Sunday, July 27, 2008

Double Dipping

Today Matt, Sebastien, Andrew, and myself attempted to get two dives in before noon. After meeting at the club for 9 am we made our way to the HMS Princess Charlotte. We spent a little over 30 mins in the water in the enjoyable warm water. we were all in 3 mm suits with no hoods. After I steered the group in the wrong direction for a bit we came upon an interesting debris field that will require another visit and closer inspection. After our dive we headed towards the marine museum. We spent almost 40 mins in the water. the visibility here was noticeable worse as we had close to 10 ft. We made our way to the barge but the line looks to have frayed and broke but is still quite usable. During our dives we spotted a variety of fish from pike to gobies and just about everything in between. Over all I can not think of a better way to spend a nice sunny warm Sunday morning then diving. The coldest we had the water was 70f/21c.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

More Advanced Divers...


Congratulations to Theresa and Neil, who completed their AOW this evening with a Search and Recovery Adventure. Their achievement is evidence of great determination; they were Open Water students with the Club in June and they have been piling on the dives ever since they qualified. Their enthusiasm for diving is very typical of our members and does us all great credit. Let's all keep working to maintain the high standards for which our divers are known.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Ain't Vacation grand ?


Kim and Scott were caught at KPH breaking in his new (and very good looking) drysuit, something that wouldn't normally be possible, but both are on vacation right now, and they know what to do with holiday time.. Conditions couldn't have been calmer, but I wasn't able to stay and get the post-dive report. Hopefully, they enjoyed a close encounter with the very large Sheepshead that's been haunting the rocks on the ascent and exit point...

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Congratulations to the 'A' Team


Anthea and Ashley are to be congratulated on completing their Advanced Open Water course this weekend. The culminating dive - on the Munson - in near perfect conditions - was a fitting reward for a lot of hard work. Their smiles say it all. They had a great time and have come out of the weekend better divers, with more opportunities ahead of them. Well done indeed to both...

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Sunshine and Smiles...

The three divers enrolled in the Advanced Open Water course this weekend show obvious enthusiasm for their work as they soak up sunshine at KPH after completing Underwater Navigation and Search and Recovery Adventures this morning. Anthea, Ashley and Verena, who had been joined for the first dive by Neil and Theresa, did really well and appreciated a water temperature of 68℉ (20℃). The minor downside to the day was visibility much degraded by algae and other suspended particles. Optimistically, you could only claim about 20 feet. The training continues this evening with a night dive - and the course will be concluded tomorrow evening with a Deep Adventure on the Munson...

Monday, July 14, 2008

'Ducking' and Diving...

Dodgy title refers to the fact that this morning the opportunity was presented to accompany Harold, POW's Mooring Director, and Tom Rutledge on a working visit to the Annie Falconer, which lies close to the False Ducks Island. A bumpy passage out and back was a small price to pay for a textbook dive on one of our signature wrecks. With a bottom temperature of 55F (13C) and visibility in excess of 60 feet (20m), there was plenty of time at the max depth of 78 feet (24m) to complete the replacement of a temporary mooring line, tour the site and find an abandoned mooring block just off the wreck to the NNE. Tom took some great shots, which are accessible on Ontario Diving Forum. BTW - for those who are wondering - Harold doesn't wear his drysuit constantly - just about 80% of the time....

Saturday, July 12, 2008

Keystorm big hit again.


10 of us made the trek down to Caiger's where we got on one of the boats owned by Thousand Island Pleasure Divers. We had great weather and we couldn't have asked for better. Some of us came back with a little more colour than when we left. The Keystorm was the big draw today. I think I counted about 7 boats on the wreck at one point today. On our first dive there were a lot of divers in the water at the same time. At one point I stopped and looked up and there were about 15 divers above me. It would have made an amazing picture with the sun shinning through the water above the divers. Alas I left my camera on the boat. Isn't that always the case. My buddy and I went down as far as the mast and looked in some of the small holes at the bass that were hiding in the wreck. We then made our way back up to the wheel house and had a look around there. By this point it was time to turn the dive and head back to the shoal. At our safety stop we had a chance to check out the small Gobbies as they fed on the zebra mussels. There were a few small bass as well.

After a one hour plus surface interval we had our second dive on the Keystorm but the other boats had pretty much moved on so we could get a good look at the wreck this time. The silt had settled down and you could see inside the wreck. We spent about 36 minutes in the water and the water temp was 73 degrees.

I would like to say thanks to Jim our boat captain for a great day out on the water and we hope to dive with you again soon.

Ain't Raining? Still Training...


A series of three days with students culminated this morning with certification of Eric, a student who had (wisely?) elected to postpone his Open Water dives after completing pool training last Winter. Two dips in the Quarry yesterday were quickly followed up today with immersions at KPH and Morton's Wharf. While the fish life was fascinating - and included encounters with large Freshwater Drum in both locations - the visibility was less impressive at about 20 feet. Water temperature of 68F (20C) made up for much though. The topsides weather was outstanding - and here's a top tip - there is abundant shade at Morton's in which to park and get dressed...
Couldn't help but think what a great day our buddies must be having on the two tanker out of Caigers. Really looking forward to this evening's report...

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Wolfe Islander II


This week the Dolphins had Captain Steve (Limestone) take them out to the Wolfe Islander II because the winds were high. The weather was warm and the water much warmer than previous dives. The visibility was not very good but that was expected with the storms that went through recently. We went down the bow line to the bottom and circled the boat clockwise. When we came back around the far side of the boat we came up over the side to the car deck. We had a look in the hatch and then moved on to the motorcycle. The ten speed was beside the motorcycle and the bowling ball wasn't very from from that . We then went and had a look at the winch on the front. After a short time here we followed the line back to the stern and had a look inside the doors and windows. We spend about 5 minutes here and then turned the dive. After getting changed we shared a few stories and a couple of laughs on the way back to shore. As always we then went to Tim Horton's to debrief and have a much needed coffee.

Thursday, July 3, 2008

Fresh Fry tonight...

Kim mentioned disappointment at a lack of fish sightings during last night's charter dive. Well, tonight at the quarry we literally swam through shoals of small Bass fry. Numbering in the hundreds and present in two or more locations, these tiny fish were teeming around the cruiser and in the corner of the bowl beyond it to the South. Also seen during a night dive with Theresa and Neil were the large Carp often spotted in the same bowl and a nocturnally hunting Catfish, which was totally undisturbed by examination under our lights.

The night dive was the second training dive of the evening. The first had seen a couple of students complete their Open Water Dive 2. They too had seen the clouds of small fry and been impressed. For anyone who remains at all reticent about the water temperature, the quarry is the place to dive. The minimum temperature recorded was 73F (the same as the air temperature). The many swimmers and bathers visiting the site these days have knocked visibility back to less than 30 feet, but that's pretty good in most books..

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Another Great Dive


I would like to thank James and Jen from Northern Tech Diver for a great dive tonight. Since the winds were high tonight we went out to the William Jamieson where we were protected from the wind a little bit. This is a wreck I have never been on before. It was a treat for me. I found that as I was swimming around it I was thinking of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean. I could almost picture all of the dead pirates coming out from under the wreck. I was a little bit disappointed because we didn't see many fish. For those who know me that's what I dive for. I have noticed that the last few wrecks we have been on there have not been very many big fish around them. There have be a lot of dead fish in the sand but nothing big. OK for the important stuff. The water temp was a debatable 48 degrees. Some saw 48 and others saw 50. You can take your pick. All I know is that it was mighty fresh. We spent about 30 min in the water. Yes we were diving wet so that was as long as us wimps could handle. This is definitely a wreck to come back to.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Canada Day Dive


6 divers had the pleasure of a great dive today with Limestone. We left the docks at 9:00a.m. and the water was calm so we ventured out to the Cornwall. The visibility was about 40 feet at the bottom and the water was a cool 52 degrees. Once you came above the thermocline the temp was about 61 degrees. We spent about 35 minutes in the water. With the weather the way it was some of us were wishing we had brought a second tank so we could dive another wreck. This was definitely the way to spend Canada Day. Next year we will have to dive in the evening so we can watch the fireworks afterwards.

One more thing. I would like to congratulate Ashley on the new back plate and wing. I hope you enjoy it as well as we do ours.

In search of the Stacked Hulls


On this gorgeous day for diving we decided to follow the new line out to the stacked hulls. The visibility was not great in the area of 20 ft but the chance to be out in the water was great. Unfortunately we did not make it to the stacked hulls as the line veered back to shore at the 50 foot mark. The water temperature was just great with the coldest being 63f/17c. We spent around one hour in the water and so many fish, a salamander, the anchors, the hulls and the various debris on the line. Even though we did not get to our intended goal it was a great Canada Day dive.