the Caribbean of the North Scuba diving in the Ottawa area
By Chuck Beattie Photos by: Rudi Asseer
SCUBA DIVING
Sunken plane in Morrison’s Quarry, Wakefield, QC.
T
he rocking boat makes it hard to put on my diving equipment. It’s heavy, and in the summer’s heat, my wet-suit is hot. But the moment I step off the boat and plunge into the cool water, all is forgotten. My wet-suit fills with water, cooling my body. I feel ecstatic. The weight of the equipment becomes negligible, and I start swimming along the surface toward the float, supporting a line that reaches down to a wreck on the river’s bottom. The surface current fights my movement, but with an extra push I reach the float. My dive buddy follows right behind. At the float, we exchange a quick glance, then a thumbs-down hand signal indicates it’s time to descend below the surface. My breath quickens slightly. Once underwater I relax; my focus changes. I can feel and hear the bubbles from my exhaust. My buddy moves down the line before me. His bubbles race past me towards the surface. My eyes start adjusting to changes in the light. Slowly, images 34
on the bottom come into view. In moments, the wreck appears, sitting where it has for the past century. Did you know that within a few hours drive of Ottawa close to 300 shipwrecks are just waiting for someone to explore? Scuba (self contained underwater breathing apparatus) divers discover more shipwrecks in the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario every year. For hundreds of years our local waterways have been used as major trade routes and recreational areas. The wrecks lining our river and lake bottoms have become a world-class
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scuba diving playground. And it’s all in our own backyard. Divers from around the world flock to this area, called by some, “Caribbean of the North.” Thirtymetre visibility and warm water temperatures (23 degrees C) are only part of the draw. You’ll find 200-year-old schooners and ships of all descriptions resting on our river and lake bottoms; most are in terrific condition. Some are in almost as good shape as the day they met their watery fate. Although you’ll find interesting dive sites here in Ottawa, most of the larger shipwrecks lie along the St. Lawrence River and in Lake Ontario. Still, these are close enough for Ottawa divers to make an easy day trip. The King’s Horn is an excellent example. A wooden vessel almost 50 metres long, she sank near Rockport (20 minutes west of Brockville) in 1897. The King’s Horn was one of seven barges under tow when a furious storm caught the boats in the open. Foundering, she went down in 28 metres of water. www.OttawaOutdoors.ca
