Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Aloha and Effie Mae, Kingston ON N 44° 09.8', W 76° 34.1'
   Dive Number 104 Buddies
Matt, Stacey
Surface temp
22°C
Starting pressure
3000psi
Depth
52ft
Visibility
fair
Time
39m
Water temp
16°C
Ending pressure
1700psi

Notes:

I had finished a stretch of work that included the two previous night shifts as well as a Wednesday day clinic in the clinic, but fatigue wasn't going to stop me from getting one of the last dives of the season. The weather threatened to ba another thing. By the 5 o'clock scheduled departure time, five of six divers had shown up, but rain poured down and Southerly wind made any boat but the Munson inadvisable (with one basic diver among us, that wouldn't do either. Rather than abort the trip for a shore dive, we gave the rain half an hour to settle.

Our decision paid off: The downpour stopped, the wind shifted and we were rewarded with a dive that, despite poorer visibility, was much warmer than predicted (Anne called for 52 degree temp at depth; the actual temp was about ten degrees higher). We arrived late, owing to some boat trouble, and although we hadn't planned a night dive per se, it turned out well that there were ample flashlights, including the new one I picked up at Northern Tech.

On the subject of new gear, this was also my first dive with the underwater housing for the new Canon camera that Cheryl and I bought this summer. Although the particulate matter made photograpy difficult, I managed to catch one decent shot of the large drum that calls the Effie Mae its home.

With five divers on board, we dove in wet and dry teams: Kim and Scott started on "team dry" (Scott alone finished on that team), and Matt and I were joined by newer diver Stacey in our neoprenes.

This week, my trip to the British Virgin Islands was confirmed for beginning of December. I'll probably get three or four more dives in before that, hopefully.

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Aloha and Effie Mae, Kingston ON N 44° 09.8', W 76° 34.1'
   Dive Number 103 Buddy
Mario
Surface temp
22°C
Starting pressure
3000psi
Depth
53ft
Visibility
fair
Time
48m
Water temp
21°C
Ending pressure
1200psi

Notes:

After an abominable 50 day dry spell [August!], Scott, Kim, Mario and I made it out the club dive this Wednesday. Originally scheduled for the Marsh, we elected to drop in on the more sheltered [and closer] Aloha and Effie Mae. The wrecks were in good shape, and as usual were frequented by plenty of smallmouth and rock bass, as well as a large drum and lots of gobies. Water was warm. Mario used no headwear or gloves. One large bass was large enough for me to refer to it as "dinner for four". I should really have brought my underwater camera to try it out!