Ice Diving!! Oh Yeah!!!!

Well, I say if you can't get into the water, via shore entry or by boat charter, because it's winter and someone??? (Mother Nature) likes to play a joke and ice over the lakes on you. Well then "GO THROUGH THE ICE"..... That is what a few of us did yesterday. In preparation for the up coming course a few of us decided to check out the ice and while we were at it see what the vis was. To every ones surprise we had close to 80 ft if vis. Better that what any of us were thinking due to the lime normally found in the water.

After a 32 minute bottom time, we turned the dive and headed back to the hole that would bring us to the surface. Water temperature at bottom was 39 f. Warmer, considering our last dive on in the lake, prior to the ice forming was 33 f. Nice to dive again in warmer waters, lol.... We were greeted under water by large schools of Gold Fish. A rare species of fish we seldom encounter in waters around here, being so far north of the equator...

We must extend a thank you to all, for your efforts in support of our endeavour. To Chris for opening up the Quarry for us, and allowing us to run our ice course here in two weeks. As well a big thanks for the great assistance from Dave our on scene manager, Gaetan and Steve for the above ice photography, and Ken who assisted with everything else. I believe all had a great time, above, as well, as us fortunate below the ice....

Ice Dive 2010 working well...

Thanks to the concerted efforts of many people, this weekend's ice diving course got away to a great start today. It helps, of course, to have near perfect conditions. The ice is at least 12' thick and the cold, clear weather has maintained it, whilst making daytime temperatures reasonable.

The four students have all absorbed the lessons associated with the specialty well and, when the time came to apply them this morning, there were no great challenges. The only minor disappointment has been visibility considerably less pleasing than expected. The water temperature in the quarry is 39℉ (4℃), but the viz is only about 15-20 feet. There's a milky cloudiness in the upper levels that defies explanation, but definitely limits sight lines.

Many thanks to the helpers who made the day a success. Line tending and general administration are not exciting tasks, but the course doesn't go ahead without them. Good too to see Gerhard, a previous ice diving graduate, who joined us for one of the assigned dives.

Recovery Job...

A flying friend of mine mentioned last week that one of his buddies had put a snowmobile through the ice of a frozen lake. He was looking for the loan of a wetsuit to make a shallow dip to put a line on the machine and bring it out. I seized the opportunity to offer more comprehensive dive services and we made a trip up to the location, near Arnprior, today.

The machine had gone in close to shore, in what turned out to be about 6 feet of water. Although the ice may have been thinner at the time of the incident, it was about 6-8 inches today. We made a typical triangular entry hole - right over the sled - and I dove to secure a rigid towbar to the skis and align the vehicle for a pull to shore.

I think that I can claim to have completed the first ice dive of this season. Albeit it only involved 15 minutes immersion in 6 feet of water. This maintains my 100% record of success in locating and recovering equipments for their owners. This was one of the easier examples...

Ice is nice...

When you're ice qualified and Spring is clearly on the way, you seize every chance to get wet where some of the water's still solid. Today's destination, once again, was Brule Road, where we took a large reel out to its full extent exploring some of the usual sights. For the second time, close to the entrance hole, a large bullfrog was defying hibernation to examine our activities. A Small shoal of Striped Bass was also very active. Conditions couldn't have been better, with clear, blue skies, flat calm and an air temperature of 2C (36F). The water was 40F (4C) and visibility better than 50 feet.

Hannah handles operations...

Today's dive was dedicated to conducting research for Hannah Cole (Matt Cole's daughter) to complete a heritage project on the HMS Princess Charlotte, a War of 1812 wooden warship wreck lying on the bottom of Deadman's Bay. Hannah mustered 4 divers, including her father (pictured) to make a dive through the 14" (36cm) thick ice of the Bay and complete survey videos and measurements of the wreck. The party was blessed with excellent topside conditions (sunny, with maximum air temperatures of 7C (44F)). Frankly, for dry-suited divers, it was way too warm...

The water, on the other hand, fulfilled all expectations, showing 32F (0C) on the gauges.

Visibility below the ice was really good - in excess of 40 feet. All Hannah's tasking was successfully completed in two dives; each of about 25 minutes duration. A large, very sleepy turtle was left undisturbed on one of the wreck's main frames. The whole event was really satisfying. It's always important to have a good reason for a dive - and this one couldn't have been better.

More pictures can be viewed on the Club's Flickr site.