See Ontario Diving for my 2 cents worth.....
Divers acting badly....
- Thread starter DeepSeaDan
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Michael_Lambert
Guest
Being a 15 year summer resident now of the town. It has been nothing but an issue more along the lines of the two or three homes in the area and not the actual town.
Reality is that the dock never has boats tided off in 15 years i think i have only seen two boats tie off and in fact its much too high for most boats.
The problem is there are the odd diver who acts badly but the dock is typically littered with swimmers and teens who leave crap all over the place.
Yes i agree that the classes being held need to be more orgazied and remember they are "Out of towners" which the locals can tell due to the lack of town stickers in the windows. Many of the beaches in town require a permit to park at or enter for free so the lack of this permit tells locals that the divers are out of towners.
We dive this location atleast 3 times a week.. You can not go here in the summer with out finding cars parked all over the place being that there is only parking for about 10 cars and yet there are some times 20-30 divers onsite, mixed with Fishermen and family / locals swimming.
Now our team gears up at our cars and walk in via the beach and swim out and around the dock to stay clear of the fishing line.. However on weekends the dock is littered with dive gear from classes and students dragging down huge totes full of gear and stuff first thing in the morning leaving next to no room for anyone eles showing up mid day to enjoy the location.
Reality is that the dock never has boats tided off in 15 years i think i have only seen two boats tie off and in fact its much too high for most boats.
The problem is there are the odd diver who acts badly but the dock is typically littered with swimmers and teens who leave crap all over the place.
Yes i agree that the classes being held need to be more orgazied and remember they are "Out of towners" which the locals can tell due to the lack of town stickers in the windows. Many of the beaches in town require a permit to park at or enter for free so the lack of this permit tells locals that the divers are out of towners.
We dive this location atleast 3 times a week.. You can not go here in the summer with out finding cars parked all over the place being that there is only parking for about 10 cars and yet there are some times 20-30 divers onsite, mixed with Fishermen and family / locals swimming.
Now our team gears up at our cars and walk in via the beach and swim out and around the dock to stay clear of the fishing line.. However on weekends the dock is littered with dive gear from classes and students dragging down huge totes full of gear and stuff first thing in the morning leaving next to no room for anyone eles showing up mid day to enjoy the location.
mksmith713
Contributor
Who actually saw these divers acting this way?
I'd really need an eye witness to buy this story.
Sounds more like a scipted scene from a motorcycle gang movie.
Sounds to me the issue is with the stores that are organizing the classes.
Thanks for this eyewitness report, Michael. I wonder if the councilor lives in one of those homes.....
I did that gear up and walk down thing, too. I think than that the dive shops need to step up to the plate and have students learn to gear up at their cars, not the dock. That would be a good start.
Michael_Lambert
Guest
I must say that there are a couple of shops i have seen who do.. That is have there students gear up and walk in at the beach area. Not only do we find this easier but safer, giving you the opertunity to get into the water to get our gear sorted and dive plan organzied while protected from the dock. Being on the south side of the dock you can get into 6 feet of water before the dock ends and you can stay 100 yards away from the dock avoiding any fishing line or swimmers.
Once straightened out you can get to the end of the dock get a good overview of whats in the area and make your swim out and over the ledge down to 30 feet where you will run into a line running out to one of the boats, at that point you can start the circult, you can then head north on the line to run into the primary line going away from the dock or whatever.
Floats have kind of been an issue not so much from boaters not knowing what it is and avoiding it but locals on PWC's deliberately going for them rtunning them over and cutting them up.
Michael_Lambert
Guest
Simply put every time we have dove, which is typically two evenings and saturday or sunday morning..
We tend to show up before most.. and have always found that mosting fishing people cast off the north side of the dock, while the divers an swimmers are on the south side of the dock. Giving that of course anyone knows that people in the water are just going to scare off the fish so they cast out where we are not.
Where they do get annoyed is when you have a shop show up and i watched it happen and they want to dive off the north side cause there are no divers in and out of that area and they can do navigation and such in decent visibility. That is where the issue comes cause now you have fishermen with no wheres to fish! I have only seen one verbal fight between fishermen and divers and it was the fishermen asking the divers to stay on the south side with everyone else like everyone else always does.... and then divers telling the fishermen to go to hell they where there first! And yes they where out of towners... whom i have only seen the once.
The other issue is when you have dive clubs show up, They show up with 20+ divers, 40+ tanks tend to litter one side of the dock with there spare tanks and totes and then the other side they use to gear up! This is an issue and hard to break..
We tend to show up before most.. and have always found that mosting fishing people cast off the north side of the dock, while the divers an swimmers are on the south side of the dock. Giving that of course anyone knows that people in the water are just going to scare off the fish so they cast out where we are not.
Where they do get annoyed is when you have a shop show up and i watched it happen and they want to dive off the north side cause there are no divers in and out of that area and they can do navigation and such in decent visibility. That is where the issue comes cause now you have fishermen with no wheres to fish! I have only seen one verbal fight between fishermen and divers and it was the fishermen asking the divers to stay on the south side with everyone else like everyone else always does.... and then divers telling the fishermen to go to hell they where there first! And yes they where out of towners... whom i have only seen the once.
The other issue is when you have dive clubs show up, They show up with 20+ divers, 40+ tanks tend to litter one side of the dock with there spare tanks and totes and then the other side they use to gear up! This is an issue and hard to break..
Groundhog246
Contributor
Check this thread http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/ontario-fresh-water-freaks/290827-serious-problem-big-bay-point.html.
Big Bay Point is not IMHO a suitable or safe place to dive and I won't be returning. From my one visit there, the newspaper article does not exaggerate. I saw cars parked everywhere, including blocking driveways. One blocked me in and went diving, while I was already in the water. Guys taking a leak behind very little cover, against neighbours fences, etc., garbage left behind. There may be local divers, but I have yet to meet one.
Big Bay Point is not IMHO a suitable or safe place to dive and I won't be returning. From my one visit there, the newspaper article does not exaggerate. I saw cars parked everywhere, including blocking driveways. One blocked me in and went diving, while I was already in the water. Guys taking a leak behind very little cover, against neighbours fences, etc., garbage left behind. There may be local divers, but I have yet to meet one.
Here's another update.
Ontario Diving
"A bylaw enforcment officer came by to talk to us about a incocident this weekend and to let us know Town council has passed the bylaw to make Big Bay Point dock a "Resident Parking Only" location. Meaning you have to be displaying the Inisfil residence sticker in your window in order to park there, with out it you will get a $30 parking ticket."
Ontario Diving
"A bylaw enforcment officer came by to talk to us about a incocident this weekend and to let us know Town council has passed the bylaw to make Big Bay Point dock a "Resident Parking Only" location. Meaning you have to be displaying the Inisfil residence sticker in your window in order to park there, with out it you will get a $30 parking ticket."
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