My second trip to the Empress. I was joined by Greg and Andre, who were both visiting this wreck for the first time. We were greeted by much better visibility than in 2005 and the water was actually not freezing.
Deer Island, a small island in New Brunswick, Canada, is a mecca for cold water divers - not an inch is bare from sea life!!
Music:
Lennie Gallant - The Pull of the Fundy Tide
Weezer - Island in the Sun
An artificial reef off the coast of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada. She was a naval destroyer and can now be visited by divers.
Music:
Stan Rogers - Barrett's Privateers
The fun and antics of diving with the Moncton Dive Club in the tropical Maritimes area of Canada!!!
Music:
Lennie Gallant - The Pull of the Fundy Tide
Sons of Maxwell - Oceanside Again
One of the Bell Island wrecks from WWII, just off of Conception Bay South, Newfoundland. These are incredible wrecks - my only complaint is that you can't see everything in one dive - so I guess you just have to keep going back!!!
Music:
Shamrock Shore - Banks of Newfoundland
A few friends and I made our first dives on the Empress of Ireland at Rimouski, Quebec. In my experience, it's much more challenging mentally than physically, but I think I've just hit great conditions on it (except for the poor visibility). A historic wreck that is worth the trip - but get a guided tour to make the most of it!!!
Music:
Robert Charlebois - Les Ailes D'un Ange
Diving with Blackbeard's Cruises in the Bahamas at Bull Run - a planned shark dive, and they certainly provided the sharks!!!
Music:
John Williams - Theme from "Jaws"
The site of an old whale processing plant, the workers simply discarded the unwanted carcasses and bones of the whales. What is left today is amazing to see - vertabrae undisturbed and lined up in a row and skulls larger than you would expect.
Music:
The Newfoundland Reel
The World's 2nd longest barrier reef is a short boat trip off of the coast of Santa Lucia, Cuba - on the northern coast close to the eastern end of the island. Dives are deeper than I expected for a reef, there are beautiful corals, sponges and fans, but not many fish.
Three whaling boats lined up in a row at a wharf and along comes a storm. One sinks, then the next and the next!! Makes for a big insurance claim (I would suppose) and a great dive site in only 30 feet of water in a relatively warm and sheltered cove. You gotta love Newfoundland!!
Music:
Great Big Sea - Run Run Away
The dive of all dives - and it lived up to its reputation!!!
The dive leads you through a maze of crevices from large coral formations, which have grown together overhead. Turtles, Eagle Rays and Nurse Sharks are frequently
seen at this location.
ON this reef, the pinnacles have grown closer together to form a dense coral mass with a maze of swim-throughs, tunnels and coral caves weaving through it. Unlike true caves, from which this section gets its name, these caverns allow enough natural light to provide safe passage and wonderful wide angle photo ops.
A trip to Cozumel allowed me to dive Palancar Gardens. This is a wall dive and a nice place to start your week of diving - even advanced divers will enjoy the numerous swim-throughs and photographers will love the photo ops here.
