"Blizzard-Like" Conditions on the Munson...

Of all the things I have experienced in my lifetime, I would never have thought I would experience an underwater blizzard... That is exactly what the conditions were like on the Munson tonight...

Jim, Gaetan, Josée and I were fortunate enough that the winds died down this evening, and Anne from Kingston Dive Charters took us out for a dive. Wave action on the surface was a bit choppy, and we experienced some current going down the mooring line. As we approached the 100 ft mark, I was asking myself: "Where the heck is the wreck ? It should be around here somewhere ?!?" Gaetan zoomed past me, and inadvertently slammed into the bottom.. that's how bad the visibility was. Once our eyes got used to the low-lighting, we slowly began to make out the shape of the wreck 5 feet in front of us. Visibility was down to maybe 3-5 feet WITH our high-powered canister lights... oh, and I forgot to mention the CURRENT... On the upper deck, we had to continually frog-kick to stay in one spot, looking at the artifacts placed here-and-there on the wreck. With all the silt and particulate moving in the water and across our light beams, it literally seemed as if there was heavy blowing snow going across the wreck. Penetration inside was tricky as well because of current pushing us into the lower beams inside the lower portion of the barge.

After 30 minutes of bottom time on Enriched Air Nitrox 32, it was time to try and find the elusive mooring block (yes, the viz was really that bad). Finding it on our second tour around the wreck, we slowly ascended the line. I will openly admit that this was one dive that I physically came up the line one hand over the other, holding on because of the poor conditions we were encountering..

Hopefully, over the next few days, the sediment caused by our heavy winds, rains and run-off from land will settle and allow some better diving conditions for those of us who will be enjoying a nice 4-day weekend. HAPPY CANADA DAY EVERYONE!!!!

A Day of Dives....

WOW, WOW, and WOW ... is what is best said about this day of dives. It has only taken this long, to blog the clubs "1st of the year" 3 Tank Charter this past weekend, for one thing and one thing only. It has taken this long to get over the awe of this terrific adventure. A big thanks goes out to our Events Coordinator and Proteus Dive Charter to make this one a big hit. It isn't very often you get a chance to see any of these wrecks let alone all 3 of them in the same day.

The choices were made, and with the weather being favorable, we were treated to the City of Sheboygan, Katie Eccles. and the Olive Branch. Again the size of these Schooners is nothing but amazing. You really do have to wonder what kind of storm was brewing the day these ships were put to the bottom of Lake Ontario. Sadly lives too were lost on the City of Sheboygan and the Olive Branch.

A fate many of these great Schooners tell. One thing is for sure. When you get out to the site of the Olive Branch you really do get a feel for the size of the lake.

As you approach the surface marker you see Main Duck Island to the left, and False Duck Island to the right. At this point you realize you really are, a long way from shore and very close to being out in the middle of lake. The rain held off long enough for us to enjoy our surface intervals on the deck relatively dry. I can hardly wait till the next time the chance arises to visit these Schooners again. Let alone to see what is planned for us on the next 3 Tank Charter booked for Sunday 15 August. As for this Charter, Just awesome. The pictures say it all...

Time to get Wet Baby!

Wet Suit Season has begun =)

Short post folks but heres the Skinny (something I've never been accused of!)

Waters warm enough for wet suits, and this sad excuse for a seal shed his dry suit for a 61 minute dip at the Marine Museum today. Mark-Etienne and myself got pretty lucky with an afternoon off and the chance for a nice leisurly dive with favorable weather up top. The great weather made me pause for the oppurtunity to go wet, something I personaly prefer diving, due to the exended range of movement a wet suit offers. I think my computer is broken becuase it registered me at 40 feet for 61 minutes. Now I know the lake has risen some since the recent rains. The lake has likley also let some extra water volume in via the canals that connect to Superior, however it was still a surprise. I allways thought the barge was 36 feet on average. Vis was not so hot, mostly around 10-20 feet in different areas, and you could clearly see mini thermocline cloud at 20 feet. The Temp below never got below 62F and mostly hovered at 66. Dont ask about yesterday when I felt like a land locked seal pretending to "golf" in the morning during the morning monsoon we had. I was so wet I went home and got swiming shorts on for the remainder of the golf day after the 1st hole. I wished this dive wouldnt end, but at 700 psi and an hour under it was time to call it a day.

2 pics just to prove I was wet today from M-E:

Yours in fun safe diving.

Matt the knife guy

Equipment available...

A good friend of the Dolphins, local diver Steve Biggs has decided to hang up his fins and he has quite a lot of good things available for sale. Click here if you are interested in viewing his offerings.

Another Club Friday Night Charter Rocks!!!!!

Tonight, some of the club's Executive members,Gaetan, Kevin, Matt and myself with Marc-Etienne took advantage of another Wednesday night cancellation /reschedule to a Friday night club dive. The pick for this week was the George A. Marsh. She is always a real treat to dive on. A 1800's built 3 masted schooner in very good shape. Tonight we had a chance to take a very close and detailed look of her, from bow to stern. With a bottom time of 47 minutes (Eanx 32) a bottom temp. of 48 f, and vis around 40 ft. This is a dive that must be given the opportunity to be logged in ever diver's log book. I am always in

awe when diving on this wreck, not just of her sheer size but of the history that comes with her. When diving on any of these great ships where lives were taken at the time of there fate. I always wonder just what kind of storm her crew were faced with, to sink something of such size. We couldn't begin to imagine battling waves 30 ft and greater or squall's that would appear as fast as they would diminish, which the great lake would put boats like the George A. Marsh to the challenge. Tonight fortunately the lake was good to us divers, we had little wind going out to the site, and the water was flat and calm. Another awesome dive, wow. The pictures again say it...

Temperature Survey..

The picture shows the results of a quick review of minimum temperatures recorded in the Lake in 2007. I'd like to do something similar this year, but I need input from all our divers. Could you please drop me a line with the lowest temp you see on each dive. I will compile a table and provide the output at year's end.

100 - and he doesn't look a day older..!

Last night marked a major milestone in Marc-Etienne's diving. He made his hundredth logged dive - at Morton's Wharf. It was a mark of his reputation and standing in the Club that most of the Executive turned out to join him, and several other members besides, for a total of 10 divers in the water. Calm, mild surface conditions could have led us to believe that we should expect excellent visibility, but it wasn't the case. Curiously enough, we had only about 10-15 feet. But, the mild temperatures more than made up for it - and if you turned your gaze upwards - the outline of the Wharf was beautifully defined against the night sky. Everyone spent about 40 minutes in the water hunting wildlife, largely unsuccessfully, though a large school of Perch was seen almost immediately in the weed beds in the shallows at the entry point, and a probable Carp was also spotted later.

Many congratulations to Marc-Etienne. Matt will provide pictures later of the happy diver - and the commemorative certificate he was presented during a deco stop at the Portsmouth Tavern..

A venture to the Kinghorn

Well this past Sunday saw members of the executive venture to the Kinghorn in Rockport. A dive that was in the longing for a photo opportunity. With very little convincing the plan was put into motion, and we were on our way. Kevin, Josee, Jim, Gaetan and myself made it to the docks in Rockport. Point to note here, this time of year don't expect to get in the water and dive this wreck from shore. As we learned there is no, swimming, snorkeling, or scuba during the summer season. So we opted to do a survey of a keel of one of the dive boats, well once in the water, we managed to navigate and squeak by the docks to the line leading out to the wreck. After a leisurely swim we were on the wreck. Vis was better than 50 ft, and with a bottom temp. of 57 F you couldn't ask for much more. Jim decided to venture into the Kinghorn, where I took advantage of the light for some good photo's. Kevin, Josee, and Gaetan took a detailed look as they swam around wreck, keeping a watchful eye out for the sturgeon that had been reported in the area. We ended the dive with a total time under water of 51 minutes. The Dive was one that was thoroughly enjoyed by all, and will be repeated in late fall.

It must be mentioned here, that this dive must be looked at, as an advanced level dive. Sling bottles, and double's set ups, should be heavily considered for this site. Due to boat traffic it should almost be looked at, as an over head environment. As well, keep a watchful eye on your no decompression limits. Other than that, another awesome dive. The pictures say it all...

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!

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...

Deep Delights..

This evening saw the opportunity to complete Josée's Deep Adventure on the wonderful Munson wreck. Conditions couldn't have been better. The Lake was calm, there was barely any current perceptible on the wreck, and visibility was great. Josée had no difficulty coping with the dive or the tasks involved in assessing for nitrogen narcosis. All in all, it was a really good experience for the five divers who enjoyed the trip.

Jim found it the perfect opportunity to test the new Dive Rite LED canister light he has acquired, and it passed with flying colours. The other broad smile in evidence belonged to Gaétan, who can't stop himself getting excited about the transformation he has enjoyed in moving to drysuit diving with his Signature Series DUI suit.

Although several of us believed that we saw 50℉ (10℃) on the bottom, the computer doesn't lie, and mine actually recorded a minimum of 46℉ (8℃).

Free Charters Rock..

There's nothing quite like a free charter to bring a smile to divers' faces. That might account for the broad grins on the faces of several Club members who were amongst the 14 divers generously treated to a free trip to the Munson by Kingston Dive Charters just for being members of Preserve Our Wrecks, Kingston. The trip took place on Sunday, June 6th and was judged a great success by all concerned, even if there was a bit more current on the wreck than most are accustomed to experiencing.

Many thanks to Harold and Anne for providing this opportunity to dive one of our fair City's signature wrecks - and to all those who came along. Their presence alone was testament to their support for local wreck preservation and maritime heritage awareness.

No bubbles... newbie troubles

     Well I finally took Dave Fraser up on his offer to try one of his Russian Navy rebreathers.  Since they run on O2, and have a MOD of 30', Portsmouth Harbor seemed like a good place to go.  Simplistic, and all mechanical in design it looked darn near diver proof.  On the plus side, you can get real close to marine life, without scaring them off, a little less weight on your back and one small tank of O2 can last up to four hours.  On the down side, any little change in depth can effect you buoyancy dramatically.  Although I didn't crash into the bottom, nor explode to the surface, I felt like I was up and down like a toilet seat.  Kind of reminded me of the first time I put a BC on and tried to get neutrally buoyant.

     It was definitely an experience I'll remember, but not something I'd recommend to anyone  new to diving, to try.  It isn't even something I'm rushin' out to buy.  (Pardon the pun).

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.....