It has been far too long since my last blog post as not much has happened for me in the diving world. Maybe it’s because I’m still stuck reliving Chuuk everyday. I will be honest, its been hard to motivate myself to go diving after such a great trip. I know that nothing local (for now) will ever compare to Chuuk. With that being said, the Great Lakes have some of the best wreck diving in the world too. It is a completely different game, a lot more challenging and a lot more certifications and preparations are needed.I am working my way up to this level of diving so that I can enjoy the wrecks in my own backyard. This is where Humber Bay comes into play.
Located in Toronto, just off Lake Shore Blvd W, sits Humber Bay. It serves as a decent practice area for scuba diving. Truthfully, there is not much to see.
Depending on the day, the entry can be quite tricky. There is a car park where we gear up, walk to a little path between two trees that lead to the “beach” where it is usually covered in piles of unstable stones. After navigating, the not so trusty, stepping-stones you reach the water. At times the waves can be too rough and on multiple occasions we have had to call the dive because it is unsafe to enter. If the waves aren’t too bad, the next issues is visibility. Sometimes the visibility can be 80ft + (very rare), most of the time it is usually about 15-25ft vis, but quite often it has been 5-10ft. Although it’s not as fun being able to see where you are going, it provides a great training element. It makes you focus on your buddies and not losing the line. It keeps everyone communicating and on top of their game so that everyone knows whats going on.
Dive times at Humber Bay aren’t usually too long. Minimum dive time is about 20 mins and I think the longest we have gone is for about 45-50mins. It is very shallow, only about 30ft-35ft max. We could stay down there for hours but there is very little to do. Most of the time boredom kicks in and we all agree to call it. Occasionally we will all be too cold. Temperatures at Humber Bay can vary. Four weeks ago, it was 42F (5°C), two weeks ago it was 52F (11°C). I always dive in my dry suit in the Great Lakes as the temperatures are always cold. Humber Bay doesn’t heat up all that much during the year as it is Lake Ontario. It might go to up 60F (15.5°C) but every so often the lake will turn causing the temperatures to plummet drastically.
Humber Bay is where I spent countless hours with my dive buddies practicing my skills for Florida where I completed my Intro to Tech, Cavern Diver and DPV. Due to there not being much to see, we try to dive weekly to practice our skills at this great playground. There is a small sunken boat where we most often spend our time, as it is a great location for reference when practicing skills. Things I have practiced there is buoyancy, back finning, helicopter finning, modified frog kick, modified flutter kick and SMB deployment. I plan to practice reel tie offs, stage bottle management and any other skills I could benefit from.
I am working towards heading back to Florida this February to complete my Cave 1 certification. It will cover; introduction in cave navigation, reel handling, team diving and awareness along with a plethora of more knowledge/skills. It’s something I’m really excited for as I’ve wanted to get more into cave diving ever since I experienced the Cenote’s of Mexico in 2014. Florida 2016 was a nice teaser for what is to come and a completely different experience from the style of caves in Mexico.
I am hoping to be more active on the diving end this summer. I know there will not be many trips this year as I’m saving up for Florida. I will being doing mostly local diving and maybe a few charters. I will try my best to post pictures and updates whenever I dive!
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Justin Steele
The Green Ranger