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Showing posts from April, 2015

WILL SPORT DIVERS BE ALLOWED TO DIVE ON THE HMS EREBUS

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ONE QUESTION ON BEHALF OF CANADIANS WHO JUST LIKE TO WRECK DIVE At the ROM  - live broadcast from the deck of the wreck of the Erebus I  got just one question in this afternoon at a packed media event, organized to watch in real time footage being shot on the wreck of the HMS Erebus under the ice in Canada's high arctic. When can sport divers like me dive on this recently discovered 19th century 4-masted schooner? When the divers turned off their cameras underwater, Marc-André Bernier, underwater archaeologist and Head of the Underwater Archaeology Team at Parks Canada, held a Question and Answer session with Toronto reporters whi le standing in a tent, on the ice, near the dive hole over the wreck of the Erebus. " The 9 ft of ice not withstanding, today's dive on the Erebus looked pretty easy - good viz, sport diver depth and current free." I asked Bernier, " will sport divers be allowed to dive on the Erebus?" The answer? "We hope so

Too bad you can't light birthday candles underwater

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The Benwood - NOAA photograph Happy Birthday to the wreck of the Benwood It was 73-years ago Thursday that the Merchant Marine freighter Benwood collided with another freighter, the Robert C. Tuttle and sank off the shores of Key Largo, Florida.  Stephen Weir photographing the wreck of the Benwood It was an accident caused in no small part by World War 2 -- rumours of German U-boats in the area that night required both ships to travel completely blacked out, even though they were just 3-miles off-shore in the reef filled waters of Key Largo’s Atlantic coast.  The 360 ft. long Benwood was filled to the gunnels with phosphate rock and was armed with a deck gun, depth charges and bombs. When her bow was crushed in the collision, she took on water and 30-minutes laters the captain and crew abandoned ship as the Benwood sank. She now lies close to shore between French Reef and Dixie Shoals on a bottom of low profile reef and sand in depths ranging from 25 to 45 feet.

EVEN WIENERS NEED PR HELP

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Fancy Franks Has A Media Preview For Its Gourmet Hot Dogs and Pulled Port Poutine ... adapted from a popular Weir Facebook posting Open Kitchen at Fancy Franks on Queen Street in Toronto - photo Weir It was the end of the Month - March 2015 - that I attended a Media Launch for a Hot Dog! PR company had been hired to hold a closed down press party for Fancy Franks Gourmet Hot Dogs on Queen St West near Spadina here in Toronto. I almost didn't make it past a phalanx of iPad carrying publicists  who blocked the front door to the tasting, thankfully I brought my invite (I probably didn't meet their age demographics - two bloggers came on skateboards). Blogger stands by the Media Preview sampling station I think of the place as Memories of Nathan's on 7th Ave in New York City (but way way cleaner) - All beef wieners in hand-twisted lamb casings BBQ'd on a grill built specifically for hot dogs and sausages. Varied and interes ting take on the urban dog -