Brule Road Quarry, Westbrook, ON			N 44° 17.0', W 76° 38.9'
Dive Number 41		Buddies Mike, Theresa, Joan, Kevin	Surface temp 23°C	Starting pressure 3100psi
Depth 24ft	Visibility ~50ft	Time 65m	Water temp 15°C	Ending pressure 1600psi
Notes:	Since I am thinking of buying a regulator and BCD, I arranged with Mike to try his "wing" style BC. We met with the others at the club, and headed over to the Brule Road Quarry, where many others have been underwater before, but where I had not yet been. In addition to the couple of small sunken boats and shopping carts in the warm shallow water, there is a 2006 Hyundai Santa Fe on its roof. Since many of the wrecks I find under water are a hundred years old or older, seeing such a recent artifact is kind of novel. There was part of me that thought "The tires don't appear to have much wear on them. I wonder if they would fit the Element." The wing worked well, and I was relatively trim and balanced. I'm not sure it makes a big enough difference to buy one at this point, but I was glad to have tried it and to have shared a great dive at a new location. Lunch afterwards at Bella (next to Northern Tech Diver) was also tasty - their eggplant soup with potato and leek was awesome!

Treasure Hunt, Nicholson Point, Amherstview ON			N 44° 12.3', W 76° 40.9'
Dive Number 40		Buddy Sylvain	Surface temp 21°C	Starting pressure 3100psi
Depth ~35ft	Visibility ~50ft	Time 45m	Water temp 15°C	Ending pressure 1750psi
Notes:	The treasure hunt is a yearly tradition with the dive club - they knock a bunch of numbered golf balls into the water, and the divers are allowed to return with one each. The ball were numbered from 1 to 30, and they announced that they'd start with either 1 or 30, so Sylvain and I assumed that we'd be smart to get numbers as far from 15 as possible. We both went without hoods, and I wore only my thin gloves (hoping for better desterity, and still nursing a sore thumb from a windsurfing injury). There were 18 divers in the water, but before too long, he had found the 30 and I had the 1. Mike tossed a coin to see who would choose first - I won, and got a coupon for a 2-tank dive with Luc out of Rockport for me and a buddy. Sylvain's number was called before too long, and he won what he wanted anyway - a gift Certificate to Casa Domenico. He also won one of the grand prizes - a Tim Horton's gift basket! There was a line that we didn't follow to its end; also we saw a sad injured looking fish on the bottom with a crooked spine that didn't even move when I dropped my golf ball on it. Our families came for a nice picnic afterwards, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

Wolfe Islander II, Kingston ON			N 44° 13.5', W 76° 24.9'
Dive Number 39		Buddies Sylvain, Jean-Olivier	Surface temp 15°C	Starting pressure 2750psi
Depth 74ft	Visibility ~30ft	Time 30m	Water temp 11°C	Ending pressure 1150psi
Notes:	There were two boats for tonight's charter to the Comet, one leaving from Portsmouth Harbour, and one from Collins Bay. When whitecaps forced us to cancel the Comet, our boat went back the Wolfe Islander, and the other boat cancelled its run, and its divers went for a shore dive at a quarry. After last week, Sylvain and I had decided to penetrate the salon, and take a look at the engine room. I had a slow leak because of a macerated O-ring, but Steve from Limestone fixed it before we went down. There's an air bubble in the salon where you can stick your head up and speak (we've been cautioned not to attempt to breathe it), but with three of us, we didn't go try that. The engine room is accessible through a large hatch on the aft deck, and once down in it, there's plenty of space to look around. Even though we've done the Wolfe so many times before, we continue to find new things to see and do!

Wolfe Islander II, Kingston ON			N 44° 13.5', W 76° 24.9'
Dive Number 38		Buddies Sylvain, Richard	Surface temp 18°C	Starting pressure 3050psi
Depth 69ft	Visibility ~30ft	Time 29m	Water temp 9°C	Ending pressure 1650psi
Notes:	Sylvain and I used our usual approach of being the last ones in the water tonight, and for this reason, were still on the surface when another diver [Megan] had to abort her dive because of an equipment failure. Since her buddy Richard would have been faced with aborting as well, we invited him to join us. After a false start descending, we made it down to the familiar wreck. Sylvain and I have contemplated penetrating the "salon", but were feeling ambivalent about it, and the presence of a third [non-advanced] diver in our party made any such penetration a non-issue. The bottom water was cool, but the motorcycle and bicycle remain there. I didn't see any bowling balls tonight...

The King Horn, Rockport ON			N 44° 22.6', W 75° 55.9'
Dive Number 37		Buddy Sylvain, Steve	Surface temp 16°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 89ft	Visibility ~50ft	Time 22m	Water temp 10°C	Ending pressure 1350psi
Notes:	This was my first charter dive of the 2007 summer, my first "advanced" dive with Sylvain. Mike, Jim, Scott and Kim were there, as were Diane and Nancy. The dive itself was good; Sylvain and I came up after about 20 minutes, we're realizing that in the deeper dives, it's the timing at depth that will limit us more than running out of air. After the dive, we had some pizza and drinks at Caiger's. Next dive is the Wolfe Islander in 7 days!

Dead Man's Bay, Kingston ON			N 44° 14.0', W 76° 26.9'
Dive Number 36		Buddies Dominique, Mike, Steve	Surface temp 10°C	Starting pressure 2900psi
Depth 16ft	Visibility ~30ft	Time 27m	Water temp 6°C	Ending pressure 1800psi
Notes:	For my first local dive of the year, I joined Dominique, Steve, and Mike at the club, and we headed over to Dead Man's Bay. I had picked up a few new things which I made use of today: My new items included: a new 5mm full hood new MEC boots (made for kayaking, firmer than my old scuba boots) a new MEC surfshirt a used (but new to me) dive computer I picked up at Dive Tech this week The water was 6 degrees (a new record cold for me), so I only stayed under for 27 minutes overall, for a viewing of what we had previously suspected was the Regent, but we now think is the Charlotte (or is it the Queen Charlotte or Princess Charlotte?). For what it's worth, my trunk remained warm. I'll still be happy to find a solution that results in more warmth for my fingers and feet, but the water's only getting warmer at this point anyway. Another season begins!

Punta Perdiz, Bahia de Cochinas, Cuba			N 22° 5.9', W 81° 6.4'
Dive Number 35		Buddy Uli	Surface temp 29°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 70ft	Visibility ~50ft	Time 45m	Water temp 26°C	Ending pressure 900psi
Notes:	This dive was similar to the last one, although we also had a swim-through of a gap in the reef (photo op for the tour operators), and an old wreck to see as well. When one of the divers in our group lagged and tried to get our attention, I swam back to see what he was looking at - an enormous lobster. As I caught up with the rest of our group, I was unable to get their attention myself, and ended up being the only one to catch a glimpse of a solitary barracuda.

Punta Perdiz, Bahia de Cochinas, Cuba			N 22° 5.9', W 81° 6.4'
Dive Number 34		Buddy Uli	Surface temp 29°C	Starting pressure 2800psi
Depth 75ft	Visibility ~50ft	Time 40m	Water temp 26°C	Ending pressure 900psi
Notes:	As I was hoping would happen, windy weather on the norh of the island meant that our diving expiition on my second dive day meant that we had to travel across to the south of Cuba to the famous "Bay of Pigs", which was reputed to have more spectacular diving. I got paired up with a German diver in the "advanced" group and enjoyed my first ever "wall dive" with beautiful coral and planty of tropical fish and lobsters and crabs.

Monkey Reef, Varadero, Cuba			N 23° 10', W 81° 7'
Dive Number 33		Buddy Cal	Surface temp 28°C	Starting pressure 2900psi
Depth 40ft	Visibility ~50ft	Time 50m	Water temp 26°C	Ending pressure 1200psi
Notes:	For our second dive of the day, we descended on a reef off Varadero. The reef was not in great shape, but we managed to see a few interesting fish, and several green moray inside it. I was distressed to see one of the divers prod the tail of he moray until it emerged from its hiding hole. After surfacing, we dined on fresh lobster that was bought from a fisherman in a passing boat on the way out to sea.

Russian Frigate, Varadero, Cuba			N 23° 10', W 81° 7'
Dive Number 32		Buddy Cal	Surface temp 28°C	Starting pressure 3100psi
Depth 90ft	Visibility ~50ft	Time 40m	Water temp 26°C	Ending pressure 500psi
Notes:	The name of the Russian Frigate we dove as our first dive from Varadero is not known to me, but photos at the dive shop suggest that it was purposefully sunk for diving in this location. Missile launchers and anti-aircraft guns visible on the deck made this wreck a little different from the ones I am accustomed to seeing in Kingston.