Shipwrecks 2012 Weekend

After attending Shipwrecks 2012 symposium, I definitely feel like a newbie to this sport.  The Niagara Divers Association put on a great show.

(Photo by Natasa Djermanovic)

The 550 people attending the show made for a comfortable environment knowing we were all on the same page.  I’d read a little here, watched a little there, but Wow!  When you’re at a conference watching and listening to people with 30+ years experience whose passion and livelihood is based on diving, it certainly made me take a step back and realize there’s a lot more to this recreational activity.

Lucky for me, one of my former college friends Jason Maiuri is a member of the NDA.  Lucky because my good friend didn’t give up on me… He posted the link to the symposium about 4 or 5 times on my Facebook page not letting me forget about it.  Hanging out with Jason and his girlfriend Andrea (also part of NDA) allowed me to see the show before the doors opened.  I found this interesting because as the doors opened I got to see the range of people arriving at the show.  There was a large showing from the Great Lakes Technical Divers, a gentleman that worked on the Deepwater Horizon cleanup,  and a man that started diving in the 1970′s with many stories about sites and gear of the era. The guest speakers were being hounded for hand shakes and photos.  I also ran into acquaintances that I didn`t know were coming (why didn`t we figure this out sooner and carpool?).

(Tom Wilson, Photo by Natasa Djermanovic)

Soon the doors to the theatre opened and we all excitedly filed in.  Tom Wilson initiated the event as Master of ceremonies as he has since 2008.  After some humour and appreciation of the NDA for hosting the event, the first guest speaker was on.

Jack Papes spoke about a technical diving adventure he’d had in lake Michigan the previous summer.  With a backwards winding clock, he gave his account of the train car SS Milwaukee and many other interesting sites.  His presentation was accompanied with photos he took.

(http://www.n2junkie.com/index.htm)

Robert Osborne was next, showing his CTV W5 documentary about the Bell Island wrecks.  I certainly would like to head to NFLD sometime soon after seeing and hearing the history of the world war wrecks there.  After the video, Robert gave us some of the more in-depth details of the German sumbmarine mission.  We heard about a german spy dropped off near a small town in Quebec.  He spoke of the Canadian response to the attack, and of the aftermath of the surviving sailors on both the Canadian and German sides.  He explained that years later, after the natural death of one of the German U-boat captains, this man’s daughter discovered his detailed logs of the Bell island attacks.  This discovery then prompted her to visit the island, donate these artifacts to its museum and pay her respects.

http://watch.ctv.ca/news/w5/the-battle-of-bell-island/#clip232707 (video can seen here)

Cris Kohl and Joan Forsberg were introduced as the following presenters.  From the podium they narrated a whirlwind video that overviewed shipwrecks from the St Lawrence all the way through most of the great lakes.  The trips they have made to some remote locations is astonishing.

http://www.seawolfcommunications.com/index.html

Jill Heinerth was the last speaker before lunch.  She is known as one of the worlds leading technical divers with accolades in cave diving, film making, photography, and CCR.   She spoke about underwater photography: the lighting, cameras, housings, formats, and software.  There were quite a few helpful tips that I absorbed from her presentation.  One being that your buddy can help with the lighting as well as watching out for you, and another about placement of strobes away from the camera to create many different effects.  She made mention that RAW was the best format to be shooting in, because of the flexibility we can now enjoy with modern editing software.

http://www.intotheplanet.com/IntoThePlanet/Home.html

Lunch!

Mike Fletcher was social with the crowd from the moment he walked in the door.  A half hour video that reviewed his career so far started his presentation.  Topics covered were him growing up, commercial diving, shipwreck hunting, becoming an underwater heritage advocate, underwater cameraman, TV host, and father.  It was incredibly intriguing.  From The Sea Hunters to Dreamwrecks and Dive Detectives I now have a hundred TV episodes to watch.

(Mike Fletcher, Photo by Natasa Djermanovic)

Jill Heinerth and Husband Robert McClellan introduced two projects they are working on and showed previews of the films.

First was Ben’s Vortex. “On a hot August night, Ben McDaniel attempted the adventure of a lifetime. He slipped beneath the clear waters of Vortex Spring, with one goal in mind: to make a name for himself in the extreme world of cave diving. He was never seen again. “

Second was We Are Water.  “For the first time in history, fresh water has become a finite resource. Many experts agree that, without significant changes in water policy, wars of the 21st century may be fought, not over oil, but for control of clean water. We Are Water is an imaginative, entertaining, and enlightening documentary, illustrating the fragile relationship between our planet’s endangered fresh water resources, and the ever increasing needs of our expanding population.”

After the previews, Jill and Robert received donations towards the production of We Are Water.  Carlos Fonseca and Matt Mandziuk, on behalf of the Great Lake Technical Divers and Dan’s Dive Shop, presented a generous cheque for $1750. Natasa Djermanovic and Chris Corfield also personally donated $500 onstage.

Both films were said to be released this year.

(Jill Heinerth & Robert McClellan, Photo by Natasa Djermanovic)

David VanZandt gave a somewhat technical discussion on the searching for and finding of the shipwreck The Sultan. David showed side sonar images CLUE captured, a detailed drawing of the site, and photographs. He gave his opinion on why the ship sank.  I thought one of the more interesting parts of his presentation was the Q&A.  People were asking why he or his club wouldn’t share the location.  His answer was that they spent the time and money, so why should they share it?  In complete contrast were the next presenters.

Georgann & Mike Wachter were onstage excitedly telling the crowd about a shipwreck they discovered in Lake Erie.  It was a very well told story of discovery and excitement by these shipwreck hunters.  We were shown a video of the initial dive to see what they had found.   As well as Mike & Georgann narrating the film Mike had shot that day.  Near the end of the presentation they displayed the GPS coordinates and invited everyone to check it out.

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The show quickly came to an end after Tom thanked the presenters, the NDA, and the audience.  There was a dinner afterwards for a limited number of guests.

(Photo by Natasa Djermanovic)

Overall, a fantastic show.  Many thanks to the NDA for putting it on and also to Natasa for allowing me use of her photos.

A local newspaper the St. Catharines Standard ran an article about the symposium.

http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/2012/03/31/shipwrecks-symposium-draws-record-crowd

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Whats a weekend without diving?

One of the reasons that got me down to the falls, was that my friend Jason said we could go diving.  Sure enough, sunday morning Jason, Andrea, and I met up with Eastern Ontario/Montreal friends Fannie and Allan for a dive at the Sherston Quarry.

http://www.sherkston.com/ontario-rv-resorts/sherkston-scuba.cfm

“Sherkston quarry became a dive site in 1917 when the water pumps quit working one night after the workers went home. The next morning the workers showed up at work and knew they were out of a job”

(Quoted from Dan’s Dive Shop website http://www.dansdiveshop.ca/sites.htm)

(Photo by Christian Lloyd-Kohls)

It was a cold morning; the way it should be in April.  Together, we entered the dive shop to show our cards, sign papers, and pay the $10 entrance fee.  After having a good chat with the manager Leah Jones, we jumped back in the cars and drove around the quarry to the entrance site.  Jason was stuffed up and decided to pass.  Andrea was making me cold as I watched her suiting up in her wetsuit… Yikes!

(Andrea Willette & Jason Maiuri, Photo by Christian Lloyd-Kohls)

Into the water we went! A sea of green.  Andrea, being the local, was the leader.  It was a minute or two before we came upon some tracks.  This was exciting for me because I’d heard of train tracks in a couple of locations in eastern Ontario, but never seen any.  I was in for a treat…

(Photo by Christian Lloyd-Kohls, Tweaked by Adam Kulczycki)

We followed the tracks to the goodies.

(Photo by Christian Lloyd-Kohls, Tweaked by Adam Kulczycki)

(Photo by Christian Lloyd-Kohls, Tweaked by Adam Kulczycki)

Another 5-minute swim down the tracks and we found what these small locomotives were pulling.

(Photo by Christian Lloyd-Kohls, Tweaked by Adam Kulczycki)

There were a number of mine carts in different locations.

(Photo by Christian Lloyd-Kohls, Tweaked by Adam Kulczycki)

At about 42 minutes into the dive, I started giving my buddies some hand signals.  They weren’t understanding what I was trying to tell them.  I started making up signals the get my point across.  This didn’t work either, so we surfaced.  I was finally able to tell them that I needed to pee so bad I couldn’t kick my legs anymore…!

It was a long swim back using only my arms doing the back stroke.

We packed up, took a group shot, and headed to Crystal Beach for a great lunch and celebratory beer.

It was a first class weekend.  Thanks for the hospitality Jason!

(Allan Reid, Fannie Milette, Andrea Willette, Jason Maiuri, Christian Lloyd-Kohls, Photo shot by Leah Jones)