Aloha and Effie Mae, Kingston ON			N 44° 09.8', W 76° 34.1'
Dive Number 87		Buddy Sylvain	Surface temp 25°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 54	Visibility good	Time 38m	Water temp 21°C	Ending pressure 1600psi
Notes:	They exist! Over the past two years I have been on at least three or four charters to the Aloha and Effie Mae which have been diverted [usually to the Wolfe] as a result of choppy water or storms. Tonight, Steve braved the waves and we made it out to the pair of wrecks. Sylvain and I had a warm and comfortable dive with about eight other club divers before retiring to the Portsmouth Tavern for some post-dive refreshments.

Robert Gaskin, Brockville ON			N 44° 35.3', W 75° 40.6'
Dive Number 86		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 23°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 69ft	Visibility good	Time 25m	Water temp 23°C	Ending pressure 1600psi
Notes:	Success. Jason and I descended the line and despite trepidation, we left the bottom of the line along the chain to the wreck. I watched my computer carefully to follow the depth, and was pleased to see Jason manage so well as we passed deeper than 60 ft (beyond which I count the dive as "deep"). After a quick tour of the wreck, I was distressed to see my right wrist bare, void of computer. I attempted to communicate this to Jason, but he didn't understand. I retraced our path over the wreck, but didn't find it. Returning to the bottom of the line, I managed to communicate my dilemna to Jason, but with only 1400 psi in his tank, we decided not to return for another look. Frustrated, I ascended, and boarded the boat. Happily, another diver had found it, and returned it to me. And so the dive was saved - good descent, good wreck, and the computer was found! Jason and I stopped at Dive Tech on the way home, where Dan tied a couple of bungees into the computer to replace the broken strap.

Muskallonge, Brockville ON			N 44° 36.1', W 75° 39.1'
Dive Number 85		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 22°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 84ft	Visibility good	Time 26m	Water temp 22°C	Ending pressure 2100psi
Notes:	Although it makes for good dive planning, it was unfortunate that our first dive of the day was the deeper of the two. Jason's dive anxiety seemed to influence him leading up to our entry and descent. The haphazard allocation of buddies on the boat probably didn't help, either. We let everyone else go down ahead of us, and then made our way down the rope. Jason did admirably, slowing down, stopping and ascending slightly when feeling stressed, but ultimately descending down the rope to a depth of 87 feet (watching from slightly above, I made it to 84). I didn't actually see the boat in a little over 90 feet of water, but Jason did. Nevertheless, we communicated well, no one lost control, and everyone ascended safely. We'll put this dive in the win column.

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.