sarnia diving

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can anyone tell me about diving in sarnia i have read about barges,ect but have never been there to dive..any help would be apreciated..
 
Most diving in Sarnia is advanced because of:
1. heavy boat traffic, which forces you to treat it as an overhead environment.
2. the extremely swift current.
Thus to dive the barge, Monarch, Superman, etc, you should be an advanced diver who is comfortable with an overhead environment in swift water.

That said, there is one exception. The old CSL docks just north of the casino is a fairly protected area with no boat traffic (due to old pilings) and little current. It is calm enough and protected enough that open water certs are done there. Stay in, or close to, the pilings and you're fine.

You should know that a northerly wind tends to really ruin the viz and that a southerly wind (preferably for a few days) will improve the viz.

Additionally, they are doing waterfront improvements just south of the bridge and that's adding a lot of silt, dirt, etc. to the water. The viz saturday was only about 10 feet, what with the rain and all.

I understand there are places to dive further downstream, but I have no knowledge of them. Perhaps someone on the board can fill you in.

Hope this is of some help.
 
you can dive closer to shore if you are not comfortable enough with the real fast current as lakes diver has said because it is advanced. In the main current we actually use river sticks or ropes to pull ourselves back up into the shallows so if you are planning on going deeper then 40 feet go prepared because that is where the back eddy current meets with the downstream current and the current going down stream can be wicked (trust me on that!) Last time we were there we were near the bottom of the river where the sand meets rock and we were hanging on a rope hugging bottom and it was magnificent to look into the current and see the underwater sand storm blast you,( just like being in a dessert sand storm). It is quite a rush to be there and exhilarating, your bubbles don't go up they go side ways. If you do decide to go that route becareful when you look up because the current may take your mask off. If you want something easier Just off the CSL docks you are ok but there is the back eddy current which is managable and makes for a great drift dive. The other side of the Casino is the Sydney Smith dock, not very deep but lots of fish to see and no current. Have fun and dive safe!:)
 
Can anyone tell me if there are any operators out there who operate in Sarnia? Or is it all shore diving? How fast is the current in relation to say Cozumel? Whats the water temp? at the bottom? Whats the depth?
 
Hi Fernie,

I'm not aware of any charters running out of Sarnia - there are some further up the shore on the American side (around Port Sanilac). The diving in Sarnia and the St. Clair river is primarily shore diving and the current is much faster then Cozumel. Right in Sarnia you are looking at 3-4x what you get in Cozumel plus the visibility is much less and this time of the year the visibility can be very temperamental. Temperature in the river right now is in the low 70's and there isn't a thermocline in the river although if you do go into Lake Huron it depends on depth as it could be in the mid 50's for most of the intermediate wrecks but on the deeper stuff you could be in the low 40's. Depth in the river ranges from 20' to 60' depending on where you are diving it.
 
Hello Canadians,

Im the guy on the other side of the river, putting 15+ hrs a week in that river........im sure you have come to notice under the beacon our almost perminantly mounted dive flag. Well i do strafe all over the river(it would scare you the disrespect for overhead boat traffic us americans may have), and have hit every bit of wreckage in the river, i have never dove off the canadian coast.....any reccomendations? and does customs give you grief about heading over the blue water with tanks?
Thanks for your time
 
We dove there a couple weekends ago, and it was absolutely awesome conditions. Visibility was 30+ feet at the St Clair River head, and into the river to the bridge. And water temps were 70-72. Sturgeon were still abundant, hanging out waiting for us!

HOWEVER, I will issue a warning. We had our vehicle parked at the west end of Canatara Park, at the gravel parking beach head access (near the tall apartment building). It was broken into and all of our valuables stolen, even our dive journals and anything else shiny,made of plastic or with a handle on it (read: ID, credit cards, purse, wallet, duffle bag, laptop bag) , whilst we were under water. Talking to Sarnia police, and local park management, break-ins have been rampant throughout Canatara Park. Be careful, don't stow valuables in your vehicle if you are parking here!
 
Hey findingbode,

To answer your question on tanks - hasn't been a problem so far. I dive in Port Sanilac a couple times a year and last weekend I was in Mackinac and no issues then either.

As for dive site suggestions - if it is wreckage that you are looking for, I'd suggest the William H. Wolfe which is just south of Sombra (across from Marine City) as well as the barge/monarch drift which is basically under the bluewater bridge. If you prefer just a relaxing drift dive then we have about half a dozen that we will visit regularly (ranging in difficulty from beginner to fairly highly advanced). Feel free to PM me for more details on sites or if you want to join us some time (we are pretty easy to get along with most of the time).
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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