Below are some informations and lessons learned from my trip to the Empress of Ireland in Rimouski. The info below was taken mid August 2014. I was there for 4 days and dove everyday for a total of 6 dives.
The Empress of Ireland is an entry level technical wreck. Although the bottom is at 150', I found that most of the dive averaged around 90-120 feet deep. It is recommended that you tie off your reel at the mooring line so you don't get lost if the visibility change. When you get use to the shape of the wreck, you can stop putting in a reel as I found it very easy to navigate on it because of the railing system. Most of the decks are collapsed in the middle and the rear is really a pile of wood. The fun is all in the front. The front looked still solid and lots of room for penetration. Get the blueprint at the museum to know where your going. The most forward hatch is quite good for penetration as it opens up in many room and there is a big beam on top to tie up you reel.
Rimouski: Rimouski is a remote place. Do not expect to find all spare parts overthere, sorb or helium. It is also all French.
Diveshop: There is 2 Diveshops
Divetek: Divetek is a part time diveshop in the garage. Make sure you call him before going there as he may not be there. More info on www.diveteck.com.
Centre de plongée du Bas St-Laurent: This diveshop is full time operated and the owner Francis also has a small charter. I found this diveshop to be the most convenient. The shop owner just charged us only the charter, he gave us free fill with it and T-Shirts. More info on www.centredeplongeebsl.com.
Both diveshop do partial pressure mix for nitrox, which will be more expensive than you think. CCR users, bring all your gas if you can. There was no booster at the time. You can get your O2 top up to about 2250 psi for 10$. It was about 26$ for a twin-tank nitrox fill at divetek.
FQAS: You will need a FQAS licence to dive the Empress. You should contact a quebec diveshop prior to your trip in order to get the paperwork and registration. This can be quite painful. Make sure you bring the appropriate c-card.
Motel: There are plenty of motel, accommodation should not be an issue. We stayed at Motel de la pointe. It was clean and near the museum, with a view of the Fleuve St-Laurent. Cost was 500$ Canadian for 4 nights with taxes. It was less than 10 min away from the Marina and we would dry all our stuff in the pick-up truck right in front of it. There was a small kitchen and 2 double beds. Reserve in advance it is quite touristique and it can get full.
Rimouski: Rimouski is a small 30 000 habitant town and is quite touristique. A good downtown and a few pubs are availables.
Weather: I found Rimouski to be quite cold even in August. Bring warm clothes.
Charters: 1/3 of the time the charters are cancelled due to bad weather. There are two charter usually running. Both charters had a very good service. They would grab your stages, fins and mask and would gear you up.
Borealis: The Borealis can accommodate up to 8 tech divers and you can reserve on his website: http://navigationborealis.com/. Cost is 110$ per day and add 20$ for an extra dive (well worth it). The Borealis has priority on the middle mooring line (the one closest to the front) since its a bigger boat. He usually run expedition in the afternoon so timing can be a challenge if you plan 2 big dives.
Francis Charter: This charter will accommodate 3-4 tech divers and is much faster than the Borealis. We usually finished our dive before the Borealis's diver got into the water. The down side is that since this charter is lighter, you end up taking the mooring line at the back (too fragile for the Borealis) and the back of the Empress is all collapsed and less interesting. Francis even took all our tank at the end of the charter and fill them up at his diveshop, we just had to show up at the marina the next day. Cost is 125$ and did not charge us for an extra dive.
Meetup with the charters is at Rimouski's marina. Meeting there at 6 am will give you better odds of diving that day. Get there early so you can get a cart to load your gear, the walk to the boat is long and there is only 4 carts. More info on Marina Rimouski can be found at www.marinarimouski.com. The only coffee place we found to be open at that time is the Couche-Tard corner store near the marina (this might be the most valuable info of this blog if your a coffee addict).
Wreck condition: Wreck conditions may change at any times during the dive.
Salt water: It is salt water, there are hoses at the marina on the docks to rinse off your gear.
Tide: There is a tide but you don't have to dive at the slack. It has very little effect on your diving.
They sell plastic info card for the Empress. It was really useful to plan the dive. Get one for 10$ at the diveshop or the museum, you wont regret.
Mooring line: there used to be 3, but the front one is now gone. The middle and the back one are tied to the railing at about 80'. You need to come up on the morning line because of the possibility of heavy fog.
Current: We got up to 1.5 knots and apparently you can get up to 2 knots. There was some dive with very limited current.
Temperature: Temperature of the water will vary daily. The warmest we got was 52F at 20' and 48 at 80'. I got some heated glove that worked like a charm and my longest dive was almost 1h30min. Next year I will be aiming at 2h dives.
Visibility: Visibility varied even during the dive. We got anything from 3 feet to 15 feet. Apparently you can get up to 40-60 but its a roll of the dice every time.
Museum: if the weather is bad one day, you can do the museum. You can also get the blue print (about 30$) and images of the Empress in there. There is also a U-Boat that you can visit if your charter is cancelled.
Check out the video that we made on the Empress:
http://youtu.be/PQDBmXaxvv8
https://vimeo.com/105408535
The Empress of Ireland is an entry level technical wreck. Although the bottom is at 150', I found that most of the dive averaged around 90-120 feet deep. It is recommended that you tie off your reel at the mooring line so you don't get lost if the visibility change. When you get use to the shape of the wreck, you can stop putting in a reel as I found it very easy to navigate on it because of the railing system. Most of the decks are collapsed in the middle and the rear is really a pile of wood. The fun is all in the front. The front looked still solid and lots of room for penetration. Get the blueprint at the museum to know where your going. The most forward hatch is quite good for penetration as it opens up in many room and there is a big beam on top to tie up you reel.
Rimouski: Rimouski is a remote place. Do not expect to find all spare parts overthere, sorb or helium. It is also all French.
Diveshop: There is 2 Diveshops
Divetek: Divetek is a part time diveshop in the garage. Make sure you call him before going there as he may not be there. More info on www.diveteck.com.
Centre de plongée du Bas St-Laurent: This diveshop is full time operated and the owner Francis also has a small charter. I found this diveshop to be the most convenient. The shop owner just charged us only the charter, he gave us free fill with it and T-Shirts. More info on www.centredeplongeebsl.com.
Both diveshop do partial pressure mix for nitrox, which will be more expensive than you think. CCR users, bring all your gas if you can. There was no booster at the time. You can get your O2 top up to about 2250 psi for 10$. It was about 26$ for a twin-tank nitrox fill at divetek.
FQAS: You will need a FQAS licence to dive the Empress. You should contact a quebec diveshop prior to your trip in order to get the paperwork and registration. This can be quite painful. Make sure you bring the appropriate c-card.
Motel: There are plenty of motel, accommodation should not be an issue. We stayed at Motel de la pointe. It was clean and near the museum, with a view of the Fleuve St-Laurent. Cost was 500$ Canadian for 4 nights with taxes. It was less than 10 min away from the Marina and we would dry all our stuff in the pick-up truck right in front of it. There was a small kitchen and 2 double beds. Reserve in advance it is quite touristique and it can get full.
Rimouski: Rimouski is a small 30 000 habitant town and is quite touristique. A good downtown and a few pubs are availables.
Weather: I found Rimouski to be quite cold even in August. Bring warm clothes.
Charters: 1/3 of the time the charters are cancelled due to bad weather. There are two charter usually running. Both charters had a very good service. They would grab your stages, fins and mask and would gear you up.
Borealis: The Borealis can accommodate up to 8 tech divers and you can reserve on his website: http://navigationborealis.com/. Cost is 110$ per day and add 20$ for an extra dive (well worth it). The Borealis has priority on the middle mooring line (the one closest to the front) since its a bigger boat. He usually run expedition in the afternoon so timing can be a challenge if you plan 2 big dives.
Francis Charter: This charter will accommodate 3-4 tech divers and is much faster than the Borealis. We usually finished our dive before the Borealis's diver got into the water. The down side is that since this charter is lighter, you end up taking the mooring line at the back (too fragile for the Borealis) and the back of the Empress is all collapsed and less interesting. Francis even took all our tank at the end of the charter and fill them up at his diveshop, we just had to show up at the marina the next day. Cost is 125$ and did not charge us for an extra dive.
Meetup with the charters is at Rimouski's marina. Meeting there at 6 am will give you better odds of diving that day. Get there early so you can get a cart to load your gear, the walk to the boat is long and there is only 4 carts. More info on Marina Rimouski can be found at www.marinarimouski.com. The only coffee place we found to be open at that time is the Couche-Tard corner store near the marina (this might be the most valuable info of this blog if your a coffee addict).
Wreck condition: Wreck conditions may change at any times during the dive.
Salt water: It is salt water, there are hoses at the marina on the docks to rinse off your gear.
Tide: There is a tide but you don't have to dive at the slack. It has very little effect on your diving.
They sell plastic info card for the Empress. It was really useful to plan the dive. Get one for 10$ at the diveshop or the museum, you wont regret.
Mooring line: there used to be 3, but the front one is now gone. The middle and the back one are tied to the railing at about 80'. You need to come up on the morning line because of the possibility of heavy fog.
Current: We got up to 1.5 knots and apparently you can get up to 2 knots. There was some dive with very limited current.
Temperature: Temperature of the water will vary daily. The warmest we got was 52F at 20' and 48 at 80'. I got some heated glove that worked like a charm and my longest dive was almost 1h30min. Next year I will be aiming at 2h dives.
Visibility: Visibility varied even during the dive. We got anything from 3 feet to 15 feet. Apparently you can get up to 40-60 but its a roll of the dice every time.
Museum: if the weather is bad one day, you can do the museum. You can also get the blue print (about 30$) and images of the Empress in there. There is also a U-Boat that you can visit if your charter is cancelled.
Check out the video that we made on the Empress:
http://youtu.be/PQDBmXaxvv8
https://vimeo.com/105408535
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