Columbia Shallows, Cozumel, Mexico			N 20° 19.0' W 87° 1.0'
Dive Number 172		Buddy Neva, Jay	Surface temp 25°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 42ft	Visibility excellent	Time 40m	Water temp 27°C	Ending pressure 1500psi
NITROX		O2 % 33%	Depth Limit 107ft	CNS Toxicity 5%
Notes:	Well, this was interesting: Our resort had a problem with one of its air compressors, so we had picked up a few extra tanks from a neighbouring resort. While preparing for the dive, a detected a leak coming from the connection between the tank and Neva's regulator. When the problem persisted with other tanks we figured out that the loaner tanks were DIN-type instead of standard yoke-type that would match our regs. Jay asked if I would be OK to dive with one of the nitrox tanks they had and I agreed, so we swapped Neva to my [air] tank and I got a quick briefing in nitrox, and dove with it. A can't say I felt any different at the end of the dive, but was glad for the intro to nitrox. I would go on to complete the PADI Enriched Air course before we left Cozumel four days later. Neva successfully completed her last open water training dive, and it only remained for her to challenge the exam for certification card! There were lots of [hawksbill] turtles on this dive. Here's a picture of one.

Punta Dalila, Cozumel, Mexico			N 20° 20.7' W 87° 1.2'
Dive Number 171		Buddies Neva, Jay	Surface temp 24°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 28ft	Visibility excellent	Time 52m	Water temp 27°C	Ending pressure 1400psi
Notes:	Neva's third open water dive. Some other divers joined us for her open water skills, and the skills went fine, although it seemed to me that she might have been distracted during her navigation exercise by the presence of a cute porcupinefish. After, we got to explore a little and were treated to more fishies, turtles and good times. Here's a picture of her pointing at something.

Palencar Gardens, Cozumel, Mexico			N 20° 20.2' W 87° 1.6'
Dive Number 170		Buddies Neva, Jay	Surface temp 25°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 29ft	Visibility excellent	Time 53m	Water temp 27°C	Ending pressure 1300psi
Notes:	Neva's second open water dive. More skills, and no problems. This dive she got see more turtles and a nurse shark under a rock. She's still mugging for the camera, but isn't accidentally making the "thumbs up" any more.

Columbia Shallows, Cozumel, Mexico			N 20° 19.0' W 87° 1.0'
Dive Number 169		Buddy Neva, Jay	Surface temp 25°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 42ft	Visibility excellent	Time 54m	Water temp 27°C	Ending pressure 1600psi
Notes:	Neva and I arrived in Cozumel and I had planned on doing as much snorkelling as she liked, but when she said she'd rather take her open water course, I was glad to go along! She spent much of the day on the 8th watching videos and doing knowledge reviews. After a pool session in the morning, we went out for her first basic open water dive. She completed a quick skills test, and then we went off to explore the reef. We saw some big lobsters, a big crab, and the biggest parrotfist I have ever seen (a midnight parrotfish). We're still working on indicating approval with something other than the thumbs up signal to ascend.

Remedial Rescue Diver Scenario
Brule Road Quarry, Westbrook, ON			N 44° 17.0', W 76° 38.9'
Dive Number 56		Buddies Theresa, Phil	Surface temp 26°C	Starting pressure 2000psi
Depth 21ft	Visibility fair	Time 6m	Water temp 23°C	Ending pressure 1800psi
Notes:	Mike gave us a second chance to try a recovery pattern for a lost diver. He once again hid "Buckethead" [a plastic bucket with a rock to weight it down], and we headed over to a line to start our pattern. It probably wouldn't have happened if we hadn't been swimming to the site underwater, but the exercise became trivial when Theresa spied "Buckethead" on the way to the starting point. We went through the motions and found him on the first pass. Even if it seemed like we cheated, it was nice to complete one of our tasks well today.

Rescue Diver Scenario # 4
Brule Road Quarry, Westbrook, ON			N 44° 17.0', W 76° 38.9'
Dive Number 55		Buddies Theresa, Phil	Surface temp 26°C	Starting pressure 2000psi
Depth --	Visibility --	Time --	Water temp 23°C	Ending pressure 2000psi
Notes:	We had a clue what might be involved in this scenario when Mike got out his first aid kit and oxygen. We'd forget soon enough, though. Mike called us on shore this time indicating that his buddy [beside him] was not breathing. I called out to get his to start treatment, at the very least, taking Sylvain's face out of the water and inflating his BCD (it would have also been helpful to get him to start dragging him to us). As we swam back, I got out the rescue mask for Phil to use, but it was surprisingly tricky to get it put on the patient without interrupting rescue breaths. We got him to shore, and had his gear off, but bumbled over getting our own gear off to begin CPR on the shore (in hindsight this could have been done in shifts before we got as close to shore as we did). Once on shore, Phil and Theresa started good looking CPR, but none of us remembered that the oxygen kit was right there until Mike [in the role of buddy] wondered aloud if there was any oxygen to give him. Most of the rest of the rescue was ok, but like the last scenario, I must admit to having felt we did less than what we ought to have done for the victim.

Rescue Diver Scenario # 3
Brule Road Quarry, Westbrook, ON			N 44° 17.0', W 76° 38.9'
Dive Number 54		Buddies Theresa, Phil	Surface temp 26°C	Starting pressure 2750psi
Depth 25ft	Visibility fair	Time 14m	Water temp 23°C	Ending pressure 2000psi
Notes:	For our third scenario, Mike and Sylvain went into the water early and when they came up, Mike called that they had a missing diver, last seen to the North of the barge. Theresa, Phil, and I quickly decided to search in an expanding square pattern, but our plan was compromised when we searched inside the boat, and then abandoned our expanding square before finding the missing diver. Mike eventually retreived us, and we resumed the exercise by floating a nonresponsive diver [Sly] to the surface and planning our extraction. It seems the exercise is more about the process than the result, but I couldn't help but be disappointed not to have found the diver. We ended up repeating a search pattern later with different results...

Rescue Diver Scenario # 2
Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, Kingston ON			N 44° 13.0', W 76° 31.1'
Dive Number 52		Buddy Theresa	Surface temp 22°C	Starting pressure --
Depth --	Visibility --	Time ~5m	Water temp 22°C	Ending pressure --
Notes:	Mike assures me that this is a dive that ought to be logged despite the fact that no tank was applied, and I really didn't even go beneath the surface for any length of time. In this scenario, Theresa and I waited on shore while Sylvain and Phil went for a dive. They surfaced after a while and signalled to shore that they had trouble. I elected to swim out with just fins and mask/snorkel, while Theresa donned a full kit. [the advantage of getting in the water quickly would have been negated if I waited for her, which was briefly contemplated]. I swam out to the guys [other errors in this exercise include not having my buddy keep an eye on them or point, and I also lost sight of them when I swam beneath the surface. Mike hastened to add that I also walked with my fins acing forward when I was getting in the water] Nevertheless, it was not complicated one out there to inflate Phil's BC (he was in the role of "tired"), and then Sylvain's (he was more threatening, in the role of "panicked", and I had to maneuver around him to grab his tank and inflate his BC from behind). By the time Theresa arrived, both were under control, and Mike stopped the exercise for the debrief before we had to swim them too far back to shore. It never ceases to interest me how knowing the "right answers" often fails to result in taking the "right actions" when surprised in a situation like this. Despite our shortcomings, I was pleased with the scenario. Just participating in them is helpful to build confidence.

Rescue Diver Scenario # 1
Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, Kingston ON			N 44° 13.0', W 76° 31.1'
Dive Number 51		Buddy Phil	Surface temp 21°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 23ft	Visibility fair	Time 20m	Water temp 22°C	Ending pressure 2300psi
Notes:	For the first rescue scenario, Mike paired me with Phil and Theresa with Sylvain (who is not taking the course presently, but agreed to participate in the capacity of "victim"). We were told to spend about fifteen minutes swimming around and then meet up where the line meets the pipe. Phil and I made it to the stop sign and back where we eventually found Mike and then Theresa and Sylvain. In the role of "victim", Sylvain started grabbing at his right calf and communicated via his slate that he was meant to be bleeding badly from a cut. We made a controlled ascent together and Phil applied pressure as we swam him [no small distance] to shore. Teresa called help while Phil and I dragged him ashore and then applied a bandage and waited for EMS. There were no major mishaps, and all in all it was a good rescue.