At the beginning of March I embarked on my craziest dive adventure yet - Ice Diving!
When asked back in December if I would be interested it took me less than a second to decide and only a couple minutes longer to respond back to Wes and let him know I was in. When I first started diving in August 2011 and looked into specialities and the Specialty of the Month program and eventually my Master Scuba Diver program one of the specialities that jumped out at me was Ice Diving. I guess the whole thought of exploring under a sheet of ice and looking at the marine life would be a cool experience.... I was right on one thing... it was cool... in fact it was downright freakin' COLD!!
After my 13 hr Greyhound ride to Banff Alberta and meeting up with my ride for the rest of the weekend we headed off to meet up with Wes and Shannon and the rest of our team up at frozen Lake Minnewanka in the Banff National Park. Stepping out of the vehicle and heading for the week I was half expecting Jeff Probst to step out and say "Welcome to Survivor Banff"...
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| (Yes I sometimes let my imagination and photoshop skills get carried away) |
Once out on the lake (actually pictured in my Survivor mock-up above) we headed out onto the lake and across the ice to look at where we would be diving. Joined a short time later by Lana Taylor and Randy Kliever from Adventures in Scuba the Calgary based shop that would be offering us our course for the weekend and helping me not to die... (always a good thing). Unfortunately the trailer had not arrived yet as it had blown a tire and would be delayed... so, off to town to grab a coffee, our passes for the national park, and a little window shopping to kill a few extra minutes until heading back to the lake where... bah bah bah... the trailer had arrived and it was time for the "ever so fun" event of hauling gear from the vehicles across the frozen lake to where we would set-up the tent and cut a hole for the next days adventures under the water... hmm, this is starting to get a little real... I might actually have to go in the water now....
As brutal as I make it sound, with the whole crew of students and staff and family around, the task went by fairly quick and smooth and before we knew it the tent was up and it was time to get started on the "real" work. It was at this point that I delicately stepped back and out of the way.
With the wooden triangle assembled it was time for Terry Forsyth (Master Instructor from Adventures in Scuba) and our trainer for the weekend, to chainsaw the ice to create our hole.
With the hole in place it was time to clean up, lock-up and head to the classroom for dinner and lesson time....
Saturday morning came before I knew it and we headed to the dive site, as we approached along the Dam road and I saw the lake, that is when it hit me... this is really going to happen...lol and I told my dive buddy as much. A few quick trips across the ice and the gear was in place, and our briefing in progress. Following the briefing Shannon came out of the tent and, with a big grin on her face, pointed out that, with a name like Andrew, it put me at the top of the alphabetical list... and I was diver one...
Geared up and standing by the hole, I waited for direction and then doing the seated entry practiced so many times at the Aquarium, I was in the water. Soon I was clipped in and joined to Glenn Fines of Adventures in Scuba, one of our instructors, and then we descended. It would be impossible to explain the feeling of being under 17 inches of ice so I won't try, what I will say is that if you are a certified diver with a good number of cold water dives under your belt... this is the best adventure you will have!
Over the course of the weekend we had all sorts of adventures from me having issues with my ears clearing, to multiple free flowing regulators. We practised rescues, being the rescue diver, rescue tender and the person to be rescued.
Nothing truly prepares you for the adventure of Ice Diving, but going with amazing divers like those from Ocean Pro I was privledged enough to go with and being trained by amazing people like those from Adventures in Scuba.
As brutal as I make it sound, with the whole crew of students and staff and family around, the task went by fairly quick and smooth and before we knew it the tent was up and it was time to get started on the "real" work. It was at this point that I delicately stepped back and out of the way.
With the wooden triangle assembled it was time for Terry Forsyth (Master Instructor from Adventures in Scuba) and our trainer for the weekend, to chainsaw the ice to create our hole. With the hole in place it was time to clean up, lock-up and head to the classroom for dinner and lesson time....
Saturday morning came before I knew it and we headed to the dive site, as we approached along the Dam road and I saw the lake, that is when it hit me... this is really going to happen...lol and I told my dive buddy as much. A few quick trips across the ice and the gear was in place, and our briefing in progress. Following the briefing Shannon came out of the tent and, with a big grin on her face, pointed out that, with a name like Andrew, it put me at the top of the alphabetical list... and I was diver one...
Geared up and standing by the hole, I waited for direction and then doing the seated entry practiced so many times at the Aquarium, I was in the water. Soon I was clipped in and joined to Glenn Fines of Adventures in Scuba, one of our instructors, and then we descended. It would be impossible to explain the feeling of being under 17 inches of ice so I won't try, what I will say is that if you are a certified diver with a good number of cold water dives under your belt... this is the best adventure you will have!
Over the course of the weekend we had all sorts of adventures from me having issues with my ears clearing, to multiple free flowing regulators. We practised rescues, being the rescue diver, rescue tender and the person to be rescued.
Nothing truly prepares you for the adventure of Ice Diving, but going with amazing divers like those from Ocean Pro I was privledged enough to go with and being trained by amazing people like those from Adventures in Scuba.
