Its a small current he says..... (or - Is that Prescott we just passed...?)

Sunday dives this season have been all about exploration and discovering new things for me. This week the 6 of us, including one of our newer members (Dave), decided to travel to Brockville. Funny thing about Brockville, when you enter the "historic part" the gas prices jump 5 cents a litre. Apart from that, this cool little town has some great dive sites and upon Jim's advice we took a chance on the Gaskin.

This was supposed to be a shore dive with a small surface swim, minimal current in a river and one of the best around for stuff to see. Now those of you who know folks from the Rock know that they like to understate things a wee bit. Lemme tell you it's not a small current when even the fish lose the fight against it!

Right off the bat, if you're a newbie diver just looking for a place to dive from shore this is not the place. On paper it's a 300m surface swim in calm water to a couple of marker buoys that line the bow and stern. The wreck sits in 70+ feet of water even with the water table that looks to be 2 feet lower right now. You can travel down the lines from the buoys that are anchored to huge cement blocks. The swim out took us around 15 min and right near the buoy the current started to really pick up. Folks who like to dive without a snorkel have to do it all on your back and its a slow boat to china despite the eddy current that can help for part of the way. It sounds pretty easy. It is not.

When we got to the site there was a charter boat doing a wreck penetration course from Brockville's Adventure Diving there. ( I recommend this as a boat charter really) As we swam towards the boat we grabbed on to their water lines and headed towards the buoys. Right at that point the current really started to take off. Holding on to the line was a challenge and going down the line meant really holding on! Normally, I don't do that, but today it was no choice, hold on or disappear down river. The greatest sin I committed though was I needed at times to touch the wreck (very carefully not to disturb the coral) to keep myself in line with the wreck or hold on or be spilled over. It is a challenging dive to say the least. We did however have a newer diver who handled the situation masterfully despite her 10 total dives previous.

Drift and or current dives are challenging and as long as you have had training or decent practice in simple areas it can be loads of fun. However, there is still a surprise how strong the water can be. We did know it was going to be a challenge, just from the surface swim alone. We kept close to the wreck and bottom to control the effect of the current, but swimming on the lower west side of the hull was near impossible. Jim and Kevin, both on double tanks swam underwater back to shore and mitigated most of the surface current swim back.

All that said this is a fantastic dive, and the boat is in great shape. Tons of Bass and Perch all over the hull both inside and out. I did get a chuckle watching them fight the current and seemingly go no where. The boat must have been cleaned free of mussels due to the current becuase it was full of sponge coral in advanced stages of growth. For a diver on a single 80 cft tank we managed to squeak out 33 min with saftey stop. the wreck sports a decent swim through though it's also rated for penetration as well for those qualified. There is a massive anchor in front of the bow, along with a sign up top for divers, and a sign on the buoy rock near the anchor down in the sand. Lots to see and one of the highlights is a decently intact stern.

A great dive but it's not a little bit of current....Oh ya...watch out for the tankers that like to drive past the marker buoys to the south. The sound of the props can be felt from shore, imagine it over your head. Thoom, Thoom, Thoom! Its safe but still un-nerving.

Pics:

the deck, Stacie, the gang at the shore in the background is both a boat at the mooring and a tanker about to motor past,

Inside the hull, near the bow, Kevin with the required float and flag for this dive,

Stacie at the anchor plaque, and kevin showing his new divers hands free cell phone just add water.

As always - "dive with a knife!" sung to the tune of Star Trek fight music.

Twofer downriver...

Some of my friends from my days in Virginia came North this weekend to conduct some technical dives on the Roy Jodrey, an intimidating deep wreck in the St Lawrence. However, today, they contented themselves with a shake-out two-tank expedition with Wayne Green's Thousand Island Pleasure Diving operation. That provided the opportunity to join them. The two wrecks chosen - for convenience from Brockville - were the Muscallonge (sitting in about 100 feet) and the Gaskin (about 65 feet to the bottom). Both wrecks were great to see, and it was my first dive on the Muskie. Sitting in a narrower part of the River, she enjoys a brisk current, which makes getting into the wreck's shadow a high priority. Moving on to the Gaskin, where the River is much wider, the current was less of an issue and the fish life was spectacular. Making the swim-through, from the stern forwards, a shoal of Bass and Perch was encountered in a calm, back eddy of the wreck. Larger, very bold fish were relishing the current and the foodstuffs it carries to them all over the deck and around the lower, protected sections. Visibility was pretty good (I'd heard some stories of poor viz in the River this year, but they proved to be false). I'd estimate it to be in the 60 foot range. The temperature - top to bottom - was 70°F (21°C).

Birthday boy in Brockville...

Five members of the Club made it down to Brockville for an outing with Luc Martin Charters to celebrate Dominique's Birthday in the way that he had requested - with a dive on the Lillie Parsons. Conditions were excellent, though the St Lawrence Park was extraordinarily busy. Besides the Lillie, the group went on to complete a two-tanker on the Robert Gaskin - Dominique's choice. Everyone seemed to have a good time and spent their air well.

It's the little things about a site that stand out. The observant diver, taking their time and using their eyes, will spot something interesting on every dive. Today's 'features' included the shoaling Bass in the bow and stern gaps in the hull and the thinning of chain links on the stern due to simple current action and the constant friction that results. The grouping of baby Bass in the hull plank gaps was also interesting.

Returning to the Birthday theme, Chantal, the skipper, surprised and delighted everyone by producing the cake she's seen in the picture enjoying with Dominique during the surface interval.

Water temperature was 64F (18C) uniformly throughout the water column and visibility somewhere around 40-50'.

Gaskin - Brockville..

It's always good to round off any day with a decent dive. Today's was the Club's Wednesday night charter - this week with Tom Scott's Under Where Dive Charters out of Brockville. The destination was the Robert Gaskin - a schooner sunk in 1889. She lies reasonably close to shore in just 62' of water. Still highly recognisable as a major vessel, she offers access to her holds and good swim-alongs on the deck and sides - particularly the lee side down current. Nine members of the Club made the trip, many of them fairly new to diving. Everyone had a good dive.

Water temperature - 63F (17C) and visibility somewhere around 40' - despite heavy levels of drifting particulates.