Has anyone dove the Nipigon?

Has anyone dove the Nipigon? Sunk, I believe July 26/2003 in the St
Lawrence. What are the conditions like?
Thanks
Rob

> Has anyone dove the Nipigon? Sunk, I believe July 26/2003 in the St
> Lawrence. What are the conditions like?
> Thanks
> Rob

Dove it on September 5, 2003.

Water temp: 38F (definitely dry suit conditions)
Visibility: 12 ft, quite "foggy"...
Current: virtually nil, we timed the dive at slack water
Max depth: about 110 ft on the bottom of the river
Min depth: about 55 ft, at the top of the funnels

We were moored to the bow buoy. Descending on the line, you hit the front
deck at 75 ft. Followed the deck towards the stern, you go over the cannon
turret base, then hit the wheelhouse wall. Climb up this wall to get to the
wheelhouse windows. Go over the wheelhouse roof to the back and you find
the door to the wheelhouse. Continue towards the stern, another wall,
follow the ladder to the roof of the helicopter hangar, at about 65 ft,
between the two funnels. Continue aft, go into the hangar. Not much to see
towards the stern, large flat deck. Tons of penetration opportunities (be
sure to have your lights and reels), although the inside has been stripped
clean before the sinking.

The wreck is still squeaky clean, with no marine life of any kind visible.

The limiting factors for this site are both the tides (watch for days with
low amplitude tides and go at slack water) and the surface conditions. This
site is located quite a bit offshore, so it is subject to the significant
winds that frequently blow here, making for choppy conditions. This very
wind had us cancel the second dive to go back to shore in a roller coaster
ride.

The Nipigon is located about a mile from the wreck of the Empress of
Ireland. One idea is to do both wrecks on the same trip, although not
necessarily on the same day. The Empress lays between 80 and 145 ft. Make
sure to have a redundant air supply on this one, as it is a requirement to
dive there.

Charters that run to both wrecks are:

Sport St-Cyr, Dany St-Cyr, 418-775-5611 (this guy has over 400 dives on the
Empress)
Excursions Marie A.B., Jean-Pierre Bouillon, 418-739-5271 (this is the guy
who actually sunk the Nipigon)

Hope this helps.

Robert