It’s June… Let’s Go Diving…

28 06 2010

Saturday, June 26th, 2010 ~

Today, Steve, Chris, and Francois were going for another dip on the Jodrey. We were hoping that the pouring rain we had on the way down, would taper off as well. We were on an afternoon charter.

We packed up the trailer for two days of diving, and headed down to the Brockville area.

Andy was up for some Diving Goodness too, so he and I were going to do some exploring upstream, and perhaps visit the other fellas on deco. As we piled the gear up at the dock, we wondered if it would all fit on the boat.

Apparently so. We loaded everything, with skepticism, but it all fit… Comfortably too, I might add.

I’m wondering if Andy was checking us in on Twitter…

Captain Chantal was at the helm.

We made our way to customs, where we actually had quite a friendly Officer greet us. It was nice to see a smile. She waived us through, and we were on our way. We had mostly geared up before we left the dock, as there was a bit of a chill to the air.

Me…

Chris – All ghetto, all the time…

Frankie…

So… how you doin’? 😀

Once we anchored and tied up to the mooring tree, we loaded up the gear lines with bottles and scooters, and kicked the three boys off of the boat.

Predive checks…

Andy and I took our time gearing up, and hung out in the water for a bit, giving the guys a good head start. Their run time was going to be alot longer than ours, so we were not in much of a hurry.

We finally got in, did our checks, and dropped down the wall. I figured I’d give Andy a teaser of part of the descent onto the Jodrey. We saw a bunch of bubbles, and saw the boys on one of their deco stops. We stopped by to say hello, then went on our merry way, up the wall a bit, then for a ride upstream. I showed Andy some of our deco route, and where the deco chair sits. The vacuum cleaner seems to be missing, but we did see a new table. We then decided to go upstream to see what we could find.

The visibility was absolutely horrible. No doubt due to all of the rain we’ve had this week. We could barely see 10′ in front of us, and although we were following a wall, in one direction, there wasn’t much point in doing too much investigating here. We just couldn’t see. I tried dropping our depth a little, to try to get out of some of the crud, but to no avail. I also knew that we had many back eddies in our path, so I did not want to venture too far away, seeing I only had a short body scooter with me. Andy had his Mini G.

We still did have fun, venturing along the wall, and saw some very interesting rock formations, but made our way back to the “Deco Bowl,” where I showed Andy the spot where we ditch some of our gear on deco, and stay out of the current. Although, there was a bit of current there today. We hung about for a bit, relaxed in the water, and played with the fish. We then went to see the others on their 20′ stop, then back to the boat.

Quite a relaxing and fun way to spend an afternoon. There was quite an aggressive bass, just under the boat. We tried to leave him alone, but he kept coming to see us. Perhaps he was just checking us out.

Bottom Time ~ 44 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 80′
Water Temp. ~ 64
Visibility ~ Varied, but not more than 20′ in the best spots

Chris and Andy, in their matching shirts…

We packed up, then headed over to Gill and Vian’s place for some homemade pizza… Yummmmm….

Sunday, June 27th, 2010 ~

Today was scooter day! Chris decided to hit the road early, so myself, Steve, Francois, Andy, and Eric B. went over to Island 99/Teapot Island for some investigation.

This is a pretty cool dive, once you get past the giant hill to get in, the silty entry, and weeds. You surface scooter out for a small jaunt, then drop down into the bowl, where the visibility usually improves.

As we were bringing our gear down to the water, there was an older gentleman with his dog, playing in the water. He said that she was 18 years old, and he brings her here twice a day. She’s deaf and blind, and her hips are starting to go, but she just loves the water. He carries her up and down the hill, as she cannot do it on her own anymore. She did seem happy though.

Time to gear up!

Andy, and his “new to him” magnum…

Eric, and his new magnum…

Frankie…

I think Eric was thinking that his mat was better than Steve’s mat…

We finally got in, did our checks, then made our way through the weeds.

Again, visibility wasn’t that great, but there are alot of pretty cool things to see on this dive. Visibility was about 15′ at best, and more murky, the closer you were to shore.

We found Santa’s sleigh on the way out again, which is always a treat. I’m not sure what he did with all of the pressies though. 😉

We followed the wall at varying depths, seeing some cool bottles, interesting rock formations, and a whole lot of really big fish. There were carp, bass, sunfish, catfish, sheepshead carp, as well as a bunch of mud puppies. There were some pretty big giants on this dive.

We tooled around near the island for a bit, then made our way back to the dock. As we came close, we heard Sea Doos and boats zinging by, so Steve launched a bag, and we made it back in safely. There is always alot of boat traffic this time of year, which is why we usually reserve this dive for early spring or late fall. It is such a nice dive though, so sometimes it is hard to resist.

Bottom Time ~ 90 minutes
Max. Depth ~ 99′
Water Temp. ~ 64
Visibility ~ 15′ at best

Another fantastic weekend of Diving Goodness!


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Jodrey Jodrey

21 06 2010

Saturday, June 19th, 2010 ~

Some of our US friends were visiting for the weekend, and we were slated to dive the Jodrey on both Saturday and Sunday. We loaded up the van, and met the gang at Jeff’s, for Diving Goodness!

Steve, Kevin, and Jay teamed up, as did Chris, Ed, and Piotr, then Sean and I.

Chris, Ed, and Piotr…

Sean, playing boat captain…

Me, being a completely silly git.. and with the “1” in the right place, added by Chris.

I’m lovin’ Ed’s shoes…

Sean and I dropped down to the bow, then went around to the starboard side. We saw alot of things that we had not seen before, and really enjoyed our dive. We stayed on the starboard side for the remainder of our dive, then made our way back home. A very nice and relaxing dive. Thanks, Sean!

Bottom Time ~ 62 minutes
Max. Depth ~ 166′
Water Temp. ~ 60

Our gear, under the boat…

Steve, Jay, and Kevin, after their dive to the engine room…

How many Gavins does it take to screw in a lightbulb?

A short video, taken by Piotr, at our 20′ stop!

http://vimeo.com/13404956

Sunday, June 20th, 2010 ~

Well, today started out to be a great day. We loaded up the boat once again, and had another day of Jodrey Goodness planned. Jay and Kevin weren’t out today, so Steve was going to join Sean and I.

Piotr, posing with his fancy new badge…

Happy Father’s Day to Sean and Chris!

Once we got to the mooring tree, we tied in, put our bottles and scooters in, and in we went. We did our predive checks and headed down the wall. The current was a little bit stronger than the previous day, but it wasn’t unmanageable on the wreck.

We headed down to the bow, peeked through to the bathroom, near the crew’s quarters, swam down and around the crane, and saw some pretty cool stuff. What an awesome dive!

Bottom Time ~ 66 minutes
Max. Depth ~ 187′
Water Temp. ~ 60

Jeff lowered my camera down to me, during our 20′ stop, so I took a few shots.

I handed my camera over to Steve, and he took one of me too…

A fish that seemed pretty interested in what I was doing…

This turned out to be one of those days, where sometimes not everything goes as planned. It was a day where it was proven that team work is priceless, and buddy choices were golden.

Chris, Piotr, and Ed… I’d dive with you guys any day of the week. 🙂


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Victoria Day Weekend 2010

25 05 2010

Friday, May 21st, 2010 ~

Long weekend! Oren decided to come up to see us, and picked up my suit along the way. Woo Hoo! I was really looking forward to getting back in the water. Four weeks seems like an eternity.

When he arrived, I was both exited and hesitant to put it on. You know, the whole.. “Will the measurements be right…” feeling? I was happy to see that DUI had installed the P Valve for me, even though I had said that they didn’t have to. It was ready for the next day’s dive. We did a little trimming of the seals, I put my undies on, and put it on.

I was very pleased that even with the new measurements, that the bottom fit so much nicer than my other DUI. The top had quite a bit of extra room, but I would prefer it on the top than on the bottom.

w00t! Ready for the water! Thanks so much, Faith!!! You’re da bomb!

Saturday, May 22nd, 2010 ~

We decided to go to Cornwall, to make a run for the Power House. Neither Oren or I had been there, so Steve was going to lead the way.

It rained a bit on the way down…

As Steve was getting out his white board, we had a little visitor. My guess is that she wondered if we had anything to give her…

We discussed our plan of attack, and the contours of where we were going…

We geared up and put the scooters in.

There were only a couple of boats out today, which was good for us. It can be a bit hairy coming in and out of the docking area, as it is pretty shallow. The boaters and the divers do get along here, and we are always courteous of each other.

We got in, scootered on the surface, until we were out of the small bay, then dropped down. Our plan was to head south, then a bit east, then south again, once we found a wall.

Well, we did find a wall. We also found the Paper Factory Basement, which was farther north. We decided to take a bearing across, to where we thought the Power House would be. The visibility was pretty horrible, and the currents were pretty strong, so we stayed tight as a team.

We did see some rather large fish along the way, and a turn that we made, brought us back to the Paper Factory. So.. er.. I guess that today wasn’t going to be the day for the Power House. Too bad we didn’t bring a reel. The Basement would have been an awesome Plan B.

We decided to take another bearing, and when we didn’t reach our destination by the time we did our gas switch, we headed for home.

We still had a pretty fun dive, saw some interesting things, and played with some giant fish.

Bottom Time ~ 95 minutes
Max. Depth ~ 82′
Water Temp. ~ 42

Of course, I actually wasn’t completely dry during the dive. It was no fault of my wonderful new suit, but due to a couple of plumbing problems… User error…

We had a good laugh about it afterwards…

The sun started to set, so we headed back to our place. Here’s to a dry dive tomorrow!

Sunday, May 23rd, 2010 ~

We decided to head down to Centeen Park, for some more river exploration. Chris P. and Allan met us down there, and they were going to go for a swim out to the Gaskin.

As we were gearing up, some visitors pulled up in a boat.

Kelly and Dave came by for a visit!

Not long behind them were Chris Red, Jane, Mike, and Warren…

We shot the sheet for a little while, and since they had their shiny new Cudas with them, they were going to tie up the boat, and scooter out to the Gaskin.

Chris…

Steve, explaining some of the cool stuff around the channel…

I caught Allan in the background…

We got in, did our predive checks, and headed out. We showed Dave, Kelly, and Warren to the line, and they were off like Greyhounds! We did catch up at the wreck, played around a little, then made our way out into the channel. Exploring time!

We happened on to some wreckage that we had not seen before. There were remnants of a shipwreck, many bottles, and chunks of metal. This looked like it was pretty old stuff. We played around for a while, drifted, and looked at bottles. I think we all had pretty large grins on our faces. NEW STUFF!!

We drifted back a bit, looked around some more, then scootered up a bit more shallow, drifted some more… you get the idea… Another fantastic dive.

Bottom Time ~ 72 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 104′
Water Temp. ~ 53

I found it a bit odd that I was a bit chilled on this dive. When I got out, I noticed that I had not pulled my zipper all the way down. So.. I have christened my new suit in more ways than one…. Next week.. Dry.. 😀

Happy Birthday, Queen Victoria!


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2009 In A Nutshell…

11 01 2010

The year was another fun-filled and adventure packed one, as far as diving goodness goes.

We started off the year with our annual New Year’s Dive, then with many friends visiting for ice diving. Our ice diving party in January was a cold one. Picking Richard up at the airport, and hearing his story about him pleading for them to let him into the country, was absolutely hilarious. It didn’t help that on the coldest night of the year, and a full house, the power went out. Some of the gang slept through it all, but we know they were grateful for the propane heater we stuck in the basement for them. The rest of us gathered by the fire, through the wee hours of the morning. Then, of course.. we went diving.

The river started to break up in March, and we made our way down for a dive. The water was still 35, and we did have failures, but at least we managed them. It was good to get back in the rivaaa!

The free divers came back to the quarry, and it was fascinating to watch them and photograph them. Some of my shots ended up in their magazine as well.

Beneath The Sea was so much fun again this year. It was great to meet up with people that I don’t get to see very often, as well as friends that I hadn’t seen in about 20 years. It was really fantastic to catch up, Dave!! We also got to hang out with some of the pioneers of our sport, which was something I could never have even imagined. What an amazing experience. Becky and David, it was great to finally meet up with you!

We spent alot of time this year, looking for a few things… New entry points along the river, and that elusive truck. I can’t even count the hours we spent looking for that darn thing. No.. we still haven’t found it. Another journey for 2010!

Greg Mossfeldt came to hang out with us too, which was alot of fun!

Here is a link to Greg’s account of one of our dives, and his slideshow of pictures…

http://www.mossmanscuba.com/articles/kinghorn-st-lawrence-rockport-ontario

Mooring day in Kingston was an adventure. Jen and I were buddied up on Mooring Day 2, and although the seas were rockin’, I kept my cookies in check. On one of the wrecks, we had thrown in a shot line, and the two of us were going in, to see if we could find the line. There had been a report from another charter operator, that the line was missing. The shot line was right beside the wreck, and we found the mooring, which seemed in good condition. Vinnie James and Sean were right behind us, and had the lift bag to throw it up. Away we went, circling the wreck, for some fun. Jen and I went in one direction, and the other two went the opposite way. After doing a turn of the wreck, we made our way to the shot line, to pull it a little farther from the wreck. Once we did that, we turned around, and the mooring line had disappeared. We wondered if we were in the same place or not, looked around, and decided that we were. When Vinnie and Sean came back around, they were also in disbelief that there was no line. We looked for a minute, then out came the thumbs. We ascended alongside the shot line, and upon surfacing, were also boatless. It’s amazing how quickly a boat attached to a mooring line that isn’t, can float away. Anne quickly realized that the numbers she was on were different than the coordinates she was supposed to be on, so she made her way back to us. What an adventure! I think I was better off floating in the water, than in the rockin’ boat though…lol. Although I was green, I kept it together. Still, a great day, and a great adventure.

We had many trips out to the Jodrey, with friends from all over North America joining us. It was a really great opportunity to meet some more amazing people, and build new friendships.

We also were able to build on friendships we already had.

Through Steve’s journey to become a GUE Instructor, we met even more fabulous people along the way. One friendship that has become important to both of us, is with Guy Shockey. I don’t want to go on too much about him, as he might get a swelled head, but he is definitely one heckofafellow, and we are both glad to call him our friend.

Then came the Canadian Invasions. What started out as a half joke about people coming to dive with us, and camping out in our back yard, has turned into a two weekend diving extravaganza, with even more awesome people. Our first weekend in Brockville, and the second weekend in Kingston, with both Recreational and Technical charters, and scooter dives. This was the first time that we had added Ktown to the bill, and we are looking forward to it again in 2010!

After the Invasions, Harvey came to visit us, and a few of us had signed up to do the Naui Tech 2 course with him. It was great fun having Harvey along, and we had alot of fun during the course.

In November, Steve and I headed down to High Springs, for the GUE Conference, and the IE. We met more amazing people, and finally got to check out the Florida caves. The Conference was well worth going to, and the caves.. well, one word… WICKED!

All of the events planned were alot of fun, and it was just fantastic to meet up with other GUE folk from around the globe. It was even fun to have a little spot for “DIR Ontario” on opening day, at the Conference.

It was especially cool to meet JP and Anne Marie near the Ear at Ginnie!

Special thanks to Sheila and Steve, for putting up with me on my virgin kayak trip… 10 MILES!! Another special thanks to both George and Jeff, for showing us around the wet rocks! We loved it!! It was really wonderful to finally meet some of our friends face to face, instead of our internet meetings! Two words.. Amanda rocks.. 🙂

I still think our version of the Peanut Tunnel is amusing…

This is one of my favourite pictures from the trip, taken by Amanda Cotton…

We also got to take Flat Stanley cave diving in Little River. Picture taken by Jeff Schrieber…

On the last day of the conference, Steve, myself, Guy, and Dan decided to go up to Madison, for a couple of dives. Yet another amazing day.

I am not sure how many “incredible” words I can come up with, to describe how great this trip was. Um… can we move?

Upon returning home, we were greeted with snow and much colder temperatures. While the quarry was still open, it didn’t take long before it was frozen over.

We definitely had an extra spectacular year, and we are definitely looking forward to the adventures that 2010 will bring!

Double kudos to Steve and Guy, for becoming GUE Instructors!! w000000000t!! 😮

I have also done a Three Part picture video set, of some of the year’s photos!


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Ahoy To The Kinghorn

21 10 2009

Saturday, October 3rd, 2009 ~

Since my other half was working, Andy and I decided to take a run out to the Kinghorn, with his fancy new Mini G. He was hoping that the last challenge of weighting was exactly that… the last challenge.

We stopped at Caiger’s, to see if we could meet up with Yasuko, who was on a charter that day, but they had not come in yet, so back to Jeff’s we went. We took our sweet time getting ready, as it was a gorgeous day, and we decided to have a bit of a snack before diving.

Ok.. enough snacking.. time to dive. Another two buddy teams surfaced before we got in, and said the visibility was improving. Andy and I got in, did our predive checks, and noticed some funky black clouds over the river. We got through our checks, and headed out. As we followed the line out, I could feel water coming in through my neck seal. I knew I needed to replace it, but I was hoping to get a few more dives out of it. I guess this was it.

I knew it was going to be a short dive, and that it would be me that called it, but I figured we could at least get to the wreck. We came upon the bow of the Kinghorn, paid respects to Doug’s plaque, then made our way down to the stern. Ok… time to call it… I had already communicated to Andy, that my neck seal was pooched, so he was waiting for my call. As we swam over the deck, we came upon one of the holds. We looked at each other, smiled, and down we went. We had to swim that way anyway, we may as well go in. You know… since we’re there and all. 🙂 We swam inside, checked out the artifacts, then made our way back up and back to the line.

We saw some pretty big carp on the dive, as well as a couple of pike. Although it was a short dive, it was still alot of fun. I’m sure the bruise on my shin will heal quickly…lol.

Bottom Time ~ 37 mins.
Max. Depth ~ 91′
Water Temp. ~ 60/61
Visibility ~ 35′ – 30′

When we got out, I had received a text from Yasuko, so we ended up seeing her after all!


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