Welcome to the Kingston Oasis
Actually it’s the new name for the Burle Road Quarry, a popular swimming hole and dive training spot in Kingston Ontario, I conduct a lot of training in the quarry and all of my students can attest to it. Today while working in the quarry Dan the owner announce that we can think of assist him in making the quarry better for all to use.
So the first dive was something to remember but by today on the fifth they were doing their best and looking a little like divers, so off till the next couple of weds to practice then off on the boats for a few to finish up and Kingston’s newest divers will be ready.
Good show to my DM and DMC’s as well
30/30 for 30 on a 110 foot wreck = Good
So now that Chris has finished his tech one training allowing him to dive mix gas and giving me an off training season dive buddy we headed to the Kattie Eccles for a dive.
The Katie Eccles has been known about by a select group of divers for years but was only opened to the public in 2002 due to the fact the numbers where taken by diver and published or the old guard of kingson would have never allowed locals on it. More profitable for taking out of towners then to build your own community.
If I had to choose a wreck to find or build in Kingston one of my choice would be one with the bow of the Eccles on the stern of the Sheyboygan. The stern is busted wide open so she must have come down stern first and in doing so the Bow escaped the damage most get. Unfortunately the first year of diving the very front of the bow was damaged. No matter what happened or why she still is a beauty.
When getting to the end of the wreck being on 30/30 with a clear head I spotted a squarish object near a couple of rocks. Upon checking it out I turned out to be a sewing machine from the 1920’s, i placed it with the other artifacts and a little research netted that it was most likely for repairing sails. So the wreck gets another artifact for all to enjoy.
More photos here.
Hard Work and Preservation pays off
So after waking up at 530 am for the last couple of days and getting over the fact that there is a 530 am. One of my dive buddies finally makes the leap to Mix gas diving it took some extra training with the instructor and a lot of my personal time to make his goal achievable but it was worth every minute of it.
So the final dive was to 165 for 25 mins on 18/45 with deco starting at 70 feet on 50% for 30 in the warm waters of the St Lawrence River and all went extremely well for him and his dive team.
So back to store for Dan to pack up his stuff to head home to Alberta while Chris and I plot our return to the dive fest already in progress.
So starting tomorrow back to the gym as I think my knee can handle a work out again and I already have an invite to do some urban exploration as well. So it’s starting to look like more adventures to come for the last month of summer. Stay tuned.
The heat is off
So today the heat was down and finally below 40 with the humidex a brisk 23 today. So Dan and I went out for a ride and headed down Perth Rd to Smith Falls, checked out the train Museum then off to 7 and back in to Frontenac County on 38 to Kingston.
The train museum is getting off to a good start and hopefully more cars and stuff will start arriving through donations and help as museums have very little funds to purchase the big ticket items.
So if your in Kingston and want to check out this route.
Start on Montreal Street and head to Jones Falls
Turn left and head to Smith Falls
Turn left at the locks
Train Museum on the Right
Turn Right on the way out
Turn Left on Hwy 7
Turn Left in Shabot Lake
Turn Left in Parham
Back in Kingston
About a 2 and Half hour ride with the break, Enjoy the ride and the pics are here.
Fort Henry gets invaded
So every couple of years the marines come to town and put on a show, this is one of the only times that Polly goes out at night :p , So armed with cameras and off to the fort for a the sunset ceremony that most of Kingston’s residents have never taken in. 39 with the humidex and the Fort henry guard comes marching on to the parade square in their british made wool uniforms, all I can think is thank god I don’t that stuff anymore. The show was 3 hours long and well attended. The new parking tax was a bit of downer and I think that most locals won’t pay to park there so when the long weekend in Sept comes time will tell.
Pictures are here.
Zen Divers invade Canada
One thing independent dive professionals miss out is the tourist crowd that come to Kingston for diving, bbq and just a plain good time. That I truly enjoy yes the local market is important and with the installation of a new 32% nitrox bank I am giving locals a chance to get certified for 9.99, they take the course and get a 10 fill card worth 150.00 in fills and they get the benefit of safety and longer dives in search of their zen.
Chantelle brought the 20 or so divers in from around the great lakes and spent 3 days diving in K-Town, scootering the stacked hulls, DSS, cars and belly dumper to check lines for us, a fall project fixing and straighting a few of the lines. One of the surprises of the weekend was a popular school in Toronto approached me about underwater pictures and video techniques.
BBQ fun at night and some brewski’s for GLUE members and the Zen divers and plans for future trips out and lining the coal wreck off Wolfe Island. finishing the line to the Wolfe and redoing the munson as well. So life is good for the scootering boys this year.
Pictures like always here.
Maine and Back
So like always 2 days before we got ready to head to North Carolina everyone bailed except for Vinnie but we had no reservations so off to Maine Dan and I headed. if you think that the recession is over don’t drive down the popular touristy routes in the US northeast. Motels and gas stations closed or empty. Those still open charging a premium even though there’s no one.
We got into Bath Maine to ride the coastal highway to Canada and like route 66 it’s glory days are long gone and replaced by bypasses off the new coastal highway 10 or more miles from the water. When we got to the border we got our last change cheap gas and there was no us customers at the gas bar only canadians. separated by a stream St Steven’s loses all their gas revenues across the border for a dollar a gallon cheaper.
Driving through New Brunswick down the trans canada you see nothing but warnings for Moose crossing even though not one moose choose to cross at the signs. The covered bridge was pretty neat in Hartford.
So into Quebec for the last day of travel and down route 132 this was the best kept secret in the biking world. Quebecors with their need for speed love the trans Canada and leave the senic routes to the tourists, and the roads were empty. Plenty of freshly paved roads, bikers almost every bike a Harley and lots to see from New Brunswick to Levis PQ. Well worth the ride.
Coming back in Ontario we dropped onto old Highway 2 to get home. Sunburnt, Windburnt and sore as my knee went out on Sunday and has yet to heal.
Most of my pics will be here.
The quarry rocks but the Munson Roars
So yesterday I was comfortable enough to pass my first Dive Master it took 2 years but it was well worth the time and effort. Especially after he finally realized what it was all about on the teaching side. We took a ow check out student and a refresher student at the same time and the ow check out student was put through the paces and a smile of satisfaction on her face was apparent.
Congrats Chris for making the grade, congrats Zaby for entering the darkside and learning to dive and to you Tony I hope you enjoyed the refresher.
Then Chris and I joined the dolphins for an evening dive on the Munson before the trip out Matt started yabbering about the camera guy is dangerous cause you never can find him but he always finds you quickly. On the wreck near the end of the dive I surprised Chris with an out of gas drill from the shooting distance and all went well. We then did a blue water ascent which he executed prefectly.
Just another day at the office I guess.
more for diving
After a great workout today and watching the cyclist driveby in the rain during that portion of the K-town Tri. I headed to the store and picked up three more students for testing in the OW checkout portion of the PADI OW course only one was sort of trained by me after some remedial so I have now got 4 ready for the final dives on either the Aloha/Effie Mae (one dive not a double like some charter ops do) or Wolfe Islander if the girls get ready by the 14th. Which I hope they will be so. I have 3 and a refresher on Weds as well as jessie for his nitrox. Tomorrow I head to the river with Mike for his wreck and deeps stuff and on Tues his search and recovery stuff as we go and recover some customers stuff off some of the wrecks.
The customers will be happy as we return items unlike some ops that used to nail stuff to the dive shop wall to show off trophies. A good day as the sun came out and we headed to the compound for some bbq and drinks.
