Contemplating trip to St. Lawrence River

[SkiDiver]

thanks for the tips (and pics), folks. keep em coming!

just as a brief reminder, one of the divers (my 15-year old) has relatively little experience, maybe 25-30 total logged dives (and my 18-year old has just a few more). she has good skills for her level of experience, but we probably don't want to try a super challenging dive, i.e., one where a mistake can be costly.

 

[AngloFish]

I think the Lily sits around 65ft. For the drift part sticking to the 40-50ft range is nice as you get lots of ambient light and loads of critters. Very easy and enjoyable.
The Keystorm starts at 25ft and goes all the way down to around 130. Being such a large ship you could stick to a nice max depth of 60ft and see a whole lot of wreck. The America if I remember correctly sits at a max of 80ft, but it's upside down so that's where most of the interesting stuff is.
For nice and easy stuff that doesn't require a boat:
The Conestoga is a shore dive in Cardinal Ont which sits around 20-30 ft. If you can find a guide there is a great drift you can do from up river right to the wreck. Otherwise just look for the smoke stack sticking out of the water and there it is.
A little closer to Rockport is the Rothesay just outside of Prescott Ont. It's an old paddle steamer that's in about 25ft of water. Pretty beat up but there are lots of fish and other critters here.

thanks for the tips (and pics), folks. keep em coming!

just as a brief reminder, one of the divers (my 15-year old) has relatively little experience, maybe 25-30 total logged dives (and my 18-year old has just a few more). she has good skills for her level of experience, but we probably don't want to try a super challenging dive, i.e., one where a mistake can be costly.

 

[SkiDiver]

thanks again for all the tips and advice, folks. one more quick question that anglo's post brought to mind: is it worth doing boat dives, or are (guided? non-guided?) shore dives just as good? we've done lots of shore diving as a family (in Bonaire) and are comfortable with that if it's easy, feasible and worthwhile.

on the other hand, if the best dives are boat dives we would be inclined to go that way.

 

[AngloFish]

Seaway Valley Divers runs out of Cornwall (although not sure if they are still around) and they could probably run you up to the East Cliff Hall. Otherwise Island Divers out of Caigers in Rockport will take care of you charter wise. Great service and they can keep you busy with wrecks for you whole trip down.

thanks again for all the tips and advice, folks. one more quick question that anglo's post brought to mind: is it worth doing boat dives, or are (guided? non-guided?) shore dives just as good? we've done lots of shore diving as a family (in Bonaire) and are comfortable with that if it's easy, feasible and worthwhile.

on the other hand, if the best dives are boat dives we would be inclined to go that way.

 

[Moira]

I am a relatively new diver with only 18 months of experience and about the same number of dives as your 15-year-old. I'd personally recommend the Keystorm, America and drift to the Conestoga (if you can find a local to guide you). All are a lot of fun and not too advanced for the younger diver. I dove the Conestoga last weekend, followed up by a drift dive to it. That was the most fun I've ever had diving locally!


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---------- Post added July 6th, 2014 at 05:44 PM ----------

Oh. I've also stayed at Cagiers Resort back in May. It's in the perfect location if you plan to be diving. I've never been to Dive Tech, but I have been to ABUCS in Brockville. Helen is the shop owner and she is very helpful and knowledgable. She happily stayed at the shop until 10 pm to fill our tanks while we had dinner. Also, if you have the chance to dive with Rick Lymer from RiverDiver Dive Charters, he is awesome!


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[cameron]

These are totally doable as novice divers. I taught my son to dive when he was 13 and we dived in bonaire a fair bit. He had no problem making the switch to diving in the st lawrence.

If your diving the brockville area, I would highly recommend Dive Tech and 1000 island pleasure diving on the canadian side. I have dealt with pretty much every charter and shop in the area extensively over the past 12 years and they are by far the most professional.

Cam

 

[TTPaws]

I dive this area twice a year (June & August) if you need gear and you anywhere near the brockville area then I highly recommend Dive Tech in Mallorytown. They have everything and their customer service is outstanding. Just don't mention scooters or you'll never get out of there I got an email yesterday from Caigers that says 1,000 island pleasure divers (Wayne) has moved to Rockport. I have dove with him and try and do so on one of the trips. Another class operation is Underwhere Dive charters. I have done at least 6 trips with them and they have outstanding customer service (and Dive Sherpas & Ryan is a great boat captain.

I will probably go with Underwhere because I'll be staying in Brockville. Another operation to the East is Bottom Time Diving. I haven't had a chance to dive with Andy, but he comes highly recommended and he dives the power house.

 

[gitterdun]

I wrote this, in the other thread:

As mentioned above:

1000 Island Pleasure Divers - Rockport - Boathouse - https://www.facebook.com/1000islanddiver
River Diver - RiverDiver Dive Charters
Under Where? - https://www.facebook.com/groups/516116568450230/

You can also get fills and gear at: Undirworld, which is located in Brockville, near St. Lawrence Park - https://www.facebook.com/pages/UNDIR...01805336574070

or Dive Tech, which is the diver's candy store - Dive Tech Training Centre - Home Page **NOTE** They are closed on July 28th and 29th, 2014.

You can actually shore dive, at Ivy Lea. If you enter at the boat dock (you won't be able to put any gear on or use the docks, but can enter beside), you can scooter/drift to the beach area. There are some crazy currents, so make sure that you have enough gas. If you are diving single tanks, you may want to get in at the beach area, swim for a bit, then swim back, instead of doing the drift. They will give you a map, at the front office.

There is also Centeen Park, in Brockville. If you are diving a single tank, there is a new underwater sculpture park, there. If you are diving doubles, you can swim out to the wreck of the Gaskin.

If you drive a little further east, there is also the wreck of the Rothesay, which is a nice shore dive.

Recommended wrecks: Keystorm/America (via charter - will need passport) - Great for newer divers.



If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask. I dive there just about every weekend.

 

[SkiDiver]

Awesome—thanks again for the great info., folks.

We will be coming from Canada (Ontario) back to the States (we're US citizens). Is there any advantage to us using a dive op on one side of the border vs. the other?

 

[rhwestfall]

there are not a lot of choices on the US side.... (in fairness, I may not be aware of them).