Thursday, May 27, 2010

1st Charter of the Season!

Charter season is open!

Not alot of time today to banter on about the perils and joys of diving yesterday, I am sneaking in during lunch to report last nights unusual dive. 8 brave divers drove out to collins bay to dive with Kingston Dive Charters. They relocated to the small dock right behind the Legion that is 100m east of NTD. 3 dove wet and 5 went dry, becuase of this mix it was decided that we would try out the Aloha and Effie may. The water temps have averaged 45+ past the first thermoclines at 30 feet so we figured it was safest for those crazy enough to go wet.

Conditions of the dive were not the best, and visibility was near 10 - 5 feet most of the time and required a light. Mind you, the fact we got in at dusk didnt help things either. There was quite alot of green stuff floating around, so this intrepid photograper didnt get much of value this time.

Details of the dive are as follows: 52 feet, 31 min, 65 on the surface, 48 at the bottom.

Upon return we enjoyed a spectacular display of lightining and some rain. Despite how unnerving (being on an alluminum boat with a pile of metal high pressure tanks) it looked it was still impressive to see nature at her some of her fiercest!

Couple lessons to take away from this dive:

1. Take a light on the charters, at this time of year its pretty dark when you crack the surface of the water.

2. Take in a shore dive or 2 before you grab a boat charter to check out your gear and get reaquainted with your gear. I will be running the Sunday club again this year however I will be changing the start time to 1pm at the club with 12-1230ish for rental pick up. You dont want to be caught out at the dive site on a boat you paid for to find out something is not working and you havent really tested it in a long time. Its why we run a shore program for folks to have a relaxing mostly free (minus the cost of air) check out dive or 2 before rushing off to the expesive boat charters.


3. Lastly please confirm with Kim your status about if you want to do the charter or not, No one wants to turn someone away becuase they didnt confirm thier booking and the boat is over full, or worse there are not enough folks who confirm and it gets cancelled. It greatly helps the chater operator in planning thier operations for us.

Not alot of pics today everything was pretty much green and fuzzy.


Yours in Fun Safe diving


Matt


The Knife Guy!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

And another diver joins the ranks...

The perfect dive conditions over the May 24 weekend allowed yet another Open Water diver to gain certification. Ben completed his third and fourth dives on the holiday Monday to complete training commenced in the classroom and pool as long ago as January. It really brings home to you how short our wetsuited season is when you reflect that, only in the last couple of weeks has the water realistically been warm enough to introduce students to the Lake.

Congratulations Ben - enjoy the Summer ahead and be sure to dive frequently..!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Two more divers complete Open Water work..

The picture by Todd shows Mike leading students, Dale, Glenn and Ben out along the pipeline at Portsmouth that leads to the famous anchors. Glenn and Dale went on today to complete the last of their Open Water dives for certification. Their final dive was on the KGH Wreck. This is a tribute to their skills and confidence in the water. Each completed this relatively challenging dive for inexperienced new divers with a broad smile and a strong sense of personal satisfaction. Water temps, by the way, 55℉ (13℃) above the 32' thermocline - 46℉ (8℃). Visibility in the deeper waters was very good, but decidedly limited around shallow .sites like Morton's Wharf.

Sunday Morning Dive

This morning four of us made it out for a 30 minute dive to the barge at the Marine Museum. It was great to see the line right off the end of the incline still attached. No fish were seen on the dive. We spent 30 minutes in the water making it out to the barge and back. The timing seemed perfect for the one wetsuit diver that was with us. The water temperature that we had on the dive was 48-50 F (9-10c). The water is definitely warming up and I am sure that will mean the different sites will be busy as the season starts.

Saturday, May 15, 2010

First of many to come..

Many congratulations to Alex this week, who is the first Open Water student of the year to gain full certification in local waters with the Club. His four dives never saw water temperatures higher than 48℉, but that didn't seem to daunt him in the slightest.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Ben braves the chilly waters...


Ben - who began his scuba training back in the Winter - made his first foray into the Lake yesterday. His confident look was an accurate predictor of sound performance on the first dive aimed at getting accustomed to the conditions. He saw the wreck fragments at Portsmouth, a large Carp and the anchors that lie just offshore. He had good company in the water. Todd, Dan, Josée, Gaétan, and visitor Kyle were all enjoying the almost Spring-like conditions. Most of them in sporty new DUI suits. Good day for the Club - and a good indication of the activity levels to be expected in the weeks ahead.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

New Show to air footage of the Hamilton and Scourge

A new History Channel TV Show, DIve Detectives, will air an episode on Wednesday, May 5th featuring the Hamilton and Scourge. Check out this link for full details.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Too busy diving =P

Thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it!
Its been a hectic couple of weeks of intense underwater time so far, and I expect it to get even better. For those of us who have the gear for colder waters this is the best Vis I've ever seen for around here. Water temps have hovered around 40-45F though so Dry suits are really the only way to go, unless your Marc-etteine who dives semi dry.
Pretty much all of the Exec has managed to sneak in a dive during this unusual weather. Visits to KGH, the Marine Museum, Howe Island, Nicholsons Point, Navy and Deadmans Bays, and the Stacked Hulls are just a small selection of great dives we have got in so far! Every day has had some fantastic visibility, todays trip to KGH was at least 50 feet, and yesterdays was more.

If you can sneak a dive in nows the time for sure!

Pics: Gaétan and the Turtle, a Mud Puppy Salamander at the MM, Pike with food in its sights at the MM!

Kristie Mckay just sneaking in for her 1st swim with her newly fixed dry suit at the MM, the Cora Post, and G spotting the turtle just off to right of the picture in the distance in Deadmans Bay.

I usualy like to leave a little note for the serious side: problems on a dive, it doesnt really matter what they are, as long as you can exit the water safely and joke about it later its all good times. Hoses come loose, bouyancy can be mistaken, folks can run out of air, tanks slide out of the strap, masks can get cracked, hell I've seen or experienced a hockey sock of events under water over the course of my dive career that didnt go as planned, and in every case as long as you can keep your cool, remember your training and can get help from a buddy it will work out just fine. If you have to call a dive becuase things arnt going right theres no shame, better that then a small problem turning into a huge accident! Now a good buddy check before you go in can sort out most of those issues but occasionaly stuff happens under water and you just gotta deal with it. The second big thing is get back in the water as soon as you can safely with a good buddy you trust to conquer that monkey on your back if it shows its head.
Its times like that when I remember my old bosses motto - Fun Safe diving. If you can keep it like that you cant go wrong!
Matt the knife guy