My first 25 dives were not logged very well. In fact they were not logged at all. I will therefore attempt to recall them the best I can.

Oddly enough I took my Open Water Course in the summer of 1986 in Quebec while attending French Language School. I had recently transferred to the regular force from the army Reserve and thought that diving would be a fun thing do do in my spare time. As it turned out I took the course in French. Fortunately the book was in English. My first dives in English however, were quite interesting as most of the terminology I learned was in French. The Course was conducted in the Mega which, is a huge military training building in St Jean, Quebec. I lived in the Mega, ate in the Mega, went to class in the Mega, went to the Bank in the Mega and even watched movies in the Mega. The building had everything inside. I even changed my furniture around six times or about once a month. This had nothing to do with the size of the building but a lot to do with the rooms having five sides to them so nothing fit. After six tries of placing four sided objects in a five-sided space, I gave up and went home.

Our first two dives on our open water course were in a rock quarry where there was very little to see but I do recall seeing an actual minnow up close. My dive buddy was very nervous throughout. I was very calm which is probably one of the reasons we were paired. He eventually panicked to many times in the pool and quit the course. My dive buddies kept changing after that. Our third and fourth dives of the course and what I consider more of a dive were in the Richelieu River near St Jean. There was a sunken coal barge, which we dove upon. The dive master who was also a physiotherapist on the base opened a fresh water clam and all the fish began to swarm and eat from his hand. I was hooked.

My next eight dives were with the Club in St Jean. I went on two dive weekends completing four dives each time. The dives were in provincial parks near St Jean. It’s the first dives after the course which things always seem to happen. My buddy kicked me in the face on my first dive after the course and knocked my mask off. I did catch it however, by the time I sorted myself out I was at the bottom of the lake at 112 feet in the dark. I married back up with my buddy who was coming down to get me, gave the OK and we carried on. Dive Five – unscheduled deep dive.

My next dive I was diving with my instructor and it became a short dive. While descending I burst a blood vessel in my nose while trying to clear my ears. I thought I was OK but he took me to the surface anyway. Dive seven this time with our dive master I got caught in some fishing line at 60 ft while doing a wall dive. I took off my BC and attempted to free myself my buddy came back and cut me free. Dive eight was another wall dive but this time uneventful and enjoyable. I also had good air time. The next four dives were again with the base club at a Camp Ground near Sherebrook. This time however, a lot less supervision. Our dive master showed up for two dives and the instructor was not there. The membership was also more civilian. The group was much less safety conscious. Dives 9,10 and 12 were uneventful. Dive eleven was stupid in retrospect. After having a few it was decided to go for a night dive, with no lights. I was the newest diver in the group and had probably drank the least mainly because everyone was speaking French and I was trying to understand what was going on. As nobody wanted to get fully dressed it became a very shallow dive as the first thermo cline was at about 12ft. The moon was also full which did provide adequate light for that depth. Fortunately it did not last long and we went back to the camp fire and did these string puzzles which, I still can’t figure out.

After Quebec I had a long period from diving and I did not dive again until 1993. On my arrival in Wainwright in 1991 I joined the SCUBA Club but I was not very active. It was not until 1993 that my interest was renewed, when the local Railway Union voted me in as Vice President. In other words I was voluntold. As with any long abstinence my first dive was a complete disaster. I wiggled and weaved my way into a wet suit that would be too small for Connie. Fitzgerald an ex president and I went off the boat in a sunny day in May at Clear Lake near Norm Coleman’s Cabin. I could barely move or breathe and as I left the boat and descended all the usual things happened. While catching my weight belt my mask flooded and I lost a fin. In a furious fog in the bottom of clear lake I sorted myself out and cleared the fog in time to watch a dive flag go by at 30ft under water. My dive buddy was trying out his new dive flag, which was slightly heavy for the float, so it faithfully followed him. We surfaced and I peeled off my wet suit to great relief only to discover I was totally dry. My suit had been that tight. The new executive took over in June with Malcolm Bruce as the President and I as his VP. Malcolm is slightly larger than I am so the first order of business was the purchase of some new and bigger kit.

My next four dives were in the year of the pepper that summer with my Cousin Jim seen here eating a halberno pepper (I have never seen so much mucus) and my cousin in law Gord Chouinard at Wavey Lake BC near 100-mile House. We dove once each day and three of the four dives were great. We kept them fairly shallow around 30 feet because we had both forgot our dive tables, besides there was little past 30 feet. Fishing tackle was the catch of the day as we found a lot. Much of it was probably my parents who had fished the lake a number of times. The lake was great for fishing as the trout were abundant and were jumping all the time. I like to fish lakes where you have action on the line every ten minutes. I was using some of the newly purchased club gear but I still managed to get an earache, which was a downer for a couple of days until the antibiotics took effect. I remember sitting in the boat suffering and every time I threw my line out I had another fish on it. My Dad and Gord were wondering how I could be so lucky catching all these fish. All I wanted to do was to get my ear checked.

Cathy does not like Wavey Lake and did not like me diving much, which is amazing, how she became such an avid diver. Getting together with my family and relatives who you have not seen for awhile add copious quantities of booze and male pattern stupidity in the middle of the woods and whala. As a kid these were great situations. My dad and uncle would be into the Berry Jack while we were camping and this would be the prime time to play with the axe and machete and not have to worry about being yelled at. The same applies today the kids get together with their cousins and the parents are not really concerned what they do as long as they don’t get hurt. Early one morning Bryn and I took the canoe out fishing on the way back I noticed something in the lake. I quickly yelled at Gord to get suited up as we went in to have a look. I discovered it was the lawn chair I had tossed in the lake the night before. Gord and I had decided it was time for Ron my brother in law who is another great guy to go into the water. This caused much commotion in the we hours of the morning. My mother came out, we all pouted and that was the end of that. Cathy was also not amused. I must be clear there was really only one night of drinking but we played hard whether it be diving, fishing, mountain biking or hiking. Cathy was rarely included in these activities thus she has a right to have been upset and as such does not like Wavey Lake.

In October I was supposed to do my advanced course at Twin Lakes near Winfield Alberta. Like Gerry I ended up on my back. Gerry’s condition however, was far more temporary as the guys were liberally mixing the Rum and Vodka into his drinks at the dive shack at Twin Lakes. Gerry spent the night with his head out the door and was blowing fish bait on the deep dive the next day. I had blown a disc in my back so I was laid up for two weeks.

Dives 18-24 was in the winter of 94 on the West Coast. In February the club decided to go to the West Coast and get together with the Esquimalt dive club. It started out bad. I was driving the Suburban full of dive gear with Shawna Bruce, Malcolms wife and Scott Baker. Malcolm had gone the day before with Doug Salmon Paul Ellard and a few others. On the Trans Canada near Golden I hit an Icy Patch and flipped the Suburban. Fortunately everyone was OK and after being righted the Suburban was still driveable so we carried on. Shawna later found out she was pregnant and had twins. Dives 18-21 were in Sanich Inlet. My dive Buddy was Doug (air pig) Salmon. I quickly found I could go for a dive with Doug come back up when he was done hyperventilating his tank and go down again with the last group. The first dive was most entertaining. As I waited in about 20 ft of water for Doug who was being assisted by a Esquimalt Club Dive Master, I noticed everyone else was spewing kit all over the sea floor. As I waited I scooped all this kit which became a source of many beers. Doug never did show up as he consumed his tank on the surface so I went down with the last group. Although Doug was an oxygen thief or I should say he made poor use of the oxygen available to him, he did become the club secretary and provided surface assistance on our future courses.

Dives 22-24 were at Arbutus Island near the Swartz Bay ferry terminal. These were interesting dives as there was a shallow cave full of anemones and a mild drift dive across the East Side of the Island. The trip turned out well, as we were able to do a bit of touring around Victoria BC as well.

I was obviously hooked on diving but not quite prepared for the Vortex to come.