Saturday, May 31, 2008

Four Seasons in a Day...


The flexibility of the Club was severely challenged today. Determined to go ahead with our season opening event, the annual Treasure Hunt and Barbecue, we started the day, as planned at Nicholson's Point. Rain stopped play and we made a quick change of arrangements to erect our tent at the Club and make diving available at RMC's St Lawrence Pier. A small stay-behind party resisted all efforts to entice them Eastward and made their dive off Lighthouse Park anyway. Of course, as soon as the motley convoy had begun its marathon trek towards KMCSC the Sun came out. Too late ! Once the decision had been taken, and we had established base camp at the Club, all went really well. We put 14 divers in the water - on two sites and enjoyed an excellent barbecue, a straightforward and successful AGM and a brief Oxygen Provider Refresher. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the event.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Long Live the King...horn

Sometimes things go as planned. Sometimes not. Our scheduled dive of the Wolfe Islander had to be changed at the last minute because of technical difficulties on the Lyn Lea. Of our original ten planned charter divers, six made the detour to Caiger's Resort in Mallorytown. As our reward, we were treated to warmer waters and a later, enjoyable dive of the King Horn, in the gentle St. Lawrence current. The only problem is - When will we ever get to dive the Wolfe Islander, now?

We didn't take any pics on the dive, but I googled "King Horn", and included a pic to keep with the usual blog format. I hope you love it.
 Divers:

 Chris C
 Jean-Olivier
 Jeffy
 Kim
 Pierre-Adam
 Scott

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Five Dive...

Five of us seized the opportunity presented by the repair of the compressor to fill our tanks and go jump in the Lake tonight. And by tonight, I really mean tonight. We entered the waters around the PUC dock after 9 pm and enjoyed a very leisurely night dive on and around the little wreck that lies just off its South-East corner. This wreck, probably the remains of one or more old schooner barges, doesn't get a lot of traffic, but it's worth a look. One vessel's bow section stands up about 8-10 feet and the keel and ribs run southward from that point for more than a hundred feet. Several large Bass are now making the remnants, and nearby rocks, their home and a couple of large Mudpuppies were also out and about. Water temperature was 46°F (8°C). Visibility, bearing in mind the limitations of determining it by flashlight, was excellent at about 50 feet or more.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

A dry Whites


With the nice weather today not many would think of diving in a dry suit. That being said about 20 club members took advantage of diving in new Whites dry suits. There were a few first time dry suit divers who enjoyed diving with out getting totally wet. Generally groups of four went out to the stop sign and back in about 35mins. The visibility was good considering all the divers in the water. I have to say that I was impressed with the fusion dry suit. It is a great suit that does not require a lot of extra thought. The water temperature was 46F/8C but I felt very warm in the dry suit. The max depth that we obtained was in the area of 50 ft. I must say it was great to see so many people from the club out and diving and a thanks needs to go to Adam for organizing the rep to come down and to the Whites rep for taking time out of his schedule to see us.

Sunday, May 18, 2008

The Early Diver gets the Viz


It's said that there are seasoned divers in Kingston who dive exclusively in the early and late periods of each dive season. Their logic is that those are the times that you can place reasonable reliance on seeing our wrecks at their best. This morning's charter lent credence to the notion. A gentle trip to the Comet put us in place to enjoy visibility in the order of 70 feet or so. In water temperatures of 43°F (6°C), conditions were really rather pleasant. Even our one wetsuited diver didn't freeze...! Jim Dunfield - down visiting from Ottawa - was a very welcome addition to the team. It would be nice to think that the Sunday Club could make a charter trip every week, but this may have been a one-off bonus dive for most.

Saturday, May 17, 2008

A Saturday visit to Brewers


This morning three of us made for Upper Brewers Mills. We were delighted to see no current and spent 45 minutes in the water. The visibility was not the greatest as it was 15-20 feet. The water temperature was nice and warm at 66F/19C. There was lots of fish all over which included bass, sun fish and others. As always there were various amounts of debris in the area.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Rounding off the RMC Year...

Taking advantage of the small, slack period at the end of the RMC year, some of our most active divers, Marc-Etienne, Donovan and Olivier got in a couple of dives this week just before they departed for phase training over the Summer. As well as a shore dive, they were able to use a boat belonging to the Rod and Gun Club at RMC to get out to the Wolfe Islander. The accompanying photograph, taken by Marc-Etienne, was taken there. All credit to these guys, who have been diving consistently when the opportunity arose - and always in wetsuits.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Something for the bookshelf..?


It was brought to my attention this week that a new book on the work of salvage divers is now available. 'Deep, Dark and Dangerous' relates tales of the work done by this hardy breed and reflects the human toll taken - physically and emotionally. For those of us who love the cold, dark waters of the Great Lakes, but generally dive without a heavy task load, there will be some resonance.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Weird ? - You decide...

Stuck for a dive destination for your next trip down South ? Check out this article on a popular website. I don't know about you - but I can think of more interesting things to see...

However, if you like what you see, here's a link to the actual destination website, which includes advice for divers. Don't miss the rather spooky video tour!

POW gets it done...

Worth mentioning that, early as it is, those of you who may have access to boats - or have started to think about an early charter outing - have a great selection of offshore wrecks accessible now. Some great work by a variety of operators and divers has resulted in about 14 of Kingston's most popular wrecks having their lines raised and marker buoys placed already. They include the ever popular Wolfe Islander, Aloha, Munson and City of Sheboygan. A full list is available on the Preserve Our Wrecks homepage. The work has been a lot of fun for those involved. There's also been some great underwater photography taken. Check out Tom Rutledge's pictures on Ontario Diving.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Dip in the Quarry

With the temperature steadily climbing in a positive manner the quarry is getting more and more use. Three of us went for a 34 minute tour of the quarry late this morning. On arriving we were able to see a class of 8 open water divers coming up from their 2nd dive of the day. There was also another group in the water too. It was a beautiful day to be in the water as the surface temperature was in the range of 64f/18c and the bottom was 55f/13c. The max depth was 27ft. It was a nice relaxing dive that reinforced the quarry is definitely open to wetsuit divers. A decent size bass was spotted at the end of the dive as well.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Twofer....

Today provided an opportunity to combine a trip to Dive-Tech with an onward journey to the Conestoga and the Rothesay. Both wrecks were in good shape. The current was fairly brisk on the Connie and the visibility limited to about 20 feet. Similar conditions prevailed on the Rothesay. The good news is that the water temperature downriver is now 48F (9C). The crayfish was seen on the area approaching the Rothesay, where several large fish were also evident. A little disturbingly, a lot of bottom-hugging, dense, algae-like weed was also present. A bad sign so early in the season.

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

SOS Launches Marine Heritage Database..

Word has been received from Save Ontario Shipwrecks that the main portion of their Marine Heritage Database, created in the mid 1990s, is now on line. It consists of about 28,000 records from 25 sources. You can access it through the SOS home page, 3rd button on the left named DATABASE. Originally, this DB was designed to run as a stand-alone resource on a PC as part of a museum exhibit. Photos where ported to the SOS website a few years ago and are under the PHOTO GALLERY.

It has been asked that you note that the database is cross reference only and intended to provide rapid access to the 25 sources. Any research credit should be referenced to the original source.

A direct link to the database is available here.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Two more Divers Join the Ranks of the Club



Today saw the final two dives for two members our open water course. After surveying local shore options it was decided to finish the dives at the quarry agian. Both divers did a really great job of completeling assigned tasks and we did a quick tour of the quarry after. Matt and Matt, the new divers, are looking to improve on their skills with multiple of dives in the near future, as I am sure that the other club members will be ever so happy to assist with. As we finished our second dives of the day we were able to watch the preperation of a tech course being put on at the quarry by NTD. The water temperature was a few degrees cooler then yesterday at 52F/11C. Today four out of five divers chose to dive wet and managed two dives with ease at the quarry. Of note though, the quarry does have a large amount of trash in the ares and it might be wise to hold another clean up dive here as we use this site frequently.

Saturday, May 3, 2008

Sure Sign of Spring




With the warmer temperatures a total of 6 of us (1 instructor, 2 dive masters and 3 students) made our way to the Brule Rd Quarry. This is the first day of open waters for the three students. All three dives were done quickly and like clock work. This is the first dive of the year for me where the wetsuit divers out numbered the dry suit divers. I guess the two diver masters just know better. The coldest temperature that anyone got was 54F/13C. That was not bad in the range of 30 feet.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

A night at the theatre...


With longer days and warmer water, the temptation to dive in the evenings is irresistible, especially for our members who work for a living. Tonight, four of us went exploring around the old wharf that lies off the area of the Domino Theatre. The trip was worthwhile, with several large Bass swimming around the logs and the first sighting this year of a long string of (frog) spawn at one point. For Kevin, whose first dive it was on this site, it was interesting to turn over the old tin plates and mugs that are strewn about the area close to shore. It's heartening to see that the water is creeping up in temperature almost daily. Tonight, the lowest temperature registered was 42F (6C) - a degree or so warmer than just a couple of days ago. (Picture courtesy of Kevin Leblanc)