Lake Ontario Dive Number 131 200806-07

Saturday, June 07 – 2008
10:56 – 12:08
Dive Number 131
Start: 10:00
Roads: Dry / clear
Visibility: 24km
Temp: +32C
Water Temp: +15C
Area: Fort Mississauga Golf Course
Vehicle: Black Sunfire
Weather: Overcast
Visibility: 3m
Divers: Wolf & Chuck
Maximum Depth: 2m
Plan: Go Left

We arrived at the small parking lot near the Golf Course and kitted up. We did a brief gearcheck and made our way down to the waters edge which was a lot higher this year than normal. We finished our gear-up and began our dive. Wolf realised that for the first time in many years, he forgot his fins! We also had no dive float!

We decided to continue the dive and head away from the Fort, towards Port Dalhousie, and came across lots of rocks and kelp and large fish like Bass. We found a few steel rods and a railroad spike. The water was nice and cool at 15C. We had great visibility for this spot at 3m.

Using peak buoyancy, Wolf managed to swim using his hands and occasionally use bare rocks on the bottom to pull himself along the bottom as diving without fins was very difficult, but the water was shallow and easy to navigate.

We used up about 1/3 of our air supply and started heading back towards shore and both Chuck and I were surprised to be charged by a Longnose Gar. We hadn’t seen a fish like this before! The fish was long and slender, beige colored with black spots. It was surprisingly aggressive and repeatedly charged at us. We figured we must have been close to a nesting area. We did not harm the fish, but had to gently push it away from us during its several assaults on us.

Chuck and I exited the water together, doffed our gear and went to a local restaurant to eat and prepare for another dive. This dive was kind of boring as the depth was shallow and there wasn’t much to do here.