KGH, Kingston ON			N 44° 13.3', W 76° 29.3'
Dive Number 84		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 21°C	Starting pressure 2100psi
Depth 37ft	Visibility fair	Time 65m	Water temp 21°C	Ending pressure 1200psi
Notes:	Jason and I set more reasonable expectations for our second dive of the afternoon: swim straight out, stop if either of us felt at all unwell, swim back underneath with no free ascent. We proceeded very gently, and descended to a well-lit 37 feet. We saw several large drum, bass, as well as catfish, and of course lots of gobies. A school of perch swam past before we finished our 65 minute dive - I think my longest ever. Jason and I felt much better about the way the dive went; hopefully a sign of good things to come as we continue to dive together.

KGH, Kingston ON			N 44° 13.3', W 76° 29.3'
Dive Number 83		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 21°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 49ft	Visibility fair	Time 25m	Water temp 21°C	Ending pressure 2200psi
Notes:	Since Jason and I decided to make a trip the the Great Barrier Reef next year, we planned to do some diving this weekend so that we could become accustomed to each other's behaviour underwater. Since I had two boat dives booked for Saturday, we figured that a couple shore dives would get Jason comfortable back in the water (he hadn't yet been out in 2008). Since I'd recently read about the wreck off the KGH , we decided to give that a try. Our first attempt was difficult - we navigated by compass, and had no luck finding the line, but Jason got panicked at about 50 feet and insisted on a free ascent to the surface. Although stressful and disorienting without references, we did this together safely, and then swam back to shore and rested before our second dive, which was to go better.

Georgina Island, Rockport ON			N 44° 12.6', W 76° 30.6'
Dive Number 82		Buddy Sylvain	Surface temp 24°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 77ft	Visibility good	Time 32m	Water temp 22°C	Ending pressure 1600psi
Notes:	Sly joined me for a "walk on" with Thousand Island Diving. It was his first dive of the year. Although we had both drifted in the St. Lawrence before, we were both caught off guard by the turbulence of the current through the channel on the south side [clockwise] of Georgina Island: we both got washed a little upstream when entering the main channel before getting swept back to the island. This meant a few disorienting moments without island where we expected it, and we were both briefly tempted to surface, despite the sounds of boat traffic overhead. Luckily, we soon spied the edge we were supposed to be following, and things started going a little more according to plan. We surfaced after a little while in an eddy, in sight of the Thousand Island International Bridge. The dive wasn't "by the book", but I think we both learned a lesson on the subject of handling a small crisis. The best thing was to stop, assess the situation calmly, and proceed slowly and safely.

Eagle Point, Rockport ON			N 44° 12.6', W 76° 30.6'
Dive Number 81		Buddy Matt	Surface temp 24°C	Starting pressure 2750psi
Depth 66ft	Visibility good	Time 34m	Water temp 23°C	Ending pressure 1100psi
Notes:	The third dive of the day was billed as a drift, but the current in this part of the river was negligeable. I hd planned on bringing down a bit of leftover subway sandwich to feed the fish, but remembered this after having descended about 20 feet. Matt and I swam downstream along the edge, and were rewarded with sightings of several large carp, catfish, and bass. The highlight, however, were the curious sunfish that closely followed us, circling our masks, and swimming right into our hands. It was almost like they knew I had planned on bringing them food. Thus ended our third of the three tanks. The weather cooperated, the dives were great, and everyone enjoyed themselves.

Singer Castle, Dark Island NY			N 44° 27.1', W 75° 48.4'
Dive Number 80		Buddy Jean-Yves	Surface temp 23°C	Starting pressure 3100psi
Depth 61ft	Visibility good	Time 48m	Water temp 23°C	Ending pressure 900psi
Notes:	I hadn't been particularly chuffed about doing a "scavenging" dive": I don't really have any interest in changing dive sites or bringing home souvenirs. Nevertheless, the site at Singer Castle is a good one for this. With proximity to the Canadian border, and having been used for rum running during the prohibition, there are plenty of bottles to be found. A few of our fellow dives returned with artifacts. Jean-Yves and I took a leisurely swim up current, and while we didn't find any collectibles, we were the only divers in our group who spotted what appeared to be a metre long muskellunge. There were also plenty of bass and a big carp (more of those would follow on the third dive of the day). The dive finished with a free ascent and a reference free 15ft safety stop, which was good practice.

Keystorm, New York			N 44° 25.8', W 75° 49.3'
Dive Number 79		Buddy Jean-Yves	Surface temp 21°C	Starting pressure 3100psi
Depth 112ft	Visibility good	Time 36m	Water temp 23°C	Ending pressure 1100psi
Notes:	Since our club had an odd number of divers, I paired up for the first of our three-tank day with Jean-Yves Latour, a divemaster originally from Montreal now living in Connecticut. The Keystorm is a great dive any time, and it was better today for having less traffic than a few weeks ago (I had joked that a Wal-Mart greeter uniform would not have been out of place on our previous trip - Kim may look into getting one for me). Jean-Yves was a pleasure to dive with, and he captured some shots of the wreck (and he tells me, some video of me) before the batteries in his camera died. The dives also took place on the same weekend as the St. Lawrence poker run. I would probably never have made a point of travelling to the water to see the multimillion dollar boating race/event, but since I was there anyway, seeing some of them tear by at 200 mph was impressive. Hearing them screaming by overhead from the wreck was equally so. I almost forgot! The water was warm enough that I dove with no hood, thin gloves, and my 3mm windsurfing shorty. Fun!

KPH, Kingston ON			N 44° 12.8', W 76° 31.2'
Dive Number 78		Buddy Matt	Surface temp 25°C	Starting pressure 3100psi
Depth 67ft	Visibility fair	Time 27m	Water temp 19°C	Ending pressure 2000psi
Notes:	The night dive was to the KPH, which I had never seen before. The skies unleashed a small summer shower as we descended, but hey - we were getting wet anyway. Debate continues to take place about the relative safety of lightning striking while underneath. Everyone noticed a thermocline at about 60 feet, but the wreck was clearly visible at deck height without venturing below. Matt and I came up after nearly half an hour and a couple tours of the boat, and felt the warmth of the sun shining as we rode home.

Round Lake, South Frontenac ON			N 44° 24.9', W 76° 25.6'
Dive Number 77		Buddy Lee	Surface temp 24°C	Starting pressure 3100psi
Depth 35ft	Visibility fair	Time 42m	Water temp 9°C	Ending pressure 1800psi
Notes:	When Cheryl and the kids took a week at the Parsons cottage, I figured I'd get out on the Wednesday evening dive. Earlier in the week, I had the idea to email Mike and see if he was up or an afternoon dive before the night. It was uncanny when he pre-emptively emailed me to invite me to join Dianne, Lee and him at nearby Round Lake. The dive was good, but I should have more closely heeded the warnings about the thermoclines in small lakes. At 18 or 19 feet, the water became downright frigid, and wearing a beanie and thin gloves instead of my cold water fare, I was happy to ascend into what felt like a bath above the thermocline for a little tour after seeing the cars. A fantastic school of about a hundred sunfish hung around as we returned to the entry point, and I could have watched them for a long time.

Keystorm, New York			N 44° 25.8', W 75° 49.3'
Dive Number 76		Buddy Kim	Surface temp 26°C	Starting pressure 3200psi
Depth 70ft	Visibility good	Time 37m	Water temp 22°C	Ending pressure 1900psi
Notes:	After an hour surface interval and chimichangas and samosas from the Sleepless Goat, I paired up with Kim for the second dive. We descended part way down the wreck, and entered one of the vast cargo bays. On the way up, I misunderstood and thought she wanted to end earlier than she acutally did; we made it to our 15 foot safety stop, then turned and went down to see the underside of the boat (including the scar of the crash that sunk it, I think). Both dives of the day were excellent, and I'll look forward to the three tank dive on August 9th, if I don't manage to get out before.

Keystorm, New York			N 44° 25.8', W 75° 49.3'
Dive Number 75		Buddy Steve Chew	Surface temp 26°C	Starting pressure 3200psi
Depth 32ft	Visibility good	Time 28m	Water temp 22°C	Ending pressure 1600psi
Notes:	The first of our two-tank dive event on the Keystorm was fun: ten of us piled into the small "Island Diver" boat run by Thousand Island Diving; we worried we wouldn't all fit, but the speedy boat got us to customs and we sped through in time to be the second of seven boats on the wreck. Steve and I dove to the base of the steel freighter, and fought against traffic coming up for our surface interval. The wreck was great, but with seven boats diving it, it was a little busy for my liking.