North Bay scuba divers clean Lake Nipissing marina
Divers from the North Bay Scuba Club were gearing up and diving into Lake Nipissing's Marina boat launch to clean the waters of trash and debris ahead of the boating season.
It's also a warm up dive for club members who look ahead to starting their diving season. Six divers split up into pairs to remove what they could find in the depths of the murky waters.
"Certainly anything foreign in the water contributes to pollution and we do it as a service to the city and the marina" said North Bay Scuba Club member Rick Taylor. "Let's say there's a lawn chair down under the water and you come in with your boat. That could get caught up in your propeller."
Divers fished out beer cans, tires, rope and a whole patio umbrella.
It's also a warm up dive for scuba divers like Andrew Taylor. With his goggles on, and air tank strapped to his back, he's been fascinated by the mystery underwater.
"There's that experience of weightlessness that you have when you can see 40 feet below you and you see the bottom and you're just flying down towards it" said Taylor.
They've been cleaning the shallow area for the last 20 years finding all sorts of things.
"In the past, we've taken things out like boat tops, tarps, barbecues, tools, sunglasses and propellers" said Rick Taylor.
In some cases, the divers are able to return lost objects to the owner. The north Bay Fire Department reached out to the club asking its divers to search for a lost firefighter axe.
"Apparently they were doing a water rescue simulation and training and it was lost or slipped out of their hands during the winter" explained diver Rick Thibeault.
It was Thibeault's task to find and retrieve the axe.
The scuba club is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. It used to offer training courses for new scuba divers. But that stopped about a decade ago. It still welcomes new divers of all levels who are looking to find peace and serenity when submerged underwater.
"If could stay longer, I would live there if I could" smiled Thibeault. He added veteran divers still get that thrill when taking a journey underwater.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
OPP responds to apparent video of officer supporting anti-Trudeau government protestors
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide falls off a Delta Air Lines plane, forcing pilots to return to JFK in New York
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau on navigating post-political life, co-parenting and freedom
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
Loud boom in Hamilton caused by propane tank, police say
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.