Monarch

[Pegger]

I'm interested in diving the Monarch but know that experience with this site is a must. Anyone needing a buddy that has some experience on this wreck let me know!

Steve

 

[CDNScubaMoose]

Hey Steve,

When are you thinking of doing this dive (evening, weekend)? What kind of experience level do you have as far as drift diving?

I have done this dive a bunch of times and with several different buddies and provided you have some experience and comfort in the water, I would have no issue taking you on this dive. As you've suggested - this dive has some unique challenges ... confusing currents, tempermental visibility (when the wind blows from the North and/or North East the river often looks like chocolate milk), and of course a massive amount of boat traffic overhead.

Cheers,
Aaron

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

I would post this in the SUC (Sarnia Underwater Club) subforum. They dive every Friday night and most weekends. They will post the time and location of the dive.

 

[Pegger]

Hey Aron,

I've got just over 70 dives with AOW. Drift diving experience includes Cozumel and Brockville on the Lillie Parsons and others.
I would be interested on a weekend because I own a cottage in Ipperwash Beach about a 40 mins. from Sarnia and go up there on the weekends as much as possible. Let me know if your interested and will plan something.

Steve

 

[CDNScubaMoose]

I would post this in the SUC (Sarnia Underwater Club) subforum. They dive every Friday night and most weekends. They will post the time and location of the dive.

I'm not 100% positive on this but I was pretty sure that the dives they do as a club requires you to be a club member to participate with them. I'm sure there are some members that frequent SB that might turn a blind eye to this requirement and would be willing to buddy up with someone outside of the club but I'm not so sure it would happen during a club sanctioned dive (unless they are real renegade club members).

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

I'm not 100% positive on this but I was pretty sure that the dives they do as a club requires you to be a club member to participate with them. I'm sure there are some members that frequent SB that might turn a blind eye to this requirement and would be willing to buddy up with someone outside of the club but I'm not so sure it would happen during a club sanctioned dive (unless they are real renegade club members).

A bunch of us from the London dive club dive with them all the time. They are NOT like that, they will welcome anybody to join them on their Friday night dives.

 

[CDNScubaMoose]

A bunch of us from the London dive club dive with them all the time. They are NOT like that, they will welcome anybody to join them on their Friday night dives.

Glad that your experience has been positive - I am a member of SUC and last summer I (and I assume the rest of the club) received an email that would suggest otherwise.

The explanation given was that club sanctioned dives were insured under OUC (Ontario Underwater Council) and in order to participate you had to be a member in "good standing" (paid) of either OUC or another club that is under the OUC umbrella. I am pretty sure London Skin and Scuba as well as South West Ontario Diving Association (the 2 London clubs that I am aware of) are both OUC member clubs. Could it be possible that this is an explanation why you and your fellow club members are able to dive with them?

Like I said, I am a member of SUC, I attend as many of their meetings in the winter as possible (they have some great speakers), and I often dive with many of the members during sanctioned club dives as well as non-sanctioned ones. I only mentioned the club requirement to the OP in case he made plans to just show up on a Friday evening and he got the cold shoulder - the SUC members are great folks to hang out with and the last thing I would have wanted to see was a newer diver have a less then ideal experience.

Personally, I think it is a great policy - especially on the Monarch dive as this is a pretty advanced dive with extrememly variable and wild currents, tempermental vis and to top it off - it is an international shipping lane. Before I agreed to dive with OP I got a better idea of his experience and training (mainly via PM inquiring about who his instructors were and some more details about his experiences). I've seen some pretty questionable things in that part of the river including instructors doing OW checkouts less then 100 m from the Monarch. Good on SUC to be proactive when it comes to safety.

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

I spoke with Terry and cleared this up. I'm with SWODA and they are an OUC member club, so this issue has never came up, so technically you only have to be an OUC member. I have dove the Monarch several times and am well aware of the conditions of the dive. It was even more fun before they "improved" the water front, when you jumped off the wall down to the water.

 

[CDNScubaMoose]

I spoke with Terry and cleared this up. I'm with SWODA and they are an OUC member club, so this issue has never came up, so technically you only have to be an OUC member. I have dove the Monarch several times and am well aware of the conditions of the dive. It was even more fun before they "improved" the water front, when you jumped off the wall down to the water.

Glad to hear that we are on the same page - did Terry confirm that this was a requirement for club sanctioned dives only as well?

The drift dives in the river are a blast if you are comfortable, have the right training, experience and equipment. That said, for those not properly prepared these dives can cause people to really question if they want to continue their new found hobby. A couple of weeks ago I did this dive and as I came up the OPP boat was bringing a diver back who had gotten separated from his dive buddies. As I exited the water another OPP officer pulled up with his cruiser and asked my buddies and I if we were the ones that had to be rescued from the middle of the river ... closest I've ever come to the "Scuba Police" (he even asked me if I was certified). Definitely not a site for new divers just out of the course or - as I mentioned before - a place to be doing OW checkouts.

 

[Ontwreckdiver]

Terry did said this was for club sanctioned dives only. BTW I did my OW checkouts with Divers Down at the old CSL docks the first day and in pea soup at Innerkip the second day. Not the best start to diving.