Divemaster: Heison Chak.
Another beautiful weekend diving with Blue North Scuba Club and Divemaster Heison Chak.
12 divers met up in Kingston at the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour for a Saturday morning shore dive on the remains of five hulls near the beach. In the afternoon, the group dove with Neptune & Salacia Dive Shop aboard the Dorothy J. on shipwrecks: Alora and KPH. Then on Sunday morning the group rejoined the Dorothy J. for two dives on the Wolfe Islander II ferry. Sunday afternoon, a few divers went on a shore dive on their own, back at the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, before driving home. The group met up in Toronto Sunday evening for dinner together at the close of a wonderful weekend.
Photos
Video
- View the video of the dives, generously shared by The Scuba Lab on Youtube
Dive Sites
Portsmouth Harbour shore dive
The pile-up of hulls is from the time when Portsmouth was a working port. Once a hull was no longer seaworthy, it was simply abandoned at shore, and eventually cleared by dragging the hulls out into deeper water and sinking them, now creating a “ship graveyard” for divers — and for smallmouth bass!
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Aloha
The Aloha is found off Nine-Mile Point, Simcoe Island, near Kingston. The Aloha was built by William Dulac in 1888 at Mt. Clemens, Michigan. While in tow on route to Kingston in 1917, the Aloha foundered in a gale. The only fatality was Captain McVicor, age 76. The hull is mostly intact. Most of the artifacts have been removed and the winch can be viewed at the Marine Museum of the Great Lakes, located in Kingston, Ontario. One of the most interesting parts of the Aloha are the Roman numeral depth markings on her bow. The Aloha is 171′ ft long and has a 32′ beam. She came to rest in 55 ft of water on a sand bottom. Years later, another boat, the Effie Mae, was sunk as a dive sight near the Aloha. Read more about the Effie.
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The “KPH” wreck
This wreck is named for its proximity to the Kingston Psychiatric Hospital. It is also known as the Water Lily. It’s a wooden double boiler wreck. The back of the wreck is destroyed but the rest of the ship is in decent condition. It is protected by shoals from a lot of the lake effect weather. There are two parallel boilers. The depth is approximately 60 ft. The KPH has been roughly measured to 135 ft long.
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The Wolfe Islander II
This wreck is a 164 ft. long ferry was built in Collingwood, Ontario in 1946 and named “Ottawa Maybrook.” It was originally intended to be sent to China as a gift, but due to the political climate as China’s communist leadership gained power, she was converted to a car ferry and renamed The Wolfe Islander II, servicing the Wolfe Island to Kingston route for many years. Resting in 80 ft. of water, she was intentionally sunk September 21, 1985 as an artificial reef and diving site, and is normally buoyed for visiting divers.
Blue North Scuba Club 