Lake Ontario and the upper St. Lawrence River have been in drought conditions since early June. The International River Board had therefore slowed flows in our area throughout June to prevent levels from dipping even lower. This has been to protect municipal water intakes, hydro power and safe navigation. It also explains why current at …
Author: SJSchnurr
New Posts Coming
Hi All. I've just added a page on diving the Park - the parkland area outside the south wall of Lock 23. A special thanks goes out to Frank Vieni for sharing his videos from his Pandemic 2020 dives here! This completes the detailed posts/pages on the dive routes within the lock area itself. Next …
2021 Canada Day Dive
Virtually all of our dive friends dove elsewhere on Canada Day this year - charters are opening up and groups can get together a bit more freely in other spaces... Morrisburg's waterfront park and beach were packed with sun-lovers but Larry and I had the river below all to ourselves! The current was very mild …
My First Dive of 2021 – June 9
I went on my first dive of the season last evening on Lock 23. Conditions are now pretty much “normal” with the exception of low water. Current was moderate throughout the dive, though it felt strong heading south at the start and then again north at the end, largely because of low weed growth. Stride …
Dive Conditions: June 3, 2021
A few divers have been out during this past week, social distancing at entry and exit, and giving non-divers lots of space. The beach is closed but divers have exited there without interference. Water levels continue to be low, at least as low as last summer if not moreso. The International River Board is keeping …
Dive Conditions Oct 12, 2020
Weather and water temps have been pretty much the norm for the middle of October: sunny, cool days punctuated by regular rain and thunderstorms and the river dipping below 15C/60F. The main event of this Thanksgiving weekend has been the International River Board's raising of the water level in Lake St. Lawrence (the area between …
Slammed in the HE Plant Back-Eddy
A few days ago I dove the Hydroelectric Plant route with my wonderful dive buddy, Lise. She and I explore the river often, and she has accompanied me many times at Lock 23. She's the perfect dive buddy: she stays close, she enjoys every aspect of the dive, and she's quite content to go wherever …
HE Plant: Through the Sluice Gates and Headpond to the Plant Turbine Area
I've detailed the depth at which to drift to reach the sluice gates on this page, and what the river bottom looks like on that drift on this page. Your first landmark will be the stepped end of the headpond's north wall, seen only if you're drifting "shallow", anywhere from 12 to 18 feet (if …
Continue reading HE Plant: Through the Sluice Gates and Headpond to the Plant Turbine Area
HE Plant: Overview
from stlawrencepiks.com The Morrisburg Hydroelectric Plant was built in 1901. I don't know about anyone else, but I always assumed that it was built around the time of the Rapide Plat Lock right next door. But I was 45 years wrong. If you look at the overhead photo below, you can see how both sides …
Lock Conditions 12 Aug 2020
I dove the lock last evening... I have been working at updating information on the HydroElectric Plant and wanted to do a quick check of current conditions. It was my first dive of the season - with all the changes in my pandemic existence this summer - and I noted several changes. The first was …
