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.

Three Wise Men ... ?

Wise or not, they all enjoyed the opportunity to get wet this evening to christen Kevin's new DUI Drysuit. That's the handsome-looking grey topped one. Great to see divers in the water - and greater still to see the looks of sheer disbelief on the faces of passers-by as the divers emerge from the still frigid waters...

Drysuits Rock..!

Today was the final dive of Suzanne's drysuit course and she completed it in Deadman Bay on the wreck of the Princess Charlotte. Cold water holds no terrors for the drysuited diver, but Ken, Suzanne's buddy was diving wet - and that's a different story altogether. Ken did really well to enjoy the 30 minutes or so of the dive - in 46℉ (8℃) water.

Before we entered the water, I had mentioned that this is a particularly good time of year to see turtles settling on the bottom of the Lake. Sure enough, up at the stern of the wreck, we encountered a very large Painted Turtle nestled in amongst the timbers. It showed no fear and we were careful to avoid disturbing it beyond taking a couple of pictures.

The pictures show that it's clearly possible to have fun in the water, even at this time of year.

Sunday Session at Morton's

Several divers took to the water at Morton's Wharf this morning, enjoying the calm conditions that this season brings. I was diving with Ben, a young man whose father I'd spent some time with in the water earlier this year. Ben proved to be a great buddy too. Todd, who's getting well into the Divemaster syllabus, accompanied and supported us. Ken and Suzanne were also diving, with Suzanne completing her first open water certifying dive for the drysuit specialty. Everyone had fun - and the visibility, somewhere between about 25 - 30 feet didn't hurt at all.

Some of us saw the large Pike which was also present last Thursday night. Bass were pretty commonplace. The water temperature remains the same as yesterday at 48℉ (7℃).

Many thanks to Todd for his picture of Ben and I.

Drysuit Day...

Now that the weather's turning colder and the water with it, it's time to turn to drysuits, if you haven't already. Mario selected the Drysuit Adventure as one of his AOW dives and today presented the opportunity to complete it. He was joined by Steve Liu, who enjoyed the experience just as much in his superb, previously-owned DUI suit. We went out of Navy Bay off the boat launch ramp by St Lawrence Pier for just over 30 minutes. The water temp was 57℉ (14℃) and the visibility about 40 feet. An oddity on this dive - although it was conducted about an hour before sunset- was the large number of Catfish seen.

Ain't Vacation grand ?

Kim and Scott were caught at KPH breaking in his new (and very good looking) drysuit, something that wouldn't normally be possible, but both are on vacation right now, and they know what to do with holiday time.. Conditions couldn't have been calmer, but I wasn't able to stay and get the post-dive report. Hopefully, they enjoyed a close encounter with the very large Sheepshead that's been haunting the rocks on the ascent and exit point...

A dry Whites

With the nice weather today not many would think of diving in a dry suit. That being said about 20 club members took advantage of diving in new Whites dry suits. There were a few first time dry suit divers who enjoyed diving with out getting totally wet. Generally groups of four went out to the stop sign and back in about 35mins. The visibility was good considering all the divers in the water. I have to say that I was impressed with the fusion dry suit. It is a great suit that does not require a lot of extra thought. The water temperature was 46F/8C but I felt very warm in the dry suit. The max depth that we obtained was in the area of 50 ft. I must say it was great to see so many people from the club out and diving and a thanks needs to go to Adam for organizing the rep to come down and to the Whites rep for taking time out of his schedule to see us.