The story “Speed and shadows on the St. Lawrence River” in the October’06 issue of Sport Diver was the first reason for a weekend day trip to 1000 islands area. I never thought that St. Lawrence waterway had such good diving spots until I saw the photos in the magazine. The idea of diving wrecks with a visibility of more than 60 ft was simply thrilling for a person living in the 3 hours proximity of the area. So, before attempting the dive, I wanted to have a first person impression of the dive shop and the people running it. Besides, it was the Canadian thanksgiving weekend so Monday was off and I’d had this urge to test my new car on the 401 since some time now. Knowing that snow is only couple of months away and weatherman forecasting for a sunny day in high 20’s were also convincing reasons.
We took off early in the morning and drove a little bit more than 3 hours till our first stop, Gananoque (Pronounce it as Ghana-nock-way). This is the small town where we took the 3 hour Thousand Islands tour boat. We enjoyed breathtaking views enhanced with the colors of fall and we had plenty of sunshine. I shared some of them in My Photo Gallery.
When the tour was over, we finally drove over to Brockville, 52 km’s norteast of Gananoque along the banks of the St. Lawrence River. It took us less than 5 minutes to locate the Dive Brockville Adventure Centre and couple of minutes later, we were discussing about the dives, equipment and rates with Helene, the very friendly lady who runs the shop. When we left the shop, I was convinced that this would be the place I would spend couple of weekends next summer. Brockville not only has a fantastic dive shop, it also has many places to eat. We were handed out a pamphlet, “Downtown Brockville Restaurant Guide” by the dive shop which listed many good eats within walking distance. Among the many local favorites circled by Helene, we opted for number 12, the Keystorm Pub. At the pub, the menu offered many choices, but we settled for a suggested hamburger which has proven to be the right choice.
On the way back to Toronto, we stopped by Kingston. Apparently, the city has a lot to offer for the history and nature lovers. We got our caffeine load in a local coffee shop on the main street and then off we go, back home to Toronto. Trip back took again around 3 hours with no difficulties. Certainly, it was a pleasant trip done most probably at the last warm weekend day of this year.
And finally about testing my new car, highway driving was a pleasure and occasionally speedy. Later on, I read in the newspaper that, during that weekend, Ontario Police ticketed 5500 drivers for speeding. Luckily, I was not one of them.
Keep discovering and drive safe…
Written by Kaan Bora on October 25th, 2006 with no comments.
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Last year these times, I was preparing to leave the Philippines for good. My project was over and it was time to move on after two beautiful years. Just two weeks before the final departure, we went for a weekend diving trip to Puerto Galera on Mindoro island. We did some excellent dives and we all had great time. A close friend, Cai Feng was visiting from China so we also used the occasion to certify him as a PADI open water diver thanks to Daniel Burgaud, the Master Scuba Diver Trainer, our diving hero and close friend.
I posted some photos from that weekend in My Photo Gallery. While I was uploading the photos, it suddenly appeared to me that all the participants of that trip are scattered around four continents now. Daniel is still in the Philippines, Cai Feng is back to China, Pascal is now in Paris, Bora is somewhere in African continent and I am in Toronto. Of course, we all keep in touch and make plans about diving somewhere sometime together but then again, we all know that it is quite unlikely that it will happen that soon and that easy.
It is amazing that how quickly life can change. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mean it in a bad way. I did some great stuff with some great people last year and I am doing the same this year but within a different environment. It is completely a different experience and yes, it is fun as usual.
About diving, Canada so far has not been the best place, but there is some positive signs. I will go into details in my next post.
Until then, for the ones who are able, keep diving, and for the rest of the flock, keep dreaming.
Written by Kaan Bora on October 11th, 2006 with 1 comment.
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My wife and I are our daughter’s tireless paparazzis. Thanks to digital photography revolution, this is what most parents have become these days.
I had been out of my paparazzi job since couple of months now due to Hande Selin’s extended vacation in Turkey. Although, all the family members who has a digital camera kept emailing me her photos, it is not the same thing as being there while she is growing up that fast. Regardless, I uploaded some of these photos to a dedicated album for her in My Photo Gallery.
I will be back to paparazzi business next week and I am going to take the photos of my favorite subject once again. Rest assured, I will make up for the time gap…
Written by Kaan Bora on September 8th, 2006 with 1 comment.
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Long awaited, baby is here since 3:00 am. Pelin stayed in active labour almost 24 hours and finally delivered.
Nothing ever compares to this feeling…
You can see the first photos of her in My Photo Gallery.
Written by Kaan Bora on March 12th, 2006 with 30 comments.
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I have uploaded the legacy photos from my old www.soran.com home page to the new embedded gallery2 module (My Photo Gallery) on the blog page. So far, it seems to work fine.
Below is an example:
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Photo taken with my sister on her wedding day…
Written by Kaan Bora on February 21st, 2006 with no comments.
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You are right. It took me a lot of time to figure this out. Last update on soran.com was in March, 2002. Since then, I could not touch the site due many reasons; I migrated my data over three computers, I lost the photoshop images, my Front Page broke, etc. Besides, I could not decide how to structure the way my professional and personal web sites should look and link to eachother. But now, I know how to do it.
From now on, I will be blogging and experimenting with WordPress on blog.soran.com about my personal stuff. I will use soran.com for professional purposes, primarily about my views on project management as a profession and its impact on telecommunication and IT industries.
As a consequence, I should be able to provide you more updates on both ends soon…
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Written by Kaan Bora on February 21st, 2006 with no comments.
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