Dawnlight Liveaboard, August 18

Dawnlight Liveaboard (August 18 - 23, 2006)

My first trip aboard the Dawnlight - I must say that I am quite impressed with the vessel. The 72 ft converted tugboat was roomy, comfortable, and had everything we needed to make our dive trip to the North Channel fun and enjoyable.

The Dawnlight originally started Great Lakes service in 1891 as a steam yacht Over the years, she has been renamed and rebuilt a few times. In 1984 she was refurbished to become a passenger ship with up to 12 berthed passengers.

The trip to the North Channel from Tobermory is about 100 km, and took about 10 hours. But the trip was well worth it. The Northwind is an enormous wreck at nearly 300 ft in length. The bow of the wreck lies in about 80 ft of water, and descends to about 120 ft at the stern. There is a lot to see on the wreck, certainly more than can be seen on a few dives. From the massive anchor windlass, to the intricate bow railings, to the massive four bladed propeller on the deck, to the engine room and passenger quarters at the stern, the wreck offers much to see and photograph. The conditions are generally cold and dark, and this trip was no exception. The visibility was not great at only 15 to 20 ft, however, it has been much better in the past.

We also managed to get some dives in before and after the ride up to the North Channel, including the King, Arabia, Forest City, and Niagara II. Anyhow, here are some images from the trip. The slideshow presents a more complete story for the trip - download it!!

Download Full Slideshow (100+ images!!):

Click on the sunset to download. 60 MB in size.

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