Back in the swing..

Two dives today = and both in good company. The first, having turned down the chance to go dive the Kinghorn in Rockport, was at the Marine Museum. This was the Club's Sunday Shore Dive and we had 8 divers in the water, which is great by any standards. My strongest interest was to give Ben, who was only making his 6th dive, a good experience and sight of yet another local wreck. That worked out well, and he enjoyed a gentle, interesting dive. He also had fun bothering various fish.

The second dive - prompted by who else but Todd - was at KPH. We were joined on a beautiful calm evening by Jack, who is in town on duty from Manitoba for a couple of months and keen to dive (so keen that he joined the Club right away). Our first order of business was to have a look around the giant stride entry area for a missing scuba component lost about 10 days ago Eagle-eyed Jack spotted it within a couple of minutes and that released us down the pipe. We followed that, in about 10 feet of visibility (that may be an optimistic assessment) out to, and beyond, the thermocline at 38 feet. Then, the visibility really opened up to something like 40 feet or more. The greatest surprise, and absolute delight, was encountering a large shoal of Lake Shad on the return journey. They made several flashing, silver-scaled passes before disappearing off into the distance. These unpredictable and unexpected meetings with this species are rare. I reckon on about one a year.. For the record, the temperature below the thermocline remains at 46℉ (8℃). That put it just on the bottom beside the Marine Museum Barge - Brrr!

13 - Lucky for some..

So, thirteen of us made our way this morning to Murney Tower and the wreck that lies offshore. Particularly good to see Sylvain (pictured) who rarely escapes his other duties these days to sneak in a dive. Conditions were pretty good - with viz in the shallows rather restricted, but improving below the thermocline (51 feet) to better than 30 feet or more. Scott and Kim are seen in the video gently approaching the wreck. Many thanks to those who have encouraged all of us to get going again on Sunday mornings. Just great to see so many divers out at one time. Sights worth seeing today; a large Carp in the shallows, with some Bass buddies - and a shoal of small fry amongst the weeds on top of the shelf.

Water conditions - surface calm, barely ruffled - and the temperatures about 64℉ (18℃) above the thermocline and 53℉ (12℃) below.

The Early Diver gets the Viz

It's said that there are seasoned divers in Kingston who dive exclusively in the early and late periods of each dive season. Their logic is that those are the times that you can place reasonable reliance on seeing our wrecks at their best. This morning's charter lent credence to the notion. A gentle trip to the Comet put us in place to enjoy visibility in the order of 70 feet or so. In water temperatures of 43°F (6°C), conditions were really rather pleasant. Even our one wetsuited diver didn't freeze...! Jim Dunfield - down visiting from Ottawa - was a very welcome addition to the team. It would be nice to think that the Sunday Club could make a charter trip every week, but this may have been a one-off bonus dive for most.

Sunday Club in Full Session...

The fine weather seemed to spawn substantial interest in diving today. No less than 10 divers made it into the water at the Cora Post off Howe Island. Visibility was reasonable - at about 30 feet, but the water temperature is no less chilly than a week ago - at 36F (2C). Air temperatures around 6C (43F) didn't entirely compensate for any chilling effect. Worth noting that the line out to the wreck has lost its upper section and you need to hunt at about 22 feet to pick up the remaining piece.

Sunday Club back in Session...

The arrival of the Spring sunshine this weekend placed the Club on notice that it's time to re-convene the Sunday Club. Accordingly, four of us suited up and sprang into the Lake at RMC's St Lawrence Pier this morning. It was a delight to enjoy a dive in such fine weather. If there was any doubt that the season has truly changed, the passage overhead of a mixed skein of Canada and Snow Geese dispelled it. In the water there was less evidence of change. There were no significant sightings, despite visibility in the order of 30 feet or so. The water temperature remains stubbornly low at about 36F (2C). In response to a request from Chris Haslip, who was unable to dive today, his pet smurf was taken for an outing. Expect to see a lot of this little diver this season.

Sunday Club - Wrecksploration..

The Sunday Club is alive and well. This morning, Steve, Jeffy, Dominique and I made a small expedition to Deadman's Bay to enjoy one of the closer wreck sites there. But our day started with the provision of assistance to the Yacht Club. A committee member took advantage of our presence to have us fix some moorings for them.

Once we headed off to the wreck, we enjoyed excellent conditions. The Sun was streaming down through the water and painting vivid patterns on the old timbers. All the Zebra Mussels were soaking up the sunshine, siphons fully extended in filter mode. We all spent about 40 minutes on the wreck - good going for the two wet-suited divers. Lowest water temperature recorded - 40F (4C). A distinct improvement on last weekend, but not enough to make for routinely comfortable immersion. The air temperature was 10C (50F). Visibility on the site - about 40 feet, but a little murky. That was probably attributable to the steady South wind ruffling the shallow waters of the area. Some pics have been posted on the Flickr site.

Sunday Club Report - March 25th

Another good dive for the Sunday Club. This time attracting four divers; Adam, Kevin, Jeremie and myself. The venue - no surprises here - was Upper Brewer's again. For the benefit of those who were less familiar with the site, we headed upstream initially and visited the dam. Adam and I amused ourselves by heading right into the turbulent stream emerging from the overflow and discovered an interesting ledge under the bank.

Tiring of the upstream side, which is very shallow, we all allowed the gentle current to sweep us back under the bridge and into the 'bowl'. By this stage, we'd become two pairs. Adam and I continued South, checking out the old sawmill site and doing a little bit of rummaging. At this stage, after seeing many Crayfish, I spotted a dozing Turtle.

Everyone enjoyed a decent diving experience and I forced Adam to the exit just before 80 minutes had elapsed. Next time, I'll pump my tank right up and let him stay a little longer. Water temperature 38F (3C) and air temperature a pleasant 6C (43F). Occasional sunshine definitely improved the day - and I can report that the Martins have arrived at the stream, swooping and wheeling over the water. We were also treated to a little tattoo from a woodpecker, which attacked the power pole right by the vehicles. Ah - Spring !

Sunday Club Re-United at Brewer's

Spring has sprung one might cautiously suggest...

Today's dive was blessed with brilliant sunshine, an air temperature of 6C (43F) and a strong turnout of enthusiastic divers. Dianne, Jim, Christopher, Rob and I enjoyed a leisurely 45 minutes or so in water that is slowly warming up. We all recorded somewhere around 36/37F (2/3C). The plan called for a dip into the 'bowl' below the bridge and a downstream transit to look at the area around the bottom end of the locks, taking in the remains of the old sawmill on the East bank en route. There were no glitches. A variety of objects were examined and several bits of clay pipe recovered. It was very noticeable that, for some reason, the crayfish were abundantly evident in the bottom of the bowl. I personally spotted 4 or 5 in the couple of minutes spent in that area.

The diving future looks bright right now. One of the aims must be to visit the section of water downstream of the lock complex, before the Canal opens for the Summer season on May 24th. Currently, ice precludes safe entry.