Stop the Presses! Leo Actually Dives!

Pics or it never happened, I always say:
Hard Core, that's the only way to describe it.
Here we have living proof that our club president actually dives. Not just wet, but sleeveless and hoodless. Not too shabby, I must say. Puts tough into a whole new category. We rib Leo all the time about his "dive time" but with pre-deployment training and the duties of family, it's not that easy to sneak in a dive here and there like the rest of us commandos of Lake Ontario. He gets time when on vacation to venture into warm waters down south, but we all know that doesn't count. You dive here or no where!

Now, how did we get a dive Friday during the working day you ask? Well, blame Gaetan and our newest club member, Eric McPhee. They took some time to arrange a Discover Scuba for a few folks from his unit - 2EW. In the wee hours of the morning (6:30 am) the club gathered a couple of our regular prime instructors (Adam and Chico) and some spare labour (myself, Mike Musgrave, Gaetan, and Leo) to run 20 some folks through a cavalcade of scuba skills. Though it took some effort to remind Adam that he was on a clock and to keep within the timings, a great time was had by all. We hope they come out for the basic courses we plan on running throughout the winter. No, we won't torture them with check-out dives in the snow, though it's always tempting...we will wait till the New Year for those, when the ice melts and the water only looks warm. Muhahahahaha!

However, that's not the best part! After lunch, 6 of us Kevin, Gaetan, Jim, Eric, Leo and myself (it's almost a mini quorum, thank god I forgot paper to write on) snuck off to get a refresher dive in for Eric as its been a few years since he last dove. The target: KGH wreck off Murney tower. You can imagine the surprise when I see our own Club Pres Leo in attendance. A quick rehearsal of skills with Eric, a view of a foot-long bass, and we re-geared for the long swim out to the barge. Apparently, this was also Leo's first trip to this wreck. I will admit that I thought he was nuts (OK completely insane, really) to dive without a hood when you hit that 50 foot thermocline but he toughed it out. 59 feet for 37 minutes was the profile, and he did the whole thing. Viz wasn't much to comment on, the algae holds true till 40 feet now, but opens when the water's colder. Not much life to see this time around either. However, the barge has had a major cleaning of mussels and you can clearly see the wood in many spots. It has also taken some damage as one of the support beams has fallen down in the middle of the wreck. Sponge coral is visible all over as well. On the rear of the boat some of it has sprouted tentacles. Eric and I saw one Drum in the shallows on our 3 min safety stop, but it was fleeting at best.

3 notes for this dive

1. Apparently I am IT, thanks Steve C....watch out divers as the game is afoot. Though I was slow on the watch. Steve marked the it sign Aug 22 and I have dove this site 3 times since and never noticed the it sign had names on it. Thanks to Kevin I get it... great =P if you see a IT sign take a good look at it and see if you see your name. No touch backs though. Good hunting folks, as this can appear on any commonly dove shore dive.

2. Lets hear it for sneakers on the dive. When you can't find your rock boots, you can always dive in your shoes, just ask Jim. Nuff Said!

3. No Pie Charts or Bar graphs here folks. There is no way I can top that - save shots of Leo, the Water Tiger. This very rare water creature is even more elusive then the wet-suited Mikeosaurus Rex! Like Marc-Etienne says, "it's not a dive unless you have your camera", and today my camera and I are back in good standing; for this week at least....

I leave you with more proof that Leo actually dives....I still can't believe it.

As always - keep blowing bubbles!