Monday, January 5, 2009

One musketeer, two musketeers.. but where is number three ?...


Shelving our plans to go cut a hole in the ice at the Brule Road Quarry because of our 3rd Musketeer going MIA under unforeseeable circumstances, Mike and I decided to brave the pounding surf and ice for a dive off of the Psych Hospital dock. As you can see in the picture, the entry point was massively crowded with ice shards being blown into shore by a South-West wind. Ducking our heads under the pounding surface, we could hear a loud cacophony of ice pieces churning in the waves.. A gentle swim out to the stop sign produced an encounter with a Long-Nosed Gar, a rare sightings in our Kingston waters. The long-snouted fish allowed me to creep up close to him to get a couple of shots. He then gracefully swam away, aiming towards the surface. A couple more pics at the stop sign, and it was time to turn around. Returning to shore, and to our amazement, most of the ice had drifted away from our exit point but not without leaving a large cloud of silt in it's wake around the pier. Visibility for most of the dive was about 40 feet, with the water temperature dipping below 34 deg F. Total dive time, 30 minutes.





Thursday, January 1, 2009

Another day, another dive...

So, another year, another dive under the weightbelt...

Today was a little special. It marked my first thousand dives since certification. It was an elegant coincidence to have it fall on New Year's Day and I'm very grateful to those who shared the waters of Lake Ontario with me on a very cold, if pleasantly sunny day. The venue wasn't really important, but for the record, we visited the wreck off Murney Tower.

Special thanks are due to my buddy, Dianne, who not only braved the frigid waters once again, but also provided a wonderful cake and some mulled wine with which to celebrate the occasion.