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Last week (Sept 4/08) I got an email from Chris (aka: Moondog). The South Shore Scuba club of Leamington, Ontario, had a charter running out of Rockport Ontario (in Thousand Islands, near Alexandria Bay NY, for our US friends). They had a couple of cancellations, & did I want to join the charter? It took me about 3 seconds to, reply back "WELL YES"!!! The club was meeting at the dock at 8:30, (this was just 1-1/4 hrs drive for me so I packed the car Friday night, and headed out about 7 am, stopping just long enough to get a coffee & breakfast sandwich at Tim Horton's drive thru. (Canadian coffee & donut chain). The charter was on the Admiral-C, a large steel, house boat, refitted for diving. Twin gas I/O's it moved along about 12 knotts. There were 13 divers in all, so we had lots of room. ( the boat takes 20) . The Admiral-C is one of 4 dive boats in the fleet of ABUCS (scuba spelled backwards) Dive charters, owned by Helen Cooper of Brockville, Ontario. I highly recommend them if you want to dive in the 1000 islands/Brockville area. I should also note here the St Lawrence River is a pleasure to dive in for 2 reasons, a) mild current, that clears silt if there are newbies stiring up the bottom. b) NO thermocline. The surface water from lake Ontario is thoroughly mixed by the time it hits the 1000 Islands. So the temperature was a nice 72°F all the way from surface to bottom. I buddies with Chris for the dives since we were "aquainted" via the Dive Area, although we had never met face to face before. Weather was good, it was cloudy, over cast all day, which made visibilty less than optimal, but there was no wind, the river was flat smooth all day, air temp was about 70°, which made standing around in suits, fine. Dive 1) approx 10 am Ashe Island Barge:, a belly dumper barge that sank in the night, unattended, full of gravel. approx 115 max depth. This style of barge was used a lot during the dredging of the St Lawrence Seaway. It would be filled, by steam shovel, then moved and the trap doors in the belly opened the dump the debris. Noticeable items: small wooden table say still lying on deck, hand tool in various locations. I could not find any pictures of the barge, but there is a survey of the wreck, here's the pow (preserve ontario wrecks) link: http://www.powkingston.com/proj_ash_island.html The next two wrecks are in US waters, so we had to go the Bolt Castle, on Heart Island for about 1/2 hour to clear US customs before we could tie up the the US wrecks. http://www.boldtcastle.com/ Dive 2) aprox 12:30 noon, The Keystorm, 250 ft long great lakes steel freighter, built 1910, sank 1912 when it ran aground, full of iron ore. This is my favourite wreck in the St Lawrence R. I had the pleasure of touring Chris & Dan(DM) around the wreck as I have been on here several times. Bow is in 30 ft, stern.propeller in 115. She lies on her side and is a great wreck for beginners and advanced divers a like. It's hard to do her justice in words but here's alink to soem really great photos. http://www.scubaq.ca/ontarioscubadiving/keystorm.htm Dive 3) aprox 2:30 pm drilling barge: America. This wreck is just a 1/2 hr from the Keystorm, so the BBQ was started after we tied up and lunch was served. The America turtled (flipped over) when see sank. They were packing tubes with dynamite, and "OOPS", 12 people died when it sank. The tie-up is in a large anchor in 30 ft of water, just out of the shipping channel, there is a good 5-10 minute swim to the barge, but there is a lead line to follow. The wreck is in 55 - 75 ft of water. You can swim under/thru it but care must be taken there is still Bunker-C oil on/in her & it rubs onto & sticks to your gear, suit, fins etc. Pictures here: http://www.scubaq.ca/ontarioscubadiving/america.htm Dive 4) about 4:30 pm, The Kinghorn, a two mast sailing vessel, converted to a barge, tow line broke in a storem. This was another treat, as it was also my first time on this wreck. I about 80 ft of water, current is stronger, due to the way the river funnels between the islands. This wreck is just 200 yds from the dock where we left this morning btw. The wreck in basiclly a hull and deck with large hatchways. It's open inside so a swim thru is must. Non silting kick is import you don't stir things up ruining the experience for others. On the way back up the ascent line it was crowded at the 15 ft stop. Luckily I brought my JON line. I clipped it to that ascent line and we were able to hang about 10 ft down stream of the 6-8 other divers clustered on the line for our safety stop. Wreck Photos here: http://www.scubaq.ca/ontarioscubadiving/kinghorn.htm We finished up back at the dock at about 6 pm. I have to extend my thanks to Chris & the South Shore Scub Club for inviting on the charter. I had a fabulous time. Mike D
Tags: Wrecks St Lawrence River Canada
Well so far this year the weather pretty much sucks, BIG TIME! I have just returned to work after 2 weeks summer vacation. Some vacation there were only 3 days in the last two weeks of July it didn't rain. We had two evening charters scheduled mid-week, both rained out! This week it has rained very day, Wed & Thurdsday I had 2x 4 hr drives thru thunderstorms, (on I81 near Syracuse, NY ). and the forcast for the weekend is the calling for cloudy, unsettled weather, with 60% chance of thunderstorms. Enough with the rain already! Mike D
In my 27 years of teaching I've seen a few, let's call them "special" students. They come various varieties, and each with their own peculiarity. While reading the blogs & surveys I am reminded of a few of them. Here's one I'd like to share, I'll call him No-gloves. I live, work, dive & for 27 years taught diving in Ontario Canada. The Great Lakes are large bodies of fresh water that have deep thermoclines. In the summer the surface temp can be a nice 70°F, but 70 - 80 feet below, the temperature is a chilling 45° F. I wear a drysuit all year round for this reason. Shallow dives you can go gloveless or just wear thin reef or 3 mm gloves to protect yourself from the zebra mussles. On one of my Advance O/W courses I had one young student who hated wet suit gloves. He complained about not being able to feel his equipment, fumbling, dexterity probems and so on. The last two dives of my AOW's is on a charter boat, deep dive & wreck dive. Both are actually on wrecks, but the first is 110, ft & second much shallower. During the predive briefing of the deep dive we discuss depth, do air consumption calcs, establish turn points, general layout of wreck, location of down line etc. I make note of the depth of the thermocline being at about 70 ft, temperature is 45°F, recomend full hoods & gloves. Up pipes old no-gloves" do we have to wear gloves?, so I answer "Yes, I'm wearing gloves, & I suggest you do also." Well old no-gloves starts the dive with gloves on, but at about 50 feet on the way down the line I see him stopped, arm wraped around the mooring line, taking his wetsuit gloves off. "Well some people have to learn the hardway, I guess". I continue with my group of students, and escort them around the wreck & down to the deepest spot 110ft at the keel. We did hit the thermocline at 75 ft and were surprized as 3 large salmon cruised by at a fast clip, following the thermocline. We're making our way back towards the mooring line when I spot old No-gloves.I started to chuckle, water seaped inot my mask & and choked a little on it. Old no-gloves had one of his gloves back on, but the other hand, he had the sleeve of his wet suit pulled down over his hand, and he was grasping the mooring line with the sleeve. Apparenlty lost one glove!. At the 15 ft safety stop he had his hand out of the sleeve, but had left the other glove on. During the debriefing I couldn't resist, I had to bring up the thermocline and water temperature on the wreck. It was one of the other students who jabbed at "no-gloves" asking him about it. LOL Mike D
Tags: Suits Gloves Cold-water
This last weekend we recieved 50+ cm (20 inches) of snow, from Friday afternoon till early hours Sunday morning.
Enuff Already, I'm ready for spring!
I started the snow blower up saturday morning, I have a 130 feet of lane/drive way. About 15 minutes into it the snowblower jambs & stalls. It picked up a stone in the impeller.
I got that out but it bent the impeller blade and broke the drive belt.
Took me two hours to get it apart, straighten the impeller then off the find a V-belt. No luck at CTC, Co-op, TSC nor Home Hardware. Finally lucked out at John Deer dealer. I got it back together about 4:30 in the afternoon, but I was cold tired & hungry, so I called it quits.
Sunday morning fired up the snowblower and in 2 hours I had the drive way clear, another hour to shovel front side walk & still another hour to clear the deck. There was 30 cm ( 12 in)min depth & drifts to 100 cm (40 inches) in the drive way and front walk, the deck is sheltered so only about 25 cm (10 inches) acumulated on it.
Just to top it off the snow plow shows about 4:30 Sunday afternoon (the first time this weekend), so I had to clean out the end of the drive way again. It was still nice and Sunny at 5:00 pm so I ended up taking the dogs for a walk.
Mike D
I have a deck boat. (picture in my gallery)
I've decided to build a dive ladder. By build, I mean I'll source and cut /machine all the materials & hire a local welder to weld it together for me. My existing ladder is a 4 stepb-folding welded aluminum ladder. It's long enough but the square holes are a pain with fins on.
I've decided on A center post, 4 step T ladder similar to Garelick or Windine ladders. 48" long, center post will to 2"square aluminum tube (1/8 wall). The rungs/steps will be 16 inches long 1-1/2 dia x 1/16" aluminum tube. The square center tube will make machining, drilling & welding easier.
My boat does not a have access to the stern so the ladder will mounted/removeable at the port side of the boat, opposite the captain's chair. The exisiting hand rail. This works well diving from the boat, we exit off the bow, and climb in at the side. I'm building new rail braces, since the current ones will not take many diver boardings.
I have not decided on mounting hardware/bracket for the ladder yet. Suggestions are welcome. The Garelick mount, with slot and lock pin looks nice, but might be a pain kneeling reaching etc to attach & detach. I was thinking about a flip up/down concept. The ladder can flip up 180°, and be released/attached while upside down. The center post is secure to the bracket by a hinge pin/bolt. The hing bracket then attaches/detached to the mounting plate on the side of the boat.
My existing ladder mounts onto two keyhole brackets screwed into the floor. I have considered using this also. a simple L shaped plate with two posts, can extend over the side , with mounting holes for the hinge bracket.
I'll post a picture to illustrate the idea.
Your comments & ideas are welcome.
Mike D
We just returned from our winter vacation in Punta Cana Domincan Republic.
Airport: Open air, thatched roofs, it's not air-conditioned but the open air design keeps it comfortable, there are large ceiling fans also. There are 2 termninals (1 just added in last 2 years). Its only 20 - 45 minutes to the resorts from the airport. We had a 25 minute ride by air conditioned bus. There are NO jet ways, so planes load via high mobile stair cases. There is also a long walk out to the planes in their parked areas. GOOD NEWS: there's a Wendy's in the departure lounge, so after a week of island food you can get an old fashion burger & fries & drink combo during your 4 hour wait to board the plane.
Resort: We stayed at the Grand Palladium Palace, which adjacent to 2 other Palladium resorts, (Bavaro & Punta Cana) so we had the use of all 3 resorts. Rooms are simple but nice. The toilet and shower are in a separate closet, while the sink and jacuzzi tub are in the main bedroom, perhaps as romantic touch, but it didn't work for us. There was a mini-bar with pop, beer & litre's of bottled water.(this was restocked every other day) There were 4 large buffets, 6 al'a carte restaurants , 6 pools and about a mile of beach. Every lobby & pool & reataurant has a bar. I found the el Presidente beer Ok similar to American beers. Plenty of mixed drinks, coctailes etc available, and bottled water was plenty-full & offered frequently. My wife & were quite fond of a Banana Momma rum drink.
Food: I found the foods in general mediocure & meat is for the most part over cooked. Meats were quite dry and tough. Buffets were the only option for breakfast, plenty of choices though, fresh fruits, cerials, waffles, pancakes (no maple syrup though), bacon, ham sausages, cold meats, buns, sweet rolls juices, eggs, omlette station ,cooked to your specs. The hi-spot for me was the juice bar: fresh fruit juice & fruit in a blender while you wait. I had fresh omlettes most mornings, with side bacon. The flavour of the sausages was not to my liking. For lunch & dinner the choices of la carts or buffets. I can't comment on lunch. We tend to eat a big breakfast and skip lunch when on vacation. Dinners we tended to hit an ala carte if possilbe. There's Italian, Spanish, Asian, Mexican, Steak & Seafood, Domincan to choose from. We had one nice meal at the Italian, the veal parmacean was a little over done, but still tender. The steak & sea food experience was a disaster. 3 steaks ordered medium, 1 was ok , 2 burned beyond recognition. My son-in-law sent it back said medium please, the next one came BLUE (raw & cold in middle). The asian food was ok. The sushi was good, as were spring rolls, shrimp dishes served with shrimp still in shells, a pain to peal & devain while eating. The sweet and sour pork was good, but the pork was dry & tough. On the buffet one night we picked what was marked pork chop, it turned out to be grilled ham steak, and was really good. So you never know. We arrive late 11 pm on our first night, so all buffets were closed. There's an all night sports bar at the adjacent resort so we hopped on the train. The bar had hot dogs, ham burgers, fires, nachos & cheese & soft drinkd & soft ice cream. Burgers were hit & miss, mine was ok, my wife's was raw in the middle. Beer & drinks were plentifull & welcome after a long day of traveling.
Diving: There is some good diving in the area. I had a fabulous dive on Sunday to the "Caves" this is a shallow reef 35-45 feet deep with many grottos & swim thrus in the coral canyons. There is a wreck, about 2 miles off shore, max depth 60 feet, it appears to be a freighter that ran aground. Half of it above water half below. There's also some nice shallow reefs for snorkeling (8-15 feet deep) We went on snorkeling excursion about 1 hr south of us to swim with nurse sharks & sting rays. This was a fun 1/2 day, but over priced @ $85 US each. There's a few pictures in my gallery.
The winds picked up mid week and the breakers were so high the small dive boats could not get out. We tried on day but the surge was really bad on the reef & the sand was stirred up making visibilty the pits.(10 feet or less). There is a dive to Catalina Island, which has a wall and reef available, but it's an all day trip and the weather was not co-operation, so we spent the rest of the time on the beach.
The weather was warm & humid &sunny for most of the week. There was always an east wind blowing, which made the humidity bearable. Temperature ranged between 75 & 85°F . we had a couple of heavy down pours at night, and a few light showeres during the day. These did not last and the sun was back out in minutes.
In general a nice vacation spot, ok for a holiday with a little diving, but not recommended if you want a diving holiday. If you're fussy on food, DR is not the place for you. In general the food was bland, over cooked, & pretty boring after a week. The beaches are fantastic, the grounds & facilties were well maintained. There were covered walk-ways zig zagging thru the resort, lots of coconut palm trees, gardens etc The resort was all inclusive, so drinks, snacks foo were all included in one price. The Steak&Seafood reataurantoffered lobster which was not included.
Mike D
Well, my wife, daughter, son-in-law & I are heading south for Christmas vacation. We've talked about it for weeks, so Sunday we looked at the internet for last minute sell-offs, called our travel agent and booked a week at an all inclusive resort. Dec 21 to 28 we're going to the Grand Palladium Pallace Resort & Casino, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
They have a scuba & snorkeling excursion company right at the resort. This Christmas I plan to get drunk, sunburned, do some diving, snorkeling, dining, play some golf, horse back riding & get a massage at the spa (promised the massage to my wife LOL)
So Hola, Como es usted, & Feliz Navidad
& season's greetings to everyone at The Dive Area
Mike D
Hope you find this amusing. I learned 4 things this last weekend.
1)Crocks have no tread & are slippery on a wet incline
2) Seed from the bottom of the hill not the top
3) Remember your training.
4) Car keys will get lost, when you fall
Last Saturday was not a great day, high temp 3°C (about 38°F), there was a heavy frost Friday night, but it was melting, leaving a wet dew on everything. There was a cool breeze, but it was sunny. It was a descent day to get some yard work done. We're in a new house and the lot has been profiled and sodd on the front lawn. The sides and back however are seeded, and there are a few bald patches where the grass seed has not germinated. I was informed this is a good time to over seed, so the grass gets a start, goes dormant and then will grow great in the spring. At about 2:300 in the afternoon, I was out spreading grass seed on the bald spots. I had slipped on my crocks to do this task thinking I'd be done in a few minutes. I was walking along the noth side of the drive way, spreading grass seed down the slope. The area is about the same as a 4/8 pitch roof. I couldn't get the seed far enough down the hill so I ventured down the slope a a couple of yards. (Bad idea) Being the north face, the sun had not completely melted all the frost. (lesson 1) As I stepped onto the mixed wet mud/grass combination my crocks lost traction, and both my feet came out from under me, just like the clown act at the Ice Capades. The grass sees, car keys and anything else in my windbreaker went flying. I fell flat on my back.(lesson 3) Fortunately I am also a Black Belt in Judo, and although retired, break-fall is one of the first things you learn. I reach forward with both arms, swung them back, & wack, hit the ground with both palms & for-arms, just as my back was hitting the ground. It broke my fall, I was covered in mud but only my pride was hurt. In hind sight, (lesson 2) I realized I should have been seeding from the bottom of the hill, facing up the slope, a much more stable position(lesson 4) I found the car keys a couple of hours later, after looking everywhere else for them to go to Home Depot for more grass seed.
Mike D
I have to get this off my chest.
First of all, I'm a retired Instructor, after 25 years of teaching, I've hung it up, But every now and then I get the urge to scream about shoddy pieces of gear. The stablizer jacket BC is my favourite. At first this looked like the answer to everyones dreams. It combines the BC, tank harness & backpack all in one. The key problem with this device is the inflated bladder. Once adjust properly to keep the tank from flopping around, most of these BC's that wrap around the rib cage or chest & expand inwards when inflated, thus making it very difficult to breath. I've seen too many distressed divers with Entry Level Gear, exhausted on the surface, out of breath looking like they're on the verge of panic. Letting air out of the BC, putting the reg back in the mouth & getting horizontal usually solves the problem. There are some very good BC's that do not exhibit this problem. The TUSA Imprex (in the early 90's) was the first model I found that solved the problem, and certainly all the backplate/wing designs do not have this problem.
However, most of the entry level BC's tend to be of this problematic type. It is only the higher priced models that have the problem resolved.
Case in point: just a couple of years ago Dive Rite started selling "Sport Diving" line of BC's. It looks well made, quality materials and workmanship. But when I put it on guess what, inflated I could hardly breath! It angers me to see reputable manufacturers selling what I feel is inferior crap, to fill a price point in the market place.
I am not picking on Dive-Rite in particular, this jsut happens to be MFR & the specific model experience I have. I own and am very pleased with a DR backplate and rec-wing.
Just my 2 cents worth!
Mike D
Comments are of course welcome.
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