After finishing on Sunday I disconnected the hose from the compressor without bleeding it off. The hose then whipped around my porch for the next couple of minutes, whacking my ankle (without injury) in the process. This is food for sober thought when thinking about the pressures used in your typical scuba shop, with AL80s at 3000 psi, and compressors that have a safety shut off at 5,000. If a 120 psi hose can whip around menacingly, you can imagine what would happen at 3-5,000 psi.

Most of us learn just how dangerous a scuba tank can be. A recently fatality in Florida is yet another example. Let’s be careful out there!

The dive started at the Lillie Parsons, at the upstream end of Sparrow Island (there are a lot of wrecks in the St. Lawrence near the upstream ends of islands – go figure). There were about 12 of us on the boat. Some wanted to do the traditional dive, which is to do a lap around the wreck (which is around 50′ deep) then drift at about 40′ or so to a chain that hangs from a cove on the shore. I found out on the previous Saturday that the maximum depth of the chain+rope was 66 feet. Others wanted to drop down to 80-100′ and drift along a bit further.

There are several ways to get to the wreck. The first I learned was to drift on the surface to island in the spot where the current splits around the island and therefore is fairly calm. You can look underwater and see which way the particulate matter is moving to know where that is. Then you have two choices. One is to swim upstream then turn right with the current and run right into the wreck, the other is to find the chain from shore that leads directly to it. The third way is to just jump of the boat (parked 100 yds or so upstream) and follow the contour down from the island to the correct depth.

We’d no real interest in seeing the wreck so we just headed down. We both saw the end of the mast, which sticks out into the current, briefly as we drifted by, but couldn’t see any other part of the wreck. We didn’t exactly rocket down, but didn’t waste any time either. Usually at that spot I avoid using my dive light and just let my eyes get used to the gloom. No dice this time. At 164′ maximum depth I couldn’t see a thing, and had to use my light to avoid running into outcroppings of rock against the wall while also keeping the wall in sight so as not to drift into the channel. I also wanted to stay a few feet off the bottom which I could also not see. Basically if I didn’t shine a light on it, I didn’t see it.

After a few minutes Larry signaled he was down to 1000 psi (he had double 85s and started at 1500) so we did a nice easy ascent while still drifting along. We got into a calm spot at around 20′, so we found a good foothold at 15′ and we did a safety stop for a few minutes (me on my deco mix) before surfacing. The computer had indicated a 10′ stop for me during the dive but it was clear by the time we got to safety stop depth.

When we surfaced we were on the downstream end of Stovin Island, about 100′ from 4 of our other divers, so we swam over to them so we could get picked up as a group. To the credit of the local operators, a competitor of the operation we were using called over from their boat and said they’d radioed our boat and suggested we move to the end of the island so they’d have an easier pickup. It’s great to see a community (Brockville, Ontario) that looks out for each others’ divers.

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.

The scenario: Having just exited the boat with doubles on my back and my wetsuit still on, I walk to the car and unload the tanks. Then I sit on the lip of trunk (boot, for those of you in Commonwealth countries other than Canada) and remove my wet suit. It’s a sunny day and the parking lot is paved with asphalt and is hot hot hot.

So when I remove my booties, which still have some accumulated water in them, I empty them on the pavement right in front of me. This cools the asphalt down to the point where it no longer induces searing pain on the soles of my feet whilst I wriggle out of my wet suit.

The show featured Innis McCartney, Cornwall based diver and maritime historian, and Dan Stevenson, “Technical Diver”. They were both diving rebreathers with sidemount cylinders. The first ship found on the search looked promising but the bones turned out to be cattle, not mules, and then found deck guns, while the Armenian was unarmed. It turned out to be HMS Patia (Sunk by a U-boat in 1918 transporting meat). Another wreck was found at 80m (>250′), 30km (20m) off the coast, but was not big enough to be the Armenian.

It was finally found further off the coast at 330′, using accounts of the German U-boat captain. This allowed 15 minutes of bottom time with about 3 hours of decompression. During the first dive, they found a White Start line plate, and an animal bone for analysis.

Show was made in 2008 and pretty enjoyable.

The day before we’d arranged to have our stage bottles filled with EAN50 at Silent World, which is all we really need for the Keys wreck dives.  We met the owner, Chris, and chatted to him about the new Poseidon recreational rebreather and the growing popularity and acceptance of rebreathers for recreational diving. We’re also looking at trying one out on an experience dive with one if we have time this week, although I didn’t come to Florida to spend time in a pool.

Also on our dive boat was Dave, who happened to be an Inspiration Rebreather diver. We teamed up with him and planned the dive for an hour of bottom time and 30 minutes of deco. The start of the dive was to go to the props, which is about the deepest you can go there, then work our way forward and move into shallower regions. Dave had some nice camera equipment, and I’m looking forward to seeing some of his pictures. There are several descent lines going to the wreck, and our was on the starboard crane, which is astern of the superstructure.

Dave, with his nice camera equipment

After entry, instead of pulling ourselves along the lines to the buoy, we dropped below the boat. I ended up being the deepest, meeting the line at about 25 feet. At that depth, it looks like you can almost touch the wreck. We staged our EAN50 deco bottles when we reached the bottom of the line.

There were a couple of surprises at the the beginning. The first was that you can swim under the stern to the props from the starboard side. This is always a cool thing to do on a wreck dive. It was the deepest part of the dive, where I hit the 143′ maximum depth.

Under the Stern

We then headed into the dry-dock section. The ship is a floating dry dock, which could open up a rear door and let other ships drive in (that’s probably a gross simplification of what actually happens). So this part is huge and quite deep and reasonably devoid of features and fish. We ventured quite a way into it, but as we were still quite deep we turned around before getting to the end so we could ensure a reasonably long dive. The most interesting thing we found was these articles on the bottom. These were only illuminated by dive lights.

Articles in Dry Dock Section

After this we headed for a tour of the deck and superstructure where there are numerous swim throughs. Much of the superstructure has been opened up for divers to play in, and as long as you maintain contact with the outside light those used to wreck penetration shouldn’t have trouble. There are several doors at the deck level which lead to a maze of twisty passages and should only be attempted by those trained for technical wreck penetrations using guide lines. This was apparently the place were 3 divers died in March, 2007. OK So I was misinformed. According the the Silent World Boat Captain Bob, these divers pried open a door in the dry dock section, and descended to approximately 130′ inside the wreck, diving on single AL80s. They had stage bottles (unclear whether for deco, which wouldn’t make sense, or extended dive time) but left them by the entrance. Mindful of the warnings, Matt and I ran a penetration line in the 3rd door from the left, facing aft from the bow, only to find numerous large openings to the outside and a thick guideline. The only caution I would have is that it is relatively deep at 98′, and you spend a fair amount of time in an overhead environment.

Bow of the Spiegel Grove

On the deck, I noticed how much more overgrown the wreck was.The bow section is worth a look, as it is with most ships. Going out over the either end and looking back at the ship is usually spectacular, and the Spiegel Grove is no exception.

Bow of the Spiegel Grove

Yes, we gave the wreck a good going over, especially the safe swim throughs which are really a lot of fun. It’s difficult to describe the fascination we have with swimming through the passageways of a ship we’d hardly give a second glance to on the surface, but it’s there. The feeling of safety you get with doing it with lots of air available also makes the diving much less tense than if we had to plan the route more carefully to make it back to the ascent line with plenty of air left. And there were fish – lots of them just hanging out on the wreck.

Superstructure level

On the way back to the ascent line Matt made us proud by unfurling the flag.

We arrived back at the boat pretty much on plan at 60 minutes bottom time and 30 minutes deco on EAN50. It was an outstanding dive.

So when the I signed up for the trip, I figured I’d drive it, if any one would want to come along with me. The advantage of driving is money saved and the ability to take more gear, especially tanks. Due to a medical condition of one of our group, we didn’t know if there would be 2 or 3 of us, and the Camry would really only fit 2 people plus gear. It turned out to be just 2, so on Tuesday night we packed the Camry with more gear than one could reasonably expect it to hold, ready for the drive the following day.

The trunk held Matt’s twin LP steel 125s (insanely huge) and my twin steel 95s (just huge). To my surprise Matt had another set of 95s in his garage belonging to our local dive shop owner, so we brought them as well. We also squeezed 2 AL80s and some luggage, including one of the other club member’s backplate and wings. Behind the driver seats we stuffed 2 more AL80s, 2 LP steel 50s, and an LP steel 45. On the back seat we had all our dive gear, laptops, and other sundry equipment.

All this meant the rear tires were almost scraping the wheel wells, despite trying to put some of the load forward of the rear axle.

At 5AM I headed over to Matt’s and we set the GPS for the Keys. With the early departure traffic was building but light, so we avoided highway 407 (North America’s most expensive toll road) and had no problems clearing the Greater Toronto Area. Amazingly there was no line-up to customs and they didn’t question our heavily loaded vehicle. Traffic was pretty light the whole way, with the worst being perhaps Charlotte, North Carolina – a bit heavy but no delays.

On the way we discussed driving through the night but figured that we wouldn’t be able to schedule any Thursday diving so we opted to stay the night in Southern Georgia with about 800km left to go. The following day was an uneventful drive down the coast of Florida and we arrived in Key Largo and went straight to Silent World, where we’d arrange a dive charter for the following day.

We needed deco mix for the dive (EAN50) as our shop couldn’t get any Oxygen for our fills prior to leaving. We found them closed, but their sign said open. As we were leaving we asked a guy who was driving in if he knew where the owner was, and he took us to the Garden Cove Marina where they were unloading from an afternoon dive charter. We waited for them to unload in the Shipwreck Bar and got everything sorted out.

Unfortunately there was also a commotion at the end of the dock where paramedics were attended to a 69 year-old doctor from Michigan who had died while snorkeling. The cause of death isn’t known at this time but heart attacks are common during periods of unusually strenuous activity in older people. A sobering thought as I continue my technical diving pursuits as I get older.

We went back to the shop and got everything sorted out for the next day, expecting to dive the Duane. The car now had about 2,600 more kilometres (1,650 miles) on the odometer than it had a couple of days before.

There is so much gear in the poor 1986 Toyota Camry that the rear tyres are almost scraping the wheel wells. Normally I wouldn’t subject my own vehicle to this kind of abuse but it’s fully depreciated and will be replaced next month. We have 3 sets of steel doubles, 4 AL80s, and 3  steel stage bottles (My 45, and Brad’s two 50s).

First dive of the week will be on the Duane, while the first official dive of the club trip will be Saturday on the Vandenburg in Key West.

I should add that this story is undoubtedly embellished for dramatic effect, and contains language that would draw an Parental Guidance rating if it were a movie.