Weekend dive Trip, Lock 28 and the Conestoga

[Sirius Diver]

The (much) better half and I went up Brockville way and had 2 great dives! Our first dive was Lock 28. We did a positive entry about 400 meters west of the Kitty Hawk, which we did plan on having a look at but missed it in the murky water. Hint, stay close to the wall if you want to see the wreck when the vis is poor, otherwise have a look at it from shore. The current going thru the lock was really sweet allowing us to do a couple of flips by grabbing bolts that hold down the wooden lined lock and allowing the current to give you a little spin. Right at the end of the lock, we took a left turn and back towards the sluice gates. Apparently there was a deer that died in the channel and I found a back bone and a few long thigh bones (possibly). A modern beer bottle was beside the backbone but my buddy would believe I was drunk. The bridge supports at the sluice gates provided our exit point. They acted like stairs. The only problem is throwing your leg over the wire railing at the top without assistance. WATCH for fishing line and hooks here.

The Connie had a little more vis, less dead animals and much more fish, perch I think. The current was quite strong and the surface current was brutal as the winds were up around 40 kph gusting to 60. We got thrown around a lot during the entry and exit but it got easy once we got below the surface. The Connie has lot's of interesting features as I'm sure the veteran divers already know. Starting at the bow you can drift port or starboard side down the 252 ft length to the huge propeller. If you go a little farther, there is a mooring basket with a line out to it from a bunch of debris 20 east of the stern. Coming up thru the middle of the Connie, there is the boiler with a hole in it, lots of chains and stuff. Watch the overhead and sharp, jagged crap inside. Swim up to the bow and see the SOS plaque. The current in the wreck seemed to be much stronger than outside. Due to the weather, we elected not to drift down towards the legion.

All in all a great day to be had! Morrison's Quarry next weekend!

 

[RobJon]

Its a fun dive, we did it last week and are planning on doing a night dive on it in the next couple of weeks. Have you dove the Rothesay?

 

[Sirius Diver]

Its a fun dive, we did it last week and are planning on doing a night dive on it in the next couple of weeks. Have you dove the Rothesay?

No Sir, I have not... I am looking to go sometime though. Let me know how it goes...

 

[electric_diver]

A fun variation of this dive is to drift all the way to the connestoga from the kitty hawk. Drifting through the gap is quite a rush. Continue drifting through the lock past the exit. Stay on the south side. When you see the grass covered bottom gently sloping up, with the current going south east, you are at the gap. You fly though the gap (at 6 to 8 feet depth) and then the current drives you down to about 20 feet. There is usually some big fish around. Drift for about 11 minutes at a depth of 25 to 30 feet and then head north. You should hit the bow of the Connestoga. Watch out for the back eddy upstream of the connie though. There is a distinct ridge in the sand that marks the boundary of the back eddy and the normal current. Watch out for boat traffic during this dive. Actually I'd recommend only doing this dive in the late fall and early spring to avoid the boat traffic.

A buddy of mine found a torpedo bottle on this dive in 1999.

Of course this takes 2 cars (1 at the connie and 1 at the entrance).

 

[DI_Guy]

I did the galop canal (lock 28) to the Connie with my buddy. I was the lead diver (yikes) and guess what... When we finished the canal, spit through the wash and drifted for another 15 minutes, we hit the Connie right on the bow. Vis was only 25 feet. ( is that luck or what ? )

Its almost like I knew what I was doing. (lol)

Next time .... night dive !!!! nahhhhhhh