Sunday, December 30, 2007

Portsmouth Refresher...





Made a circuit of the sights of Portsmouth Harbour this morning with Kevin Leblanc and James Fischer. This worked out well, as Kevin has not been to this site before. We worked our way around the wreck fragments before heading for the pipe and out to the anchors and the STOP sign. It's worth noting that the left hand line to the anchors is largely missing. It's still possible to take the right hand route to the newer anchor. The other interesting observation this morning was the almost total absence of fish life. I don't think that I even spotted gobies. Viz was down on recent days, probably thanks to the Sou'Wester that's been blowing over the last couple of days. Water temperature 35F (2C) and the air temperature a mild 1C (34F) in calm conditions. The 30 minute dive was just about enough for all of us as hands started to chill. Kevin shot many excellent photographs and some video. A couple of examples precede this post.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

The Ice Man Diveth...




Steve and I worked off some Christmas excess with a gentle dive on the dinghy off the point of the Kingston Yacht Club. The dive plan called for us to measure up the thing and see whether we could gain sufficient information, in the way of markings and the like, to identify it. Well, the measurements were pretty straightforward: She's 4.44m long and 1.32 in the beam. The markings were more challenging. A little bit of light cleaning revealed a serial number pressed into the transom, but it was impossible to make it out clearly. The clean-up also revealed a little more of the blue markings on the transom, but again, not enough to make any detail out. Oh well, another trip will be called for, I guess. We spotted a large Pike in the water on the return swim, but it was intent on keeping a safe distance from us. The only other excitement was pushing aside the few chunks of drift ice at the entry point - that's a first for this end of the 2007 season! For the record; water temperature 35F (2C) and the air temperature exactly the same...

Sunday, December 23, 2007

Somefin to think about...


Many of our members went to see Sharkwater, the movie that publicised the plight of the World's sharks earlier in 2007. Browsing their website today I came across a great report from a group called Wildaid. It sets out most of the critical information about the amazing family of marine creatures that are the sharks.

If your holiday break gives you some time to read the Report, I guarantee that it will interest and inform you.

Saturday, December 22, 2007

ECO-SNORKELING ADVENTURE in January - Cuba

http://deepquest2expeditions.com/cuba.html

After the pool session on Thursday, Kenn mentioned that he had a web site and it seems that he will be hosting a trip to Cuba too. The link is attached in case anyone is interested.

Friday, December 21, 2007

Sunshine and Snow...



This morning's bright and calm conditions presented a great opportunity to test out the bearings taken the other day on the dinghy wreck by the Kingston Yacht Club. They proved to be spot on, with a gentle swim from the end of the West St Ramp, on a magnetic bearing of 205 degrees, taking just 6 minutes to reach the target. Moving on to the car wreck allowed us to see the same large shoal of Bass as earlier this week - and a large Northern Pike swimming gently in their midst. Some posing with the golf clubs protruding from the car's trunk was enjoyed before heading back to the Ramp to conclude the dive in just under the half hour. Water temperature 34F (2C) and the air temperature a balmy -2C (28F).

Veep Sighted - looking good...


All our members and other readers of this blog will be delighted to see the pic of our Vice President, Dan Haslip - taken this morning while he 'supervised' our dive at West St. Dan is recovering from a health scare just a few weeks ago. The visual evidence (and his lively interest in everything going on this morning) suggests that Dan is very much back up to speed, even if formal restrictions on his diving remain in force for a little while longer.

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Pool Night attracts a large turnout...

The first pool night of the Winter proved popular - despite - or perhaps because of - its proximity to the festive season. Fourteen people used the session to try out equipment, techniques or just to get wet at a time of greater diving challenges outdoors. At least one Discover Scuba session was completed and Kenn Feigleman of Deep Quest 2, a friend of Adam's, who will join the Club in 2008, was able to show members a High Definition video setup in its top-of-the-line Amphibico housing. A Sealife DC600 still camera was also in use and pictures should be available before long.

For those who were unable to make this session, but who want to make the next ones, they will take place on Saturday January 12th and Saturday February 9th next year.

Yacht Club Orientation...



Today presented a golden opportunity to re-visit the 'landmarks' that distinguish diving around the breakwater of the Kingston Yacht Club. The first picture, taken very professionally by Kevin Leblanc, shows the car wreck just South of the Club. The second, also taken by Kevin, is the hull of a racing dinghy just off the South-East corner of the site. Besides these inanimate objects, a large number of sizeable Bass were present near the rocks. Air temperature a chilly -4C (25F) and the water temperature 35F (2C).

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

West Street Boat Ramp


It was a nice winter day so we decided to go to the West Street boat ramp for a dive. The nice thing about having everything snow covered is that there is no bare ice, consequently the traction is good. Mike did a great job navigating but I have forgotten the bearings already. The waters were calm, 36 deg F and visibility was about 35 feet. There wasn’t any surface ice in the area. Those of us with leaky suits were cold by the end of the 35 min dive.

There wasn’t much underwater life, some bass and minnows; but there were about 100 duck’s that we chased off the boat ramp as we entered. There is a lot of stuff down there to see now that the visibility is better. In low visibility there just seems to be less. If it is not visible it doesn’t exist. Now I know that there are two underwater-cars in the area. How long have they been there?

Friday, December 7, 2007

HMCS Terra Nova



Tonight I had the pleasure of attending a meeting held by EOARA (Eastern Ontario Artificial Reef Association). This was a meeting to show their plan to sink The HMCS Terra Nova in the area. The presentation also included a talk by Jay Straith, who is the President of the Canadian Artificial Reef Consulting group. The CARC have been sinking ships for the last fifteen years and are 22 for 22 in projects for sinking ships. One of their highlights is sinking four ships in five years in BC. The EOARA laid out their plan and goals for reaching there objective of having the HMCS Terra Nova as an artificial reef in the St. Lawrence. A spot has already been chosen just off Browns Bay Provincial Park. The spot is out of the shipping channel and allows for divers to use the existing provincial park. The EOARA has already started to contact various levels of government about the plan with everyone acting very favorable to this. Even though there is a current moratorium in Ontario dealing with artificial reefs the provincial government has indicated that they would like to proceed with this project and use it to set precedent for other artificial reefs in Ontario. It will also set precedent as being a fresh water artificial reef. Once the HMCS Terra Nova has been cleaned up on the east coast it will be floated up to Prescott where it will be docked for a period of 45-60 days as the final preparations are made to add this ship to the many other in the area. During the time in Prescott the ship will need the majority of its volunteers to make sure it is diver friendly. When she is sunk, The HMCS Terra Nova will have ten moorings on her and have access to all seven decks. The mast will be removed so the ship will start somewhere around the 50 ft mark with the bottom around 110 ft. As a diving enthusiast it was great to go to a meeting where there is a plan to increase our diving environment especially since it seems to be well planned out. The tentative timetable is that in about two years to have the HMCS Terra Nova living on, in her next job, as increasing fish populations and divers in the area.