Houseboat diving?

[simcoediver]

We are thinking far ahead for our dive plans for next summer and thinking about renting a houseboat for a week of diving the St Lawrence. a group of us would share the cost.
A few questions to ask anyone who has done this.
Is it worth doing?
Is getting air a problem? they would need to be shore based dive shops on either Canadian or U.S side so we do not have to carry tanks and no I do not have a compressor.
What would be a good itinerary of dive sites going downstream from perhaps Brockville to as far as Cornwall?

 

[Stoo]

Years ago we used to rent a big boat from someplace in Clayton, just west of Alexandria Bay... We always had a blast... This was pre-9/11 of course so moving around the river was much easier.... you could dive on either side of the border without clearing immigration, as long as you didn't land on the other side..

Those trips were an absolute blast and we often talk about doing it again.

I don't know much about the diving east of Brockville, but we would hit all the usual suspects firther west... Keystorm, Lily Parsons, Daryaw, Vickery, Oconto, Kinghorn, Jodrey. We always had one or two Zodiacs as well, so we would sometimes dive from those while the mothership was anchored someplace.

We always took lots of tanks, but you could get fills in Rockport. I don't think that guy is there, so you might need to run a tank shuttle up to Dive-tec or someplace.

Definitely try to make this happen... although look into doing it in the fall... boats are WAY less expensive.

 

[GTA_Diving_Wonder]

Very do-able. Pre-arrange your air with local dive shops who will pick up and fill your tanks if you have a group with enough tanks to make it worth their while. If not, just bring lots of tanks, those houseboats can hold lots (40+) of tanks bungied to the rails. I know you can arrange tank fill pickups for Rockport area, Caiger's Resort, Clayton and Brockville, seek out the dive operators around those areas. The houseboats are unwieldy to pilot, so you want at least one decently experienced mariner on the boat. Coordinate your trip with the 1000 islands provincial parks bookings for a chance to camp or get access to land or mooring if needed, and to have a campfire cookout, etc. We have been doing this for a few years.