Chippawa Creek Dive 109

Saturday, August 25 – 2007
11:00 – 12:150
Dive Number 109
Start: 11:00
Roads: Dry / clear
Visibility: 20km
Temp: +26C
Water Temp: +20C
Area: Niagara Falls, Ontario
Vehicle: Niva
Weather: Overcast / Light Rain
Visibility: 4m
Divers: Wolf, Chuck, Phil M.
Maximum Depth: 9m
Dive Wench(es): Tori, Christine
Plan: Exploration

We arrived by the Boathouse Restaurant & parked by the Niagara River only to see a green minivan with a dive float on the roof! Apparently a diver was waiting an hour for his mates and no one else showed up. We kitted up and went to go under but chuck had some issues with the aga mask of Brians and then with his BCD so he decided to aboard. Phil M. and I went on without Chuck. We submerged down to 6m and went with the flow of the river until we felt something grab the dive float and hauled us up to the surface. The float had gotten wrapped around the bridge abutment. I had to battle the extreme current and drag myself by the rope against the current. It was so strong it pinned me upside down against the abutment! I scurried upside down around the abutment and righted myself, then stopped for a moment to figure out what to do. Eventually Phil M. made his way around the abutment and we were off and running again. Phil had no gloves and the rope really hurt his hands. As we progressed I found a health card belonging to an Arab boy (Name listed was Akmed) born in the year 2000. We saw quite a few large timbers and bicycles as well as the old upside down Buick which I first saw on September 07, 2002 (Dive number 68) We surfaced to find we were a little ways from the exit point and submerged again for a while then exited at the boat ramp where Chuck and Tori were waiting for us. We went back to the entrance picked up the cars, then went to the Tim Hortons to Relax. Phil M. could not join us. It was a great dive, sadly chuck had to abort.