Apart from the strong winds yesterday that messed up visibility for a while, Lock 23 conditions are good. Water temperature is 18C/65F, a great starting point for wet-suiters. Current is fairly normal in all areas.

The washrooms at the public beach are currently closed for maintenance.

The washrooms at the public boat dock are open 8 am to 4 pm.

The Docksyde is open until 9 pm. It’s run by the local Lion’s Club – great fast food and ice cream. Please support them!

The Mcintosh Inn pub and patio are open.

Please be mindful of the myriads of children and senior citizens who frequent the park. When changing clothing in public, kindly do so discreetly. Residents of Morrisburg are good-hearted about the influx of divers here – they are interested in what you do and are happy to share their space. Please don’t offend them.

There are now a number of divers entering at the public boat dock… carefully keeping their distance. Groups of 2 to 6 have been fairly common, and when more, have staggered their entry times.

However, non-diver weekend crowds will be high so it can get rather packed both at the entry (the public dock) and the exit (the beach). If you and your buddy are planning a dive, morning is best. Otherwise the entry parking lot will be full and there will be a lot of boats and seadoos zooming around the dock area. With one of you watching your gear, plan on parking your vehicles at the beach exit point where the space is larger and there are no boat trailers.

When entering at the dock, the best entry is a stride jump off the end. The water is relatively low, about 9-10 feet, and you’ll jump from about 4 feet up. Your second option is clambering down the rocks on the upstream side of the dock – many divers do this as well. The drop to the rocks from the parking pad is about 2 feet – perfect for sitting your BCD on to don it. 

DO NOT ENTER VIA THE BOAT RAMP. Apart from the fact that the municipal council has long declared it off-limits to divers, it is very hard to see you as you enter the water in this enclosed space, and boat vehicles are constantly going in and out – they will absolutely NOT be watching for divers.

The exit should not be a problem. The cordoned-off swim area is large and it is easy to manoeuvre around people (while safely tucked inside your wet suits, haha). Be certain to pop up a marker-buoy at 12-15 feet as there will likely be seadoos around and with both low water and low weed height currently, you’ll be very close to the surface on your exit swim.

Good diving to all!

Sydney