Under the sea, under the sea, Darling it's better down where it's wetter

Well they probably haven't run into the Little Mermaid, but who knows what treasures lie under the sea in the Rupert Harbour.

The Daily News had a couple of features on the Navy Dive teams and their recent efforts working the waters of Prince Rupert Harbour.

TEAMS DIVE INTO RUPERT TRAINING
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, March 02, 2007

For the first time in its history, Canada’s professional naval reserve divers are ready to slide in to their gear and slip into the dark waters off Canada’s Pacific coast at any time in order to respond to a naval emergency.

There were 17 divers in Prince Rupert on the weekend practicing their ability to deploy from trucks and tents to zodiacs and dry suits around the jetties and floats at Fairview Terminal, Rushbrook Harbour and Seal Cove.

“In the past, the naval reserves did not have a readiness status,” said Lt.-Cmdr Mark Fletcher, commanding officer of HMCS Discovery and officer-in-charge of Regional Dive Centre (Pacific/West).

“That all changed last year when my commander, Commodore Robert Blakely, Commander of Canada’s Naval Reserve, committed to the Chief of Defence Staff that if called upon that we will commit to do certain things within certain hours.

“One of them, is the ability to put a diving team with a vehicle with a boat and a certain number of divers, and within a limited number of hours to get them out ...”

A Port Inspection Dive Team is an essential element of a naval Port Security Unit. Whereas a Port Security Unit will provide a safe haven for vessels entering and leaving port, a Port Inspection Dive Team’s primary responsibility is to ensure a safe resting place for shipping, whether that be at a buoy, jetty or float. Their tasks include underwater inspections of jetties and ships’ hulls, underwater searches, surveys, and mine location.

Standing on the dock of the Seal Cove Canadian Coast Guard facility, Lt.-Cmdr. Fletcher noted that although his divers are in the reserves, the members of his Port Inspection Dive Teams are considered professionals and must dive every 90 days to keep their certification.

“This is not part-time, not subsidized, they are professional divers but they are all doing this as part-time naval reservists. What this means is for a very relatively small amount of money invested, the Canadian Armed Forces has a professional organization of divers who are very competent in what they do,” he said.

The 17 professional port inspection divers are among 4,000 Canadian Forces Naval Reservists in Canada and abroad. They were from several Naval Reserve Divisions in Western Canada — the HMCS Discovery (Vancouver), HMCS Malahat (Victoria), and HMCS Tecumseh (Calgary.)
They deployed in two teams including a dive master and two divers who were sent on specific missions around the cove. While on land, the divers were weighted down with two 80-pound dive tanks and compressed air breathing apparatus, once in the water, the equipment weighs about 28 pounds.

Besides meeting the standard level of fitness for the Canadian Armed Forces, Lt.-Cmdr. Fletcher noted there is an additional fitness level required for divers and they are tested annually.

“They do a fitness test that’s tougher. Doing diving is a demanding job and you need that extra level of fitness,” he said. In order to keep their skills honed, PIDTs have a new cycle of four exercises that starts each September and they increase in difficulty as the year progresses, he said. Prince Rupert was chosen because of its facilities and terrain, as well as its emerging strategic importance to Canada as a high-volume deep-water port.

“They start with fairly simplistic exercises and with each one, we build on the previous one. They get to the point here where they can just deploy as a team. That’s one focus of this team — can they deploy get their gear there and get in the water?” he said.

BREAKING NEW WATER
By Leanne Ritchie
The Daily News
Friday, March 02, 2007

Standing on the dock at the Seal Cove Canadian Coast Guard base, Petty Officer Janet Ready is almost breathless about the beauty of the underwater world she just visited.

“There is a cove over there, we were in about 45 feet. It was beautiful, with all the golden seaweed,” said Ready, who besides being in the naval reserves is an instructor at Langara College, teaching the Recreation and Leadership Diploma program.

Ready joined the Canadian Naval Reserves 20 years ago, but after working with some members of the Port Inspection Dive Team, found herself training to become one of the first female members of the western dive team.

A member of the Canadian Naval Reserves, Ready was one of 17 divers in Prince Rupert last week practicing their skills and teamworking.

“I worked on exercises with divers when I was in a different trade and they were always working hard, they had their purpose and they looked like they were having a lot of fun. It was a very physically challenging trade and I was interested in that as well,” she said.

“I think it’s the best trade in the Reserves for sure. We get to come to great places and do diving and all the divers are really fun people."

Lt.-Cmdr Mark Fletcher, commanding officer of HMCS Discovery and officer-in-charge of the Regional Dive Centre (Pacific/West), noted there are more and more women joining the dive team

“When I joined the armed forces in the 1970s, it was simply what we call a hard sea trade, it was a male-dominated organization,” said Lt.-Cmdr. Fletcher. “We slowly started bringing women in and then we opened all the trades.”

Fletcher noted he had only one female diver in 2003.

“I have two now here today and I have two waiting to go on course who are not here because they are not trained up yet and it looks like we may get another one,” he said.

“My composition of the divers, which was predominantly male in 2003, in another two years, we could be half and half. That’s good to see.”

For Ready, the physical challenge of diving is part of the attraction.

“The tanks are 80 pounds, so that is like wearing another 28 pounds when I am diving. Just carrying the stuff around can be a little bit tough, although once you are in the water of course you are weightless so it doesn’t matter then. It’s a really manual job. That’s probably the most challenging part,” she said.

“There were only three female divers in the Western region for a long time but now we have two more. We are seeing more women which is awesome.”