Just a little vintage diving in a Canadian lake...

[Sam Miller III]

Dale,
Very Impressive!
It is becoming a habit with you to produce high quality semi professional dive videos of vintage diving. So educational and so enjoyable to view, not once but several times.

Many years ago Peter Vasapopoulis (spelling?) produced the Canadian Dive magazine, (which I have all but 1or 2 copies) published an article about the crystal clear Canadian lakes and how the were used by Canadians and Americans during WW 11 as test beds for various items of UW equipment. Have you ever dove in lakes that were used in WW11? Or have you ever investigated where these lakes were located?

Maybe Stoo who was around in that time frame and has made 5000 dives in 40 years in the frozen north can chime in as to the names and location of the lakes.

The twin 40s aka 44s were first joined by a local dive shop owner Bob Reutherford in late 1950s. (see Legends of Diving; Sea Sabres Signaling system) US Divers could not sell them as ladies or juvenile tanks, so he purchased all of US Divers inventory, slapped them on a Sea Craft back plate and called then the "Orange County twin 44s." (I made a post about them some time ago)

I have 4 sets (8 tanks) which I used for about 40 years, they were and remain the most comfortable rig I have ever dove. Some day I will allow them to be pried from my cold clammy hands--but not yet~

The back plate has been duplicated right down to the webbing crossing at the neck line which a late model tube sucking bubble blower diving revisionist insists on identifying as "Luis type harness." An embarrassment to all.

You are indeed one of God's frozen chosen divers...Keep up the good work........

SDM

 

[DaleC]

Dr Sam,
I have dived many times in Cultus Lake, a lower mainland site that was used for wet gap (bridging/rafting) training from 1942 until present. In it I have found a set of 20' folding plywood boats (Mk3 bridging boats) which temporary roadbeds were built upon.







Pavilion Lake (the lake in the video) has been studied by NASA and the CSA (Canadian Space Agency) for several years. In it they study microbiolites (bacterial colonies they think they will find on other planets) and learn to operate small ) gravity vehicles (mini subs made by our own vintage enthusiast Phil Nuytten).

This fall I plan to travel to Jasper Alberta to dive in Patricia Lake, home to one of the stranger experiments of WW2. In it they made a prototype of an ice ship made of Pykrete (sawdust and ice) they hoped to reproduce on a grand scale as floating fortresses to protect the English Channel. Project "Habakkuk" sank in 40-100 feet of water.

Project Habakkuk - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And I have dived in a Titan 1 Nuclear missile silo complex in Washington State (silos filled with 100 feet of water).

 

[Sam Miller III]

Dale
Very interesting!
You saved me a trip to the storage area to retrieve the Canadian Diver magazines and research the WW11 experiments.

I recall the article indicated they used the Canadian lakes because they were extremely clear and always calm. However, your pictures #2 and 3 are not as clear as I would have anticipated. In Canada are you experiencing consequences of run off which in turn creates reduced water visibility?

I assume that the first epicure is a model or a museum artifact- correct???

SDM

 

[DaleC]

Yes pic one is a model of the bridging boats I found. The other pics being screen shots from video using single point, non video lighting.

Cultus Lake is experiencing eutrophication, in which the water become nutrient rich, which in turn creates excessive plant growth and algae/phytoplankton blooms.

I wrote about this process here, eutrophication being mentioned at the bottom of the page. Describing the Features of a Lake - The Cultus Lake Project

 

[Sam Miller III]

Dale,
You are a wealth of Information !

As is have stated many times It would be a perfect diving world if you, John, Mike, The captain and Luis all lived on the same area.

SDM

 

[DaleC]

Another video from this weekends dive.

I wanted to see if a recent landslide had caused any damage UW (nope) but instead found an underwater river of cold water flowing downslope, emanating from subterrarean springs. Forgive the artsy flare - I was up late

[video=youtube;N4EraGi8pqs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4EraGi8pqs[/video]

 

[george_austin]

Great video there, DaleC. Very interesting discussion as well by all.
John Ratliff: thank you for including your log book entry on the Clackamas River dive.