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.

Congratulations to Todd, who now does it deeper...

Todd is pictured before he completed the final dive for his PADI Deep Specialty. This puts him just one specialty away from achieving 'the Black Belt of Scuba Diving' - his Master Scuba Diver Certification.

Not much better then a nice evening swim 2 nights in a row

Its catch up time. After the summer that mostly wasnt, we finally managed to get some fantastic warm weather and with that comes even better diving. I tell all my out of town friends that Ktown is arguably the mecca of freshwater diving, with its abundance of wrecks, and reasonalby decent water conditions. So any chance to snag a dive is a good chance in my book!

This week the club snaged two evening dives. One at the Wolfe and the other on Howe islandThe other great thing is when you get to introduce new people to the diving around here. Everyone says the same thing " I never knew how good it was untill I saw it with my own eyes" or words to that effect.

To quote Scott "the Wolfe is like moms apple pie, allways good even when youve had to much" Info about this dive is all over the blogosphere in Kingston so I wont bore you with the details. Save one: Diving this boat is like diving down south - there are so many fish on this thing you could feed a small town in "insert 3rd world nation here". A good sized gang of us snaged a quick trip on Proteus to this river reef. Owen (on his first ever boat trip wreck dive in Ktown) and I even had the pleasure of seeing a small school of 5 sheepshead (2ft long fresh water drums) on the stern of the ship. They allways seem to hang around there and tonight was a great display.

If there is one lesson learned though its this: allways check your gear bag to make sure you have everything before you leave to dock. I know of a certain diver (me) who completly forgot his wet suit ( or fins or mask or other accoutrements) once many moons ago and had to borrow someone elses. Last nights escapade was someone elses to chance to forget thier gloves and fortunatly it was a short drive back to the docks. Dive saved!

Thursday night 4 of us snaged a quickie dive on Howe Island. This is a simple slow drift dive that does demand some planning on entry and exit. You need to know how to take a bearing and follow it or you will get lost. The highlight of the dive is a small barge with a few bricks it was carrying to peek at. Basic plan is go in head for 39 ft and there is a line along that contour heading east that (at least tonight) was in good shape. Approximatly 10 min into the dive you will find the wreck. You can go deep to 90 feet if you follow a south westerly route and I am told there is a wagon wheel along the way. to get back to the lighthouse you need to take a north westerly route then you should end up near the tower you came in by. Thank god we had a Master Corperal navigating or we would of been screwed!

We had the extra bonus of taking along a new member Ken on his first ever ontario dive and his 9th dive ever. For him this was a great intro into diving in the area. We hope to see him more as his truck can take a small armies worth of gear. Take the time when heading over to enjoy the ferry ride but be aware the price has gone up to $4.50 now as of april 1st 2009

Pics or it didnt happen:

Howe Island: Kevin, Jim, the barge in the dark, Ken, and the entry way.

The Wolfe Islander II

I am still learning (after a year and change) how to play with the lighting at depth with a remote flash unit. Not many of my pics have really turned out so far. Oh well guess I need to dive and practice more!

a couple of Marc-Etienne shots:

the perch and a fresh water drum.

As allways keep blowing bubbles!

Wow - a first in local waters...

There are days when what should be a pretty ordinary dive becomes something quite unusual. Today was one of them. It had been decided to make a trip out to the Cora Post. It's a site we hadn't visited for some time, so that seemed as good a reason as any. There was nothing extraordinary about the preparations, except perhaps noticing how low the water has become.

Anyway, first issue is the fact that we can't locate the guideline in the shallows. No problem, already agreed to drop to the 35' contour and follow it to the wreck. Of course, reaching 35' we pick up the line almost immediately, quite close to the wreck. At about the same time, both of us spot a large shape in the water, just off the bow. It turns out to be a very large Muskie, completely unimpressed with our presence. It swam gently across our path and exited the area.

With a water temperature of just 46℉ (6℃), we elected to spend just a few minutes on the wreck; long enough to notice though that the stern section is really broken down now. We follow the line back along the contour and discover that, where it used to turn NW to head for the shallows, it's broken. As we consider this, we spot, just to our left, in about 35' of water, a huge baitball of small fish. Almost perfectly cylindrical, with the fish circling briskly, it was about 20' high and 10-12' in diameter. The fish were about 2" long and short, with a silvery colour. Even after applying the exaggeration factor, there must have literally been thousands of them. I have never seen anything remotely like it in local waters - and only rarely in waters further south. A real treat. Just goes to show - it's always worth diving here - and every day has the potential to astonish and impress underwater.

Deep and Meaningful...

This weekend - blessed with excellent weather, if a little cold - provided the perfect opportunity to complete a Deep Diver specialty course for Kevin. It was accomplished with a final dive - to 94 feet - and the bottom of the Channel south of Howe Island directly below the light tower. This third dive in a series (Kevin's earlier Deep Adventure for Advanced certification was credited towards the specialty) included examination of light loss at depth and the imposition of a compulsory, 8-minute safety stop after simulating a No Decompression violation. A minute of this stop was spent breathing from an alternate air source.

The whole excursion was really enjoyable and made the more so by the sighting of a large and lazy Northern Pike on both the outbound and return journeys. Kevin later went on to lead a visiting friend, Claude, to the Cora Post.

Cora Post ...

Conditions were almost ideal today for a trip to the Cora Post. That is, if you disregard the abundance of weed that has infested the shallows, making location of the line a minor challenge. Once overcome, the three of us made it out to the wreck in good shape. We spent a few minutes in photographic tasks, then headed off South down the line that heads for deeper water. Imagine our surprise, when reaching what had previously been the termination of the line - at about 65', we discovered that it has now been extended. We turned around just past 75' and the line was still going...

Lots of Bass on the wreck today. The wreck itself is looking pretty sad. Water temperature at the deepest point reached - 54F (12C) and the visibility about 30'.

Cora Post ...

Thwarted by a strong Sou'wester from taking a boat out to one of the more interesting offshore wrecks this morning, Dianne, Theresa and I made a minor expedition to Howe Island for a dive on the Cora Post. Conditions there were fairly good. A moderate sea was little trouble, though it did send a light, downstream current through the shallows at the entry point; and clouds of green algae. Nevertheless, visibility was reasonable - at about 35 feet. The temperature gradient of the water was really apparent. Surface waters were showing 54F (12C), but the water at 60 feet was only 48F (9C). Mind you, this is a welcome change from a week or two ago.

There were no significant sightings during the dive. Gobies rule might be the cry...

Perhaps the most memorable event was being held back for 30 minutes at the Ferry, while they waited for an ambulance to arrive from somewhere in the Island's interior. The insult came when, loading it finally, they took the Ferry away without boarding any of us. In all, we spend about an hour in the intermittent sunshine speculating on the situation of the casualty - and other things. Oh well, that's life...

Another Advanced Diver joins the ranks...

Completing her Advanced Open Water Certification this afternoon with the mandatory Deep Dive, Dianne joins the ranks of the Club's more experienced divers. The dive, which took the Cora Post wreck on Howe Island as its start point, was a classic deep dive. The sloping bottom is a perfect reference for a diver ascending and descending from the 100 foot mark. The most striking aspect of the dive was the extraordinary play of light as the Sun came in and out. It was almost as if a switch was being thrown.

Otherwise, the dive was relatively undistinguished, with no particular challenges encountered. Water temperature was 39F (4C) and the air temperature 17C (63F). Visibility was really very good indeed - at about 40 feet. Time in the water, including a prolonged safety stop of 5 minutes - 58 minutes.

Deep delight on Howe Island...

Today provided an opportunity to test out some deeper waters off Howe Island. Chris and I ventured forth from the Cora Post to explore the opportunities the channel provides to take divers down to greater depths in a relatively controlled manner. This site is particularly good because the jumping off point from the Cora Post is already at 40 feet. A line has also been laid southwards, which connects with a tether at about 65 feet. We tied off to the tether and went South in search of deeper water. Our turn-around, as agreed in our plan, was at 80 feet. It was evident though that the bottom profile is ideal for a continuation to 100 feet - and probably more.

The lowest temperature recorded was 38F (3C) and visibility was about 35 feet. Marine life - algae aside - was distinctly limited. A couple of lazy Catfish were obliged to depart on our approach, but that was about it. We took the opportunity on the outward journey to clean both lines. They are now in excellent condition.

Back to the Brick Barge...

Given the sunshine and the relatively calm waters, Dianne and I took the opportunity to visit the Brick Barge (Cora Post) on Howe Island this afternoon. Yes, we ignored the other factors like snowdrifts, gale warnings and occasional flurries. Did I mention near freezing water temperatures as well...

But nothing matters when you get below the surface and enjoy the tranquillity of the underwater environment. Visibility was pretty fair at something like 30 feet and the line out was quickly and easily picked up and followed. There was a secondary aim for the day of taking Dianne down to 60 feet for the first time. Conveniently (and unexpectedly) we found that someone has placed a line down to about 65 feet from the South side of the wreck. Total dive time was just under 35 minutes and the water temperature 34F (1C). The air temperature, little helped by a brisk Westerly wind - was just on freezing.

And the dive was made all the more interesting by the sighting of a Pike in the shallows on the return leg..