Turtle Heaven, Kona			N 19° 39', W 156° 2'
Dive Number 185		Buddy Neva	Surface temp 26°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 66ft	Visibility excellent	Time 59m	Water temp 29°C	Ending pressure 1200psi
Notes:	On our last Hawaiian dive, Neva and I had a rare treat - a pod of dolphins that play near the boats in the marina swam by as we started. This was a first for Neva and also for me! The dive was calm and relaxing, and we hung out for a while at the end near an octopus hiding in one of the corals - we both got to see a couple impressive colour changes! We got a sign from our divemaster I was unfamiliar with - we had to end the dive not for low air, but because of of the timing. Neva uses as little air as I do!

Eel Cove, Kona			N 19° 39', W 156° 2'
Dive Number 184		Buddy Neva	Surface temp 26°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 61ft	Visibility excellent	Time 59m	Water temp 29°C	Ending pressure 1200psi
Notes:	For the first of our dives on Kona, Neva and I took a shuttle boat from cruise to shore, and kitted up with a local company. Our first dive was on Eel cove. Neva was given equipment with an unfamiliar regulator configuration - secondary air source on the BC inflation hose - so we switched. Equipment notwithstanding, we had a long warm enjoyable dive. A school of triggerfish was interspersed with a bunch of raccoon butterflyfish. Our guide told us that one was feeding on the eggs of the other (I can't remember which). Here's a picture of one of the eels for which the site is apparently named.

The Nautilus, Honolulu			N 21° 16', W 157° 50'
Dive Number 183		Buddy Neva	Surface temp 26°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 46ft	Visibility excellent	Time 38m	Water temp 28°C	Ending pressure 1200psi
Notes:	Our second dive was at a site known as "The Nautilus". There were plenty more tropical fish, and our guide found a white tipped reef shark under an outcropping of coral. It's great to dive warm and great to have Neva as a buddy!

Turtle Grove, Honolulu			N 21° 16', W 157° 50'
Dive Number 182		Buddy Neva	Surface temp 26°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 35ft	Visibility excellent	Time 31m	Water temp 28°C	Ending pressure 1400psi
Notes:	We had a couple days in Honolulu before departing on our cruise, so Neva and I booked two dives with a local company, and joined up with a third diver and went out to a couple local dive sites. This first one features a turtle cleaning station. My camera battery was depleted, but we got some great pictures from our divemaster. Here's one of Neva with a sleeping turtle. There's no evidence, but I caught a glimpse of the official fish of Hawaii, the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a!

America, New York			N 44° 27.1, W 75° 48.6'
Dive Number 179		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 21°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 74ft	Visibility good	Time 38m	Water temp 17°C	Ending pressure 1150psi
Notes:	Jason and I had a less eventful dive for our second. I have never dove the America before, but it's not much to have missed. It's entirely upside down, so there's little to see. It is possible to swim under the hull, but none of us did. We saw bass and walleye and a few gobies. We returned home and got ready for a third dive (and dinner)

Keystorm, New York			N 44° 25.8', W 75° 49.3'
Dive Number 178		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 21°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 106ft	Visibility good	Time 46m	Water temp 17°C	Ending pressure 850psi
Notes:	Jason came up for a couple dives and we got on a charter for two dives this sunny Friday. Jason arrived on the boat to realize he left his wetsuit at my place (checklist!), but he managed to get to Dive Tech and back with a rental suit and we narrowly avoided a dive-failure. We got paired up with a friendly Manitoban who was a novice diver, and did a round of the Keystorm together. Our new buddy dropped a flashlight and burned through a fair amount of air going down to get it, so we took him back to the line, and did a little more exploring ourselves. A short safety stop and then back onto the boat for dive number two.

Shark Tank, Florida Aquarium, Tampa, Florida			N 27° 56.6', W 82° 26.5'
Dive Number 168		Buddy Aquarium Divemaster	Surface temp 24°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 20ft	Visibility excellent	Time 40m	Water temp 21°C	Ending pressure 1700psi
Notes:	I thought it would be fun to do a dive in the Florida Aquarium shark tank, and also thought the kids would think I was brave if I did it, so we signed up (also signed up Neva and Hugh for a snorkel in the reef exhibit). We were greeted by one of the aquarium hosts and given a short introduction, and the kids and Cheryl were escorted to the outside of the tank (where they saw "Shark Tank" TV personality Lori Greiner filming a promo). The divemaster and I descended in a cage, stepped out and spent about three quarters of an hour with a few sand tiger sharks. The kids didn't think this activity was particularly brave (Neva and Hugh both wanted to try it), but it was fun!