I received a knock on my door at 4:30 am from Jean-Pierre Bouillon that I was to have our dive group meet at the Rimouski pier at 5:00 am. It appears that there were small craft warnings with 30-knot winds that would be a problem the later we got into the day. I got everyone up and did my fastest time for putting together the closed-circuit rebreather than I ever had. As we were putting all our gear together and rushing down to the marina, we could see the flags whipping straight-out with the winds from the southwest. Jean-Pierre told me ahead of time that because of the weather we would only be getting in one dive so we had to make it a good one. Once out on the wreck site the winds were brisk and there was a slight chop to the water. We had a beautiful seal feeding off some scattered sea growth that greeted us as we moored over the same position on the Empress of Ireland-amidships forward of the explosion hole. The first team to hit the water was Tony Granata and Charlie Howlett as they were going to do some photography and video. The second team would be Ray Stine and myself with the plan to give Ray a similar tour of the bow. Because of his rich Nitrox mix, he was limited to only about 125 feet depth so no stairs and lifeboats. The water was much clearer on the surface but the wreck site was much darker than yesterday. Slowly swimming on the promenade, I noticed that there was a pretty good current running from the stern to the bow. This would make our swim to the bow very easy but we would have to fight the current coming back to the tie-in spot. I wanted to show Ray the cargo area and the plaques. By seeing the plagues, it gives you a quick jar into the realities of the sinking of the Empress as well as the dangers in diving the ship. The water temperature was about 35-37 degrees Fahrenheit and the visibility was about 5-8 feet and VERY DARK. As I was checking my PPO2 readings on the rebreather, Charlie bumped me to get me attention. I did not immediately know what he wanted and assumed that he wanted me to take him to the letters on the bow. After another nudge, I realized that he was having some regulator problems and that we would have to abort the dive. It appears that his primary regulator was free flowing and that he had to change over to one of his back-ups. All our divers carry many different redundant support systems so although it aborted the dive, Ray handled the situation like the pro that he is. Once on the surface the seas had picked up and we decided to head in for the day. Back at the hotel, we had a mini-entertainment session looking at the photos and videos that Tony and Charlie took-very beautiful! A quick run to Tim Horton's for coffee, a viewing on the CPR gravesite between Father's Point and Rimouski and a visit to the Empress Museum at Father's Point will be the highlights of the day.
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