Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Smooth, like a Comet

Not infrequently, our booked charters have to be rerouted to the Wolfe Islander because of weather.

Tonight we made a radical break from tradition, using the glassy smooth surface as an excuse to redirect our scheduled dive from the KPH to the more distant and historically elusive Comet (1848-1861).

If "seasoned" is what you call an experienced diver, is "unflavoured" a reasonable way to describe a newbie? In any case, our expedition showed the diversity of our club well, with divers young and older, with varying levels of experience.

The water was comfortable at about 17 degrees, with a visible and palpable thermocline about five feet off the eighty foot bottom.

The Comet features 22-foot paddle wheels and a few intact stacks remain to peer into. Gobies were the only fish I saw.

 Divers:

 Steve C
 Steve L
 Phil
 Robert
 Lee
 Billy
 Jenny
 Chris C
 Narisa
 Jeffy
 Scott
 Kim

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Conestoga and Rothesay




Today seven divers made the voyage up the 401 to Cardinal; then to Prescott for some diving. Our first objective was the Conestoga, we got into the water at approximately 11:30 am. My initial navigating, had the group go to far south, and we missed the enitre wreck. It was made easier, to miss with the limited visibilty, as there were a few divers on the wreck already. After coming up from behind the wreck, we swam through the wreck and enjoy the current pushing us back down the wreck. The visibility was 20 ft maximum and lower in most places. The current helped get some of the silt out of the area. The water tempature was a very warm 70f/21c. The picture shows the stack at the Conestoga and how close it is to shore. On exiting the water 32 minutes later it seems that all avialable parking was taken. We seemed to have slipped in just before the rush. After a brief surface break; in which we visited Tim Hortons it was off to the Rothesay. On gettign to the Rothesay there were already 10 car loads of divers in the water. We quickly got dressed agian and made our way 400 ft off shore to the Rothesay. We spent about 35 minutes in the water agian with a max of 30 feet. The visibility was lower most likely due to the high usage of the site. The water was slightly cooler here at 68f/20c. Today was a perfect day to go diving and everyone enjoyed themselves on these two wonderful dives.

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Night Dive at the Pump House


If you like to watch the fish this is a dive not to miss. It was amazing!! We entered the water at around 9:30 p.m. Swam out to the end of the wharf and then followed the shore back to the boat launch near the pump house. We saw an amazing amount of fish. The Pike were huge! There was a great mixture of fish Pike, Bass, Perch, Drum and of course the Gobyies. Yes I have to say I messed up my navigation and missed the boat launch BUT just past the boat launch there is a car in the water. It has been there for a while because it is buried in mud and zebra mussels. After a small amount of time checking out the car we turned the dive and exited at the boat launch.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Kinghorn dive in Rockport

This Wednesday's dive to the Keystorm was changed to the Kinghorn. We had a great dive tonight. The Kinghorn sits in about 87 feet of water and the water temp was 68 degrees tonight. The visablity was about 20 feet. There were a lot of fish around the boat tonight. Yes! they were mostly small fish but there were a couple of nice size bass.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Diving behind KPH

Today after 10 days of non-diving, which is an eternity, two of us ventured to the pipe behind the KPH. We did a nice giant stride off the pier into the water which at its coldest was 16c(61F). We swam out past the stop sign to the end of the pipe and ended up at the deepest point in 57 ft of water(averaged 43 ft). On our way back we followed the line off of the stop sign, for a while but not get to the end of it. Our total time in the water was about 50 minutes. The visibility was about 20 ft. The water was a nice change from the humid weather topside.

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Hello! If it's Wednesday, it must be the Wolfe Islander...


Well - long story short - weather warnings and the like again sent us to the Wolfe Islander II. Whole trip out and back it rained. Not the light, drizzly rain, but real, ground soaking, my yard loves it rain. Nevertheless, twelve of us got in another dive on the old lady. Viz was reasonable at about 40-50', but the thermocline was very noticeable and dropped the temperature at 60' and below to a chilly 50F (10C).

I guess everyone's spirits were lifted by the unusual sight of me in a wetsuit - first time in home waters in over a year. Did I mention that I love my drysuit? I kept raising my left arm in an effort to vent air on the ascent, with no result at all. Drat that muscle memory...

But a dive's a dive... Where's the Summer gone? My logbook shows the Wolfe enjoying temperatures 10F warmer than this exactly a year ago - Global Warming - Pah! (not a serious comment, I'm with Al Gore on that one...)

Oh! I ought to mention that there was some excitement about a couple of our divers spotting a large, probably Freshwater Drum (Sheepshead) around the bridge of the wreck...

Monday, July 2, 2007

Cora Post ...


Conditions were almost ideal today for a trip to the Cora Post. That is, if you disregard the abundance of weed that has infested the shallows, making location of the line a minor challenge. Once overcome, the three of us made it out to the wreck in good shape. We spent a few minutes in photographic tasks, then headed off South down the line that heads for deeper water. Imagine our surprise, when reaching what had previously been the termination of the line - at about 65', we discovered that it has now been extended. We turned around just past 75' and the line was still going...

Lots of Bass on the wreck today. The wreck itself is looking pretty sad. Water temperature at the deepest point reached - 54F (12C) and the visibility about 30'.

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Birthday boy in Brockville...


Five members of the Club made it down to Brockville for an outing with Luc Martin Charters to celebrate Dominique's Birthday in the way that he had requested - with a dive on the Lillie Parsons. Conditions were excellent, though the St Lawrence Park was extraordinarily busy. Besides the Lillie, the group went on to complete a two-tanker on the Robert Gaskin - Dominique's choice. Everyone seemed to have a good time and spent their air well.

It's the little things about a site that stand out. The observant diver, taking their time and using their eyes, will spot something interesting on every dive. Today's 'features' included the shoaling Bass in the bow and stern gaps in the hull and the thinning of chain links on the stern due to simple current action and the constant friction that results. The grouping of baby Bass in the hull plank gaps was also interesting.

Returning to the Birthday theme, Chantal, the skipper, surprised and delighted everyone by producing the cake she's seen in the picture enjoying with Dominique during the surface interval.

Water temperature was 64F (18C) uniformly throughout the water column and visibility somewhere around 40-50'.

Canada Day Dive

This morning three of us went for a quick dip in the lake. The site of choice was Alwington Pl park. It was a nice relaxing dive. This site did not have a lot of lake weed but did have a bit of debris in the area. We spent approximately 41 minutes in the water. We averaged 21 feet and the deepest we hit was 30 feet. From the beach we swam towards the pen. In the immediate area of the beach is another underwater pier. The water temparture in the area was 61f (16c).