Tractor Tom
Contributor
...had a GREAT time.
I'll post a short note and let Dave fill in the blanks I missed because he keeps better notes than I do.
Easy cross of the border on Thurday morning, and a stressless drive up 21 towards Tobermory. Light traffic, weather was blustery and trying to rain a bit. Dave waited until I had an open can of Canada Dry Gingerale sitting on the seat between my knees to pull out in front of another car and do 'basic survival' driving. Most of the soda hit the floormats of his car, but no real harm done. It feels squishy between my toes...
Checked in with the help at Divers Den late in the afternoon, and filled out paperwork. So far, we were the only divers going out on Friday morning. Supper, some beers and into bed for an early bedtime. Have I mentioned that my buddy Dave snores? Its kind of sounds like a tuba and an oboe having mad sex most of the night....more about that later.
Friday morning out to the the shop at 8:00 and wait for Susan to open. Yep, were ready, and we are the only divers for the morning. Is the Deep Obsession OK? Well, let's do the math, a boat rigged for 25 divers, for the two of us? OK!!! We meet Captain Gary and take a couple photos with Cyril on the boat.
First dive is the Arabia. High pressure front has moved into the area, lake is calm and nice, temp about 62 degrees and bright sun. Dive is 101ffw, total of 22 minutes with a 1 minute stop at 50' and three minutes at 15' on the way back up. There was a bit of a current on the way down and I burned up a lot of air getting to the wreck. Vis was fairly low at around 30' or so. GREAT wreck, lots to see, but not enough air to see it all.
Second morning dive was the King. Max 82ffw for a time of 28 minutes. Another nice wreck. Hard to believe that a wooden ship can have so much iron in it! Wreck sits on a 45 degree angle down to the bow, vis is a little better then on the last dive.
Back to the dock for lunch and to pick up another diver. He is fairly new to the sport and diving wet, so we Dive the Charles P. Minch with a maximum depth of 38ffw for about 31 minutes. At the back side of the wreck we examine the cribs that were used for a dock, and then follow the shore around a bit. We turn back and swim back to the wreck and this is where Dave does something kind of amazing. We get to the wreck and he picks up his compass, points out to the middle of the cove and signals to 'follow me'. I think to myself, "sure, sure, like you can find the boat." He swims across the cove and right up to the mooring, you can look up and see the ladder of the boat. We do a short safety stop and climb on the boat. No way in the world he could do that TWICE.
End of the dive day, hot food and cold beers at Crowsnest and sit and chat with one of the owners of the Flint Dive Shop for a while. Good times! Back to the motel, a few more beers and then off to bed by 11:00 or so. Did I mention that Dave snores a bit? I decide it sounds like bull seals on the beach at high tide, groweling and barking. A regular wildlife experience...I pack my ears with kleenix and hope for the best.
Dive day two, Saturday. We check in at the dive shop and will be diving off the Bruce Isles, and there will be five of us. Dave and myself, Heine from Toronto, the fellow from the day before and a fellow visiting from Belgium. Plan was to dive the Niagara II and then the Scoville, but the mooring from the Scoville is missing and will have to be replaced. A vote is taken, and we decide to do both dives on the Niagara. Good weather is still with us, but the wind has come up a bit. Warm, sunny skys are the order of the day with a 10-15 kt wind. We are throwing some water getting to the site and the Bruce Isles GM diesel is just screaming. Standing in the wheel house is an invitation to a headache. The decision is made to take Cyril down on the dive, and he is rigged on a light line and 'beener' clip, and fastened to Dave's rig. I get out my camera.
Into the water we go, not knowing if Cyril will be able to stay together at depth. Who knows what 'crush depth' is on a Gnome??? We fly down the line to the pilot house and Dave takes Cyril inside and sets him on the wheel housing. I hoover outside and shoot a couple photos. Then places are reversed and I stand with Cyril and Dave takes a couple shots. This is 35mm film kids, I'll take it in for custom processing on Monday and post what photos come out. I feel sure that Cyril is the first Gnome to dive on the Niagara II. After the photo op, a short look around and back to the surface. 85ffw for 28 minutes with 25' vis on the wreck and 38 degree water. We make the surface with Cyril intact, and as Captain Gary takes him from Dave, Cyril springs a leak that looks for all the world like he is taking a whizz on the good Captain. Cyril is sent to stand on the corner of the deck to think about what he has done.
After an hour surface interval, we rig for the second dive. In the hour plus that we have been on the wreck, the Mamie has tied to the bow mooring, then two 25' Zodiac boats with 10 divers each has tied to the stern of the Bruce Isles. Then the Deep Obsession has come up and tied to the stern of the Mamie. There are a lot of divers in the water! We decide to do a penetration dive of the boat, and rig with lights and such, but no cameras. I lead Dave down the mooring line, and swoop right into a stack and follow it down to the engine room without ever stopping. Dave follows, and for the next 20 minutes or so, we explore the inside of the mostly very open hull. Enough light comes in that lights really aren't needed too often. Depth 85ffw, 28 minutes, 39 degrees bottom temp, with vis in some places of less than 10 feet, due to the amount of divers on the wreck. The safety stop at 15 feet was kind of busy, with about eight divers there including ourselves.
Decided not to dive the afternoon trip, we are both tired and more than a little sun and wind burnt. First we stop off at Craigies and have an excellent Whitefish sandwich. Then we retire to our room a the Blue Bay Motel for showers and a nap, followed by a couple cold Sleeman Dark and a walk about town. Finally we get to the diveshop and settle the bill and buy a tee shirt.
I spoke to Susan about putting together a GLWC trip to Tobermory for the second week of June, next year. She assures me that she can support any size group as she has access to six boats and that most of the motels have 'off season' rates during that time. I'll provide more info about that about 1 April of next year. Dave and I will be play host and putting together more information after the first of the year next year about that.
The drive home is uneventful. Border crossing is about 20 minutes and effortless. Traffic is light most of the way, and we are at my house by around 2:30 or so. I won't mention about Dave's snoring last night, it really wasn't his best effort. Sounded like a Cat D9 Dozer trying to knock down a powerplant chimney, lots of deep grunting and grinding noises...
All in all, a great trip. Look forward to your questions and comments. Photos will be posted soon, and photos of Cyrils trip to the bottom later this week.
I'll post a short note and let Dave fill in the blanks I missed because he keeps better notes than I do.
Easy cross of the border on Thurday morning, and a stressless drive up 21 towards Tobermory. Light traffic, weather was blustery and trying to rain a bit. Dave waited until I had an open can of Canada Dry Gingerale sitting on the seat between my knees to pull out in front of another car and do 'basic survival' driving. Most of the soda hit the floormats of his car, but no real harm done. It feels squishy between my toes...
Checked in with the help at Divers Den late in the afternoon, and filled out paperwork. So far, we were the only divers going out on Friday morning. Supper, some beers and into bed for an early bedtime. Have I mentioned that my buddy Dave snores? Its kind of sounds like a tuba and an oboe having mad sex most of the night....more about that later.
Friday morning out to the the shop at 8:00 and wait for Susan to open. Yep, were ready, and we are the only divers for the morning. Is the Deep Obsession OK? Well, let's do the math, a boat rigged for 25 divers, for the two of us? OK!!! We meet Captain Gary and take a couple photos with Cyril on the boat.
First dive is the Arabia. High pressure front has moved into the area, lake is calm and nice, temp about 62 degrees and bright sun. Dive is 101ffw, total of 22 minutes with a 1 minute stop at 50' and three minutes at 15' on the way back up. There was a bit of a current on the way down and I burned up a lot of air getting to the wreck. Vis was fairly low at around 30' or so. GREAT wreck, lots to see, but not enough air to see it all.
Second morning dive was the King. Max 82ffw for a time of 28 minutes. Another nice wreck. Hard to believe that a wooden ship can have so much iron in it! Wreck sits on a 45 degree angle down to the bow, vis is a little better then on the last dive.
Back to the dock for lunch and to pick up another diver. He is fairly new to the sport and diving wet, so we Dive the Charles P. Minch with a maximum depth of 38ffw for about 31 minutes. At the back side of the wreck we examine the cribs that were used for a dock, and then follow the shore around a bit. We turn back and swim back to the wreck and this is where Dave does something kind of amazing. We get to the wreck and he picks up his compass, points out to the middle of the cove and signals to 'follow me'. I think to myself, "sure, sure, like you can find the boat." He swims across the cove and right up to the mooring, you can look up and see the ladder of the boat. We do a short safety stop and climb on the boat. No way in the world he could do that TWICE.
End of the dive day, hot food and cold beers at Crowsnest and sit and chat with one of the owners of the Flint Dive Shop for a while. Good times! Back to the motel, a few more beers and then off to bed by 11:00 or so. Did I mention that Dave snores a bit? I decide it sounds like bull seals on the beach at high tide, groweling and barking. A regular wildlife experience...I pack my ears with kleenix and hope for the best.
Dive day two, Saturday. We check in at the dive shop and will be diving off the Bruce Isles, and there will be five of us. Dave and myself, Heine from Toronto, the fellow from the day before and a fellow visiting from Belgium. Plan was to dive the Niagara II and then the Scoville, but the mooring from the Scoville is missing and will have to be replaced. A vote is taken, and we decide to do both dives on the Niagara. Good weather is still with us, but the wind has come up a bit. Warm, sunny skys are the order of the day with a 10-15 kt wind. We are throwing some water getting to the site and the Bruce Isles GM diesel is just screaming. Standing in the wheel house is an invitation to a headache. The decision is made to take Cyril down on the dive, and he is rigged on a light line and 'beener' clip, and fastened to Dave's rig. I get out my camera.
Into the water we go, not knowing if Cyril will be able to stay together at depth. Who knows what 'crush depth' is on a Gnome??? We fly down the line to the pilot house and Dave takes Cyril inside and sets him on the wheel housing. I hoover outside and shoot a couple photos. Then places are reversed and I stand with Cyril and Dave takes a couple shots. This is 35mm film kids, I'll take it in for custom processing on Monday and post what photos come out. I feel sure that Cyril is the first Gnome to dive on the Niagara II. After the photo op, a short look around and back to the surface. 85ffw for 28 minutes with 25' vis on the wreck and 38 degree water. We make the surface with Cyril intact, and as Captain Gary takes him from Dave, Cyril springs a leak that looks for all the world like he is taking a whizz on the good Captain. Cyril is sent to stand on the corner of the deck to think about what he has done.
After an hour surface interval, we rig for the second dive. In the hour plus that we have been on the wreck, the Mamie has tied to the bow mooring, then two 25' Zodiac boats with 10 divers each has tied to the stern of the Bruce Isles. Then the Deep Obsession has come up and tied to the stern of the Mamie. There are a lot of divers in the water! We decide to do a penetration dive of the boat, and rig with lights and such, but no cameras. I lead Dave down the mooring line, and swoop right into a stack and follow it down to the engine room without ever stopping. Dave follows, and for the next 20 minutes or so, we explore the inside of the mostly very open hull. Enough light comes in that lights really aren't needed too often. Depth 85ffw, 28 minutes, 39 degrees bottom temp, with vis in some places of less than 10 feet, due to the amount of divers on the wreck. The safety stop at 15 feet was kind of busy, with about eight divers there including ourselves.
Decided not to dive the afternoon trip, we are both tired and more than a little sun and wind burnt. First we stop off at Craigies and have an excellent Whitefish sandwich. Then we retire to our room a the Blue Bay Motel for showers and a nap, followed by a couple cold Sleeman Dark and a walk about town. Finally we get to the diveshop and settle the bill and buy a tee shirt.
I spoke to Susan about putting together a GLWC trip to Tobermory for the second week of June, next year. She assures me that she can support any size group as she has access to six boats and that most of the motels have 'off season' rates during that time. I'll provide more info about that about 1 April of next year. Dave and I will be play host and putting together more information after the first of the year next year about that.
The drive home is uneventful. Border crossing is about 20 minutes and effortless. Traffic is light most of the way, and we are at my house by around 2:30 or so. I won't mention about Dave's snoring last night, it really wasn't his best effort. Sounded like a Cat D9 Dozer trying to knock down a powerplant chimney, lots of deep grunting and grinding noises...
All in all, a great trip. Look forward to your questions and comments. Photos will be posted soon, and photos of Cyrils trip to the bottom later this week.
