Ever since the Dawnlight went out of commission two years ago, there was no convenient way to dive the wreck of the Northwind, which sits in about 115' of water off Manitoulin Island. Last year, Steve Tiernan of Teak Bay Marine, mentioned to me that he's thinking about putting together an expedition to dive the Northwind the following fall. It was a no-brainer: in between nods, I was figuring out in my head how to get my husband Norbert excited about the trip and get something organized.

Last Friday, our little group of eight set out on our excellent adventure to dive a wreck we've never dove before. As mentioned in my previous post about the Northwind, the trip includes a drive to Tobermory, getting on the Chi-Cheemaun, and driving from the ferry dock on Manitoulin to Gore Bay, where Steve had tied up our favourite dive vessel, the Teak Isle.

We might be gung-ho for diving, but our little group liked to come back after a day's diving to creature comforts! I booked us into Susan Mathia's beautiful B&B, The Queen's Inn. Make no mistake, however: the team was more excited about Susan's delicious eggs benedict than about the comfortable beds and beautiful 19th century house right by the harbour in Gore Bay.

There's not much more I can add to Vlada Dekina's and Tom Wilson's great reviews and photos of the wreck, which you can enjoy on their websites, WreckAndReefs.com and ScubaQ.ca respectively. This was my first local trip with my underwater camera system. It was a great challenge, and I'm glad I'd been training all spring and summer for deco dives: I needed all the time I could get underwater. I didn't manage to produce any images I'm proud of, but I did include a couple shots that vaguely resembled passable photos.


What I can add is that on our two days of diving this past weekend, the water was calm and warm, so it was perhaps too much to ask for great visibility on top of that. Nevertheless, at just less than 300' long, the Northwind was chock full of entertainment starting at 75' and bottoming out at about