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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Diving With My Arizona Sista!

3 06 2013

Friday, May 31st, 2013 ~

After picking up one of my bestest buddies from the airport the previous night, I brought Karen to work with me, on Friday. It became, “Bring Your Dive Buddy To Work Day!” We were able to leave a little early, and we made our way up to the quarry, to mess around a little, and do some skills. Christian met us up there, too!

Our dive plan was to do a few skills around the plane, drop down to the sub for an ascent, then mess around at the plane again. I did have my camera with me, but put it down for skillz.

We then went down to the sub, where we very quickly noticed one of the thermoclines. *Shiver!* We stuck around there for a bit, then practiced an ascent from 50′. Coming back up through the warmer water was a very welcome thing!

I did take some pictures, too!

Karen… I guess she’s moderately squared away… 😀

Christian is OK!

On our way back in…

….of course, we had to goof around, just a little…

When we surfaced, the sun had begun its descent…

Bottom Time: 42 mins.
Max. Depth: 56′
Water Temp.: 46F (below first thermocline)
Visibility: A little bit crappy

Group shot!

Karen and I headed back, and readied our gear for the weekend!

Saturday, June 1st, 2013 ~

We had loaded the van on Friday night, so we were ready to roll, around 7am, to head down to Mallorytown Landing. We were hitching a ride with Rick Lymer, to the Daryaw!

Joining us, were Lisa, Karen 2, Donna, Hong, Ivor, and Shawn.

The Landing…

When we got to the Daryaw, there was a small boat passing. We waved…

Karen and I splashed in. The surface current wasn’t too bad, but we had drifted a bit, doing our gear checks. We had scooters with us, so we weren’t really concerned. As we descended, we were a slight bit downstream of the wreck, so we made our way over to it. We did a full turn of the wreck, then underneath, where we tied off our scooters and stages, then ran a line inside. We peeked into a few rooms, where there was absolutely no shortage of freshwater eels. A few of them were poking out of their holes. We turned around, made our way out, then checked out one of the holds. We wanted to do a little more looking around, but were getting close to the end of our planned dive time. Very much fun!

On our way out, we did our gas switch, then drifted off. We didn’t follow the line up, so I blew a bag, and we ascended. What a blast!

Bottom Time: 1 hour, 4 minutes
Max. Depth: 93′
Water Temp.: 53F
Visibility: 30′ (a bit milky)
Current: Not as strong as usual, for the Daryaw; low surface current

Karen C., checking out the River!

After we were all on board, we headed over to the Lillie. Some did a drift, some.. well… a few missed the current, but still had a good dive! Karen and I chilled on the boat, and helped the others with their gear.

Shawn and Ivor had a good drift!

Rock on, Hong!

Karen H. got photobombed!

Donna had fun, too!

Lisa “forced” me to taste that Vanilla Coke… For someone that doesn’t drink pop often, I was quite liking it!

Lisa, with Mike and Rick, up top!

The gang, minus me! There did seem to be quite a few “Karens,” on the boat. What a fun day! Boston Pizza was our dinner menu!

Sunday, June 2nd, 2013 ~

Today, to the Jodrey!

First, to customs – Leaving Boldt Castle…

There were only four of us, and we had the wreck to ourselves. The visibility was not the best, but at least we could see more than 5′ in front of us. As we descended onto the wreck, there was absolutely no ambient light, thanks to the clouds and to the thunderstorm that hit, earlier that morning. At least the storm had stopped, by the time we were loading gear.

Karen and I did a tour of the bow, peeked in the wheelhouse, and a bit of the crane. There was hardly any current at all, which was very surprising. We were even able to hover on the port side of the wheelhouse, which is usually a place where the current wants to push you up and over the wreck! Craziness! It was pretty cool to show it to Karen, though!

Myself and Karen, on deco. Taken by Kevin Abe.

Bottom Time: 55 mins.
Max. Depth: 175′
Water Temp.: 55F

Neil, chillin’. Is that a Sears catalog pose? 😛

“The Abe,” hangin’ on the bow…

Karen and I, after most awesome Diving Goodness!!!!!!!

Once we got back to Caiger’s, cleared customs, and unloaded, we went to the Family Restaurant, for a delicious meal! Lisa, Karen H., Donna, and Merv joined us too, since their charter was back around the same time as ours.

It was most awesome to have one of my AGGAST sistas visiting, and to meet some really fun and good people! *Cheers,* to next time! 🙂


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No See For The Saw Mill

13 05 2013

Sunday, May 12th, 2013 ~

The air temperature had really dropped, going from 25C+ all week, to about 10C, with some serious winds! We took our chances, and went down to Guindon Park. We had thought about going out to the Power House, but when we pulled up, there were some serious white caps and flooding. I could just see my tendency to feed the fish, arise.

We decided to go and check out another entry, at Lakeview Heights, which also had waves and white caps, but we had the opportunity to see something new – An old saw mill, that had been around since the late 1800’s, before the first flooding of the St. Lawrence, in the early 1950’s.

Grist Mill
“The grist mill on the dam, ca. 1870
Owned by J.G. Snetsinger, successful business owner, who was responsible for many of Moulinette’s early enterprises.Courtesy: Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Historical Society.”

photo GristMill1870.jpg

Before gearing up, we headed back over to Guindon Park, to let our other friends know that we were going there, instead. With the rock ‘n’ roll waves, the visibility looked to be much better than from Guindon.

Back over, we went.

We brought our gear to the water…

The entry was pretty shallow, so we had to walk out a bit of a distance, to get fins on, and do gear checks.

Our destination was approximately the middle of the right half of the tree line. Our estimated time on the trigger, to get there, was about 30 minutes.

Once we went through our dive plan and did our gear checks, we were off. The water was a bit cloudy for the first few minutes, then opened up, nicely.

Giddyup!
Pic by Steve Blanchard

Short video of the wave action!

We headed SSW, and made it through two of our check points – early, even. When we got to what we thought was  the area, we had a look around. There were spots where the current was absolutely insane, and our scooters were really working it, to make any headway. There were also spots where the current was absolutely non-existent, which was sort of nice, but we were hoping to do a little drifting!

I had the standard body with me, and was monitoring my burn time. It was getting close, and we still hadn’t found the saw mill. Oh, well… I guess we’ll just have to come back another day. I gave Steve the signal, and we started back (Eric was on the other side of Steve).

While we didn’t get to the saw mill, we did see quite a few tree stumps and bits of building foundations (rebar and wood), as well as a few pretty large fish. There were a few Sheepshead Carp, Bass, and a really large fish that I have never seen before. It looked a bit like a Yellow Perch, but was quite large. Same colouring. I will keep searching, to see if I can find out what it was.

Very cool place to dive!

Bottom Time: 74 minutes
Max. Depth: 70′
Water Temp.: 51F
Vis.: 30′, past initial shoreline muck

Us, after the dive. I swear, I thought we were going to be taken off to Kansas!

…and a Rainbow, for Mother’s Day!


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SOS Daryaw Mooring Moving Day!

6 05 2013

Sunday, May 5th, 2013 ~

We stayed in Cape Vincent Saturday night (thanks to Bob and Chris), then made our way back over the border, for Sunday morning charter. We were climbing aboard Tom Scott’s boat (Under Where? Charters), and were going to help moving the new mooring block on the Daryaw.

We all met in the parking lot, discussed the plan, and loaded up. Each team had a job to do, and almost everything went according to plan. 😉

Captain Ryan, at the helm.

There were 6 of us with scooters, so first, we had to locate the block (Steve’s and my job). Once we found it, Steve blew a bag to the surface, and we showed Team 2 where it was. Team 3 shot up a bag from the old mooring, so that Tom could tie the boat into it, while we worked with the mooring block. Another team attached the shackles to it, then some mighty big lift bags, and we were off to the races.

The boat was able to move the block within 10′ of the intended spot. Not bad, teams!

Bottom Time: 55 mins.
Max. Depth: 93′
Water Temp.: 46F

Some pics from the day!

After all of the teams surfaced, and all of the bags were picked up, we headed back to shore.

You can see the size of the lift bags, here…

My favourite dive buddy, and I. Thanks for a great day, Tom! 🙂


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Just Another Just Culture

5 02 2013

Saturday, February 2nd, 2013 ~ 

Since I had harassed Gareth Lock enough times to come and visit us, he finally caved. 🙂

I picked Gareth up from the airport, and Steve, Tim, and Eric B. went up to the quarry, to get a head start on getting the hole cut. It was a pretty chilly day, too. We would christen Gareth with some Canadian winter, that’s for sure!

*NOTE* The in-water pictures are horrible. I tried some new settings on my camera, and clearly they did not work well. I am posting a few anyway, to document our day. *END OF NOTE*

Gareth’s plane was late arriving, but he finally found me, and we were off to the quarry!

Once we arrived, there was already a hole cut from previous divers, so Steve had just added on, making a nice runway, for easier entry/exit (brought it more shallow).

Gareth and Steve…

Tim…

Since it was pretty cold, we geared up quickly and splashed in. Steve had the line, and led the way out to the plane.

*Reminder: Pics are not great* 🙂

Heading out…

Gareth, by the plane…

Gareth, hanging out inside the plane!

Steve, Tim, and GLOC…

There was definitely some Shenaniganry going on, but how could you expect anything else?

We then went over to visit Morrie…

I even handed my camera to Gareth, and he got a pic of me!

Yep… I think Gareth fits right in, with us…

Ooh… a diver down ice sculpture!

Or, is it Pac Man???

As we made our way back in, it was clear that Tim and GLOC didn’t want to get out…

Bottom Time: 58 minutes
Max. Depth: 41′
Water Temp.: 37F

Yes… That was fun!

 

Sunday, February 3rd, 2013 ~ 

GUE Ontario Presents: Gareth Lock – Just & Safety Cultures presentation, chez nous. A bunch of GUE Ontario members came over, each brought some food and drink, to make it a pot luck, and Gareth spoke for about two hours (including questions and some discussion).

It was an absolutely fantastic presentation, and we all walked away with more knowledge, and a little more thought into applying some of this into our every day diving. I know all enjoyed it.

We thank you so much for taking time out of your schedule, to come and shed some light with your work! Please come back soon!

We didn’t have very much time with GLOC after the presentation, and we had to rush him off to the airport, again. Perhaps one of these days, we can come and visit you, over the pond!

If you have an hour to spare, it is definitely worth the time to tune into the below presentation, of Gareth’s (recorded from another venue).

Thanks again, Gareth!!!!!!!


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