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

Walking to work..

This afternoon's dive commenced with a short walk down the boat launch ramp next to St Lawrence Pier on RMC. Then, Todd, Kevin, Matt and I made a tour of the timber structures to the West and circled home. Not much else to say, except that many photographs were taken, but this one seemed to sum up the aiim of the expedition - to visit the timbers and check them out. Kevin is the pictured subject...

Underwater Camera Work...

Todd

Marc-Etienne

Kevin

Now that the Lake is open for business, the pace of diving is definitely picking up. This morning, in an effort to improve on the manual flash technique, I was one of four divers playing at Morton's Wharf. The other three are pictured...

Once again, good conditions - less the water temperature - and a distinct lack of marine life.

So the water's cold, but the Sun is shining...

Matt and I seized the opportunity today to get a dive in on Morton's Wharf. Driven by a strong southerly wind, the waves were quite inconvenient, and they contributed to a certain amount of disturbance underwater close to shore. We had a good dive, both with cameras. I was experimenting with an external strobe again - not entirely successfully as the shots show. Little marine life to be seen and the water's no warmer than it was yesterday.

Night + Shallow = Fun!

I will say something that will maybe offend the intense tech. divers that believe that you need to go deep to get a good dive. Last night proved that wrong. A max depth of 12 feet with an average depth of 6 feet, that's a good dive! Ask Suzanne, she was cheering and screaming after her first night experience.

Mike, Todd, Suzanne and I (and DIanne, but a "congestion" forced her to stay on the shore) met at the base marina by deadman's bay for a night dive. My primary goal in that dive was to get a warm sheltered environment to get as many fish as possible to go on a picture hunting night. Mike brought his camera also and we paired up wandering the marina's bottom on our quest to blind fishes with strobe light! During that time, Suzanne discovered the pleasure of night diving with Todd. Believe me, some fishes, must hate me now, my second strobe light finally works, so I got twice the light power to blind them! Poor little fishes

Here are few of my best shots. Enjoy!


A dive without a camera is a wasted dive!
See you next dive!

The concentration of the photographer...

Marc-Etienne's pictures are great - see them in the blog entry above - his mastery of his equipment is obvious, but seizing the right moment takes concentration. The pic shows him hovering over some unsuspecting underwater subject - wreathed in weeds..

Not much better then a nice evening swim 2 nights in a row

Its catch up time. After the summer that mostly wasnt, we finally managed to get some fantastic warm weather and with that comes even better diving. I tell all my out of town friends that Ktown is arguably the mecca of freshwater diving, with its abundance of wrecks, and reasonalby decent water conditions. So any chance to snag a dive is a good chance in my book!

This week the club snaged two evening dives. One at the Wolfe and the other on Howe islandThe other great thing is when you get to introduce new people to the diving around here. Everyone says the same thing " I never knew how good it was untill I saw it with my own eyes" or words to that effect.

To quote Scott "the Wolfe is like moms apple pie, allways good even when youve had to much" Info about this dive is all over the blogosphere in Kingston so I wont bore you with the details. Save one: Diving this boat is like diving down south - there are so many fish on this thing you could feed a small town in "insert 3rd world nation here". A good sized gang of us snaged a quick trip on Proteus to this river reef. Owen (on his first ever boat trip wreck dive in Ktown) and I even had the pleasure of seeing a small school of 5 sheepshead (2ft long fresh water drums) on the stern of the ship. They allways seem to hang around there and tonight was a great display.

If there is one lesson learned though its this: allways check your gear bag to make sure you have everything before you leave to dock. I know of a certain diver (me) who completly forgot his wet suit ( or fins or mask or other accoutrements) once many moons ago and had to borrow someone elses. Last nights escapade was someone elses to chance to forget thier gloves and fortunatly it was a short drive back to the docks. Dive saved!

Thursday night 4 of us snaged a quickie dive on Howe Island. This is a simple slow drift dive that does demand some planning on entry and exit. You need to know how to take a bearing and follow it or you will get lost. The highlight of the dive is a small barge with a few bricks it was carrying to peek at. Basic plan is go in head for 39 ft and there is a line along that contour heading east that (at least tonight) was in good shape. Approximatly 10 min into the dive you will find the wreck. You can go deep to 90 feet if you follow a south westerly route and I am told there is a wagon wheel along the way. to get back to the lighthouse you need to take a north westerly route then you should end up near the tower you came in by. Thank god we had a Master Corperal navigating or we would of been screwed!

We had the extra bonus of taking along a new member Ken on his first ever ontario dive and his 9th dive ever. For him this was a great intro into diving in the area. We hope to see him more as his truck can take a small armies worth of gear. Take the time when heading over to enjoy the ferry ride but be aware the price has gone up to $4.50 now as of april 1st 2009

Pics or it didnt happen:

Howe Island: Kevin, Jim, the barge in the dark, Ken, and the entry way.

The Wolfe Islander II

I am still learning (after a year and change) how to play with the lighting at depth with a remote flash unit. Not many of my pics have really turned out so far. Oh well guess I need to dive and practice more!

a couple of Marc-Etienne shots:

the perch and a fresh water drum.

As allways keep blowing bubbles!

Getting to know you... Pics on the 'KGH' wreck

Can't believe it...! It's a holiday weekend and the weather's beautiful. Five of us made our stately way out to the 'KGH' wreck this morning under a flat calm lake bathed in brilliant sunshine. It was a first trip for some - others of us were intent on documenting the wreck a little better with still and video coverage. There are some shots on Flickr that will allow you to judge whether or not we are succeeding. Some great video taken by Kevin LeBlanc can be reached on You Tube by clicking here.

If you haven't been out to take advantage of this new shore dive opportunity yet, what's holding you back ? Go get wet !

Cora Post ...

Conditions were almost ideal today for a trip to the Cora Post. That is, if you disregard the abundance of weed that has infested the shallows, making location of the line a minor challenge. Once overcome, the three of us made it out to the wreck in good shape. We spent a few minutes in photographic tasks, then headed off South down the line that heads for deeper water. Imagine our surprise, when reaching what had previously been the termination of the line - at about 65', we discovered that it has now been extended. We turned around just past 75' and the line was still going...

Lots of Bass on the wreck today. The wreck itself is looking pretty sad. Water temperature at the deepest point reached - 54F (12C) and the visibility about 30'.

Photo Morning..

This was the day for taking on the Underwater Photography adventure, the final dive of Theresa's AOW. The larger picture shows that she grasped the basics well. Truth to tell, conditions were challenging for any kind of photography. The torrential rain, hail and thunderstorms of yesterday had left their mark on the quarry's waters. A great cloud of silt was hanging in the water below the surface and overall visibility - even below the thermocline - was only something like 20' or less. Nevertheless, more than an hour was spent in trying out various lighting and camera settings.

I took the second picture towards the end of the dive, having seized control of the camera to accomplish an ambition to photograph the Bluegills in this location. Water temperature at the bottom - 67F (19C). The surface waters are actually in the 70sF.

Morton's Wharf and St Lawrence..

Decent dive today on Morton's Wharf and the wreck of the St Lawrence. With visibility down to something like 20', it was certainly a good thing to have a firm handle on the navigation. The round trip was completed without a single surface check. The fish life is frenetic just now. Bass are busy setting up spawning circles, the Perch are very active and Pike are patrolling the shallows in a very sinister manner. The Gobies, of course, are everywhere..

The pic was taken on the top of the Wharf, which we rarely visit. There's an interesting swim-through option here (Adam and Matt, take note). Although I'm prepared to accept that this is a shallow dive, it's still pretty remarkable that the water temperature around 25' is 63F (17C). The only thing that I can say against this dive site is that the entry and exit are a real pain - literally. The broken rocks and building rubble on the waterline are really difficult to deal with. But, the dive is worth it -

New Find in Navy Bay..?

Henry Cary - inspired by Parks Canada's Marine Archaeologist, Jonathan Moore - recently went in search of a wreck previously surveyed in Navy Bay. Despite some setbacks, he located it last week. Today, it was the turn of a couple of us to benefit from his guidance and to visit this unusual site.

The wreck lies in just 9 feet of water, very close to shore. Remarkably, there are still some upright timbers and a clearly visible keel element, probably a keelson. I'd estimate the length of the wreck at more than 50 to 60 feet. It is currently home to a fair number of large - and effectively fearless - Bass.

Although visibility was average at about 20 feet, the water temperature was very comfortable at 57F (14C) in this shallow area. For anyone who relishes visiting a new shore site, despite shallow water and low viz, this is another local option. Don't expect to see much, but there are a ship's remains on show..

Another couple of pictures can be seen on the Club's Flickr Page.

Today saw Ryan complete his Open Water Certification at Brule Road. The water was great. Bottom temperature 55F (13C). Visibility reached 40 feet or more. He had the company of Theresa, who acted as a competent buddy (second time this week with a student) and Nancy, who was just enjoying a dive.

The opportunity was taken, once training had been completed, to take some underwater photographs. Since the water was so warm (comparatively) the dive was drawn out to just one minute under a full hour.

Aloha...!

Keeping to a promise to my son and his friend that we would get the boat out this week, Theresa and I made a run to the Aloha and the Effie Mae this morning. The weather was very helpful. Bright sunshine - at least for the outward journey - and the Lake as calm as a millpond. Tying off to the POW buoy was straightforward - no current at all...

The dive was a 33 minute dive to 56 feet (the bottom). Both wrecks look rather sad - the mussel growth is really extreme and clumps of bright green algae are growing, especially on the upperwork of the Aloha. Water temperature at the bottom, a pretty manageable 43F (6C). No fish were seen (unless you count the ubiquitous Gobies - and I try not to). Visibility - probably in excess of 40 feet.

Windy on the Wolfe...

After a fun morning working on an Open Water certification, the opportunity was presented this afternoon to take a trip to the Wolfe Islander II. Conditions were good on the outward trip - and on the wreck during our 51 minute dive - but when my buddy and I returned to the surface the wind had got up and a light swell was making the stern mooring interesting.

The pic is one of a number taken on the wreck today. Visibility was probably as much as 40 feet, with the water showing a minimum temperature of 46F (8C). Other pictures will be up on the Flickr site tonight. There was absolutely no current on the ship - and the whole experience was enjoyable...

Both mooring lines are now in place - thanks to 'Preserve Our Wrecks, Kingston' - the stern line has the official POW buoy and the bow a blue jug.

Marine Museum - again..

What a delight to indulge in a third dive today with familiar buddies; Dianne, Tracey and Jim. After a morning spent, really rewardingly, with my students, it was wonderful to jump in the water at the Marine Museum and just swim and shoot some pics.

Despite pretty murky conditions, caused by a strong Sou'wester, the opportunities for photography were not completely shot. I got some fair pictures of my companions - both en route to - and around - the barge.

Three dives in a day - it must really be getting warmer...... at last.!

Double Dipping...

Now that the warmer weather is here - two-dive days (and more) may become the norm. Today was a good example. I started out with Jim, Nancy and Malcolm at Portsmouth Harbour, where I wanted to get some pics and video of the wrecks inshore. Then, after a quick break, it was into Navy Bay with Dianne and Chris.

Both dives were really enjoyable. The water is now up to 41F (5C) quite consistently, making prolonged dives quite bearable. The bright sunshine in the shallows is a joy - and visibility, this early in the season, is routinely 50 feet or more. The large shoals of Perch were very much in evidence in Navy Bay - threatened somewhat by a lurking Pike. There is also a lot of the spawn shown in the second pic around. Can anyone positively identify it, please?

Five minutes of video showing the wreck fragments by Portsmouth Harbour can be seen here, and a three-minute video clip of the sunken structures at RMC's Navy Bay can be accessed here.

Not so boring Brewer's...

Great dive today with Dianne and Christopher between threatening showers. Task One was to find and photograph some Crayfish. This was not a challenge. We were practically tripping over them - metaphorically speaking. A toad and a small, unidentified fish also surrendered to the lens.

As a free information service for those who are not yet ready to jump back in the water; the air temperature was 6C (43F) and the water temperature a balmy 37F (3C). Good enough to keep us in the water for some 51 minutes, finding the usual maximum depth (in the 'bowl') of 27 feet.

Underwater exploration with a difference...

Adam and I returned to the ice at Navy Bay today to deploy an underwater camera through the ice in search of interesting artifacts. The compact device - with a sensor no larger than a can of beans - comes with a monochrome viewer, built-in electronic compass and lighting aids covering both visible and infra-red spectra.

Our search was successful and the fruits of our labours will be apparent to those who venture onto or into Navy Bay over this coming weekend's Ice Diving Course. News of that will be posted daily for those who cannot attend, but maintain an interest...