Talk on the plight of the American Eel

There will be a talk by a biology professor from Queen's at the Marine Museum on Sunday, February 21st, beginning at 2pm. The subject, one of a Winter series dealing with environmental issues, is the American Eel. This beautiful and graceful creature used to be very numerous in Lake Ontario, but divers are lucky nowadays to have a sighting a year. Come and listen to the talk to discover the reasons - or to learn what hypotheses are being advanced for the disappearance of the Eel, which used to sustain a whole fishing industry down river.

Mission Accomplished - Four more ice divers certified ...

The Ice Diving Course came to a successful conclusion this afternoon with four new ice divers formally qualified to enjoy the discipline. Congratulations to Chris, Jesse, Steve and Kevin. Kevin racked up another accomplishment by making this final, optional, dive, his 250th one logged. A bit of a landmark. Many thanks to all those who gave generously of their time to help the course run smoothly. Notably, Dianne, Nancy, Gerhard, Chris C and Jim.

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.

Certification Confirmed - Another Divemaster serves the Club

Word was received from Africa today (short story, but not worth the telling here) that Todd has received confirmation that his application to join PADI as a professional member in the capacity of Divemaster has been accepted. Many congratulations to a candidate who worked very hard to gain this distinction. Todd tells me that he is looking forward very much to serving the Club and fostering diving in the months ahead.

Definitely not ice diving..!

I know that some of you have missed me - and some knew where I was. In a nutshell, the last 7 days have been spent diving the warm, blue waters of the islands: St Kitts, St Eustatius and Saba. St Kitts was nothing to shout about, but St Eustatius and Saba produced some good sightings - and the company was excellent. You can see a small selection of the pictures on my gallery and a couple of videos on You Tube. Stand by for the short footage of swimming in a huge baitball of Big Eyed Scad while a Blacktip Reef Shark comes after them...

Members to earn Certificates of Achievement in 2010..

As a small incentive to get out and dive, the Club will be awarding certificates of achievement this year to divers who can prove completion of 50 and 100 dives in the calendar 2010.

Production of a valid logbook, with entries countersigned by a buddy, will be accepted as evidence of dives completed.

Now, there's no excuse to avoid the water -

Global Freezing

     Well Chris and I drove over to Wolfe Island but the Ice was to thick at the Summer ferry Dock, to get in.  Since we were over there I thought we'd try our luck at the US Ferry dock on the South side of the island. Although it was primarily open, albeit with quite a fierce wind blowing on shore, the amount of thick ice formed at the shore would have made it treacherous trying to get in or out. Needless to say we scrapped that plan and decided to head back to Kingston.
     I figured it was worth checking out Portsmouth Harbor to see if it was still open.   There was definitely some ice forming at the surface, but it broke easily.  Although the visibility is great this time of year, the water temperature is 33 degrees at the surface and 34 at depth.  Though I'm not sure that one degree made any difference.

Diving, In the Bahamas

Diving, In the Bahamas

Does 18 dives in a tropical place sound pleasing, well if so, you must try Black Beards Cruises, a live aboard dive charter. A week of diving in the Crystal Clear Waters of the Caribbean Sea is nothing but, awesome, amazing, fantastic, well I could go on forever. You will travel from one dive site to another, while eating like a king, between dives. A very experienced crew will put you on the best dive spots in the world, while all you have to think about is, what can possibly be better than your last dive.

The Bahamas are famous for their corals, and plentiful wild life. They also have a great number of wreck dives, such as Tiny T's, a scuttled tug boat right up to Theo's wreck a 250 ft ocean freighter.

The Bahamas is truly a gem in the world of diving. An adventure worth diving again in the near future. For those who are looking for a dive trip, not a beach resort with a dive package, but diving being your priority, a live aboard dive charter is the only way to go.

This could be the last time...

You've dated yourself if you hear the Rolling Stones after you read the title to today's entry. It's appropriate though, because ice is encroaching quite quickly now on the shore dive entry points around the Lake. Todd and I had to crackle our way through a thin crust of light, transparent ice at KPH on entry, and larger areas of thicker ice were visible offshore. Our first choice of site, Portsmouth, where we'd like to have taken advantage of great visibility and the bright sunshine to photograph the wreck fragments, was already ice-locked.

With air temperatures of -11℃ (12℉), we did attract some curious looks from passers-by, some of whom even stopped to ask what we were doing - or should I make that "why?" The answer is that we just wanted to see what was going on underwater. And the answer was - not much. Besides a few stupefied, or half frozen, Gobies, there really wasn't much life around. Perhaps the fact that Todd's computer showed a minimum water temperature of 32℉ (0℃) had something to do with it. To be fair, at depth, the water was warmer; 34℉ (1℃). The time may fast be approaching where those of us with ice diving qualifications will be looking to exercise them. Which reminds me, must make sure the blade on my chainsaw is the right way round this year...

Amphibians and other underwater creatures...

It's a Club tradition to make a dive on New Year's Day - and today was no exception. Numbers were down on recent years, but illness, injury and an outrageous self indulgence (travelling away to exotic, warm locations) have taken their toll. Chris, Jim and I were the only divers to enter the water, although we were observed by a number of other Club members. Our reward for making the dive was to enjoy great visibility and an unusual sighting of a frog casually enjoying the underwater environment. Shouldn't all these amphibians be hibernating by now ? There was little other aquatic life to be seen. A few gobies were scurrying around - and a single large Bass was swimming around the logs, but otherwise it's pretty quiet just now. Many thanks to Gaétan and Julie for a welcome hot coffee on exit...

Happy New Year to one and all !