Ottawa Freedivers Thaw Out
Posted By Matt Charlton on 5 July 2004
For those not familiar with diving in near-freezing conditions, this consists of a large cooler filled with steaming hot water. This is then ceremoniously dragged to the shore where much primitive dancing ensues. The dancing, of course, is an involuntary reaction caused by said water being poured into each other's suits as a primer before the dive. The process is repeated after the dive as well, in a futile attempt to thwart off hypothermia.
The dives...
We start off with some vigorous facial immersion to induce diving reflex and to numb our senses. A few gentle pull downs to the boat and sub give us a chance to acclimatize, and then we start our dives.
The visibility this time of year is such that the tug and sub are visible from the surface. The plankton is perhaps a bit smarter than we are, choosing to stay dormant for a little while yet. Despite it being overcast and bleak topside, the white limestone reflects light beautifully through the water, giving it a wonderful Caribbean look, but not the feel.
Wanting to satisfy that urge to go deeper, we glide over to our float over one of the cars in 106' and get into a routine of diver, safety and on-deck.
Diving here is always fun for the ego.
Although our little group is growing every year, freediving is not very well known here, so divers are always a bit surprised to see us down there with them. Our dive site today is crawling with tech-divers... crawling under the weight of all that gear! It is a great site for them as well, giving them deep water for all their training needs. But it always brings a smile to my face (and water in my mask) to see the expression on their mugs when they see us hanging out at 100'. I sometimes wonder if they don't feel just a little bit silly with all that gear?
One by one we do our breath ups, ventilations, deep breath, pack, roll, fold, lift and sink. Seven strong kicks for me, then downshift for seven more kicks, gentler this time, and then relax and cruise for the free ride to the bottom. I watch the jagged rocks of the wall drop away from me, as the water becomes a more moody dark blue. The water temperature drops from 8'C to 4'C and then thump -my right hand hits the car. A quick look around and I see a group of scuba divers doing their stage drills, bubbles rising like a swarm of bees to the surface. I listen to the noise and then start my ascent with a strong dolphin kick from the bottom. Light starts to flood into the mask and that 4'c change feels great the other way. Breaking the surface, I do my hook breaths and recovery breathing with a watchful buddy in front of me. We give a satisfied nod to each other and we all switch roles.
- Bookmark with :
- what are these?
