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

When the going gets hot even the tough go wet

Ok so thats not how its supposed to read but throw me a bone here ...

Summer is really here now for at least another week. Seems like the rain is going to stay away for a little while. What a great reason to get in the water. 2 dives this weekend by members of the DSC. On Saturday we did a commemorative dive at the Alexander Henry to celebrate its 50th anniversary. I hear the Kingston Brew Pub is making a beer called Icebreaker to go along with the festivites. Mmmmmmm beer ... oh right blog here...I wonder if it helps folks get dates too? (Insert laugh track here) Mike, Dianne, Adam Kevin, Marg, and I did come community work for POW (Preserve Our Wrecks Kingston). Marg, Kevin, and myself did demo dives, albeit at 2 different times.

The ship is in perma dock now and is used as a bed and breakfast, however the water below goes to 19 feet. Not much to see but some weeds a few small perch and bass. Though there are some cool crates on the port side of the ship, and if you look right under the ship there was a very cool layered algae cloud that looked kind of creepy. I found out quickly I was diving with the curator of the museum, which added to the fun.

Adam had us try out the full face mask system with comms system and we got to play with a remote camera system as well. The masks are neat and take some time to get used to and are nothing like those full helmet systems that commercial divers use. I think I need more practice with the comms as i was pretty much completely un-intelligble (then normal) to everyone up top.

Now for title of the blog today:

I never knew Mike, Kevin, Jim, or Marg had a wet suit, nor for that matter half the other members of the club. You see ever since I started diving with this crew not a single person other then Kim in September ever wore one. The only ones with them were the "newer divers" and the students. I just always thought they were afraid of the water. I guess it takes a scorchingly hot and sunny 35 degree Celcius day and a small bucket of sweat from putting on the gear to make them break out the old school stuff. I even managed to catch one of them without a hood! imagine the shock I had.

I pick on them because it's fun. I often warn divers that its better to be slightly cold then over warm. Today's dive is a perfect example. In the 20 foot water column it was 78F and even I took my 7mm hood off. I needed it because at 90 feet we had passed 3 thermoclines and lemme tell you my 2 mm hands were a slight tinge short of blue. However in the warm water it was too much. I can not tell you the amount of divers who I have seen never dive again after a heat stroke like effect from over dressing.

10 of us took part in the Sunday Club (tm patent pending). We had a long leisurely drive down the winding shoreline road to Nicholsons Point (just outside of Bath) for a dip in the also warm waters. This dive is good for both Open water and Advanced divers. The dive features a line that goes straight south and leads down 90 feet deep at a 10-15 foot drop off or ledge. Not a whole heck of a lot to see today but folks did talk about a couple of carp in the shallows and a few large mouth bass. No long nose gar either...
Oh and a couple of very odd looking fish with no hood....
pics or it never happened:
The Alex Henry on top:

Ben the curator with cool full face mask riggins:

The spooky algea:

Ben with the Remote camera:

The Ledge at 90 feet:

The Elusive Mikeosaurus Rex with no hood:

As Allways keep blowing bubbles!

Picnic the perfect Pick-Me-Up...

Under sunny skies, with excellent water conditions (if you ignore a slightly chilly edge to the temperature) the annual Treasure Hunt and Picnic went off today with a very high level of attendance. More than 20 divers participated and there were at least 30 members present altogether. Kim and Scott did a wonderful job of pulling the whole event together. Their efforts on the catering front deserve special mention. The food was delicious and the home-made cookies and other delights just made the day. It was particularly good to see youngsters present. I think that Sophie, a babe in arms, took the prize for youngest of all.

The diving was good, despite a silty layer deposited by morning rain. One group was lucky enough to spot a Long-Nosed Gar. The accompanying picture was captured by Marc-Etienne.



As always, the occasion proved to be the rallying point for some members who have been away - or whose gear doesn't suit the colder weather diving. It was great to see them back in the water.

Dive 'n Dine - again...

It takes energy to keep a dive club going - and Ashley's idea of getting together for a dive and then enjoying a late season, informal barbecue at Nicholson's Point was an excellent example of the way to go. Although only a few people managed to get out, it was very clear that they thoroughly enjoyed the experience of soaking up Autumn sunshine at the water's edge after a decent dive outing. The dive also presented the opportunity for Mario to complete his Deep Adventure on the way to completing Advanced Open Water certification. His dive was flawless. Once again, it's evident that the water is turning colder. This should be no surprise given the cold nights we're 'enjoying'. The low temperature, below a 70' thermocline, was somewhere around 53℉ (12℃). The visibility though, at the greater depths, is in excess of 40 feet now.

The Thin Red Line..

A gentle dive at Nicholson's Point today, where a red, nylon line leads off from about the 35' mark to deeper waters. The three of us making the dive followed this down to around 80' for want of anything interesting to observe. One interesting phenomenon noticed though was a very clear silt layer over the cooler, deeper water. This hung like a dirty grey pall over the bottom. As always, the striking contrast between sunlit spells and the shadow periods was very evident. The Gobies were everywhere in the shallow, rock-strewn portions of this site - and completely unperturbed by divers' presence.

Perhaps the most entertaining element of this dive was watching a young Springer Spaniel bitch retrieving a tennis ball from the water with all the enthusiasm only a 'teenager' can muster for pointless exercise...

Water temperature at depth - 48F (9C), with visibility, at best, about 40'.