and had many friends join us there…

There was even this one time.. at band camp…

…and even friends that couldn’t be there, but sent a little piece of them to be with us…

Our first river dive of the year was at Farran Park, on Easter Weekend. Water temps. were around 41 …

Our friend, Jeff, finished off his Commercial Diving course, and it was great to have him back around!

Dives in Rockport…

Exploring in the St. Lawrence…

..and we even made friends with some sea creatures…

We spent a bit of time in Kingston, as Steve was teaching some Fundies courses. I either helped out or found my own friends to dive with…

We also made a few trips to the Jodrey, where we also had many friends visit and join us…

We did some investigating at some other sites as well…

I also met two of the most fascinating ladies ever: Edith and Sandra. They gave me so many details and stories about their childhoods, and growing up along the St. Lawrence River, before it was flooded. I could have listened to them for days. It was amazing to learn from them.

Eric also proved that it is entirely possible to dive out of a Mini. Doubles, scooter, and stages…

Fred came up to visit us in Kingston, and DIR Ontario organized seminars over two days. Fred gave us updates from the MCEP, CINDAQ, a line survey workshop, and a presentation on the Bosnia cave systems. Steve joined in and gave a seminar on Gavin Scooter Maintenance as well. It was a fun weekend!

Fred also presented us with a CINDAQ sensor, in the name of DIR Ontario, that would be placed in one of the cave systems, and when any of us go down to visit, we can retrieve the sensor, download the data, then replace it back into the system. Very cool stuff!

Thank you, Fred!

Then came the Invasions…

This was the 3rd Annual Brockville Invasion, and had grown 30 people strong. We had an excellent weekend of amazing people, alot of laughs, and some great dives. We had friends from all over North America.

This was the second year for the Kingston Invasion, the following weekend. Another amazing group of people…

This year, we also found tiny jelly fish in the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario. This was a pretty neat thing to see!

When the Jodrey was closed down to diving, due to an oil leak, we found another Tech wreck to dive.. The Oconto. This was definitely rock and roll. I imagine we will do this one again next year. 🙂

We gathered a crew together, and repaired the vandalized line to the Gaskin.

Then there was Mexico. We went for two weeks of bliss, in the Mexican caves. Well.. one week of bliss and the GUE Conference, and a second week of tired, working bliss that Cave 2 brought on. :p

We got to retrieve our CINDAQ sensor from Xtabay and download the data, which was really fun to do. I really enjoy the GUE Conferences, as it is not only full of interesting information, but it is awesome to meet so many people from all over the world, and put faces to the names that we see on the internet. This is the best part.

Cheers to yet another wonderful year of Diving Goodness, and another cheers to 2011!


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