HMCS Terra Nova

Tonight I had the pleasure of attending a meeting held by EOARA (Eastern Ontario Artificial Reef Association). This was a meeting to show their plan to sink The HMCS Terra Nova in the area. The presentation also included a talk by Jay Straith, who is the President of the Canadian Artificial Reef Consulting group. The CARC have been sinking ships for the last fifteen years and are 22 for 22 in projects for sinking ships. One of their highlights is sinking four ships in five years in BC. The EOARA laid out their plan and goals for reaching there objective of having the HMCS Terra Nova as an artificial reef in the St. Lawrence. A spot has already been chosen just off Browns Bay Provincial Park. The spot is out of the shipping channel and allows for divers to use the existing provincial park. The EOARA has already started to contact various levels of government about the plan with everyone acting very favorable to this. Even though there is a current moratorium in Ontario dealing with artificial reefs the provincial government has indicated that they would like to proceed with this project and use it to set precedent for other artificial reefs in Ontario. It will also set precedent as being a fresh water artificial reef. Once the HMCS Terra Nova has been cleaned up on the east coast it will be floated up to Prescott where it will be docked for a period of 45-60 days as the final preparations are made to add this ship to the many other in the area. During the time in Prescott the ship will need the majority of its volunteers to make sure it is diver friendly. When she is sunk, The HMCS Terra Nova will have ten moorings on her and have access to all seven decks. The mast will be removed so the ship will start somewhere around the 50 ft mark with the bottom around 110 ft. As a diving enthusiast it was great to go to a meeting where there is a plan to increase our diving environment especially since it seems to be well planned out. The tentative timetable is that in about two years to have the HMCS Terra Nova living on, in her next job, as increasing fish populations and divers in the area.

Deep and Meaningful...

This weekend - blessed with excellent weather, if a little cold - provided the perfect opportunity to complete a Deep Diver specialty course for Kevin. It was accomplished with a final dive - to 94 feet - and the bottom of the Channel south of Howe Island directly below the light tower. This third dive in a series (Kevin's earlier Deep Adventure for Advanced certification was credited towards the specialty) included examination of light loss at depth and the imposition of a compulsory, 8-minute safety stop after simulating a No Decompression violation. A minute of this stop was spent breathing from an alternate air source.

The whole excursion was really enjoyable and made the more so by the sighting of a large and lazy Northern Pike on both the outbound and return journeys. Kevin later went on to lead a visiting friend, Claude, to the Cora Post.

"Smashing Pumpkins" dive

[composed by Steve Chew, posted by Jeffy pending activation of Steve's blogger account]

Jack and Jill Pumpkin finally went for their Open Water Dive at Nicholson’s Point today. They did not equalize and suffered for it. Here they are before the dive. Jean-Olivier, Jeffy and I made up the team. We surface swam for 10-15 minutes then dropped a shot line to about 80 feet, we were hoping for 100 feet. I did not descend with a Pumpkin so according to Jeffy: I brought "Jill", the larger of the two pumpkins, and noticed a dent and a crack at about 60 feet. Jean-Olivier saw bubbles emerging from near the stem of "Jack" at about the same depth. Also significantly, both pumpkins were significantly less buoyant than before the dive. Here is the crack on Jack. And here is the crack on Jill. We followed CSI protocol strictly and used a Y-shape incision on Jack during the post mortem. Unfortunately this technique is not suitable for a squash. As a result the fluids leaked out before being assessed. This can be seen in the photo. Therefore, Jill received the traditional technique. I would say she was about three quarters full. The debriefing took place in Jean-Olivier’s Command Centre over tea and power bars; this is the way to dive in cold weather. Aside from determining that Pumpkins crack at 60 feet, I learned that its hard to maintain depth while swimming with the shot weights. At least it is for me. By roaming between 50 and 70 feet on the way back, I gave by my buddies’ fighter pilot practice. They had to keep looking up, down and around for me. Jean-Olivier helped out by trading the shot weights for a Pumpkin. It was slightly better. Have you ever traded negative for positive objects? Fun. If you try this, take disposable ballast for the pumpkin because while the start of the dive is positively buoyant it flips to negative by the end. I’ve decided to start the ‘Ad hoc Committee for Silly Tests of Diving Theory’. Does anyone have an idea for an appropriate acronym? Or a better name? [Count me in! How do you like "Society of Everyday Ad Hoc Occasional Recreational Silly Experimentors" - "SEAHORSE"? --JPS] The next experiment is to explode a pop bottle on assent. Let me know if you want to participate.

The Pool! Of course you want to know who won. My prediction was for between 60 and 80 feet based on a calculated force of 24,000 lbs on Jack at 2 ATA. But I cheated by having such a large range and was a participant. So the winner is … JENNY with a prediction of 75 feet. [I think a few of the predictions could be construed as accurate - Jim's, Adam's and Pat's to name a couple --JPS]

Did I say that the prize was getting pumpkin Pied?

Here are the predictions:

Scott	93’
Kim	110’
Dominique	93’
Jenny	75’
Jeffy	Jack will not fail under recreational dive limits
Nancy	90’
Jim	30’ then deform but not implode
Mike	Jack will survive the dive
Jason	100’
Adam	200’ predicted crack before catastrophic failure
Pat	predicted crack before catastrophic failure
Chris	Jack would survive my max. depth but would crack at a much deeper depth.

For a clear and succinct description of the dive try Jeffy’s online dive log.

Pumpkin Dive

The annual pumpkin dive was held on the 27th of October. Even though the weather was cold and rainy about 20 dedicated divers made the trek across to the winter docks on Wolfe Island. Many a pumpkin were sacrificed to the occasion. I think next year I am going to have to get a new buddy. He couldn't keep track of one little pumpkin lid while I was holding and carving said pumpkin. Just what was he doing anyways? At times I couldn't even see the pumpkin to carve it because he was stirring up the silt so bad. (I wonder who his instructor was?)


I would also like to take the time to give a special thanks to Jenny and Billy Allan for organizing the event and providing a great lunch afterwards. Well done Jenny!

Advancing their Dive Skills...

Three more of our Club members made it into the ranks of the Advanced Divers this weekend. After a couple of weeks investment in training at Brule Road, off Howe Island, around Portsmouth Harbour, on the Wolfe Islander II and finally, in very cold conditions, with a night-time expedition from the West St Ramp, Marc-Etienne, Olivier and Donovan completed their AOW certification. The picture, taken earlier this year at Gananoque, clearly illustrates their enthusiasm for diving. These three young men are constantly upbeat, invariably excited about their tasks and a pleasure to work with. All in all, they are very typical of our membership. Congratulations to them on their new level of certification...

High Winds Changes Dive Spot

With the high winds it was decided that the Saturday charter was not going to head out. I was really looking forward to getting on to the HMS Montreal. It appears others were too as we had about 10 divers that wanted to go. Instead we headed to a spot where the wind doesn’t effect the diving as much, Upper Brewers Mills. The various pairs of divers spent any where from 30 minutes to 1 hour in the water. The max depth on the dive was 25 ft. A few items were brought back (bottles, clay stems, and a rod). The water temperature was a respectable 59 F (15 C). I think the highlight besides diving with old dive buddies Jim and Tracy was seeing the turtle underwater. As it was not the Montreal it was still a fun time. It is also interesting to note that the visibility is getting better as the lake weed is dieing.

2nd Last Wednesday Charter of 2007

Today’s charter was supposed to be the Queen Mary but there was no mooring. After the suggestion of Steve, our captain we headed to the Maplpeglen. It was really starting to get dark as we entered the water. There were about 10 of us who descended on the wreck for various times from 30- 40 minutes. The highlight of this wreck is the large propellers at the back. By the time we exited the water it was definitely a night dive. It was a very enjoyable experience with the water still warm. Really we cannot complain about anything with it being October 17.

Wolfe Islander II

Hi Guys,

Sorry I didn't take pictures today. I forgot my camera. I must be getting old!!! 6 club members made it out with Limestone Dive center this morning. The wreck today was the Wolfe Islander II. The visibility is starting to get better. I would say it was about 3o to35 feet today. My dive computer registered the water temperature at 59 degrees. Some of the other divers registered the temperature at 54 degrees. We had a great dive today. The sun came out and the air temperature was 64 degrees. The only cold part was changing after the dive. Unless you were one of those drysuit, delicate like a flower, divers (Lucky ducks). I still say a true diver dives wet. As you can tell I haven't got my drysuit yet. I am sure my tone will change as soon as I do. I just have to stop visiting Dan at Dive tech so I can start my drysuit fund. He seems to always talk me into buying something.

Thanksgiving Weekend Diving

With the long weekend on us and the temperature 10c above normal it was the perfect time for some diving. As family members were down for turkey and diving we set out to do some Kingston favorites. We made three dives on Saturday which included a morning dive at the quarry then getting out to the Munson for a great afternoon dive and finished the day with a dive at the quarry. The water temperature at the quarry was a nice 19C (66F) and on the Munson it was 11C (52F) at 110 feet. The next day an attempt to find the stacked hulls was in order, but this was fruitless as the line still does not take divers to it but a chance to be in the water is never a bad thing. We then had the hard choice of deciding if we should go to a dive shop or dive. We spent the afternoon at Divetech and then decided the rest of the weekend would be time to relax. We did check Lower Brewers Mills, on the Monday and found out that the locks are closing on Wednesday so it will mean less boat traffic on the lock system. Thinking back on the weekend I think this has to be the warmest Thanksgiving weekend that I remember diving. So I hope everyone is still thinking about getting out and getting in a few more dives.

Caution - photo ace at work..

Seizing the opportunity of an Underwater Photography Adventure today, as part of his Advanced Open Water certification, Malcolm delighted in capturing some superb images at his first attempt. The one above really shows off the character of our resident Gobies - and it's a great picture. It's all too easy to forget that we have some great subjects in our local waters, until a talented photographer shows up the opportunities.

Well done, Malcolm - just one more dive to go to full Advanced Certification...