Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Bringing the Past to Life...


Last night's talk by Jonathan Moore, a marine archaeologist with Parks Canada, drew more than 20 people, who were fascinated for about 90 minutes by his remarkable knowledge of Kingston's maritime history, particularly the period surrounding the War of 1812. Jonathan concentrated attention on the area around Fort Henry and Point Frederick. Opening with a fascinating review of the work of Canada's underwater survey team, he stressed the importance of regarding sites of historical and archaeological significance as elements of an overall 'landscape'. Parks Canada was actively engaged in research and conservation work with many other departments, notably in Kingston with the St Lawrence Parks body and the Department of National Defence.

The liberally illustrated presentation featured images that many of us had never seen before and brought history to life quite vividly. During the talk, Jonathan encouraged us, as divers, to participate in the work of recording and preserving the sites that lie in local waters. This, he explained, can be done as simply as casting an eye, periodically, over key wrecks to record change. He also hoped that the Club would be prepared to undertake dives in support of Parks Canada research in the months and years ahead. There was immediate evidence of enthusiasm for this work. Opportunities will also arise this Summer to assist a researcher who is going to be investigating a wreck in Navy Bay.

Jonathan was good enough to bring along copies of the Report he published in 2006 on three War of 1812 wrecks. These were made available for sale at cost - $30. If any Club member who was unable to attend the presentation wishes to buy one, they should contact me.



On a lighter note, I am seriously considering having someone else select the dates for future presentations. This is the third time this Winter that one of our talks has coincided with the arrival of a major storm...!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Snow business diving in this weather...

Showing no respect for the blowing snow, Adam and I ventured under the ice at Brule Road today to practice line drills and explore the quarry. You'll appreciate that this wasn't a careless venture. In fact, we spent more than an hour in discussion of the 'what ifs' before we even suited up and we both carried redundant air supplies.

There were some really neat aspects of the dive. For example, we inserted an ice screw into the underside of the ice (no one can interfere with it there!) and every thread of the screw was visible penetrating the crystal clear medium. We also surprised two very dozy - and really rather large - Bass on the bottom near the cabin cruiser. One of them was so torpid that it resisted the urge to swim away until we were literally within inches of it.

The visibility under the ice was amazing - and despite overcast skies and snow cover on the surface - there was a lot of light. Following strict gas management rules, we completed the dive in 38 minutes. For the sake of the record, the air temperature was -1C (30F) and the water 38F (3C).

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Panama City Dives


Well, after getting the truck loaded and heading down the road to Panama City, we met up with Steve again for the days diving.

These three intrepid divers managed to charter an entire 16 passenger boat for their use and made good use of the space aboard, to spread out and get comfy. Making good use of the dive briefings made by both the Dive Master (Kelly) and our Captain (John) of Better Bottom Time charters, and demonstrating much skill and dexterity leaving the boat, we made our way down to the remains of a vessel used for salvage training, the Strength.

After a good 30 minute dive there we headed over to the next site, a scuttled hovercraft hull. While we finished off our surface interval, our Dive Master headed over the side to tie the boat in and have a bit of a dive of her own. Upon her return 10 min. later she handed up a stringer of 9 flounder she had just speared on her short trip.

After giving us the run down on this dive and where we should be able to find some flounder for Steve to have at, we headed down the line and proceeded on our dive. Well, the 20 min dive went well and only 1 flounder was mildly aggravated for all of Steve's efforts.

After we re boarded the boat, the "Flounder Pounder" headed back down to untie and fill the rest of the limit for the day. Returning around 15 minutes later, and capturing another 11 flounder.

A great diving day was had by all and after our host graciously divided up the catch, we scheduled another day of diving for the 21 Feb.

Well on 21 Feb after waking to cloudy skies and reports of thunder and lightning we had to cancel our days diving.

That should do it for the dive blogging, see all y'all when we get back

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Oriskany Dive

Well what a difference a day can make.

We went out to Dive Pros at 7203 Hwy 98 west Pensacola yesterday and CJ and Merrick were great. She helped us get our gear together and made some great suggestions on gear changes. When we arrived we must have looked like complete idiots. I had left everything in the truck regarding the dive so I had to go from memory. She was very patient with the two wayward travellers who were somewhat frazzled. She gave us directions on where to meet the boat and what to expect.

Dave the owner and operator of Blue Water Adventures, charters for Dive Pros. He was great. The boat was very comfortable for the 3 club members Kim, Scott, Steve (who has not partaken of any of the aforementioned adventures so far) and their new friend from Germany, Hans.

Dave gave us a dive brief of the Oriskany and what we should expect of the dive. He was very thorough and professional. I definitely recommend both Dive Pros and Blue Water Adventure for your diving needs in Pensacola. Both made our dive today very comfortable and we felt in good hands.

Now that being said the vis today was not very good after the storm that went through on Sunday. We had about 30 feet of vis. It felt like we were diving at home but the fish made the dive worth while. There were some pretty big Barracuda on the wreck. We didn't have a chance to see much of the boat as we were diving with air but this is a dive you must do if you ever get a chance. I plan on coming back and doing this dive again. Next time I would like to stay for about a week so we can do this dive a couple of times.

Steve has invited us on down to Panama City to do a couple of dives there. I think one of the dives is the Black Bart. I am not sure what the other one is. I am just glad to be diving.

And yes I got my T-Shirt that say I dove the Oriskany. Na na, na na, boo boo.

Well that's all I have for now I hope to have some pictures next time.

K and S's most excellent adventure

Hi All,

Well we have had quite an adventure up to now. We left Kingston on Friday afternoon. This let us get as far as Binghamton Friday night. We would have gone farther but it started to snow. We stayed at the Super 8 in Binghamton. There was an Perkin's near by for food but not much else. We woke up early the next morning and started out about 7:00A.m. The plan was to make Knoxville on Saturday night. All went well until I heard this sentence. If we have to stop for any more pee breaks we will never make Knoxville.

Bristol is nice.

This let us get as far as Bristol Saturday night. We stayed at the Days Inn in Bristol. This hotel again was just off the highway so there isn't much nearby. As we were sitting in the room watching the weather channel it told us that Texas had some Tornado warnings and a strong storm was moving through the state. Now I think you can see where this is going, but here it is. Ladies all I have to say is when there are tornado warnings out there and your husband says "Don't worry dear thats in the next state we won't run into it". He Lies!!!!! A light should go on. DO NOT BELIEVE HIM!!!!!! WORRY!!!!

Also when you see the "Storm Chaser" van go whizzing by that's not an indication that you should try to stay up with it because it is chasing a STORM!!!. Trust me.

Those 3 cop cars following it aren't trying to pull it over. There is something bad happening. By now it's raining so hard you can hardly see and you here these words from you husband. Don't worry dear I can still see the bug deflector on the hood of the truck we don't need to stop until the rain slows down. I just hope nobody stops in front of us.

Well we did arrive in Pensacola on Sunday night and as we are going over the 3 mile bridge there is a sign that tells you that you should check your gas. Well we had lots of gas but we had just drove through about 9 inches of water and the trucks engine decided that it didn't want to run properly. We coaxed it to the hotel and unload all of our gear.

Well you would think that when you drive your vehicle on vacation you wouldn't have to rent a car but here it is.

We drove the truck to the Ford dealer the next morning and had to rent a car because it was going to take about 4 hours to fix our truck. This let us run around town and get all the dive information set up to Tuesdays dive.

I do want to say that Gulf Breeze Ford in Pensacola has been great. They had great service and made us feel great about leaving the truck with them. I would not hesitate to recommend this dealer if you have trouble while in Pensacola. The truck seems to be working great now.

Oceans in peril...

Since all of us who dive have the interests of the World's waters at heart, a new report from America's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration makes worrying reading. NOAA researches indicate that the state of the World's oceans is worsening more quickly than earlier estimates indicated. The web page announcing the study results can be visited by clicking here.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Four New Ice Divers...


The 2008 Ice DIving Course was brought to an end this afternoon. Congratulations to Nancy, Dianne, Otto-Carl and Gerhard on their new certifications. And thank you to everyone (and there were many) who provided assistance. This most labour-intensive of all our training offerings demands a great deal from everyone involved. This year the demands on the instructor were considerable too. It's greatly to our chief instructor's credit that he battled an infection all weekend to keep the course on track.

Pictures have been posted on our Club Flickr site. A brief video with highlights of the weekend's activities can be seen on You Tube.

For the record keepers, and to save you reading the comment below, we saw water temps of about 40F (4C) and air temperatures between freezing and -8C (18F). There has to be a suspicion that the quarry is spring fed. That water temperature defies any other explanation. The weather was changeable, with blowing snow one minute and bright sunshine the next.

And if you like a little bit of scurrilous gossip - ask anyone who was there about the chainsaw and the jeep...

Saturday, February 9, 2008

Ice-capades...






The first day of the annual ice course is behind us. It can be counted a great success. All four students got dive time and 'enjoyed' the challenges posed by their instructor. The entry point was perfectly placed, with the cabin cruiser sitting just off to one side of it and other attractions within range of the dive tethers. There is no doubt that the day's success owed a great deal to the small band of volunteers who assisted with transporting the equipment, setting up the tent and dive site and acting as dive tenders, cooks and more. Pictures and video will be posted on the conclusion of the course, but the sample shown here gives a feel for the day...

Friday, February 8, 2008

Ice Course Initial Session Completed..

The four divers taking this year's ice diving course completed their first session last night. A thorough review of the various procedures involved and an examination of equipment was followed up with time in the pool rehearsing the various skills that are unique to the discipline. Several volunteers were on hand to assist with the administration and to keep things ticking along. By the end of the session, everyone had a pretty clear idea of what the coming weekend's activities will entail. The divers had also, importantly, identified many of the challenges that ice diving will present. Minor gear revisions and thoughts about how to address skill issues will be the focus of attention before we hit the quarry on Saturday morning.

If anyone is thinking of visiting the site over the weekend, the best times to do so would probably be early afternoon on Saturday or shortly before lunchtime on Sunday.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Brewer's bylines...

Another dive at Brewer's today. The site is no more exciting than it has been so far this season. A swift current continues to flow under the bridge and swirl around the bowl. The dive was spent in two circuits - with each marked by a period of rock clinging and bottom inspection before allowing the flow to sweep us round to the entry / exit point past the thicket of lumber and debris that lies in the shallower, Eastern portion of the site.

Water temperature; 34F (2C). Air temperature; 39F (4C) under cloudy skies.