Diving the Empress Of Ireland

[Rose Robinson]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I have a dive planned on the Empress Of Ireland for the first part of August.

If you have dived the Empress Of Ireland, within the last 36 months, I'd like to hear from you, please PM me.

I know the dive is tide clock dependent, I know the visibility is usually minimal, I know it's a cold water dive.

What else do you have to offer.

The ride to the wreck is in a rigid bottom inflatable, eight to ten passenger, dependent on gear, rebreathers/stage/deco bottles/scooters. etc.

I am a qualified, technical diver, I dive with double HP steel 80's, plus deco/bailout.

Any helpful info is greatly appreciated.

It may be a week or more before I can respond.

Thank you all very much,

LOL,

Rose.

 

[Jared0425]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

I have a dive planned on the Empress Of Ireland for the first part of August.

If you have dived the Empress Of Ireland, within the last 36 months, I'd like to hear from you, please PM me.

I know the dive is tide clock dependent, I know the visibility is usually minimal, I know it's a cold water dive.

What else do you have to offer.

The ride to the wreck is in a rigid bottom inflatable, eight to ten passenger, dependent on gear, rebreathers/stage/deco bottles/scooters. etc.

I am a qualified, technical diver, I dive with double HP steel 80's, plus deco/bailout.

Any helpful info is greatly appreciated.

It may be a week or more before I can respond.

Thank you all very much,

LOL,

Rose.

Just be prepared for the current. I've done the Roy Jodrey near the Brockville area of the St. Lawrence and the current is a monster without scooter. You'll be assisting your scooter while kicking in most cases. I'd also recommend larger tanks instead of the 80s. Go with Faber 104s if you can. Add some extra helium too because of the co2 buildup. If you are anchored into the wreck, prepare yourself for a miserable descent and hang afterwards. If you can drift deco, then do it to save the soreness from your mask being pushed into your face and soreness in your arms. Other than that, it's just a standard river dive.

 

[jmark18]

And don't forget the cold. The strong current seems to pull all the heat from your body especially if you are sweating while gearing up.

 

[Ben_3]

Look up plongé nautilus in Quebec city or check out their facebook and IG. They dive it every year and I think they could help you out. Great folks too.

I’v heard it’s not an easy dive even for the best.

 

[Jared0425]

And don't forget the cold. The strong current seems to pull all the heat from your body especially if you are sweating while gearing up.

It was 58° top to 210' on the Jodrey. Rivers normally don't have a thermocline. Best chance to dive the Empress is in late spring/very early summer after a dry spell and slack tide.

 

[umhlangan]

Deleted. Redundant.

 

[macado]

What information are you looking for? I have 5 dives on the Empress of Ireland and hope to maybe go back this fall. Unfortunately I dont believe the boat we chartered is available anymore otherwise I would offer his contact information.

We were very lucky when we dove it and had 20-25ft+ (~7-7.5m) of visibilty) most of the dives. We did our dives at the end of the season in early October when it was "warm." Bottom water temperature was 36f (~2c) and deco temperature were 38f (~3c). Not much relief on deco. Because my buddy didnt have good heated vest we limited our runtimes to approximately 70-75 minutes each dive. A few others opted for 60-65 minute runtimes.

We also only had current on 2 of the dives enough that I couldnt or rather didnt want to swim to the stern section. My max depth was 142ft (~43m). I was on a rebreather but I'd recommend a little bit of helium in your backgas if you can. The French-Canadian guys dive it on air or slightrox but they're a slightly different breed.

When we there we had just a single mooring tied approximately mid-ship. There used to be a guy that maintained the moorings (Simon Peltier?) but I'm not sure that is still happening now. She rests on her starboard side at a 65-degree angle. If you're ever confused to where you are follow the ship up until you reach the port gunnel which should be obvious.

I also highly recommend reading Dark Descent by Kevin McMurray. An absolutely fascinating book about some of the old school pioneers that dove her.

 

[macado]

It was 58° top to 210' on the Jodrey. Rivers normally don't have a thermocline. Best chance to dive the Empress is in late spring/very early summer after a dry spell and slack tide.

I dont believe the Empress ever gets close to this warm but I could be wrong. It's so close to the mouth of the Saint Lawrence that it is more or less a salt water / brackish dive.

But yes, absolutely on the Jodrey. I've had 72f (~22c) on the bottom in late September / early October. I wouldn't expect more than 38f (~3c) on the Empress however.

I just dont want to give the impression that the Empress has tropical like water temperatures like they get near Alexandria Bay, NY or Brockville, Ontario.

If you are anchored into the wreck, prepare yourself for a miserable descent and hang afterwards. If you can drift deco, then do it to save the soreness from your mask being pushed into your face and soreness in your arms. Other than that, it's just a standard river dive.

The Empress of Ireland is NOT a place you want to do drifting deco. The fog can roll it very, very quickly making it almost impossible for a boat to find you. That part of the "river" is also very wide unlike the freshwater portions of the St Lawrence River.

If you look at the map here below near Rimouski (close to where Empress is) you will see it is firmly in the Lower Estuary section right at the mouth of the Gulf of St Lawrence. Beluga whales are not uncommon to see.

https://www.planstlaurent.qc.ca/fileadmin/documents/PDF/CarteSectionsStLaurent.pdf

The lower estuary running between Tadoussac and Pointe-des-Monts, Quebec. This zone is also the starting point of the Laurentian Channel, a very deep natural channel through which dense, nutrient-laden saltwater from the Atlantic Ocean flows.

The currents are also very tide dependent unlike the Jodrey which always has some form of current however 3 out of 5 dives on the Empress had mild to no current. The last 2 I would classify as annoying but not anywhere near the currents you'd experience on the stern of the Jodrey.

 

[umhlangan]

I dont believe the Empress ever gets close to this warm but I could be wrong. It's so close to the mouth of the Saint Lawrence that it is more or less a salt water / brackish dive.

But yes, absolutely on the Jodrey. I've had 72f (~22c) on the bottom in late September / early October. I wouldn't expect more than 38f (~3c) on the Empress however.

I just dont want to give the impression that the Empress has tropical like water temperatures like they get near Alexandria Bay, NY or Brockville, Ontario.

The Empress of Ireland is NOT a place you want to do drifting deco. The fog can roll it very, very quickly making it almost impossible for a boat to find you. That part of the "river" is also very wide unlike the freshwater portions of the St Lawrence River.

If you look at the map here below near Rimouski (close to where Empress is) you will see it is firmly in the Lower Estuary section right at the mouth of the Gulf of St Lawrence. Beluga whales are not uncommon to see.

https://www.planstlaurent.qc.ca/fileadmin/documents/PDF/CarteSectionsStLaurent.pdf

View attachment 776718

The currents are also very tide dependent unlike the Jodrey which always has some form of current however 3 out of 5 dives on the Empress had mild to no current. The last 2 I would classify as annoying but not anywhere near the currents you'd experience on the stern of the Jodrey.

Same here. I’ve done three trips to the empress and the warmest I’ve had was 39F.