Clear Lake is located 20kms east of Wainwright AB and it is not very clear. When people ask where do you do most of your diving and you say to them? I dive a little prairie wind swept lake that goes down to about 60ft. The bottom is covered in soft mud, which you usually don’t see until you hit it because the visibility is so bad. The water temperature below the first five feet of the surface on a hot summer day maybe 7 degrees but it is usually 4. The usual reaction is a stunned look and a why. I would also like to ski Whistler BC and Lake Louise AB all the time but they are far away and very expensive.

Clear Lake has become our back yard water park. The Wainwright Buffalo Divers do the Open Water Courses at Clear Lake and a lot of the pleasure dives, or the lets go for a dive, are done in Clear Lake. Some of the dives related to courses and what have you have already been mentioned. Dive 41 on 25 June 94 was my first non-course related pleasure dive other than my squeeze in the suit dive a year prior. Nothing spectacular about the dive, I went in with Cathy and Fred. We were taking some measurements for items we were going to put in the lake.

Dive 42 two days later was a little more interesting. Members of 59 commando British Engineers were on camp doing a Waterleap project. They wanted to maintain their skills by doing work underwater. Malcolm Bruce the president at this point in time had some underwater artifacts made up all of, which were extremely heavy. The major Items were a Culvert, Dive Bell and Shark cage. For the use of the Club boat the Brits agreed to put the items in. Some of the Brits enjoyed working with the club and took the rescue course in July with us as well as attending other club dives. On dive 42 we put the Culvert in the heaviest of them all. The Brits were using two, two ton lift bags. Sgt Hamilton controlled the dive from the surface. I was put in charge of saftey in the water. We dumped the Culvert overboard waited a couple of minutes for enough air to escape from the lift bag and down she went. Once below they began to adjust it into place naturally a bit to much air was added and the lift bag with culvert began to rise to the surface. I noticed the divers just staying where they were watching it. Knowing from my previous lift bag experience that things that go up may come crashing back down, I quickly motioned the divers out of the way. Sure enough a few seconds later down she came thudding into the bottom. It took a while before we finally got in place.

Dive 52, 6 Aug 94. During a pig roast at Norm Coleman’s cabin, Norm had mentioned he had lost part of his dock one year as the ice took it out and had not seen it since. Cathy and I decided it was a good reason for a dive and away we went. Cathy found a fishing rod and a 1958-coke bottle and I found a couple of golf balls and the dock! I had brought a lift bag for just such an eventuality but of course it was insufficient lift. I therefore did what your not supposed to do I used my BC and the lift bag, still not enough. The bottom on this side of the lake is hard sand so I gave my fins to Cathy and along with my lift bag and BC I carried the dock out. Norm was nevertheless very happy and decided to take our next diving course. The pig roast also turned out great.

During dive 54 5 Sep 94 Cathy, Fred and I had decided to go check out the dive bell. The bell was no ordinary bell. It was 4’ by 4’ by 4’ of air space with iron rods to the platform and iron pipe on the platform to hold it down. Noticing it had way to much lift even before the Brits put it in the water, I had them drill holes two feet down. Still this was 32 cu ft of air left which provided for over 2,000lbs of lift. It was positioned about 50m from the dive platform at about 50’. There was a valve on the top, which was held open by elastic so it could be positioned easily. Fred and I went in the bell and Cathy remained outside. I closed the valve and Fred and I began to add air. The water level dropped so we were able to stick our head out of the water and talk to one another while adding the remainder of the air. Shortly thereafter I began to notice my ears popping and that it was getting light out. FRED! I shouted, "we’re going up". I bailed left and he bailed right. I was out in about 20’ of water and noticed my foot was caught in the marking line. Knowing that it is likely to go back down quickly when it dumps some air, I immediately cut the line. I got to the surface, Fred had been in about 15’ of water and had already surfaced. Cathy who followed the bell up was there along with the bell bobbing at the surface. After discussing our little rocket elevator ride I reopened the valve to allow the bell to sink to the bottom.

Dive 58 was interesting. It was a sunny Oct 18^th and Robert, Brandy, John and I went looking for the dive slates and light that were dropped during the Open Water course. We did not have any luck. The funny thing was Robert had forgot his gloves. I had some black dress gloves and John had some surgical gloves so we jury rigged some gloves for Robert which seemed to work. 30 Oct 94, Dive 62. I went to look for the slate and light again with Don Hiebert. We found the slates but were unable to find the light. This was the Beginning of Gerry’s special light Helmet. The light missing was Gerry’s and Fred had dropped it so after not being able to find it and this being the last dives of the season Fred bought Gerry a new light.

30 April 95, Dive 80. We had dove the lake during the winter ice diving course and had found Gerry’s light thus his dual headlight 1 million-candle power underwater helmet light was born. We had also dropped in some navigation points while the lake was frozen so we could get accurate bearings. Now it was spring we decided to check everything out. Although we were not specifically looking for all the nav points we only found one. I had thought they might be a bit far apart when we installed them.

Dive 81, 7 May 95. I assisted Gerry on another OW course. On this course Pat and Lisa Carey were on it and so was Brad Wentzel. Another fair size class of about eight people. We had our act together now and the course ran slick. I took Pat down on the third dive of the course. She was flopping all over the place but still in the thrashing and sediment storm she was able to spot and collect a golf ball and a pair of little dice. Pat has the amazing ability to find just about anything underwater.

Dive 82 and 83, 13 May 95. These were both very interesting and memorable dives. We did some work around the dive site. Camp Maintenance had an old partially built boat they were trying to get rid of so we put it in the lake and positioned it about 30 ft from the platform. Dive 83 was the grand sinking of our old herring boat. The Club had purchased a zodiac style boat from Quebec and now had it in operation. We applied to the province of Alberta for permission to sink the boat and build an underwater park and this was granted. We also applied to the Camp Commanding Officer to maintain the boat on the records as a dive site, which was also granted. A large group from the Club turned out for the sinking. Before the boat sank, Paul had bet be a case of beer that I would not get the boat within 5ft of the platform. We opened up the plugs and had drilled holes in the front and rear compartments, which may have been air tight at one point but were now, cracked. The holes were to ensure, it would not continue to float just above the surface. It took a fairly long time for it to go down which surprised us considering the amount of water that was usually in the boat at the end of a dive. To help it go down we added a bunch of divers to the boat to give it some weight and we started to get some action. The boat flipped bow up and sank standing up. The water was relatively clear with the visability about 25’ so you could see the boat from the surface. Eventually the bow finished filling with water and the boat came to a rest upright within a few feet from the platform. I was ahead one case of beer. Fred and I later attached some lift bags to one end and shuffled it parallel to the platform. On a side note while the boat was sinking Bradley accidentally dumped my camera overboard from in the zodiac. Doug Oliphant was able to go down and find it. When they brought it back to shore they dropped it on the dock. The camera rewound and never took another picture. It was dead but I was able to save the film. A few years later someone actually stole the boat so it is no longer there. However numerous other items have been since placed down for the pleasure of visiting divers.

Dive 84, 91, 113 were uneventful, I did however, find one of my weights that was left on the platform from a previous dive and on dive 113 we investigated Pumpkin dive sites. Dive 99, 27 July 95 was a slightly different story. Brad Wentzel, Dave Hauser and I went to look for the Plane and we found it. It was in 35ft of water off Dean Olsen’s Cabin on the north side. There was not much to it a few engine parts, an engine cover and not much else. The vis was also terrible only about 5ft. I am sure there was probably more that we could not see. I later went over to Dave Faas’s cottage to have a few apres dive.

Dive 124, 29 Apr 96. The Ice was just off the lake so Robert and I had to get in. The vis was so terrible at about three feet we did not stay long. Shortly thereafter I assisted with another Club OW crse this one was significant because my son Bryn was on it and Kelly the last of the Careys yet to dive. It was again a great course Bryn took to the water without a problem, although his lack of strength being a 12 yr old did cause him some difficulty maneuvering the equipment.

Dive 130, 24 July 97. I went for a night dive with Dave Faas to view some of the things like the shower that Dave and Robert had put in the lake. This was also the end of my Club Presidency as I was posted to Edmonton. Brett and I had gone to visit in Wainwright while Bryn was on a swim camp in Calgary. Brett and I had a great time we spent a fair bit of time during the Day over at Don and Julie Hieberts. Brett was able to play with his friend Collin as well as Mark Faas and the Twins. The most hilarious had to be the boys on the biscuit. After a few runs they began to get a little cocky and it was only a matter of time before there was a spectacular wipe out. They shook it off and continued albeit a little more cautiously.

For a muddy little lake in the middle of the prairie, it has certainly spawned a lot of relationships. It is apparent that teenagers use it and even as adults it has been a source of a number of good parties and fond memories. I mentioned in the opening about my friendship with Dave and Robert. We virtually always have a get together after conducting a course. It is not uncommon to have a little B-BQ and talk about the days activity. On one such occasion we had a club member and student at the time who was a dietician and deadly against red meat. As people began to BBQ she gave a sermon on the horrors of red meat. I waited a bit until the BBQ was clear. Then I placed one of my cuts of beef on the B-BQ. The non red meat eating dietitian came to use the B-BQ about the same time as I. All she had was 3oz of chicken in a little baggy. I looked at the tiny bit of chicken, turned my head and looked down at the B-BQ and stated "where am I going to put that"? The shock on her face was a Kodak moment. I made a little room in the corner and asked if she wanted to supplement her chicken with a little beef, she declined.

Occasionally we got together just because during the off season. On one such occasion I invited the Careys and the Faases for a fondue night. The only problem, although it seemed to be a good idea at the time was the idea to have a few shots of rye after drinking all that wine. It was a fun party even if the following morning was a little rough.

Most of my dives in Clear lake after I departed Wainwright have been either Pumpkin, Ice Dives or assisting with courses. These dives are dealt with in other chapters.