Drift diving is NOT so relaxing!

[shoredivr]

@shoredivr

People need to come visit us for a season in the 1000 Islands to understand.

I've done lots drift diving in the Caribbean, the east coast of Florida, lots of rivers including the Niagara above the famous falls, and what we have is the scuba version of base jumping in a wingsuit while skydiving especially between 150 on wrecks like the A.E. Vickery, 170 on the Oconto and J.B. King, and 250 on the Roy A. Jodrey. When I think about relaxing drift diving, I think warm water and drifting into or off the Robert Gaskin. When I think about the scuba version of Normandy, I think the Oconto and the King.

Drifting into the King is one of the most fun dives ever.

 

[emoreira]

Boats stay up you stay down.dont lose your fin or get low on air and buy a sausage. Very basic and very simple. If that is too much to cope with then probably best to stay at home.

Can't say this better than you.

 

[Steelyeyes]

In that case, they encountred some kind of a swirling current that threw them around and separated them a bit in depth. That ended quickly, though. They made eye contact with each other, and the husband figured all was well. He took his eyes off of her to tend to somethings, looked back, and she was gone.

To put it in skiing terms Duncan Rocks is a double black diamond dive. Even my non diving friends that work with the local tribe (Makah) up there have heard of it and it's risks. That is not a typical drift dive in any way.

 

[KeithG]

I think you are over hyping the difficulty of these wrecks and the conditions. However it just may be that I'm acclimatized to the conditions.

If you want really fast water in the 1000 Islands try drifting off the Robert Peel on the bottom (around 170). The river narrows noticeably (you can see both walls of the channel in reasonable viz) and the water speeds up a lot! Its a short ride though.

Nope. Not for us noobs who have never seen current.

As a Caribbean vacation diver we get told EVERY dive to look both ways and then swim against the current. It is often extremely difficult to decide which way the feeble current (if any) is going.

Some of us are aware that we have no idea what current really is. Others? Not so much.

 

[Dirty-Dog]

Bah. Nothing is always.
The vast majority of the time, drift diving is calm, relaxing and wonderful.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

Drifting into the King is one of the most fun dives ever.

Fun, definitely. Relaxing ... they keep using that word. I'm not sure it means what they think it means.

 

[shoredivr]

Fun, definitely. Relaxing ... they keep using that word. I'm not sure it means what they think it means.

 

[Trace Malinowski]

I think you are over hyping the difficulty of these wrecks and the conditions. However it just may be that I'm acclimatized to the conditions.

If you want really fast water in the 1000 Islands try drifting off the Robert Peel on the bottom (around 170). The river narrows noticeably (you can see both walls of the channel in reasonable viz) and the water speeds up a lot! Its a short ride though.

I've only been diving the St. Lawrence since I was 15 years old. Age 50 now. GUE Tech 2. If you dive something enough you'll find its angry days. For example, Ash Island Barge is a totally benign dive, but we discovered a really nasty set of eddies during that record outflow last year. We ventured off the stern into the periwinkle shells at 140 feet like we had hundreds of times. Found ourselves unable to swim back and going for a wicked ride over to Wallace.

 

[Snoweman]

Fun, definitely. Relaxing ... they keep using that word. I'm not sure it means what they think it means.

I know what it means! It means fun, relaxing. What part are you missing?

 

[shoredivr]

I've only been diving the St. Lawrence since I was 15 years old. Age 50 now. GUE Tech 2. If you dive something enough you'll find its angry days. For example, Ash Island Barge is a totally benign dive, but we discovered a really nasty set of eddies during that record outflow last year. We ventured off the stern into the periwinkle shells at 140 feet like we had hundreds of times. Found ourselves unable to swim back and going for a wicked ride over to Wallace.

During that same high outflow last year, same area produced the following dive for me.

Yellow dot is the Ash Island Barge. The plan (green) was to jump in just off Wallace, drift along the Wallace side of Fiddler’s elbow and surface.

The Current had a different plan. It took me on the red route on the opposite side of the Elbow and dumped me off near Wood.

Same area. Different current.