Quarry warmer - ready for Easter event...

Chris was keen to make sure that nothing unpleasant had made it into the quarry before this weekend's Easter Egg Hunt - and it was useful to have an idea of the general conditions. Consequently, we spent about 50 minutes touring the margins to check it out. Besides finding enough bicycles to open a small shop, and a couple of other sporting goods, it was an uneventful dive. The water temp is warmer than the Lake at 43℉ (6℃). Visibility was reasonable - at about 30 feet.

Fish and things...

The opportunity was seized today to go and investigate Brule Road after the Winter. There's always the chance up there of another abandoned car or some other example of the disposable society. Kevin, Jim and I enjoyed about 40 minutes in the 45℉ (7℃) water without discovering anything obviously new.


However, we did appreciate an encounter with the large Carp that is sometimes seen. It seemed interested to see us, but kept a wary distance. The other unusual sighting is illustrated below. One of the many Bass in the waters had attempted to push its body under the silt and weed, apparently lying in a form of trench of its own making. We speculated that this may be a spawning behaviour. That being the case, we didn't disturb the fish. Visibility was about 30 feet - typical of the quarry. Divers using the site should be aware that several bottles have been broken on the beach at the normal entry area. Caution is advised...

The Gloves are off... No ! on...

I promised myself on the last dive - on the wrecks in the harbour - that it would be the last wet glove diving of 2008, and I kept the promise to myself today. When three of us made our way out, yet again, to the wreck off Murney Tower, I was in dry gloves. Not that they make the slightest bit of difference to the persistent, minor leak I've been suffering from, and cannot trace and cure, in my drysuit. Oh well, who wants to be completely comfortable?

The dive was a good one, with excellent visibility - about 50' horizontally on the wreck, and the surface waves perfectly clearly visible 60' above. There were again large numbers of lazy Bass around the site. Kevin played with them - and amused himself photographing little Gobies too. He was wearing his new Aqualung Drysuit, which is a great garment, with excellent features and, so far as one can tell, first-class construction and finish. Thank you Gaetan for the great shore-side shot above..

There was evidence of a slight thermocline at about 50', with water that had been steadily 45℉ (7℃) dropping suddenly to 43℉ (6℃) on my gauge at least.

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.

New shore dive for your delight...

Following up on an exploratory dive last week, local divers tonight placed a line from shore near Kingston General Hospital to a wreck that lies in 60 feet of water, just 20 minutes gentle swim away. The line starts around the 20 foot depth contour and is most easily located by entering the water somewhere near the middle of the car park close to Murney Tower and swimming eastwards along the 20 foot contour until you pick it up. It's bright yellow and leads almost directly south to the bow of the wreck.

The wreck is in very good condition; one of the more intact examples of what is certainly a sailing vessel and probably associated with use on the canal systems. It's almost a hundred feet long and about 24 feet wide. Care should be taken by visiting divers to avoid disturbing and damaging many upright features that have stood the test of time.

The wreck is well known already; it features on local charts, but it has not previously been of great interest, since it lies in the path of frequent boat traffic and didn't have any line to it from shore. For ease of reference, it may be useful (borrowing the example of the KPH wreck) to refer to it as the KGH wreck, unless and until someone can provide a precise identity.

Visibility tonight was about 40 feet on the wreck and the water temperature about 64F.

Final Basic Course Cancelled...

Recent announcements that the pool at the KMCSC will be closed for much of October have made it necessary to cancel the final basic course scheduled to be run by the Club this year. This is unfortunate, but we are very lucky to have the facilities at KMCSC and occasional upsets to our plans (and theirs) are just a fact of life.

Please encourage anyone you know, who is going to miss this course, to keep in touch with the Club over the 'closed' season and to enrol in next year's courses early.

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).

More Advanced Divers...

Congratulations to Theresa and Neil, who completed their AOW this evening with a Search and Recovery Adventure. Their achievement is evidence of great determination; they were Open Water students with the Club in June and they have been piling on the dives ever since they qualified. Their enthusiasm for diving is very typical of our members and does us all great credit. Let's all keep working to maintain the high standards for which our divers are known.

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...

Sunshine and Smiles...

The three divers enrolled in the Advanced Open Water course this weekend show obvious enthusiasm for their work as they soak up sunshine at KPH after completing Underwater Navigation and Search and Recovery Adventures this morning. Anthea, Ashley and Verena, who had been joined for the first dive by Neil and Theresa, did really well and appreciated a water temperature of 68℉ (20℃). The minor downside to the day was visibility much degraded by algae and other suspended particles. Optimistically, you could only claim about 20 feet. The training continues this evening with a night dive - and the course will be concluded tomorrow evening with a Deep Adventure on the Munson...

Keystorm big hit again.

10 of us made the trek down to Caiger's where we got on one of the boats owned by Thousand Island Pleasure Divers. We had great weather and we couldn't have asked for better. Some of us came back with a little more colour than when we left. The Keystorm was the big draw today. I think I counted about 7 boats on the wreck at one point today. On our first dive there were a lot of divers in the water at the same time. At one point I stopped and looked up and there were about 15 divers above me. It would have made an amazing picture with the sun shinning through the water above the divers. Alas I left my camera on the boat. Isn't that always the case. My buddy and I went down as far as the mast and looked in some of the small holes at the bass that were hiding in the wreck. We then made our way back up to the wheel house and had a look around there. By this point it was time to turn the dive and head back to the shoal. At our safety stop we had a chance to check out the small Gobbies as they fed on the zebra mussels. There were a few small bass as well.

After a one hour plus surface interval we had our second dive on the Keystorm but the other boats had pretty much moved on so we could get a good look at the wreck this time. The silt had settled down and you could see inside the wreck. We spent about 36 minutes in the water and the water temp was 73 degrees.

I would like to say thanks to Jim our boat captain for a great day out on the water and we hope to dive with you again soon.

Wolfe Islander II

This week the Dolphins had Captain Steve (Limestone) take them out to the Wolfe Islander II because the winds were high. The weather was warm and the water much warmer than previous dives. The visibility was not very good but that was expected with the storms that went through recently. We went down the bow line to the bottom and circled the boat clockwise. When we came back around the far side of the boat we came up over the side to the car deck. We had a look in the hatch and then moved on to the motorcycle. The ten speed was beside the motorcycle and the bowling ball wasn't very from from that . We then went and had a look at the winch on the front. After a short time here we followed the line back to the stern and had a look inside the doors and windows. We spend about 5 minutes here and then turned the dive. After getting changed we shared a few stories and a couple of laughs on the way back to shore. As always we then went to Tim Horton's to debrief and have a much needed coffee.

Fresh Fry tonight...

Kim mentioned disappointment at a lack of fish sightings during last night's charter dive. Well, tonight at the quarry we literally swam through shoals of small Bass fry. Numbering in the hundreds and present in two or more locations, these tiny fish were teeming around the cruiser and in the corner of the bowl beyond it to the South. Also seen during a night dive with Theresa and Neil were the large Carp often spotted in the same bowl and a nocturnally hunting Catfish, which was totally undisturbed by examination under our lights.

The night dive was the second training dive of the evening. The first had seen a couple of students complete their Open Water Dive 2. They too had seen the clouds of small fry and been impressed. For anyone who remains at all reticent about the water temperature, the quarry is the place to dive. The minimum temperature recorded was 73F (the same as the air temperature). The many swimmers and bathers visiting the site these days have knocked visibility back to less than 30 feet, but that's pretty good in most books..

Great dive with a great Club turnout...

It's great to see a good Club turnout for any dive, but when you field 11 divers and visit an unfamiliar wreck - in this case, the massive remains of the vessel known as the Lusitania - life doesn't get much better. Despite slightly lumpy waters, the visibility at depth was very good indeed, certainly in excess of 60 feet. All the divers were impressed with the site and the service provided by the two boats laid on by Northern Tech Diver. It should also be noted that NTD moored this particular wreck recently - and it's a welcome addition to Kingston dive destinations. For the record, the water temperature at depth was about 50°F (10°C). Watch out for more pictures and information from the other photographers on the boat - Kim and Kevin.

Two more divers join the ranks of the certifiable...

Neil and Theresa completed Open Water certification this afternoon with a gentle dive on the wreck beside the PUC dock. Their tasks were all completed successfully and they emerged with huge smiles and plans to take full advantage of the Club's charter programme in the weeks ahead. It was their first experience of the Lake after spending time at Brule Road. A water temperature of 56°F (13°C) made wet suit diving perfectly comfortable. Congratulations to both of them on their tremendous enthusiasm throughout the course and good luck to them as they start the real learning process as newly certified divers.

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.

The Early Diver gets the Viz

It's said that there are seasoned divers in Kingston who dive exclusively in the early and late periods of each dive season. Their logic is that those are the times that you can place reasonable reliance on seeing our wrecks at their best. This morning's charter lent credence to the notion. A gentle trip to the Comet put us in place to enjoy visibility in the order of 70 feet or so. In water temperatures of 43°F (6°C), conditions were really rather pleasant. Even our one wetsuited diver didn't freeze...! Jim Dunfield - down visiting from Ottawa - was a very welcome addition to the team. It would be nice to think that the Sunday Club could make a charter trip every week, but this may have been a one-off bonus dive for most.

Rounding off the RMC Year...

Taking advantage of the small, slack period at the end of the RMC year, some of our most active divers, Marc-Etienne, Donovan and Olivier got in a couple of dives this week just before they departed for phase training over the Summer. As well as a shore dive, they were able to use a boat belonging to the Rod and Gun Club at RMC to get out to the Wolfe Islander. The accompanying photograph, taken by Marc-Etienne, was taken there. All credit to these guys, who have been diving consistently when the opportunity arose - and always in wetsuits.

Twofer....

Today provided an opportunity to combine a trip to Dive-Tech with an onward journey to the Conestoga and the Rothesay. Both wrecks were in good shape. The current was fairly brisk on the Connie and the visibility limited to about 20 feet. Similar conditions prevailed on the Rothesay. The good news is that the water temperature downriver is now 48F (9C). The crayfish was seen on the area approaching the Rothesay, where several large fish were also evident. A little disturbingly, a lot of bottom-hugging, dense, algae-like weed was also present. A bad sign so early in the season.

A night at the theatre...

With longer days and warmer water, the temptation to dive in the evenings is irresistible, especially for our members who work for a living. Tonight, four of us went exploring around the old wharf that lies off the area of the Domino Theatre. The trip was worthwhile, with several large Bass swimming around the logs and the first sighting this year of a long string of (frog) spawn at one point. For Kevin, whose first dive it was on this site, it was interesting to turn over the old tin plates and mugs that are strewn about the area close to shore. It's heartening to see that the water is creeping up in temperature almost daily. Tonight, the lowest temperature registered was 42F (6C) - a degree or so warmer than just a couple of days ago. (Picture courtesy of Kevin Leblanc)