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...

Yaaarrrrr Treasure Hunt Madness!

So the rabbit in wonderland has nothing on us for lateness it seems! (the new movie is was pretty cool btw!)

On Sunday the club got togther for its official start of the summer dive season. (for those of you who dont wear dry suits that is). It was a picture perfect day. Mostly sunny with a splash or 2 of clouds. We had our best attendance every with over 50 people in attendance and almost as many divers. I think it was 47 who braved the water.

Details of the dive vary, some folks opted to just swim around in the shallows looking for the magic numbered golf balls while others like myself opted for the deep dive to the ledges at 80-109 feet. Vis near the surface down to 20 feet was poor but under 35 feet it opened up to 30 feet. Not alot of life down there today I think we scared them off. Water temps in the first thermoclines were 54ish while below that were 48F.

We had a great spread of food by Kim and a few extra fresh baked goodies from members (Sheila!) and even more fun were the fantastic spread of prizes given out by our local vendors such as: Northern Tech Divers, Dive Tech, and Rockport Divers. Big thanks from all our members to you guys. If we didnt have you guys around it would be very hard to dive around here! As a club we are very fortunate to have such a wide variety of freindly shops to choose from.

A couple of pics, nothing underwater this time I was playing with a stage bottle again. Someone thinks they are going to "trick me" into tech diving =P

As allways yours in Fun Safe Diving

Matt

The Knife guy

PS: no real pirates were harmed during the making of this blog! Though a couple were starting to annoy me alot. Yarr Arr!.. Yar.....

A 3 hour tour....

...that turned into 6 hours.
Boat diving is not a precise art. Many factors need to be considered when taking a boat trip to a site. Weather is the big one. Even though it looks great out the window, a good wind will throw all of your timings out the door and can even force a cancellation or at the very least a change in venue for your dive. Today was one of those days.
Lemme tell you I may have had a shower before I went on the boat but after the ride out to the Marsh this morning I did not need it. The water got a wee bit rough with a strong wind from the south west. We had some 5 foot swells and the water crashed over the boat in huge sprays. Needless to say us brave folks who like to dive wet didnt mind. However I will admit there was some shrinkage....man I was completly soaked.


Pictured above and beside me are 1 of the 3 guests we had from Toronto Hammerheads dive club out of ASU TO. When ever possible we like to help out folks from other clubs to discover our little fresh water paradise. Though we never intended them to get sea sick in the process.

Easily one of my favorite dives in the region the Marsh is as Adam put it a "Fairy Tale Wreck". This 3 masted schooner went down in around 80 feet of water with a full load of coal in her hold. At the bow of the ship a pristine bowspirt complete with lines and the stern is slightly damaged but still worth a look. The masts are all down and set at odd angles however one is in the middle of the boat on top of a smashed lifeboat for the sharp of eye. Thermocline was at 70 feet today with the algea cloud down to 20. You could easlily see half the ship when on the wreck at any one point in time.

The Glendora was our other choice for the day and apparently that of a few other charters. This is a great swimthrough dive as the hold is wide open and you can fit 3 divers side by each as they say on the rock. I never knew there was a gigantic stove in the middle of the ship though. Thats what the picture is. This was also a great time for the couples to get all romantic like and spend some quality quiet time under the waves. I am sure the serenity was appreciated by all.
Kevin and Joase`e (sp?):
Shaun and Lisa:
The rest of us:

Big thanks to NTD and Kingston Dive Charters for helping us get this charter in the water.
I think we made Harolds day with the soakers he gave us folks at the back of the boat.
More to come tommorow as we take the these city folk out for a sample of our shore diving sunday.

As allways keep blowing bubbles

1 is a lonely number

One is a lonely number so they say. Being the only guy in a 7mm wet suit, diving with a single alluminum 80 with 5 folks geared up in "Halcyon" harnesses, all in trilam dry suits, 3 in doubles running 32 mix Nitrox, 2 in oversized (117, 130) very high pressure steel tanks and 1 using a camera the size of a meduim class dog, should make us regular divers kinda squeamish. I say they are all weak and afraid to dive the old fashioned way. Ok maybe not to thier faces...

You dive with the gear you have now, not the gear you want but the bank wont let you have. Good diving partners will always get to know the skill level and the gear of thier buddy for the dive and adjust accordingly. I was lucky to have such a great dive team to work with. Scott, Kim, Giles, Tom and Chris and I all shared some good laughs at each others expense over my appearant old school techniques. Did I ever mention I was given an intro to diving in a horse collar then told never use it again on my open water course?


Wed night 6 of us managed to sneak in a great dive on an old Northern Tech Diver favorite. Frankly the wind started to pick up and we really didnt have much choice in the end. Kingston in my humble opinion is the worlds best fresh water diving spot, and the Munson is one of the best examples of the quailty of wrecks the region has to offer. She sits 110 feet of water when the river is running freely (I once was deeper earlier in the season). The water temp was a balmy 60F which for us folks in wet suits is very tolerable, and the visibilty at depth was easily 30-40 feet. Tom mentioned on the boat ride back this one of those wrecks he finds something new every dive and frankly I believe him.

No pics tonight my camera and I are having a lovers spat over battery life.

As allways keep blowing bubbles!

Matt