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Written by Gary Nochajski
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Wednesday, 04 November 2009 12:13 |
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The cool air has moved in for the season, the water temps are down in the low 50's and I have packed it in for the season, however I know of a few avid divers who are willing to get wet, Joe B. for one. Joe is looking for anyone to jump into the Niagara with him, so if interested drop him a line. Gayle and I are recovering from the flu and the aftermath of the Halloween party, which I am sorry to report that it will be the last big blowout bash for the next few years. We really enjoy having all of our friends over for a night of celebration, however we are getting to the point where we need a break from this event. So in the next few months we will need to come up with an alternative plan for the party next year. I would really like to organize a committee to schedule the event calendar for 2010, I would like it finalized and ready for presentation by the beginning of the new year. The club has such a great history as a dive and social club that I believe we can come up with some new ideas along with the old stand by events. In the past year members have traveled throughout the world on diving trips that include, Paul and Debbie going on a live a board in the South Pacific, Desire and Chris to the Philippines, Joe and Sue, Rich and Nancy To Cozumel, Larry, Jack, along with Gayle, Jason And I to North Carolina, The 1000 Island trip sponsored By Bob W. joined by Sally, Walt, Leah, Larry, Mike, Gayle, Jason And myself. Joe went to Tobermory for a weekend of awesome dives Alice went several weeks later, Rich, Larry and Jack headed to Ohio for a weekend of muck diving in Lake Erie. Jack and Rich went to San Andreas for a week last December, I know I am forgetting several other trips; sorry. I guess the point is that we are an active dive club, and to support that statement just consider all of the local diving we did in the past 6 months starting with the Brave Souls Dive at Lake Chatauqua organized by Alice and joined by 9 divers in the water, Wednesday night dives at Rich Marina with Bill O. providing support with his expertise and nice boat, many drift dives off of Grand Island, Canadien shore dives into the Niagara are always my favorite Niagara dives. Saturday Morning Dives organized by Walt; the 4th of July Dive at Barcellona was attended by 24, the Waldfest was another great non-diving event held in July, followed by the annual Club Picnic at Beaver Island Park was attended by about 35 people and at least 10 divers. The Lower Niagara Drift was a huge success again thanks to Walt and Leah, And we wrapped it all up for scheduled dives on October 17th with the famous pumpkin dive where Gayle demonstrated how to murder a pumpkin; followed by one fantastic lunch presented by Mark- You really outdid yourself Mark, the bacon wrapped shrimp and ribs were killer! We are also proud to be active in the community helping out with a river cleanup September 19th with Mike G. organizing I would really like to get together with everyone that may have photos and video and have them present their adventures to the club at our regular Tuesday night meetings, I have seen some great video from Chris and Desire's trip to the Philippines, I am sure that we could convince them to put on a nice presentation for us some time soon. I for one really enjoy seeing all of the possibilities for travel, first hand experiences from our members are one great way to get us all motivated to be active divers. With the election of officers last meeting I will be serving as president for 1 more year along with Rich as Vice President, Really though it is just a formality, I know we all share a passion for the water and enjoy the social events that we as club members all make possible through mutual cooperation. The installation dinner is scheduled for this coming Saturday At 6:30 At J.P's Pub 1986 Lakeview Road, Lakeview N.Y. 14085, if you have reservations and are planning to attend bring along a find from this year or years past, Share some photos and most of all enjoy great food and excellent diving buddies. I hope to see you there. Gary |
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 04 November 2009 13:21 |
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Written by Gary Nochajski
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Thursday, 17 September 2009 11:17 |
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Here we are looking at the end of the summer dive season, well not to worry it's not over yet! This coming weekend we have 2 events that will get you in the water. Saturday September 19th we are all meeting at the Ontario Street boat launch for a clean up, divers will be in the water and land lovers will be working on cleaning up the parking lot. Mike Gessel has made arrangements with the city of Buffalo to supply large garbage totes for us to use, bring a rake and gloves and be there by 10 Am. Sunday September 20th we are meeting at the Porter Ave Burger King at 9 Am heading out promptly to Niagara on the Lake to dive the lower Niagara, meet us at Navy Hall if you can't make BK by 9, we should be there by 10 or 10:15. Picnic to follow at the gazebo park, bring a dish to pass and byob. Don't forget your passport, Nexus, or enhanced DL! Our Wednesday night dives are still on, meet at Rich Marina, around 5pm call me if you have questions. A group of 8 went up to the 1000 islands, we met up Friday the 11th after 2 dives one on lock 21 near Long Sault, followed by the Conestoga wreck. Saturday Gayle Larry and I did 2 wreck dives, the first being the Henry C. Daryaw second dive was the Lily Parsons. After lunch Larry and I decided to see if we could find the line that goes out to the Gaskin wreck just off of Brockville harbor, we found it immediately and followed for about 2 minutes, the line ended just past a few cinder blocks, after a short search pattern I found the line and we reattached it, this was a reoccurring theme as we ran into the same cut line issue 2 more times , the last being in about 57 feet of water. At that time I did another short search and checked my gauges, not worth the risk of an extended search, Larry and I did a 180 and followed the mended line back to shore with plenty of air left in our cylinders. Oh well there is always next year, we were very close as I know the Gaskin sits at about 60'. Sunday we were back on the boat to do the Ash Island drift barge wreck out of Rockport, followed by The Kinghorn wreck. Walt and Bob drifted the Conestoga while Mike did shore diving looking for treasure. Thanks to Bob for inspiring us to go up, we usually hit the islands in August, the weather was excellant and the vis was a bit disappointing but still great compared to the Niagara Joe Bobella went to Tobermory with Discover diving September 11th, he said the vis was great and he did some deep dives, one being on the Arabia, hopefully I can convince him to submit an article detailing his experiences . If anyone has an article to submit get in touch with me and I will walk you through the process. I have more to write but it will have to wait. Later, Gary |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 17 September 2009 11:19 |
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Written by Gary Nochajski
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Sunday, 14 June 2009 07:39 |
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Saturday 9AM June 13th Walt & Leah were joined by Alice Green and myself at the Tim Horton's at Niagara and Ontario, we sat around waiting for more divers to join us and ended up just talking diving. We met a man who parked his vehicle in front with South Carolina Plates who looked to me to be an imposing figure, I was reluctant to approach him with a specific question regarding his home state of South Carolina. Leah was happy to go over to him and ask him to join us for a short chat, well he turned out to be one of the nicest people you would want to meet, in 15 minutes we learned so much from him regarding his home state and diving around some of the river inlets near his home. I learned an important lesson about myself that Saturday also, not to be so quick to judge, I will try to keep this lesson in the forefront of my mind with regards to the future. I think to some extent we all judge prematurely, I guess that is just our flawed human nature. Anyway as we walked out of Tim's we met up with Bill Owens, he followed us down to Hertel with his boat and watched us get in the water, thankfully he followed our float as we did need some assistance in the river, nothing major---don't be so quick to judge! But he was a huge help nonetheless. There was a speedboat race in progress and I am afraid what the outcome would have been as the boats were really cruising at a high speed. I doubt that any of these boats would have seen our float and flag in time to adjust their direction. Bill is a valuable respected member of the club and has been for years, he is still doing the Wednesday and Saturday dives from his boat out of Rich Marina, just call me or email me to let me know if you intend on joining him for a dive, we will need to know at least 24 hours in advance, his limit for divers is usually 3. Count on a $20 bill to help out with gas. See you at the next meeting Tuesday and then the regular Wednesday and Saturday dives. Gary |
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