nuts
Here is a near miss.
- Thread starter Chip Elliott
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Mad - pure and simple.
One thing to remember when diving in those situations is that just because you have a buoy and flag in the water or have deployed a dsmb doesn't mean that will be seen by a ship or that they will be able to avoid it. Certainly looking at the size of some of the cargo vessels they will have stopping distances approaching miles (you don't stop ships with that sort of momentum very quick) and turning circles of 1,000's of feet. Also I can bet that from the bridge that your dive flag will be pretty indistinct.
One thing to remember when diving in those situations is that just because you have a buoy and flag in the water or have deployed a dsmb doesn't mean that will be seen by a ship or that they will be able to avoid it. Certainly looking at the size of some of the cargo vessels they will have stopping distances approaching miles (you don't stop ships with that sort of momentum very quick) and turning circles of 1,000's of feet. Also I can bet that from the bridge that your dive flag will be pretty indistinct.
billt4sf
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Darwin award for sure!
Diving in the St Clair River, at Sarnia, Ontario, takes a particular set of skills. I dive on the Canadian side where the current is somewhat fast...it varies depending on where you are in the River.
The depth of the River also varies, it's up to 70 ft on the Canadian side and 30-40 ft in the shipping channel.
In my experience you do not take a buoy and flag. All of Lake Huron is funnelling through that River with the active shipping channel in the middle. You stay near or on the bottom. The variable current is between 2-8 kts. There are pleasure craft, jet skis, and Great Lakes freighters going through this area. Great Lakes freighters do not stop for dive flags. Jet skis use them as slalom markers to turn around.
In the google map you can see a freighter, the white streak at the top.
You see the green space above the words Waterfront Park. Enter there, get negative ASAP and pull your way down the rocks to your chosen depth. You cannot swim against this current. You catch the ride and Superman drift under the Bluewater Bridge, exiting downstream of it on the Canadian side. There are a couple of wrecks, the Barge and the Monarch.
You do not go directly to the surface. You treat it as an overhead environment. To exit, you keep to the bottom and work your way up the wall and climb up the limestone blocks along the shore.
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Shoredivr and I dive this river quite frequently, and at almost no time when a freighter is over you that you are in a dangerous situation. You hear the things coming from miles away and when it gets loud you hunker down on the bottom and turn over to watch the sight. The prop does not suck you up or try to pull you off the bottom, the water in which the prop turns is actually horizontal and under the ship. I've been close to 15ft under one and everything was vibrating and my ears were being pulsed from the blades going through the water, but never was I sucked up or in any danger. The current stops for a few seconds then it doubles back throwing mud and sticks at you and before you know it, everything is back to normal and you start digging. River dives are the best dives!
kafkaland
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Just a different kind of diving, with its own inherent dangers and rewards.
frndrfoe
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I think it's something like a $10k fine if you cause the traffic to stop in a shipping lane. That would suck for your family.
Yes, so just don't stop the traffic. Same in the St Lawrence River shipping channels, so that's why I don't tow a float/flag. SMB and reel in my pocket though. And come up on the wall, the shipping channel is an overhead.
Why dive there? The shipwrecks. Old china and bottles. The joy of flying down the River a couple of feet off the bottom and seeing dozens and dozens of sturgeon in their mating season.
frndrfoe
Contributor
I was just stating that. We dove the America in the St Lawrence and two freighters passed over us on the way to the wreck and it was neat, not scary.
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