Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Your President is now (almost) a Divemaster...

This evening, after fulfilling all the relevant requirements, including the final written examination (on Physics), Kevin signed his application to become a professional PADI member and it will go into the mail tomorrow. Kevin is the second of our more experienced members to complete Divemaster training this Winter. He will bring a great deal to the Club in the coming Summer months.

Nautical Archaeology Course - 2010

I know that a number of our members were disappointed last year that the dates for the Nautical Archaeology Course run in conjunction with Preserve Our Wrecks, Kingston didn't work for them. It seems very likely that another course will be run under similar conditions in August. The dates are probably going to be over the weekend of 13-15. Demand is once again going to be quite high. Pre-Registration is recommended and I will take e-mail requests at any point from this date on.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Talk on the plight of the American Eel

There will be a talk by a biology professor from Queen's at the Marine Museum on Sunday, February 21st, beginning at 2pm. The subject, one of a Winter series dealing with environmental issues, is the American Eel. This beautiful and graceful creature used to be very numerous in Lake Ontario, but divers are lucky nowadays to have a sighting a year. Come and listen to the talk to discover the reasons - or to learn what hypotheses are being advanced for the disappearance of the Eel, which used to sustain a whole fishing industry down river.

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Mission Accomplished - Four more ice divers certified ...

The Ice Diving Course came to a successful conclusion this afternoon with four new ice divers formally qualified to enjoy the discipline. Congratulations to Chris, Jesse, Steve and Kevin. Kevin racked up another accomplishment by making this final, optional, dive, his 250th one logged. A bit of a landmark. Many thanks to all those who gave generously of their time to help the course run smoothly. Notably, Dianne, Nancy, Gerhard, Chris C and Jim.



Saturday, February 13, 2010

Ice Dive 2010 working well...


Thanks to the concerted efforts of many people, this weekend's ice diving course got away to a great start today. It helps, of course, to have near perfect conditions. The ice is at least 12' thick and the cold, clear weather has maintained it, whilst making daytime temperatures reasonable.

The four students have all absorbed the lessons associated with the specialty well and, when the time came to apply them this morning, there were no great challenges. The only minor disappointment has been visibility considerably less pleasing than expected. The water temperature in the quarry is 39℉ (4℃), but the viz is only about 15-20 feet. There's a milky cloudiness in the upper levels that defies explanation, but definitely limits sight lines.

Many thanks to the helpers who made the day a success. Line tending and general administration are not exciting tasks, but the course doesn't go ahead without them. Good too to see Gerhard, a previous ice diving graduate, who joined us for one of the assigned dives.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Certification Confirmed - Another Divemaster serves the Club

Word was received from Africa today (short story, but not worth the telling here) that Todd has received confirmation that his application to join PADI as a professional member in the capacity of Divemaster has been accepted. Many congratulations to a candidate who worked very hard to gain this distinction. Todd tells me that he is looking forward very much to serving the Club and fostering diving in the months ahead.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Definitely not ice diving..!


I know that some of you have missed me - and some knew where I was. In a nutshell, the last 7 days have been spent diving the warm, blue waters of the islands: St Kitts, St Eustatius and Saba. St Kitts was nothing to shout about, but St Eustatius and Saba produced some good sightings - and the company was excellent. You can see a small selection of the pictures on my gallery and a couple of videos on You Tube. Stand by for the short footage of swimming in a huge baitball of Big Eyed Scad while a Blacktip Reef Shark comes after them...