Todd makes his Double Century..

Sunday evening marked a significant achievement for Todd. He completed his 200th logged dive with a really good charter run to the offshore wrecks. Many congratulations! His commemorative certificate is reproduced here..

Cracking good dive...!

There's a brief time of year between ice free and frozen when the Lake can be entered with a minimum of effort by cracking light icing at the margins. Today was one of those rare days. With a brisk wind piling drift ice up on the breakwaters and making shore entry challenging, the decision was made to enter at KGH and swim out into the Lake. There were no great issues and navigation proved reasonably easy; the area around the outer breakwater is quite familiar. Visibility wasn't great, probably about 20 feet at best, but the dive was worthwhile.


Besides the car that lies south of the wall, a bicycle was found and a shoal of Lake Shad spotted close to the rocks. The water temperature was as close to freezing as it gets before it gets a little firmer.

Checking out the Marine Museum Barge...

This evening presented a great opportunity to get wet with Kevin and Gaetan at West St. Conditions were great and we entered the water just beside Ahoy Rentals. Kevin was keen to practice navigation and led a faultless dive across to the corner of the pier and on to the barge, where we completed a circuit before reversing our course for an exit at West St Ramp. Conditions in the water were good, though the viz could have been better. It was about 20 feet over most of the range. There weren't many exciting sightings, though a large Sheepshead was spotted near the logs on the return journey and a Pike was cruising the shallows on the ramp; something that is entirely typical of this area. There were also a lot of Bluegills on and around the car below the ramp. Water temperature was a balmy 70°F (21°C).

Yacht Club Orientation...

Today presented a golden opportunity to re-visit the 'landmarks' that distinguish diving around the breakwater of the Kingston Yacht Club. The first picture, taken very professionally by Kevin Leblanc, shows the car wreck just South of the Club. The second, also taken by Kevin, is the hull of a racing dinghy just off the South-East corner of the site. Besides these inanimate objects, a large number of sizeable Bass were present near the rocks. Air temperature a chilly -4C (25F) and the water temperature 35F (2C).

West Street Boat Ramp

It was a nice winter day so we decided to go to the West Street boat ramp for a dive. The nice thing about having everything snow covered is that there is no bare ice, consequently the traction is good. Mike did a great job navigating but I have forgotten the bearings already. The waters were calm, 36 deg F and visibility was about 35 feet. There wasn’t any surface ice in the area. Those of us with leaky suits were cold by the end of the 35 min dive.

There wasn’t much underwater life, some bass and minnows; but there were about 100 duck’s that we chased off the boat ramp as we entered. There is a lot of stuff down there to see now that the visibility is better. In low visibility there just seems to be less. If it is not visible it doesn’t exist. Now I know that there are two underwater-cars in the area. How long have they been there?

Busy at Brule Road

Today's dive at Brule Road answered a request from one of the 5 Club members making the trip to be introduced to this handy little, sheltered site. The Quarry was busy. About a dozen other people - in various stages of undress - were soaking up the sunshine and enjoying the swimming opportunities the location offers. Despite distractions, the divers made it into the water for about 70 minutes, checking out the sights and reflecting on the increasingly bold fish behaviours of the Largemouth Bass and Bluegills encountered. The Bluegills are particularly colourfully marked currently. It's tempting to speculate that they are in courtship colours. Other fish are clearly past this stage, because at several points we found dense shoals of small fry.

Chris Haslip had reported the presence of a new boat in the quarry last week. This lies in about 17 feet of water immediately to the left of the entrance beach. It should also be noted that the bowrider (which sat beneath the rock edge on the Western side) has been moved towards the cruiser in deeper water. It now stands proudly isolated between the Hyundai and the Cruiser.

Visibility this afternoon was about 35 feet and the water temperature varied from 72F (22C) at the surface to 62F (17C) beneath the thermocline, which sits at about 17 feet.

Barging Ahead...

This morning's task was to determine the ease of access afforded to the barge usually reached from the Marine Museum now that entry from the West Wharf is closed to divers. The good news is that it's quite easy to get to the barge using the Pumphouse Museum Car Park as a starting point. The accompanying pic shows the solution adopted today, getting in - carefully - at Ahoy Rentals little inlet. Entry can be just as easily achieved from the ramp in the bay (it's just a bit of a walk with kit on) or the West St Ramp (which is just a bit of an extra swim..!). It's also quite straightforward to enter by walking cautiously down the breakwater.

The swim to the line, which should pass the corner of the logs (very shortly after starting out), is a gentle 8 minutes worth on an Easterly heading. This brought us onto the line from the Wharf's SE corner just past its startpoint. The return journey is easily effected by coming back to the corner and taking a heading of 290 Mag to get to the logs. From the logs to the breakwater is due West just a few metres. Then, for ease of use (and to see the car at the bottom of the West St Ramp, you can follow the breakwater edge along to exit. Be aware - if viz is really poor and you're uncertain whether you're at the Ramp, there's a large diameter pipe (about 1m) just East of the Ramp entry emerging from the breakwater.

Viz today was pretty poor at about 25 feet, but swimming right over the top of a large Northern Pike when heading up the exit ramp was my high point. He then paraded around the shallows there for everyone to see. Water temp - 55F (13C) out at 40 feet.

Today saw Ryan complete his Open Water Certification at Brule Road. The water was great. Bottom temperature 55F (13C). Visibility reached 40 feet or more. He had the company of Theresa, who acted as a competent buddy (second time this week with a student) and Nancy, who was just enjoying a dive.

The opportunity was taken, once training had been completed, to take some underwater photographs. Since the water was so warm (comparatively) the dive was drawn out to just one minute under a full hour.

Congratulations, Chelsey..!

With two further certification dives at Brule Road, Chelsey completed her Open Water certification today. Then there was time for some photos, one of which is shown. Conditions at the quarry, as anticipated, were a little more clement than the Lake. The water temperature - even under a noticeable thermocline - was 51F (11C). Visibility was pretty good - about 35 feet or maybe a little more.

Surprisingly, very few of the larger fish we know to inhabit this small body of water were evident. Today's experience demonstrates that the Quarry is more than ready for wetsuited visitors. Let's give it some use...

Warmer in the water at Brule Road...

Four of us ventured out West this morning to enjoy the sights of Brule Road and to test the theory that the water should be warmer there than in the Lake. The result definitively proved the concept. The water was 51F (11C) at the bottom and 57F (14C) for the first few feet. There was a definite thermocline or inversion effect operating at about 6-8 feet, which left a sort of silty cloud hanging over the divers. Nancy is pictured and a second image shows the back of the (now) famous Hyundai Santa Fe that arrived in the water over the Winter. Visibility was mildly disappointing - at about 25-30 feet, but the warmth more than made up for this..

Additional pictures from today's dive can be found on the Flickr site.

Ramping up the dive pace...

The break in the rain today gave an opportunity for Dianne and I to slip into the Lake at the West St Ramp. Taking advice received this morning from 'the Gladiator' we made our way out to the nearby car wreck - and then on to the dinghy, which shows impressive damage on the Port bow side.

Temperature in the water was 41F (5C). The air temperature - making suiting up a little warm - was 17C (63F). Visibility was in the order of 30 feet.