Calabas Reef, Bonaire			N 12° 8.6', W 68° 16.6'
Dive Number 221		Buddies Rob, Shawn	Surface temp 27°C	Starting pressure 3200psi
Depth 55ft	Visibility great	Time 61m	Water temp 25°C	Ending pressure 1200psi
Notes:	Another night dive! Rob and Shawn seemed happy to log as many dives as possible and since the following night would put us within 24 hours of our flights out, this was to be our last night dive of the trip. With respect to bioluminescnce, I didn't really know what I was looking for, and I didn't see anything spontaneous, but Rob showed me that if you turned off your light and waved your arms around, that in the path of the turbulent water, you'd churn up a bunch of those little tiny crustaceans and they'd leave a transient glow, like you were waving a magic wand in a movie or something. I left my light off the spent a lot of time doing this. The tarpon were also out in more force tonight. They circled close to the lights (I didn't mention before, but Rob had loaned me a very bright dive light a BigBlue - I may need to get one of those!) In fact at one point, one circled close enough that I nudged it with my thigh and gave myself a start. I also had something happen that Shawn had had happen to him the night before - I had found a small fish in my light and saw the tarpon snap it up. I'm not how I feel about this phenomenon - it's like it violates my prime directive of non-interference or something, but one tiny fish doesn't make that big a difference and it's not like tons of other divers aren't doing the same thing... Am I just trying to assuage myself? We also saw a couple spotted morays and at the pier I observed another lionfish next to a cute looking Spanish lobster under the steps as we exited. Great dive and great buddies to share it with! We put our gear away and finished the night with a late supper...

Calabas Reef, Bonaire			N 12° 8.6', W 68° 16.6'
Dive Number 217		Buddies Rob, Philip	Surface temp 27°C	Starting pressure 3200psi
Depth 59ft	Visibility great	Time 43m	Water temp 25°C	Ending pressure 1700psi
Notes:	We had heard from others that there were luminescent fish to be seen if you dived about half an hour after the sun went down. That would be cool to see, but even if we didn't see them, night dives are cool anyway! Our rep from the dive company was Rob Lowe (yes, his name is Rob Lowe), and he and Shawn and Philip and Bill and I all went for it. For me this was my fourth dive of the day; for Shawn his fifth! We descended as five, but functionally, Shawn and Bill hung back and Rob and Philip and I swam ahead. At the time I convinced myself I may have seen luminescence at the very start of the dive, but in hindsight I think it may have been the pier lights reflecting off some of the small fish close to the surface. We did see a lobster and a few large tarpon (but I would not get the full tarpon hunting experience until the following night). The highlight was seeing around fifteen of the sharptails all wriggling around in a clump together. Half of them were buried in the sand with only heads sticking out; I initially suspected that they might be newly hatched young, but the size of their heads were commensurate with those of the other eels swimming around (which measured 30 or 40 cm in length). I lingered long enough to make sure that Shawn and Bill got to see it. It was the highlight of the dive!

Round Lake, South Frontenac ON			N 44° 24.9', W 76° 25.6'
Dive Number 176		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 21°C	Starting pressure 3200psi
Depth 37ft	Visibility fair	Time 56m	Water temp 9°C	Ending pressure 2100psi
Notes:	Jason and Chandra came from Toronto this weekend for a visit and to log a couple dives. We stuffed ourselves with Darbar and went over to the local diving hole to get cold and wet tonight. We may have to make this a usual practice since it makes a handy check-out dive when we're not underwater often. Jason's rented tanks don't have the right adapter for our regulators, so we used my aluminum 80s, I forgot my weight belt at home, but thankfully only had three minutes to drive home and retrieve it. I also neglected to bring my large flashlight, but thankfully had a couple small lights packed. Jason was underweighted (would probably have been properly weighted for warmer diving or with a steel tank) and we had a surface swim back to the entrance to retrieve a couple more weights and check his buoyancy. My computer actually logged this like two dives. (Jason says his logged it as six!) There were several sunfish, many of which were tending nests. There were also a few small walleye and a sleepy northern pike. Now all the kinks are worked out and we're ready for a seamless dive tomorrow, right?

The Fearless, Peter Island, BVI			N 18° 22.4', W 64° 35.5'
Dive Number 158		Buddies Martin, Terry	Surface temp mild	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 81ft	Visibility good	Time 48m	Water temp 24°C	Ending pressure 800psi
Notes:	With about 20 hours before my scheduled flight, I decided I had time to catch one more dive, the wreck of the Fearless, a wreck in good shape where we saw lots of small banded crab and arrow crab, and a crab inside the hull as big across as a serving plate. There was lots of coral life, and I saw a little squid at the end of the dive, but the learning lesson for me came at the end of the dive. While I was removing my fins to enter the boat, I dropped my flashlight in about 40 or 50 feet of water. The right thing to do would have been to let it go, make a plan and probably to recover it if enough dive time remained, complete with a new safety stop if indicated. Without thinking, I swam down, thinking I could catch it. I did eventually catch it, but ended up swimming down deeper than planned, probably about 30 feet. At that point, without adequately thinking, and worried that my mates would be worried, I surfaced more rapidly than I ought to have. I was uninjured, but I gave Maddy a fright, and spent a long time afterwards reviewing what happened in my mind. Thankfully, there were seared tuna steaks and chocolate truffle pie to distract me when we got back to the boat. Hooray for learning! Hooray for a great vacation!

Long Beach, Virgin Gorda, BVI			N 18° 30.0', W 64° 24.9'
Dive Number 155		Buddies Martin, Terry	Surface temp warm	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 32ft	Visibility excellent	Time 46m	Water temp 24°C	Ending pressure 1800psi
Notes:	The reef life was abundant, but there were few new fish of note tonight per se. I was captivated by the changes in colour of goatfish. They seemed to change from pink to white before my eyes. I'd never noticed that before. In addition, we spied several large sea baskets, and realized that the irritating larvae that we have been calling bloodworms were attracted enough to our lights that we could draw them into the baskets and give them a feeding! Speaking of feeding, we noshed on Beef Wellington with roast asparagus and potatoes, with white chocolate and raspberry mousse for dessert.

Muskmelon Bay, Guana Island, BVI			N 18° 29.1', W 64° 34.7'
Dive Number 152		Buddies Martin, Terry	Surface temp warm	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 32ft	Visibility good	Time 53m	Water temp 24°C	Ending pressure 1200psi
Notes:	A southern ray was visible at the start of this dive, and along the way, we saw hermit crabs, and a spotted eel. But the defining feature of this dive was the patch of coral that had no fewer than ten lionfish, including the largest one I'd ever seen (about 30cm). After returning to the boat, Maddy picked up a speargun, and she and I returned to the offending patch of coral. After I helped her load the speargun, she managed to spear the greatest among them. We considered staying to spear more of them, but got fed up of trying to mess around with the speargun, and returned to the boat, where crisply coated red snapper was being served with artichokes for supper.

RMS Rhone, Salt Island, BVI			N 18° 22.1', W 64° 32.1'
Dive Number 149		Buddy Martin	Surface temp mild	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 72ft	Visibility excellent	Time 41m	Water temp 25°C	Ending pressure 500psi
Notes:	Two years ago, the night dive of the Rhone was made more challenging by strong currents which were attributed to effects of the full moon. This year, the moon was in it's first night of waxing, and my student knowledge of astronomy suggests to me that the effect ought to be similar. Unfortunately this meant that our third diver, a travel writer from Florida, felt uneasy and decided not to join us. Once descended, Maddy, Martin and I enjoyed seeing the coral "blooming" on the aforementioned columns, as well as a small octopus that was hanging out there. We got to experince the swimthrough again, where we also saw a large crab in the hull. The sleepy behaviour of the fish meant that I could enjoy closer approaches to the foureye butterfly (a common fish, but one of my favourites), as well as some parrotfish. When we emerged, we enjoyed Moroccan rack of lamb with ratatouille and couscous, and crème brûlée for dessert. Another great day!

Wreck Alley, Cooper Island, BVI			N 18° 22.5', W 64° 30.7'
Dive Number 146		Buddy Martin	Surface temp mild	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 83ft	Visibility excellent	Time 42m	Water temp 24°C	Ending pressure 1000psi
Notes:	Wreck alley contains several wrecks, and Jason and I explored around two of them last time we came here. For tonight's dive, we made two good decisions: First we dove at twilight, and were subsequently able to eat afterwards (this was such an enjoyable scheduling configuration that we continued it for the remainder of the vacation), and also I decided to leave my camera behind on night dives so I'd have more hands for working computer and lights etc. I didn't notice the garden eels this time, but saw plenty of reef fish around the well preserved steel hull of the wreck more distant from the buoy. For the first time in my dive career, my dive ended because I was running out of no deco time. We ascended along the wall, and returned to the line, before surfacing and supping on shrimp and scallops over rice, and finished with Tara's unforgettable Banoffee pie.

Kelly's Cove, Norman Island, BVI			N 18° 19.5', W 64° 37.4'
Dive Number 142		Buddy Martin	Surface temp 22°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 44ft	Visibility excellent	Time 45m	Water temp 23°C	Ending pressure 1500psi
Notes:	Martin, Maddy and I returned to the site of our afternoon dive for a return visit by darkness before supper. The site still had plenty of fish, but we had the good fortune to spy a medium (~15") octopus [pictured]. One (or more?) large tarpin seemed interested in the lights as well. When we surfaced we sat down for a dinner of grilled duck with a raspberry pomegranate sauce, served with garlic mash, green beans and strawberry tart for dessert. This is going to be a great week!

Wolfe Islander II, Kingston ON			N 44° 13.5', W 76° 24.9'
Dive Number 131		Buddies Scott, Kim	Surface temp 21°C	Starting pressure 3300psi
Depth 75ft	Visibility good	Time 46m	Water temp 18°C	Ending pressure 1000psi
Notes:	Tonight's club dive was a night dove to the Wolfe Islander. I've been out far too little this summer, but didn't want to miss a night dive to one of the best known wrecks in the area. Eleven divers were guests on the Proteus, and as the odd man out, I happily joined Scott and Kim, who had offered to let me join them. The dive went off without a hitch, following Kim's plan - one lap around the bottom, once around the deck, and then explore around the salon area until time to ascend. I was one of a few lucky divers who spied not one but two American eels on the dive (one on the port ramp and one at the starboard lower deck beside the salon). The sighting was a coup for me, but made me lament leaving my camera at home. After the ascent and a quick change we returned to shore under the light of a nearly full moon, with Jupiter hanging like a pendant underneath. Great times!

RMS Rhone, Salt Island, BVI			N 18° 22.1', W 64° 32.1'
Dive Number 119		Buddies Martin, Fernando	Surface temp 28°C	Starting pressure 3100psi
Depth 71ft	Visibility excellent	Time 36m	Water temp 28°C	Ending pressure 1100psi
Notes:	Our divemaster Pete says that the full moon makes for interesting currents and dives, which he claims was one of the interesting factors for this dive to have been ... well, the way it was. Our group of ten divers plus Emily (our divemaster) rode over to the dive site by dark, and attached our moorings. Jason and I entered the water on opposite sides of the dinghy. Thinking we'd swim to the line together, I swam toward him only to realize that we were quickly getting swept away from the line by a strong current. I thought Jason expressed concern about getting swept away, so I asked him to inflate his BCD and grabbed his tank stem and kicked hard, dragging him back to the boat (he clarified afterwards that he never asked for help). Nevertheless, he said he didn't want to go down, so I asked Martin if I could join him and Fernando, which he thought would be fine. Before descending the line, Emily asked if either of us had seen Charlie, who was supposed to have buddied up with her. We hadn't. The few of us descended the line together, where she found a total of eight divers and quickly wrote a single word message on her slate: "CHARLIE?". None of us had seen him, so she advised us to continue without her, and she ascended. In the effort to descend, Fernando has already used all but 1500 of his air, but he, Martin and I stayed together and toured the bow a little bit. Emily had warned us that a large grouper had adapted to divers, and used their lights to hunt for food. This turned out to be true - the grouper was probably 20 inches in length, and we all tried to dissuade it as best we could. Even at the bottom, the current was relatively strong, and so while there were lots of things to see, I was feeling more preoccupied with ensuring that the count of people returning to the boat was the same eight of us that Emily had left when she had gone up to find Charlie. Near the end of the dive, we encountered a small octopus (from which Martin got a little squeeze on his finger reminiscent of an octopine encounter a year earlier). We also encountered Emily again, which thankfully meant that Charlie had been located and recovered. The ascent was comical with all divers being blown like streamers on the line, and many of us reading our gauges and computers by the light of the diver above us since we had to hold the line so firmly with the other hand. After surfacing, we learned that Charlie had indeed been swept away by the strong current, and had to be retrieved by Pete, while Jason waited alone in darkness aboard the lone dinghy tied to the mooring line. I think that five labels for this post may be a record (tropical, night, wreck, deep, rescue)

Kelly's Cove, Norman Island, BVI			N 18° 19.5', W 64° 37.4'
Dive Number 112		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 28°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 37ft	Visibility excellent	Time 73m	Water temp 28°C	Ending pressure 1200psi
Notes:	Jason took the lead a little more this dive, and he and I stayed relatively close to the line on this independent night dive. For the first time, I took the camera on a night dive, and snapped a couple interesting pictures of an eel. We also saw a couple lobster. We got over a full hour before coming up for supper.

Hallover Bay, Cooper Island, BVI			N 18° 22.5', W 64° 30.7'
Dive Number 109		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 28°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 32ft	Visibility excellent	Time 67m	Water temp 28°C	Ending pressure 1250psi
Notes:	This was a fantastic night dive. After the cheesecake dessert, we got dropped in the zodiacs a few hundred metres from Cuan law, and gradually swam our way back to the beacon, led by Emily P, onr of the divemasters. I swam a few metres off to one side, and Jason roved back and forth. I had the good fortune to find a large sleeping turtle, a spotted moray, and Jason found a huge lobster. We all probably thought we had passed the exit point by the time we saw the beacon, and came up very happy. No mishaps major or minor, an excellent dive!

Muskmelon Bay, Guana Island, BVI			N 18° 29.1', W 64° 34.7'
Dive Number 106		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 27°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 42ft	Visibility excellent	Time 47m	Water temp 28°C	Ending pressure 1800psi
Notes:	Worried that I'd have trouble managing it with two lights as well as a computer, I left my camera behind for this night dive, which is a shame since the dive gave us our best view of one of the octopus on the trip. We also saw a few crabs and plenty of trumpetfish. Peter led the group out onto the reef and back. I also benefitted from changing the batteries in my C8 light after this dive - it had been shining weakly. Jason had a quick surface at the end of this dive after he and Kevin's tanks and regs tangled and Jason's reg was pulled from his mouth. Thankfully he had already completed a safety stop.

Aloha and Effie Mae, Kingston ON			N 44° 09.8', W 76° 34.1'
Dive Number 104		Buddies Matt, Stacey	Surface temp 22°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 52ft	Visibility fair	Time 39m	Water temp 16°C	Ending pressure 1700psi
Notes:	I had finished a stretch of work that included the two previous night shifts as well as a Wednesday day clinic in the clinic, but fatigue wasn't going to stop me from getting one of the last dives of the season. The weather threatened to ba another thing. By the 5 o'clock scheduled departure time, five of six divers had shown up, but rain poured down and Southerly wind made any boat but the Munson inadvisable (with one basic diver among us, that wouldn't do either. Rather than abort the trip for a shore dive, we gave the rain half an hour to settle. Our decision paid off: The downpour stopped, the wind shifted and we were rewarded with a dive that, despite poorer visibility, was much warmer than predicted (Anne called for 52 degree temp at depth; the actual temp was about ten degrees higher). We arrived late, owing to some boat trouble, and although we hadn't planned a night dive per se, it turned out well that there were ample flashlights, including the new one I picked up at Northern Tech. On the subject of new gear, this was also my first dive with the underwater housing for the new Canon camera that Cheryl and I bought this summer. Although the particulate matter made photograpy difficult, I managed to catch one decent shot of the large drum that calls the Effie Mae its home. With five divers on board, we dove in wet and dry teams: Kim and Scott started on "team dry" (Scott alone finished on that team), and Matt and I were joined by newer diver Stacey in our neoprenes. This week, my trip to the British Virgin Islands was confirmed for beginning of December. I'll probably get three or four more dives in before that, hopefully.

Brule Road Quarry, Westbrook, ON			N 44° 17.0', W 76° 38.9'
Dive Number 96		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 23°C	Starting pressure 3200psi
Depth 27 ft	Visibility good	Time 63m	Water temp 20°C	Ending pressure 1600psi
Notes:	How different could the quarry be at night, I thought. It's big enough to hold any real surprises or anything is it? Or is it? Jason and I returned to the quarry by dusk, and suited up as the sun set. We spent a relaxing hour and three minutes under the surface, with me in my seven millimetre suit this time. We were surprised by a large fish that kept a distance - bass I think - as well as a couple catfish before exiting the water. The usual sights - boats, car, bicycles - all held up their interest as well.

Pumphouse, Kingston ON			N 44° 12.6', W 76° 30.6'
Dive Number 63		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 13°C	Starting pressure 2800psi
Depth 29ft	Visibility fair	Time 33m	Water temp 17°C	Ending pressure 1900psi
Notes:	For our second dive of the day, Jason and I planned to return to the pumphouse for a night dive. Our distance was much less, and Jason was troubled by some equipment failure - his pistol light flooded so he converted to his backup light and we stayed close. Navigation was trickier for us becuase of the ease of disorientation, and we also got turned around when Jason got a cramp. There were plenty of perch, and lost of catfish. We both saw a medium-large drum, and I caught a glimpse of a medium pike as well.

Pumphouse, Kingston ON			N 44° 13.4', W 76° 28.2'
Dive Number 47		Buddy Scott	Surface temp 25°C	Starting pressure 2900psi
Depth 33ft	Visibility fair	Time 56m	Water temp 21°C	Ending pressure 1250psi
Notes:	Scott and Kim made plans to have a night dive tonight, and I seized the opportunity to join them. Kim buddied up with Pierre, and Scott and I went together. We lost the line out to the wreck, so instead, we "explored". We saw catfish, lots of bass, and a couple large pike. There was a couple smooching on a park bench as we got out of the water, but like the other wildlife, they scattered when we got too close.

Marine Museum, Kingston ON			N 44° 13.4', W 76° 28.2'
Dive Number 44		Buddy Sylvain	Surface temp 26°C	Starting pressure 2850psi
Depth 37ft	Visibility good	Time 35m	Water temp 15°C	Ending pressure 1550psi
Notes:	Sylvain had suggested that after our charter dive to the Munson tonight, anyone interested should consider a night dive at the Marine Museum. Our usual entry at the museum was unavailable, but Scott and Kim (who had been on the Munson with us) joind us for some supper at the Lone Star, and we all joined Jim and Tracey after sundown for the dive. The dive was gentle and uneventful; we saw lots of perch (or were they walleye? Scott thought so), some mudpuppies and some catfish. Feeling a bit of a chill, Sylvain and I turned around and navigated back to shore neatly. Also a footnote, I have started estimating the quality of the visibility instead of the length, so instead of writing things like "~25ft", I'l put more useful info like "excellent", "good", or "crap".