Chronicle of an older diver

Diving the Rothesay September 3, 2011

Today (in Canadian Eastern Time) I went for a little dive on a St. Lawrence wreck call the Rothesay, a 193′ wooden side wheeler. The wreck isn’t in great condition, being in fairly shallow water and having been used for demolition training by the military, but it still intact enough to recognise its shape and to see part of the paddle wheel.

We’re up in Brockville for our annual warm (for Canada) water wreck diving weekend, and arrived a bit early to do this easy shore dive. What I really like was its accessibility. There are parking spaces, a couple of spots for changing, a Johnny on the spot, and steps down the shore. The dive site has information describing the wreck, and the start and end points of the 100 metre swim are marked with buoys. An underwater line runs from the shore to both buoys, but most people surface swim to the first buoy then cruise underwater to the wreck. The dropoff is quite gradual so we were about 20m out before putting our fins on.

The maximum depth was 30′ and total dive time of 40 minutes including swimming back and forth. I came back with 1500 psi but we had a new diver with us who went through her air pretty quick so the timing was about right for her.

All in all I’d say is quite worthwhile for an easy dive close to highway 401. There’s lots to see on the wreck including some largish fish, passageways to swim through (overhead environment but not really wreck penetration), and some boilers and other equipment. No pictures unfortunately as I put my camera battery in backwards. I’d forgotten that was possible.