Oakville Wreck Dive Report

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diverrobs

Contributor
Messages
100
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0
Location
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
# of dives
25 - 49
I did the Oakville wreck dive with Oakville Divers last night: Untitled Document . Cost for the dive was $35.00 and the boat left at 7:00pm. The boat is a nice sturdy tug. Great boat to dive from. There were 8 of us diving last night, from biggners <10 dives to tech divers. The boat goes out Tuesdays, Thursdays, Sat. and Sun. Robert the instructor/captain/dive shop owner was great. Only 15 min. out to the wrecks. We only dove the main wreck, there are several on the bottom in this area all marked with lines from the main wreck. The main wreck is about a 60' barge, steel not that interesting, must have been a hang out for drunks before it was sunk because there are hundreds of liquor bottles around the barge and inside. Water was really cold 43F, one diver had a free flow and had to abort. My buddy got cold at 12min (he was diving wet) and we came up. Probably could not have been down more than 20min anyways (I was really sucking back air in the cold water). Visibility was about 40' on the bottom, probably only 10' at the surface. Next time we are going to load my buddies wet suit with warm water before going down. I am looking forward to going back and seeing the other wrecks and the Cessna next week. This is an excellent site to get more familiar with, relatively deep cold water diving (>60' deep).

Really a great way to spend a Tuesday evening. I hope the water gets closer to 50 in the summer.
 
Dove this wreck again last night. Spent a little more time on the bottom (22min). Found out the wreck was a tug in the 1880s (steel) she was latter converted to a barge and eventually intentionally sunk. There is not prop on the tug (it was cut off). I got a better look at her from the side. Really not a bad wreck but pretty small.

The weather was rainy last night but we went out anyways. vis was down to 30' due to all the rain this week. vis in the top 20' was about 10'. Still really cold on the bottom 45F.
 
I did the Oakville wreck dive with Oakville Divers last night: Untitled Document . Cost for the dive was $35.00 and the boat left at 7:00pm. The boat is a nice sturdy tug. Great boat to dive from. There were 8 of us diving last night, from biggners <10 dives to tech divers. The boat goes out Tuesdays, Thursdays, Sat. and Sun. Robert the instructor/captain/dive shop owner was great. Only 15 min. out to the wrecks. We only dove the main wreck, there are several on the bottom in this area all marked with lines from the main wreck. The main wreck is about a 60' barge, steel not that interesting, must have been a hang out for drunks before it was sunk because there are hundreds of liquor bottles around the barge and inside. Water was really cold 43F, one diver had a free flow and had to abort. My buddy got cold at 12min (he was diving wet) and we came up. Probably could not have been down more than 20min anyways (I was really sucking back air in the cold water). Visibility was about 40' on the bottom, probably only 10' at the surface. Next time we are going to load my buddies wet suit with warm water before going down. I am looking forward to going back and seeing the other wrecks and the Cessna next week. This is an excellent site to get more familiar with, relatively deep cold water diving (>60' deep).

Really a great way to spend a Tuesday evening. I hope the water gets closer to 50 in the summer.

:yourkiddingme:

I've been a Caribbean diver all my life. I was certified in Jamaica and dove everything from Cuba to Curacao. I found I wanted to dive more than I could afford to go to the Caribbean so I'm going diving locally (southern Ontario) at the end of the month. My friends tells me about what diving up here is like. I was wondering why I'm doing this and do I want to get a drysuit; your posting makes it sound even worse then I imagined.

I get chilled wearing a full 3mm in 80F water. I'm going to freeze my tush off, aren't I? I'm renting a full 7mm until I can decide what suit I want to buy for diving up here.

How cold is it out at Kingston/Picton area? I'm getting my AOW so I'll be doing my first night dive as well. I suspect it is even colder for a night dive.

I thought the water around the GTA was too polluted to dive. Is it cleaner out in Oakville or are you like some of my friends who dive anything, e.g. the mouth of the Humber?
 
It is damn cold. My buddy is diving wet and several other people were as well. I can't say enought that a Dry Suit is very highly recommended. The water in the Great Lakes varies little in water temeprature at depth (even over the course of the year). Below 60' the water is always in the 40 to 55F range except for the St. Lawrence river which can get up into the 70s. I only have about 10 dives in Ontario right now (relatively new diver) but have dove out by Kingston, Oakville and Humber Park (in april) and I can tell you that I don't ever want to dive wet in these areas. Diving in cold water might as well be a whole different sport from diving in the tropics, way more gear, way more stress on the body, alot more to think about. I have already seen 2 free flows at depths below 60' from Regs freezing. Rent a Dry Suit to try it out, (have an instructor with you and do the dry suit course).

As for pollution/visibility, generally the first 40' pretty much has 10' vis and below that it is actually good (the City of Sheboygan near Kingston we had 130+ foot vis at the bottom (clearest water I have ever seen!). Humber sucks for vis. I went there once and we only had 2' tops vis. The Oakville dives are really worth the extra money/distance to go to if you live in T.O.

The guys in Oakville will also certify any of your dives to qualify as AOW dives (i.e. deep, drysuit etc.). Additionally the Oakville wreck is at a good practice depth of 60'. Most ship wrecks in the Great Lakes are deep 80' to 120' so you should really practice in less water before you attempt these deep (often dark) cold water dives (i.e. it is easier to make the surface if something goes wrong).

Diving here is fun but alot harder to do and you really need to prepare for the cold. Go Dry!

Just my humble opinion. Some people still prefer to dive wet as it is easier to control bouyancy and you don't have the confinemnt feeling of the dry suit.
 
They've changed their website to say it's just on Tues and Thursdays.

I'll call to double check, but I was looking forward to doing this on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Ah well - A lazy Tuesday evening'll have to do.
 
Went diving at this site again last night. Bottom was still really cold (44F). Managed to stay down 22 minutes before my hands froze up. Saw the other wrecks at the site, A large cabin cruiser (Jeanette M) and a couple other Hulls (One is the "Dawn of the Dead" apparently a boat used in the filiming of this movie). Other than the tug, the other wrecks are small boats <30'. Still a nice place to do an evening dive. Vis was about 30'. Really just wish the water was warmer, even diving dry it was pretty cold.
 
Dove the Jessie Anne again last night. What a difference 4 weeks makes. It was 44F on the bottom with 60' visibility on July 15. Yesterday on Aug. 19 the visibility was about 10' but the temperature was up to 61F. Our bottom time increased to 34 min. with the warmer water and we got closer to the non-deco limit (probably as far as you want to push it in cold(ish) water. We hit the water at 8:00pm so it was starting to get dark. By the end of the dive it was really a night dive. There were lots of Gobies on the deck of the Jessie Anne. This gave the wreck a more homey feel, not so barren and cold. The Gobies would almost let you touch them as they were pretty interested in the light. I will probably do a couple more of these dives as night dives.
 
I dove the Jessie Anne and another wreck on the 17th. Someone clocked the temperature at 52 for the other wreck (forget what it is called). So I am assuming the temperature was the same for the Jessie Anne as the wrecks were two min apart. I was wearing a farmer john 7mm and i put a cold weather under armour shirt underneath and was quite fine. My hands started to get a little chilly on the second dive but that could've been that I was already wet.

It was my first dive after certification so I really sucked the air back but it was a good first experience. It was cool to look inside the Jessie Anne and see how it crashed into the rocks.
 
I went diving in Kingston with a 7mm farmer john, hood and gloves. I was actually quite warm. We did a shore dive first. I waded into the water with no shoes on just to wet my BCD straps. It was INCREDIBLY cold. Got all suited up and went into the water again. It was nice but my computer registered 65F; I'm told this is really warm.

Next day I dove the Wolfe Islander II. First dive was fine. Second dive I was standing on the deck and I felt the thermocline rise up around my ankles. That was a little chilly. Before it could hit my waist (and my computer) I head for shallower water. So I'm not sure how cold that was. Was still bearable.

Going diving again out in Picton next weekend. Thinking about renting just a one piece 7mm to see if I can stand that or do I need the farmer john.
 
I have a Dive shop Oakville Divers and Boat called 'Orkney Isle'. We are looking for people who are certified and don't have anyone to go Scuba Diving with.

What I do is sharpen your training and skills to dive in Fresh water. I also do certification upgrades and freshwater orientation dives for people who have only dove or been certified in the Caribbean....

There is a big learning curve between warm Caribbean waters and diving in Ontario. That's where I can help and make it easy.

Then I build dive teams of divers who have similar skill sets and experience and we arrange dives around the great lakes. This way our dive teams from Oakville Divers get their own boat and dive with people they know and have dove with before.

I run a well organized diving operation here at Oakville Divers and I am second generation instructor and diver. What I can teach you just by going on a dive with me will make you relax and start enjoying the dives and having fun and more excitement faster.

We also have a large group of divers who like to meet new people make friends and just go diving with no pressure.

We have every level of diver from very basic to advanced, tech ,deep, rebreather, instructor and they don't have anything to prove and know ego's.

So if you are a diver who wants to have fun ,be safe , meet new people to dive with ,go on more dives .......

dust off those flippers


cheers Rob
Team Oakville Divers

Oakville Divers
Underwater Specialists for Over 30 Years

Robert C. Shannon | Dive Supervisor | 12 Lakeshore Rd W, Oakville, Ontario L6K 1C5 | 905-842-8881
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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