It takes more than a broken arm...

As the attached composite picture (created by Gaetan) shows, it takes more than a minor injury to keep some of our members from a try-out night. Thanks to Adam and all who assisted him, the event on Saturday night was a great success. See more pics on our Flickr site (link to the right).

Nautical Archaeology Training Course Available...

Members are reminded that vacancies are available on a Nautical Archaeology Level One course to be held in Kingston over the weekend of May 2/3. Instruction will be given by members of Parks Canada's Underwater Archaeology Service and the cost of the package will not exceed $200. This certification gives a great insight into ship construction, archaeological principles, survey techniques and methods as well as legal frameworks governing our activities underwater. It is highly recommended, even if you do not intend to undertake survey work. If you do, it is an invaluable foundation to that work. An application form can be downloaded by clicking here. It should be completed and returned by April 20th, if you wish to take the course.

Try-Out evening re-scheduled...

The chance to try out new gear configurations, different equipment and the like, which was postponed last weekend due to a technical problem, has been re-scheduled for this Saturday evening, March 28th between 7 and 9 pm.

Drop Adam Rushton, the coordinator for this event, a line, if you intend to come along...

Scuba Olympic Video..

Thanks to Kevin LeBlanc, who dedicated most of his morning last Sunday to capturing video of the Scuba Olympics, here's a few minutes of highlights to enjoy...

Try-Out Evening Postponed...

The try-out evening scheduled for Saturday, March 21st had to be postponed after the pool was closed for cleaning following a fouling incident. These things are sent to try us - and another date will be arranged once consultations have taken place with all concerned.

To those who may not have received the warning e-mail sent out before the evening - and who may have gone along only to be disappointed - a sincere apology...

Scuba Olympics - another great success...

Pictures - and even video - may flow through later, but here's a short report on the Club's annual Scuba Olympics event. A total of 10 divers participated - about average for the time of year. Five members of the training staff saw to it that everything ran smoothly, with the final event, underwater frisbee, finishing with just five minutes of the pool session remaining. Two more Club members undertook to record the activities for posterity, so the actual tally of members was 19.

Divers geared up, checked their buoyancy and then competed in four events: A relay bucket race; no fins running event - on the pool bottom; blindfold treasure hunt and obstacle course, which severely challenged skills. Judging by the smiles and laughter - on the surface anyway, it was fun for everyone involved. The generosity of various supporters from the local dive community allowed us to send all the participants away with some sort of prize.

Next event for the Club - a try-out evening on Saturday the 21st of March from 7 - 9 pm. Come along and try out a variety of equipments like side-mount rig, backplate, full-face mask and so on...

SOS announce NAS training opportunity...

Save Ontario Shipwrecks have just announced a great leap forward in the business of underwater archaeological training in the Province. In a landmark deal with the Nautical Archaeology Society, they have gained permission to run courses under NAS auspices in Ontario. This is a really welcome development. Resources for training have been significantly lacking in recent years, despite the best efforts of government agencies at all levels and interested avocational groups like SOS and POW. The news release announcing the development can be downloaded by clicking here.

One musketeer, two musketeers.. but where is number three ?...

Shelving our plans to go cut a hole in the ice at the Brule Road Quarry because of our 3rd Musketeer going MIA under unforeseeable circumstances, Mike and I decided to brave the pounding surf and ice for a dive off of the Psych Hospital dock. As you can see in the picture, the entry point was massively crowded with ice shards being blown into shore by a South-West wind. Ducking our heads under the pounding surface, we could hear a loud cacophony of ice pieces churning in the waves.. A gentle swim out to the stop sign produced an encounter with a Long-Nosed Gar, a rare sightings in our Kingston waters. The long-snouted fish allowed me to creep up close to him to get a couple of shots. He then gracefully swam away, aiming towards the surface. A couple more pics at the stop sign, and it was time to turn around. Returning to shore, and to our amazement, most of the ice had drifted away from our exit point but not without leaving a large cloud of silt in it's wake around the pier. Visibility for most of the dive was about 40 feet, with the water temperature dipping below 34 deg F. Total dive time, 30 minutes.

Another day, another dive...

So, another year, another dive under the weightbelt...

Today was a little special. It marked my first thousand dives since certification. It was an elegant coincidence to have it fall on New Year's Day and I'm very grateful to those who shared the waters of Lake Ontario with me on a very cold, if pleasantly sunny day. The venue wasn't really important, but for the record, we visited the wreck off Murney Tower.

Special thanks are due to my buddy, Dianne, who not only braved the frigid waters once again, but also provided a wonderful cake and some mulled wine with which to celebrate the occasion.

Surf's Up...

When you have your heart set on a dive sometimes it just doesn't matter what the weather's doing. Jim had a yen to dive the KGH wreck this morning, so despite heavy seas and a really strong wind, off we went. As we'd expected, besides driving a very gentle current along, conditions below the surface, after yet another surf entry, were surprisingly good. It was a more than worthwhile trip, because the line was getting quite dirty, and right out on the last 100' or so, it was actually silted over, which might have confused a diver unfamiliar with the site.

Visibility, while only about 20' in the shallows, improved significantly to something like 40-50' at the wreck. The water seemed warmer than of late at about 36℉ (2℃). Several large, lazy Bass were present amongst the timbers of the wreck - and they seemed curious about their visitors - or perhaps just hungry.

Our exit was quite exciting. A squall was passing through just as we arrived back on shore. It's distinctly different to be bodysurfed about 6' at a time as you approach your exit, which was conducted on hands and knees..! Ah, the joys of Winter diving.