Unfriendliness at Rockport

[Over The Egde]

Sorry guys, unless you like bird dung, weeds and about four feet of water you're out of luck for diving around Caigers. There is also a great deal of boat traffic around their docks.
We have been operating our boats and fill station at Caigers for three years now. Mark is a really nice and fair individual. His staff are excellent, rooms are nice and clean, and of course the food is great. Especially the Ocean Perch
Mark has some great shots from the air of his place on his website. If you would like to see them PM me and I will send you the link or you can follow the link from our website.

 

[pufferfish]

http://www.gananoque.com/caigers/

 

[rcs_scuba]

The ramp is governed by the township. There is no by-law presently in place restricting diving from the ramp. The owner of The Boathouse was at the last township meeting and wants a by-law put into place to prohibit diving there. RBL (Rockport Boat LIne) which keeps the water open there in the winter around the IDA M II does not mind the divers, once the busy season arrives RBL does not have enough parking on weekends for divers and boat tour customers, so boat tour customers have to come first. There will be a staff memo circulated this week at RBL to all managers indicating that RBL has no problem with divers using the ramp as long as they are not interferring with the IDA M once it is moored there and infact is none of RBL staff business to police this. Parking in the shoulder seasons will be allowed for no charge as has been the case in the past.
On April 26th there is another township meeting where it would be nice to have a few concerned divers attend. Personnally I don't want to attend, it puts me in a bad position with RBL and The Boat House, I have to live with my neighbours. I propose that they go ahead and put a by-law in place that reads like... "No shore diving from boat ramp on weekends between Victoria Day weekend and Labour Day weekend". The township was very interested in this approach instead of just banning it completely. We all know that the Boat House is only after the $10 and if you cannot dive from the ramp then they are hoping that you will dive from their dock. Had a great dive there this morning, repaired line that runs from The Boat House dock to the main line that runs out to the Kinghorn. MR

 

[Tom R]

After diving in Rockport for over ten years, this is the best compromise we can hope for. I would support this.

 

[Huff-n-Puff]

Where is the meeting to take place? Address, phone number and time.

 

[rcs_scuba]

Where is the meeting to take place? Address, phone number and time.

Lydhurst Community Office
April 26 7 pm
North thru Lansdowne, left when you get to the T at the stop sign.
2 miles on your right, besdie the Legion

Don't have a phone number.

 

[DPVDiver]

After diving in Rockport for over ten years, this is the best compromise we can hope for. I would support this.

I'm with you 100%. Once the Tourboats are abound I like to stay clear of there anyway.

 

[gatorboy]

I think that this is a great compromise. Most of the shore diving we do up there is actually in the off season for boaters anyway, so it's a win win situation for the people I dive with. Now if the guys who live and dive in Rockport have no problem with this, there shouldn't be any problem. Except for maybe one person.

Just out of curiousity, I going to point this one to Tom, has anyone ever mentioned that maybe the guy from the Boathouse should do a season pass or something like that? Just curious.

Gatorboy

 

[Tom R]

I have no idea, I'll ask Eric next time I'm in Rockport, could be this weekend

 

[Dive Source]

We went down and did a great dive yesterday as we have in the past with our dive club (durham divers)

We chose to pay the Boathouse their $10 as the tourboat was already running and I didn't want to get in the way or get run over.

Parking and diving off their dock was drop dead easy and the lady we spoke to was very polite (Erik was away). The ladder was quite good and had no problem coming up it even in doubles (of course if the water level drops it would suck)

$10 sounds a little high for this service but it also included parking on his property and use of his bathrooms etc.

I think another option that should be put forward to Erik is that he continue to charge $10 for the service but attach a $5 off coupon for the restaraunt or perhaps a free bowl of soup (you get the idea).

This way he feels he has been treated fairly and so do the divers - it's called a win win.

Let's not create an enemy out of someone who has in the past been a friend as I would like to see this spot remain open.