grumpyoldman.. Bring up a map of Manitoba Canada on the net, and go north, way up north, nope farther than that. Look for a place called Leaf Rapids. It was a busy mining town in the late 60's to late 90's. Outside of town a couple of miles south east of there is a lake called Turnbull lake. It was where most or all of the people went boating, fishing and swimming. Great walleye(pickerel) and pike fishing, and great hunting, moose, bear, ptarmagin and rabbits. The bay where the beach is, is surrounded by trees, pine and spruce mostly and well sheltered from wind. The ice doesn't go out until the beginning of may but the long days and hot sun coming north heat the water up quickly. There is only 3 months of summer, june, july and august, 2 months of fall, 6 months of winter(minus 20-40) and 2 months of spring. The sandy beach is where all the action took place, swimming and launching boats etc and lots of things lost. There were and still are a lot of americans that come up there for the fishing with their RV's and campers on their trucks. The water below 12-15 feet is always cold, so a wet suit is needed if you go more than 10-12 feet down, you quickly came back up, BRRRRRRRRR, as the wet suit filled up. The closest filling station for tanks is Winnipeg at that time, 500 miles to the south, and expensive to ship your tanks out and get them filled. So, hookah is the best way to go. You don't dive up there for anymore than 30 to 45 minutes MAX unless a dry suit. Now when I go north I have the hookah with a 12 volt deep cycle battery and the battery is just a regular Trojan deep cycle and really doesn't get much of a work out, just short duration, little stress. You can drive right onto the beach, so no lugging of equipment(15-20 feet). Even at 63 I don't do what I did when in my 20's and 30's. To many years working as a heavy equipment mechanic on Wabcos and D8 and D9 cats and loaders. I used to get phone calls all the time to come and look for lost vehicle keys with my old Whites coinstar 4000D and it usually came through, 90% plus average.. I still have it and use it yearly, great machine. Now I have a new DetectorPro diver for water use and it works great. Amazing what people have lost and I still find things lost 10-30 years ago after I have been over that area many times. The aboriginal people have been in the area for 1000's of years and if your lucky you find something. It is there, just recognizing what it is underwater is difficult. If your a fisherman, maybe think of a trip north someday. Pike in the 15-30 pouind range and walleye up to 20 pouinds, if your really lucky, and the fish hit on just about any lure there is. In the south, there is lake Winnipeg for swimming, with some of the best beaches in the world. Long slow sloping sandy beaches after the wind settles down the water clears after 1-2 days and the water is very warm. You have to watch out for deep cuts after a heavy wind from the west, but an east wind fills them in a few days or weeks later and you can walk out a few 100 feet or more and only be waist to chest deep.
We get temperatures here in the 70's to high 90's in the summer so the beaches are full in the good summers, but not every summer is a good one. Good luck on your diving and quest for good stuff. It is there, it is just getting the coil over it and finding it. ootpik
