beflythis:
Furthermore, what kinda temp can I expect in late july? i have a 3-mil shorty.... with legs and hood at my disposal - will this suffice? my gf gets really cold under water; in fact, she even had to double-up the shorty's in mexico if you can believe that...
also... being a freshly-certified OW diver, how will i establish a sufficient location depth-wise? i thought of a depthfinder, but i don't have one, myself, and i can't really rely on anybody up there to have one, either.
lastly, is there anything particularly dangerous (or neat, for that matter) that i should watch out for?
cheers
-johnny
My first reaction is
You're diving beyond your training. Where did you certify (where did you do your OW dives)? If you are not familiar with cold water diving (ie you did your certifying and other dives in Mexico), you need at least a couple of supervised cold water dives before you head off. Adding the hood, gloves, extra lead needed up here is a whole new game. Lot's of people chill easily and I know a guy who dive a 6.5mm full suit in Mexico. Water at 85F is still 11 degrees colder than your body temp (at 85F you're probably dead) and water cools much more effectively than air.
A quick search turned up this
STONY/STONEY LAKE Three interconnected lakes (Upper Stoney Lake to the northeast, Stony Lake in the centre, and Clear Lake to the southwest) form the eastern end of the Kawartha lakes region. All three lakes are typical of the northerly Kawartha lakes, being generally deeper, colder, and relatively more influenced by the Canadian Shield than lakes to the south. So, I expect the answer to your temp question is COLD, certainly way below shorty diving more most. Probably a full 6 to 7mm, hood, heavy gloves, and probably the jacket too.
On finding the depth, lacking a depth/fishfinder (portable units are not all that expensive, get em at Canadian Tire). There's a small on with a wireless transmitter made for fishermen. Tie the transmitter in the end of a fishing line and cast (as far as you can?), then read the depth on a wrist worn screen. If you want the 'econo' method, go back to the days of sailing ships. take a light line, tie knots every 10 feet (or for the nautically inclined, every fathom). If you want to be fancy you can tie one knot at 10 feet, 2 at 20, 3 at 30, etc. I mark the anchor line on my boat every 25 feet using small coloured ribbon. Start with a colour and one ribbon tied through and around at 25 feet, 2 ribbons at 50, 3 at 75, 4 at 100, then change colours and 1 at 125, 2 at 150 and so on (I carry 300 feet of rope). This allows me to quickly lay out the correct amount of rode for the depth I'm in (FYI, 6 feet of rode for every foot of water). The 30 feet of chain between the anchor and the rope isn't counted as it covers the height from the deck to the water's surface).
Thanks Moondog.
