First Charter of the Season..

Follow this link to view a short video of the first charter dive of the season - Good Friday - on the Wolfe Islander II..

Many thanks to Todd for organising this dive - and to Frank and Proteus for the opportunity.

Happy 100th Eric..!

Eric celebrated Canada Day yesterday and his 100th dive today. Great way to keep the weekend alive. His occasion was celebrated by the Club members pictured - and by Todd and Gaétan, who, although unable to dive, turned out to mark the occasion. The whole party spent more than 45 minutes in and around the Marine Museum Barge and the nearby logs.

Not Just Another Saturday Night Pool Night

The Night we all were anticipating has come and gone and fun was had by all. Six divers in total were able to experience the origins of diving. As seen to the right, a diver experiences diving a 3 bolt Russian commercial suit. Other highlights were a Submerge UV 26 Diver Propulsion Vehicle, Doubles set ups, Halcyon back plates and wings, Poseidon Wings, Regulators, Dive Computers, Under water communications, to a large selection of new style BCD's, fins, masks, and under water Cameras . A big thanks goes out to Dive Tech Training Center, Northern Tech Diver, Rockport Dive Shop, and Sunset Diving. Without these four shops, the night would not have been the great success that it was. A thanks goes out to the our executive for making the necessary arrangements the night of, and to the planning of this fun event.

The 2011 Dive year is looking to be a good. The club has been very busy for the past few months, with the two Ice Diving Courses this year. The Dive Gear Showcase / Expo just about wraps up the winter dive season. With a few more pool sessions, ending with our Annual Scuba Olympics. See you in water...

Ice Divers Make the Grade...

The very varied topside conditions over the weekend didn't create any significant challenges to successfully completing our annual ice diving course. The four divers pictured; Todd, Dan, Steve and Andrew all did well and gained a new appreciation for the discipline of diving under ice.

Well done to all of them, and many thanks to everyone who turned out to assist. At the risk of offending anyone else, I will single out Jim as the key supporting player over the weekend. He helped in every way possible. Many thanks too to Explorer Diving, caretakers of the dive site. They generously made the quarry available at no cost and Chris also assisted for much of the weekend.

There's a strong possibility, if everything comes together, that another course will be run next weekend. That's concrete evidence of the excitement being built, and maintained, in our Club. The dive season ahead promises to be a great one...

Diving Adventurers..

Conditions in the Lake are really pretty good at the moment. Despite near frigid water temperatures, the visibility is fantastic, and entry and exit are straightforward. Todd and Dan enjoyed amazing sightings of Gizzard Shad yesterday and today. You can see a video of the large shoal of fish here on You Tube...

Shad-tastic..!

It's not entirely clear just what species we encountered in the waters near the Marine Museum yesterday and today, but what's quite certain is that we enjoyed an experience that is rare in local water. This link will take you to video that shows just what we were privileged to enjoy. So numerous were the fish, and so intent on shoaling, that they actually collided with the divers. If you listen carefully, on a couple of occasions you can hear a fish bump into the camera housing.

Happy New Year everyone!

D.O.G.s or Huskies..?

The weather's definitely getting colder - and the water temperature in the Lake too. But, that's when the viz starts to clear and the diving crowd starts to thin out. This morning - to celebrate Todd's 300th dive appropriately - three of us ventured forth to Howe Island to plumb the 'hidden' depths of the South Channel. Despite the lower water levels of this time of year, before the bottom started rising back to Wolfe Island in mid channel, we achieved 119'. It was a cool dive on at least two levels. First of all, the water temperature was down to 43℉ (6℃) at the bottom and, secondly, it just an excellent, relaxed experience. Congratulations, Todd, on your 300th lifetime dive.

DOGs on the prowl..

Here's a link to a few minutes of video fun on the KGH wreck yesterday. If you have friends who wonder why you dive - and what you see, show them this...

City of Sheboygan in great shape..

Seven of us went out with Kingston Dive Charters this morning to dive the excellent wreck that is the City of Sheboygan. Conditions could only have been improved by a little bit more sunshine, but the Lake was relatively calm, and the visibility was superb. A water temperature of 52℉ (11℃) ensured that no one got unduly cold. A lot of video was taken - and a short edition of the highlights is on You Tube here..

Night Dive on the Wolfe Islander...

The Club organized another very successful night dive on the Wolfe Islander tonight (Thanks Todd). We were delighted to be accompanied by several well-equipped and well-trained divers from the Great Lakes Underwater Explorers. (They brought considerable candlepower to the wreck..!). Our last night dive on the Wolfe provided several great American Eel sightings - and this one was no different. The other picture above is of my patient buddy, who was content to hang around while I bothered eels and fiddled with camera settings..! For the record keepers, the water temp at depth was 52℉ (11℃). That beat the heck out of 3℃ back on the boat..!!! Many thanks to Frank and Proteus Diving for another great outing from Treasure Island.. The new onboard heaters below are the bees' knees...

Quick and Dirty...

Don't get too excited by the headline, I'm talking about the video summary of yesterday's Pumpkin Dive.. Check it out here.. Many thanks to everyone who came out and supported the event. And apologies for missing most of you underwater. Next event, I'll do my little tour of the dive site AFTER capturing the participants... Oh well - nobody's perfect..!

Thank you Matt for the excellent title pic above

Well done Paul ! Now an Advanced Diver..

Congratulations this Labour Day to Paul, who completed his Advanced Open Water syllabus with a Deep Adventure at Fairfield Park and a Digital Photography Adventure at the Kingston Oasis. He was totally at ease with both experiences, as he has been throughout the course. Now he's free to spend more time out diving with Rick - and other members..

In his element...

Some dives are just more gentle and relaxing than others. Today's dive, with Gaétan, was one of those special ones. We didn't see anything remarkable, though there was an encounter with a large Carp. We didn't do anything special, though we did repair the line out to the barge at the Marine Museum. But, we did enjoy a really slow, 'smell the roses' kind of experience that all of us relish from time to time. Two fairly capable divers, comfortable in each other's company, always aware of each other's position and totally chilled - for 65 minutes. Too cool!

The ambition had been to get some decent shots of the iron latticework under the pier at the entry point, but low viz pretty much put paid to that, so the dive passed quietly with a few hero shots, a tour of the barge and a look at the logs. The only complaint might be that it's too darn hot getting into your drysuit before the dive. If that's the only issue - I can live with it - roll on the Winter though. Can't wait to get our visibility back.

BTW - pay close attention to the picture above. This may be a rare sighting of a hoodless Gaétan...

The St-Lawrence and its Hidden Treasures...

Call it luck, call it odds, moons and stars lining up, or whatever bohemian fortune-teller mumbo-jumbo that carries around in the news today... 8 fortunate club members got a chance to dive on.. not one, but two... great wrecks in the St-Lawrence seaway that seldom get the publicity or recognition for greatness they truly deserve.

Kim, our Activities Coordinator, secured a charter with Thousand Island Pleasure Diving out of Caigers Resort today. We were treated to their largest vessel, the Osprey (pictured in photo 1), which can carry a large number of divers, and is fairly well laid-out for big groups, or plenty of gear for those multiple-tank diving activities.

After clearing Customs at 1000hrs (since both wrecks are in American Territorial Waters), we set off to the Keystorm. See picture number two for a shot of the forward wheelhouse. The ship was built in England as a canal cargo ship, and hit a shoal in late 1912. It sits on its Starboard side, at a very steep angle, with its bow at the 30-ft range, and its propeller sitting in 110-115 feet of water. Yours truly got a bit of nitrogen narcosis in the deepest portion of the dive because of the disorienting way the ship is sitting in the water.. It is slightly strange to have the whole deck of the ship on your right hand side as you descend deeper towards the stern... What an eerie feeling it was to swim underneath this behemoth, and find yourself faced with the keel of this massive ship.

As if the disorientation wasn't enough on the first dive, our second dive was on the America, which sits completely upside-down. Picture number 3 is Josee next to one of the twin propellers that are quite apparent at the stern. At the time of its sinking, the America was a blasting ship, tasked with annihilating dangerous shoals with explosives. The information I could find on the vessel is limited, but basically states that it sank and went belly-up after an explosion.. It sits in 75 feet of water, with its massive stabilizing pillars reaching upwards towards the surface, silently calling out for divers to visit her watery remains.

A great time was had by all, though everyone came back to shore feeling the lethargic effect of doing 2 deep dives in a relatively short period. I wish to extend my personal thanks to Kim for organizing the event, and to Thousand Island for the opportunity to dive on these great wrecks.

El Presidenté

Club makes the Base Paper...

Your President recently gave an interview to a reporter from the Base Newspaper, the Tower. Given the opportunity to ride along on a charter to the Munson, the individual writing the article has produced a great piece on who we are and what we do. Click here to download the article and see how many names you spot of active Club members.

Night on the Mapleglen

Well, a big thanks is owed to our Events Coordinator, and to Kingston Dive Charters. This past Wednesday night charter was cancelled due to Good Ole Mother Nature. We were fortunately offered a reschedule for last night, Friday evening. WHAT A DIVE is what I have to say about that... The Mapleglen is a open water level dive, and even for me, it was a real treat. The Vis was close to 50 ft and water temperature at depth was a warm 52 F. The propeller on the Mapleglen is the big attraction for this site not to mention all the machine work including the large boilers. A dive that is a must to be included in the list of wreck's to dive on. I will be diving the Mapleglen again later on. Just Amazing, and the pictures say it...

Stacked Hulls ? An Hour in the Water ? Why Not ?

The weather is definitely taking a turn for the better. When Todd, Jim, Gaetan, Matt and I made our way out to the Stacked Hulls this morning, it was quite clear that the water is warming up. We recorded 41℉ (5℃) on the shelf, and 39℉ (4℃) at depth. Visibility was probably about 30-40'. Two cameras were deployed. Todd's excellent available light shots will feature later. For the time being there's a mix of ambient and flash-lit pics here. Matt's day was made by sighting a Long-Nose Gar on the bottom on the way out. Less said about the encounter, the better though.. The line's in good shape, but may need a little bit of interpretation on the homeward leg. Just remember to maintain 310° Mag as you head for shore. Best way to pick up the line on the way out is to swim off shore at 130°, turn left at the bottom of the shelf and pick up the intact guideline from there.

Who Knew The Internet Is a Powerful Divers Tool

At 6:45 pm yesterday, I posted on Face Book" anyone want to go diving? Tonight? Well within 15 minutes a phone call comes in, and plans are made for a night dive. Dan a club member said he would like to go. So the plan was made to meet at the club and leave for the dive site. On the way I thought why not try Morton's Wharf. A dive earlier in the week proved to produce some fish on the site. Once on site, a detailed dive brief was given on the details of the dive and the wharf, after gearing up and a final check was complete Dan and I headed into the water. The normal entry and descent, everything seemed to be going good, I looked at my computer and the water temperature was 37F. Wow, starting to warm up I thought. Then a large bass swims by, and I think this is going to be good, since my other night dives have produced little fish. Well the fish are back, and are plentiful, which Dan tried his attempt in night photography. We had the pleasure of seeing several large Smallmouth Bass, Rock Bass, White Suckers, Perch, Catfish, a small Northern Pike, and surprisingly a very very large Silver Muskie. The Muskie wasn't around for long when he realized he wasn't alone. But a thrill no less to spot such a large Muskie in the shallows. We turned the dive and headed back to our entry point. When in 15 feet of water it was noticeable that it was windy and the waves were building at the surface. Exiting took a little patience and good timing, however another excellent dive. With another diver convinced that night diving is a lot of fun, and worth repeating.

Quarry warmer - ready for Easter event...

Chris was keen to make sure that nothing unpleasant had made it into the quarry before this weekend's Easter Egg Hunt - and it was useful to have an idea of the general conditions. Consequently, we spent about 50 minutes touring the margins to check it out. Besides finding enough bicycles to open a small shop, and a couple of other sporting goods, it was an uneventful dive. The water temp is warmer than the Lake at 43℉ (6℃). Visibility was reasonable - at about 30 feet.

Walking to work..

This afternoon's dive commenced with a short walk down the boat launch ramp next to St Lawrence Pier on RMC. Then, Todd, Kevin, Matt and I made a tour of the timber structures to the West and circled home. Not much else to say, except that many photographs were taken, but this one seemed to sum up the aiim of the expedition - to visit the timbers and check them out. Kevin is the pictured subject...