Prescott-shore dive capital of Ontario! There are three reasons why Prescott has become the number one shore dive town in Ontario. Location. Location. Location. Prescott is on the north shore of the St Lawrence River, half way between the cities of Cornwall and Kingston and just a short drive south of Ottawa. Highway 401, Ontario's largest 4-lane highway passes right past Prescott, making it an easy destination to reach. This Father's Day Weekend (the unofficial start of the dive season) over 200 carloads of divers descended on the village, causing minor traffic jams along the waterfront. Divers began entering the water just after dawn on Saturday morning and kept on diving until late in the evening on Sunday. There are two popular shore dive sites in Prescott – a downtown park, and, the wreck of The Rothesay. The community has made it easy to dive the remains of the Rothesay. A roadside park has been built complete with portable toilets, picnic tables, a wooden privacy curtain for changing out-of-sight of passing motorists. There is a wide staircase leading to the river's edge, and a few feet into the St Lawrence there is a rope system that leads to the wreck a few metres offshore. The visibility in this stretch of the St Lawrence is usually 20 metres or better so divers can easily see what is left of the 65-metre long twin side-wheeler paddler. The ship sank in 1889 and was partially destroyed by military explosive experts in the early 1900s, however the stern and bow remain relatively intact. Because the wreck is close to shore there is usually little or no current to hinder divers and as a result attracts both experienced and novice divers. At Prescott's town dock most of the divers getting into the water are people taking their checkout dives. The river's sandy bottom at the town docks gradually slopes to about 12 meters, and the current is mild, making it ideal for new divers. A parking lot leads right to the water's edge making it easy for divers to suit up and head to a ramp that leads right into the water. Sea 'n Sky Scuba has opened a large, modern shop within site of the dock and there are washrooms, restaurants and stores nearby. Recently a small ship was sunk to give novice an extra treat underwater. As well the waters team with fish and freshwater eels. Diver Magazine surveyed several shore divers in Prescott earlier this year. They all liked the fact that it was easy to get in and out of the water. But, best of all, the divers like Prescott because the diving is free!   Scarborough Underwater Club waits for the wind Members of Toronto's Scarborough Underwater Club wear pagers so they won't miss their good weather call. If the winds are right, the SUC plans to conduct an underwater survey this year of the wreck of the Alexandria. The Alexandra was a 56-metre long sidewheel paddler that was wrecked on a sandbar beneath the Scarborough Bluffs in Toronto's East End back in 1915. Rough seas destroyed the ship and her cargo was gradually pilfered by beachcombing Eastenders. Some of her boiler still remains and bits of her hull and decking lie in 3 to 5 metres of water. The Scarborough Underwater Club is studying the Alexandria and has already discovered a deepwater debris field near the shipwreck, where cargo was jettisoned in an effort to lighten the ship and beach on shore. We want to photograph every bit of the ship and create a photo mosaic of her. We also want to place a buoy near the wreck site” said club president Raimund J. Krob. The big stumbling block are the prevailing winds. When the wind comes off the lake the waves come up and the visibility drops to zero. We need still waters and a wind blowing off the bluffs onto Lake Ontario. The conditions that Mr. Krob spoke of don't occur that often, and when it does happen, the winds don't stay favourable for very long. So, the divers now rely on pagers and cell phones so that when the winds are blowing in their favour they can all get to their boat at the base of the Bluffs and explore Toronto's little known shipwreck.   In passing TAM CLOSES In April Tam Dive, one of the first dive shops in Toronto closed its door for good. The shop, located in downtown Toronto, was a popular spot for both commercial and sport divers. Started by the late Tom McCollum in 1974, Tam Dive was the heart of the city's dive community. Over the past decade Tam Dive had become heavily involved in servicing the growing film industry. A downturn in the film business because of SARS, coupled with the high cost of doing business in the city core lead in part to its closure.   HONOURING A DIVER The late Astronaut Laurel Clark was honored by the Women Divers Hall of Fame earlier this year at a New Jersey dive convention. Laurel Clark, an avid diver, was the flight surgeon who perished in the explosion of the Space Shuttle Columbia on February 1, 2003. Two plaques were created to honour her diving expertise, leadership, courage and spirit of exploration. One plaque will be placed at the Naval Medical Undersea Institute in Groton, Connecticut and the other at the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center in Panama Beach, Florida.   DIVING ICON PASSES AWAY Paul Tzimoulis, one of the diving industry's true icons, passed away at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada on Tuesday June 3, 2003 after a lengthy battle with cancer. The former publisher of Skin Diver Magazine had been diving for 45 years.