Justin Hafner
New
My wife, a friend and myself decided to take a day trip from Rochester NY to the Alexandria Bay. We stopped at Hunts Dive Shop, the only dive shop in town, and my wife and I rented our tanks and our friend rented a tank, weight, bcd, wetsuit and reg (total $65). Hunts also opens a filling station acrossed the street from the Islander for multiple tank dive trips when the site gets crowded. A short drive away, the wreck lies on Market St. behind the hospital in a little park with gazebo, porta potty, information sign and ramp leading into the water. Entry into water was easy and accessible.
The bottom of the ramp was slick so we decided to put our gear on in the water, this I do not suggest, though Im sure it was funny for the spectators watching the three of us try to put on gear on a rocky terrain. One thing to mention here is make sure you bring a flag, this area has some boat traffic. After a short swim the ground drops off to 25 feet where the wreck shows itself. The visibility was 30 feet the day we dove giving us plenty of distance to view the wreck and surrounding area. When the wreck becomes clear the first thing we saw was wall of wood and green algae. The hull of the boat spans from west to east in its final resting place. When we rounded the stern we discovered a 25 foot drop off down to 50 feet. The vessel landed on its side so at 50 feet you can look at the entire scope of the vessel seeing entire deck. The old broken ribs and the intact bow makes the diver feel the age and history of the wreck. It takes you back in time to when the boats were wood, powered by paddlewheels and times were a little simplier. Quite a few smallmouth bass, perch and sunfish kept us company throughout the dive. We made three passes, one high, one low and one down the center, taking 40 minutes exploring different depths looking above and below the hull. The water temperature was 65 degrees in August with no thermocline and a 5ml wetsuit was sufficient and there was almost no current.
The moral of the story is that Scuba diving doesnt need to be week long Caribbean vacation, diving doesnt need to be a charter boat to deep uncharted waters, sometimes good diving can be a quick day trip that won't cost you an arm and a leg Find somewhere close to home, grab some friends and just go dive. Total cost of the day $15 for tank rental, $10 for gas and $15 for 2 beers and lunch, I couldn't think of a better way to spend an afternoon and 40 dollars.
