Dive Review of
Thousand Islands Pleasure Divers/Headlands Motel in
Canada/St. Lawrence River

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Dive Conditions

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Overall Rating

You dive the St Lawrence River Seaway for the wrecks and drift dives. At
the end of the summer, temperatures get up to the mid seventies farenheit.
I did the first day's dives in a wetsuit, then switched to dry for the next
two days. There's no thermocline in the river, on this dive trip, 73
degrees right to the bottom. You'll find all combinations of wet and dry
suits on divers at this time of year; other times, its cold water drysuit
diving for sure. 

Wrecks stay relatively preserved in the fresh water, and all of these
wrecks occurred for real. For example, you can see the gashes in the hull
where the Daryaw or Keystorm hit the reef. Some of these ships are wooden
barques built in the 1800s, before Canada was a country. Others are steel
freighters that went down in 1912 right up to recent ones in the 1980's.
Some are in recreational depths, others are technical dives only. 

You can fly down the river, keeping the wall close to your side. Zebra
mussels have increased the viz considerably in the past decade. If you're
lucky you might spot old bottles or china: grab them quickly if  you want
them or the current just moves you along. Artifacts on the shipwrecks,
however, are protected, so no souveniers. Take a SMB or safety sausage with
you for end-of-dive locating if necessary, you can fly one or two islands
down if you hit the right current level in the Brockville Narrows.

The Seaway is an operational international shipping channel, and huge
freighters power by while you dive: stay out of the channel! They make
quite the noise underwater too. You'll be sitting during your surface
interval and some container ship will pass on its' way to or from China;
check out the huge bow wave when a ship is loaded down. 

Thousand Islands Pleasure Divers out of Rockport and Brockville in Ontario
is a real class act. Wayne Greene has safety and fun combined, and he's
advertising trips for both recreational and technical divers now. Check his
website for details www.islanddiver.ca.

If you want to dive the wrecks on the American side such as the Keystorm or
Jodrey, you'll need to fill out a form on his website and take your
passport with you. A stop is made in American customs and immigration on
one of the Thousand Islands, and no dive in New York waters if coming from
the Canadian side if no passport, no matter what your nationality.

I got my gas fills from Dan at DiveTech in Mallorytown, just up the road
from Rockport. That shop is ever diver's dream: huge and just crammed full
of all kinds of gear. If you're not careful you'll wind up coveting a piece
of gear that you just HAVE to get. Happens every time. 

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