Ottawa river etc

[DrownedRat]

I'm curious as to how many of you from Ottawa have actually dove the Ottawa river? I did one dive last year at Pinnheys point (spelling?) and it wasn't nearly as bad as I had assumed. Do any of you dive locally (even accross the river in Quebec there must be some close lake/river dives)? If so, can any of you suggest a few good places and any potential hazzards? I imagine there must be quite a few current dive loactions but so far my web searching has netted me very little useful info.

Thanks in advance
Cheers

 

[GDI]

Yes I have . If you go north of Chalk River there us a town that was submerged ( MacKey) by Ontario Hydro. You can actually dive what was once called main street. You'll be right off a cemetery and the original church steeple. Also you can go to Arnprior and dive the old bridge flooded out . Some of the more north area will turn up stuff from early last century. I have a Railroad lantern from the Petawawa River not to far from where it meets the Ottawa

 

[DrownedRat]

Hey thanks for the info. How is the vis/current around there?

Yes I have . If you go north of Chalk River there us a town that was submerged ( MacKey) by Ontario Hydro. You can actually dive what was once called main street. You'll be right off a cemetery and the original church steeple. Also you can go to Arnprior and dive the old bridge flooded out . Some of the more north area will turn up stuff from early last century. I have a Railroad lantern from the Petawawa River not to far from where it meets the Ottawa

 

[artw]

there is also some sights up by Arnprior (Red Pine Bay wreck recently surveyed by SOS Ottawa) and the Madawaska Bridge just outside Arnprior
http://www.saveontarioshipwrecks.on.ca/Photos/RedPineBayLandPlaque-c.jpg

as for sights around Ottawa. well you can jump in off the Royal Canadian Mint (I think) and do the Bruce wreck, have fun! apparently the viz is crap and boat traffic is pretty bad. and last year I heard a rumour that the RCMP might give you grief about diving around the slag that gets dumped from the mint.

 

[DrownedRat]

Get off yer arse then and lets go! Out of curiosity, why would the RCMP care about the slag dump near the mint? Not like you'd find bill templates or anything ;-) (wouldn't that be sweet)

there is also some sights up by Arnprior (Red Pine Bay wreck recently surveyed by SOS Ottawa) and the Madawaska Bridge just outside Arnprior
http://www.saveontarioshipwrecks.on.ca/Photos/RedPineBayLandPlaque-c.jpg

as for sights around Ottawa. well you can jump in off the Royal Canadian Mint (I think) and do the Bruce wreck, have fun! apparently the viz is crap and boat traffic is pretty bad. and last year I heard a rumour that the RCMP might give you grief about diving around the slag that gets dumped from the mint.

 

[GDI]

The current is typical of the Ottawa River. The Bridge in Arnprior does have some current that will vary from time to time but not to bad at depth

 

[Groundhog246]

last year I heard a rumour that the RCMP might give you grief about diving around the slag that gets dumped from the mint.

Do you mean that in this day and age, the mint still dumps slag into the river? Only a goverment shop would get away with that. Any regular industry dumping a solid waste into a waterway would be hung ou to dry.

 

[GDI]

There are several little wrecks around Parliment in that part of the Ottawa River but I really would not be interested in that area not so much because of the mint (which is unbelievable) but what about the Hull side of the river and what they are dumping? Isn't there a sewage treatment plant there?

 

[artw]

I think the part about the mint was more about security than anything else.
Not very familiar with the Hull side. there is Domtar and Scott Paper factories over there. maybe the water is warm by the outflows?

 

[DrownedRat]

So far the Ottawa river isn't sounding too hot. Thanks to all who replied.