Pumpkin DIvers' pictures on Flickr..

Tom Rutledge has been good enough to post some of the great shots he took this morning at the Marine Museum's Pumpkin Dive on his Flickr site. Click here to see them.

Happy 100th Eric..!

Eric celebrated Canada Day yesterday and his 100th dive today. Great way to keep the weekend alive. His occasion was celebrated by the Club members pictured - and by Todd and Gaétan, who, although unable to dive, turned out to mark the occasion. The whole party spent more than 45 minutes in and around the Marine Museum Barge and the nearby logs.

A Taste of True Ice Diving

Well it's that time of year for those who didn't travel south, take up Ice Diving. You can only dive Upper Brewers Mills so many times before you succumb to Lake Ontario's beckoning. This past weekend, a few of us had to venture into old territory well new in some aspects, as the photos will prove. (courtesy of Mike)

The weekend started with a dive Saturday morning at the Marine Museum. Once we had a hole made, we geared up and went under the Ice. We were all pleasantly surprised at just how great the Vis really was.

I would have to say we were looking at 100 ft of Vis. We used a cave line anchored at the hole and went on our dive.

Sunday's dive turned out to be a repeat of the Saturdays dive. With the exception of Mike bringing out his camera and expertise. He has proven once again that a tripod is worth its weight in gold. Proving a small aperture with a slow shutter speed gives you the best shot, but a tripod is a must.

The only exception was, Sunday seemed to be a little cooler than the previous day. The water temperature in the lake was definitely the coldest dive to date that I have ever dove. A cool 32 f. that's right, FREEZING cold. A point to consider here. An environmentally sealed and balanced 1st stage regulator is a very wise choice. All in all, the weekend of ice diving was an enjoyable weekend. The Marine Museum never looked so good.

Shad-tastic..!

It's not entirely clear just what species we encountered in the waters near the Marine Museum yesterday and today, but what's quite certain is that we enjoyed an experience that is rare in local water. This link will take you to video that shows just what we were privileged to enjoy. So numerous were the fish, and so intent on shoaling, that they actually collided with the divers. If you listen carefully, on a couple of occasions you can hear a fish bump into the camera housing.

Happy New Year everyone!

In his element...

Some dives are just more gentle and relaxing than others. Today's dive, with Gaétan, was one of those special ones. We didn't see anything remarkable, though there was an encounter with a large Carp. We didn't do anything special, though we did repair the line out to the barge at the Marine Museum. But, we did enjoy a really slow, 'smell the roses' kind of experience that all of us relish from time to time. Two fairly capable divers, comfortable in each other's company, always aware of each other's position and totally chilled - for 65 minutes. Too cool!

The ambition had been to get some decent shots of the iron latticework under the pier at the entry point, but low viz pretty much put paid to that, so the dive passed quietly with a few hero shots, a tour of the barge and a look at the logs. The only complaint might be that it's too darn hot getting into your drysuit before the dive. If that's the only issue - I can live with it - roll on the Winter though. Can't wait to get our visibility back.

BTW - pay close attention to the picture above. This may be a rare sighting of a hoodless Gaétan...

Double Century for Gaétan..

Monday evening saw Gaétan undertake his 200th dive - at the Marine Museum. He was in good company, though many more of his friends would have liked to attend. They were otherwise engaged. The accompanying group pretty much covers the hardier divers from the Club, who make it their business, in many cases year-round, to keep diving.

Many congratulations to the main man! May the next 200 come quickly - and in warmer water - for some at least..

Its like Safari diving out there!

It seems like the last few dives have been just like the old Mutual of Omaha wildlife shows of the 70s. The weeds are like forests and the bottom can be full of algae. The plus side of this is the life in the lake is never as good as it is now. One of our intrepid divers mentioned its like swiming in a fish bowl. The highlight for me was last night at the Museum where kristie and myself ran into a catfish attempting to dine on a poor lake shad. I managed to get a couple of shots of it and you can see where the bite marks were on it. It wasn't swiming too well and I figure he didnt make it far but than that's life in the wild! I wont deny the visibility is not the greatest but with a keen eye you can see walleye, sheepshead, and more if your carefull. Water temps have fluctuated between 75-65F down to 20 feet, however at 100 feet its 55F. Visibility in all areas has been grim but feasible with approximately 15 feet at the 20 foot depth and between 20 to 40 at 60 or more depth. Did I mention weeds? This afternoon Mike Jack and myself treated ourselves to a bit of old school bushwhacking navigation for a 78 minute dive to see but the Regent and the Charlotte in one swim on an alluminum 80 no less.
One last thing the Dolphins are now on Facebook, look for CFB Kingston Dolphin Scuba club and if you like, hit 'Like Us'! Less talk more pics I say:
1. Gaétan at the Wharf in the Haze, 2. The AAA guns of Mortons Wharf, 3. Marc-Etienne looking to snap a rather large bass.

4. Mike Bushwhacking at deadmans bay, 5 and 6. The shad that Escapes death by the hands of a catfish. You can see the bite marks on the shad.

Yours in Fun Safe diving
Matt C

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!

Sunday Morning Dive

This morning four of us made it out for a 30 minute dive to the barge at the Marine Museum. It was great to see the line right off the end of the incline still attached. No fish were seen on the dive. We spent 30 minutes in the water making it out to the barge and back. The timing seemed perfect for the one wetsuit diver that was with us. The water temperature that we had on the dive was 48-50 F (9-10c). The water is definitely warming up and I am sure that will mean the different sites will be busy as the season starts.

Too busy diving =P

Thats my excuse and I'm sticking to it!
Its been a hectic couple of weeks of intense underwater time so far, and I expect it to get even better. For those of us who have the gear for colder waters this is the best Vis I've ever seen for around here. Water temps have hovered around 40-45F though so Dry suits are really the only way to go, unless your Marc-etteine who dives semi dry.
Pretty much all of the Exec has managed to sneak in a dive during this unusual weather. Visits to KGH, the Marine Museum, Howe Island, Nicholsons Point, Navy and Deadmans Bays, and the Stacked Hulls are just a small selection of great dives we have got in so far! Every day has had some fantastic visibility, todays trip to KGH was at least 50 feet, and yesterdays was more.

If you can sneak a dive in nows the time for sure!

Pics: Gaétan and the Turtle, a Mud Puppy Salamander at the MM, Pike with food in its sights at the MM!

Kristie Mckay just sneaking in for her 1st swim with her newly fixed dry suit at the MM, the Cora Post, and G spotting the turtle just off to right of the picture in the distance in Deadmans Bay.

I usualy like to leave a little note for the serious side: problems on a dive, it doesnt really matter what they are, as long as you can exit the water safely and joke about it later its all good times. Hoses come loose, bouyancy can be mistaken, folks can run out of air, tanks slide out of the strap, masks can get cracked, hell I've seen or experienced a hockey sock of events under water over the course of my dive career that didnt go as planned, and in every case as long as you can keep your cool, remember your training and can get help from a buddy it will work out just fine. If you have to call a dive becuase things arnt going right theres no shame, better that then a small problem turning into a huge accident! Now a good buddy check before you go in can sort out most of those issues but occasionaly stuff happens under water and you just gotta deal with it. The second big thing is get back in the water as soon as you can safely with a good buddy you trust to conquer that monkey on your back if it shows its head.
Its times like that when I remember my old bosses motto - Fun Safe diving. If you can keep it like that you cant go wrong!

Matt the knife guy

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...

Talk on the plight of the American Eel

There will be a talk by a biology professor from Queen's at the Marine Museum on Sunday, February 21st, beginning at 2pm. The subject, one of a Winter series dealing with environmental issues, is the American Eel. This beautiful and graceful creature used to be very numerous in Lake Ontario, but divers are lucky nowadays to have a sighting a year. Come and listen to the talk to discover the reasons - or to learn what hypotheses are being advanced for the disappearance of the Eel, which used to sustain a whole fishing industry down river.

Sometimes you just have to get wet...

Kevin got back from Meaford last night and had diving in his mind all night. This afternoon, he dragooned some company (essentially folk who didn't have the desire to go any great distance for their diving) and took a plunge around the Marine Museum. The picture says it all - one happy camper !


Matt (Mr Awesome) was one of those who willingly accepted the offer to dive. He was tempted by Kevin's promise of a Long Nosed Gar sighting. More fool him.. none was seen on this dive, despite checking out the area of previous occurrences. What the two of them did manage to scare up - right at the end of the dive - was a big, lazy Northern Pike.

For the record books, the water is still 52℉ (11℃). Visibility was generally poor; only to be expected after yesterday's torrential rain and gale force winds. The other bad news is that the weeds beside the ramp at the Museum bay are still pretty robust, although they are brown and dying.

Oh what a night..!

On Marc-Etienne's suggestion, several of us made a night dive this evening from the ramp by the Marine Museum. Six divers had fun venturing out to the barge in rather limited visibility and then returning to tour the logs. The predominant fish species seen, if you ignore the overwhelming number of Gobies always present, was Catfish. Many of them were swimming around in the rather murky water. A couple of decent Walleye were also spotted under the ramp supports during the final minutes, and many pretty large Perch were around too.

It's been a while since I've been out to the barge and it was good to see that the line is intact and the wreck itself makes an interesting tour. Somehow, by night it seems larger.

Todd had a chance to try out his new light, which is an LED model with three 'bulbs'; very bright and effective - no missing him in the water. Total dive time about 40 minutes.

Ain't Raining? Still Training...

Now that things are getting a little quieter, there's been the opportunity to catch up on some training. Today a refresher in underwater navigation was offered. Only one Club member took advantage of this, but I think that they benefited. It was certainly fun to run through some of the basics and then to put them into practice underwater. The dive presented the opportunity to take Todd on his Underwater Navigation Adventure; a mandatory component of his Advanced Open Water course. The dive was fun, with all the exercises completed well - and a chance to see some of the sights around the Marine Museum Bay. A large Pike was cruising the logs, probably threatening the well being of a shoal of small Perch living in the weeds below the slip.

Signing gear in and out this weekend at the Club, it was noticeable how active and successful it seems to be. There were literally no tanks sitting idle - and the large quantities of excellent new gear are obviously attracting more custom. Well done to all the members who are making the Club work - and to those who are getting some diving in.... It's what we're all about.

Picture credit to Marc-Etienne...

Piping Hot - NOT !

Despite heaving seas and blustery, freezing winds, three of us ventured into the Lake today to begin to answer some questions about the intake pipeline that used to serve Kingston's pump house on Ontario Street. This research is being undertaken for a group that previously restored the Phoebe and is now working on the historic pump house itself. Much is known about the pipeline, but the group are interested in confirming their understanding of the original plans and reports. Today's work focused on measuring the intervals at which the iron pipe (with a 2' diameter) used connecting flanges. Interestingly, the flanges are not uniform; two distinct types were seen. The second type, which appears on every third connection, it seemed, has a conical section and is much thicker than the other, more common joint. It was also a revelation to discover that the pipe's shore-side end is completely disconnected - and open. Other interesting sightings - a large Carp and several Bass. The visibility - thanks to the fairly tempestuous waters driven by a strong, southerly wind - was only about 30' and the water temperature 41℉ (5℃).

Checking out the Marine Museum Barge...

This evening presented a great opportunity to get wet with Kevin and Gaetan at West St. Conditions were great and we entered the water just beside Ahoy Rentals. Kevin was keen to practice navigation and led a faultless dive across to the corner of the pier and on to the barge, where we completed a circuit before reversing our course for an exit at West St Ramp. Conditions in the water were good, though the viz could have been better. It was about 20 feet over most of the range. There weren't many exciting sightings, though a large Sheepshead was spotted near the logs on the return journey and a Pike was cruising the shallows on the ramp; something that is entirely typical of this area. There were also a lot of Bluegills on and around the car below the ramp. Water temperature was a balmy 70°F (21°C).

Double Dipping

Today Matt, Sebastien, Andrew, and myself attempted to get two dives in before noon. After meeting at the club for 9 am we made our way to the HMS Princess Charlotte. We spent a little over 30 mins in the water in the enjoyable warm water. we were all in 3 mm suits with no hoods. After I steered the group in the wrong direction for a bit we came upon an interesting debris field that will require another visit and closer inspection. After our dive we headed towards the marine museum. We spent almost 40 mins in the water. the visibility here was noticeable worse as we had close to 10 ft. We made our way to the barge but the line looks to have frayed and broke but is still quite usable. During our dives we spotted a variety of fish from pike to gobies and just about everything in between. Over all I can not think of a better way to spend a nice sunny warm Sunday morning then diving. The coldest we had the water was 70f/21c.

Enjoying the Barge

This morning 5 of us made it out to the marine museum for a quick 30 min swim. We entered by the boat ramp right behind the apartment buildings and followed the line out to the barge. Various fish were seen on our travel back and forth. The highlights were the giant sized pike and cat fish that was spotted on the way back. Visibility was not real great ranging in the area of 15-20ft. The temperature continues its upward climb as we had 63f/17c at 40 feet. Todays dive was a nice way to start of a Sunday morning.

I Declare this Lake Open...

Yesterday, on a visit to Portsmouth, there was substantial ice cover all along the shore. But today, after strong overnight winds, the situation was completely changed. A visit to RMC's St Lawrence Pier revealed the Southern side to be completely free of ice. Examination of the West St Ramp also showed the ice to have disappeared offshore. Of course, caution is essential during this period, when drifting ice, propelled by the prevailing winds, can catch an unwary diver out by cutting off his exit point. Today produced perfect conditions for making a first foray back into the Lake though. Entry at West St started a 30 minute expedition out to the Barge and back. Visibility was limited to about 20' - and occasionally less. The only signs of life were the occasional tracks made by the mudpuppies in the silt. Water temperature, unsurprisingly, was only 34F (1C). Bright sunshine and a temperature of 2C (36F) ashore made the preparations relatively straightforward.