Robert Gaskin, Brockville ON			N 44° 35.3', W 75° 40.6'
Dive Number 230		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 27°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 71ft	Visibility good	Time 27m	Water temp 21°C	Ending pressure 1500psi
Notes:	Having picked up two additional divers from the dock, our third and final dive of the day was the Gaskin, a wreck off the eastern Brockville shore with an interesting history (three sinkings). I changed into my 3mm shorty and Helen took a photo to prove that the St Lawrence is warm enough to swim without a full wetsuit! Although this is a simpler dive than the others, there still existed significant current, especially when attempting to swim around the western edge of the wreck. I quickly abandoned this and entered the wreck from above, which gave me a great treat - a large eel was buried in the bottom wiht its head sticking out - I have no idea how long it was but the head looked similar to a large bass sticking up vertically from the floor. I managed to point it out to Jason but the silt from his dive into the bow of the wreck drifted onto the site shortly after he arrived so I'm not really sure if he saw it or maybe got it on the GoPro camera he brings with him. We finished our tour of the wreck and I stopped at the exit line with about 1600 psi - given that I had finished the last two dives with about 1000 psi more than Jason I thought we ought to end the dive at this point, but he swam around the bow into the current again. Apparently he thought I was on the wrong mooring line! He joined me even though he thought we were on the wrong line, only believing we had the right line when he saw the boat at the top after our safety stop. The current on the line had been too much for him - he surfaced and promptly threw up in the water! I was ready to eat afterwards, but maybe not surprisingly, Jason wanted to wait a little? We made it back to Kingston and had Lone Star fajitas before calling it a night. Successful dive visit!

Lillie Parsons, Brockville ON			N 44° 33.3', W 75° 43.1'
Dive Number 229		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 27°C	Starting pressure 3100psi
Depth 65ft	Visibility good	Time 23m	Water temp 20°C	Ending pressure 1500psi
Notes:	Next up, Jason and I dove the Lillie Parsons. I would have estimated that I'd been on it plenty of times before, but records indicate that this is my third visit there. It allows a dive around the deep side and return up the chain on the shallow side, and/or a drift over the upturned hull, from where the centreboard is visible. A short or long drift is possible afterwards, but for the long drift we would have needed either a larger tank for Jason or would have had to depart immediately instead of touring the wreck. The drift along the Western shore of Sparrow Island was supposed to be 30 ft, but we both ended up more shallow, and the current was strong enough that finding places to stay stationary and wait for Jason was difficult. We quickly found ourselves on the line for retrieval - My computer no longer suggested a safety stop was necessary but I did one anyway. Then back to the dock to pick up two more divers for the evening dive.

Henry C. Daryaw, Brockville ON			N 44° 31.3', W 75° 45.5'
Dive Number 228		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 26°C	Starting pressure 3100psi
Depth 90ft	Visibility good	Time 23m	Water temp 20°C	Ending pressure 1600psi
Notes:	Jason had coordinated two afternoon dives and an evening dive with Abucs Scuba, an operator our of Brockville that I had never used before - We got some Wendy's for lunch and picked up tanks at the shop before heading down to St. Lawrence Park to board with our captain Helen Cooper. We were the only divers on for the afternoon which was great! The first dive was the Daryaw which I had not done before, but was a treat! There are strong currents down to it and it seems prudent not to stray from the several lines on the wreck, but we were rewarded with views into the magnificent intact hull and the satisfaction of completing a more physically demanding dive! Helen says that sometimes a cluster of eels is visible in the wreck, but I didn't see any - yet...

The George A. Marsh, Kingston ON			N 44° 7.6', W 76° 36.2'
Dive Number 227		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 24°C	Starting pressure 3100psi
Depth 81ft	Visibility fair	Time 30m	Water temp 9°C	Ending pressure 1600psi
Notes:	Jason came to town for two nights and we started off by joining Kingston Dive Charters for a trip to the Marsh - a wreck I have been on before, but still good. Several technical divers were on board with twin tanks, and drysuits - Jason and I were the only divers in neoprene I think! I met Rob V whose name I had seen in the local dive community and also met Corey P who lives in Frankford and apparently does some work with Tom R related to dive mapping. The dive was forecast to be cold and I had forgotten my warm gloves, so wore paddling gloves instead. My hands felt very cold when we got below the thermocline, but I adapted quickly. The dive was good and it was cool to meet a couple more interesting divers. Post dive pizza at Wooden Heads: Guglielmo!

Morton's Wharf, Kingston ON			N 44° 13.0', W 76° 30.3'
Dive Number 226		Buddy Mark	Surface temp 25°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 28ft	Visibility fair	Time 39m	Water temp 22°C	Ending pressure 1250psi
Notes:	Mark and I had another chance to go diving and tried Morton's wharf again for a little more practice. He had heard that there was a wreck past the wharf in about ten or fifteen feet of water, so we ventured farther east into to some tall weeds but never found anything else of interest. We did see a large freshwater drum and the usual assortment of bass and gobies!

Howes Lake, South Frontenac, ON			N 44° 30.2', W 76° 40.9'
Dive Number 225		Buddy Mark	Surface temp 27°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 15ft	Visibility poor	Time 54m	Water temp 20°C	Ending pressure ~1000psi
Notes:	Ever since Mark and Cathy got their cottage on Howes Lake, we had been keen to try diving there. He had done some snorkelling and was feeling encouraged, and also any chance to get a dive in together, so se managed to connect this afternoon and gear up and explore together while Cathy bubble-watched from the pedalboat above. Sadly the visibility was very poor at any depth lower than a bout ten feet and we were barely able to keep our eyes on each other, let alone see anything else of interest, so we made a shallow tour of the shore near their cottage and found an old mask, some sunken steel bowls, and came across a collection of nests guarded by more ornery sunfish than usual. Good times and happy to play with my pal!

Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, Kingston ON			N 44° 13.0', W 76° 31.1'
Dive Number 224		Buddy Mark	Surface temp 21°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 28ft	Visibility fair	Time 31m	Water temp 11°C	Ending pressure 2000psi
Notes:	I almost forgot that Mark and I had plans to dive today! I knew that he had procured tanks! How could I have still thought we were diving with these tanks on Friday? Maybe I'm too distracted. Thanks for being patient with me, Buddy! I got home about 2:30, collected my dive gear, and returned to town to join Mark at the Harbour, and we were dressed and swimming by 3:25. We found the pipes again! We found the line again! We saw the anchors again! We saw the chair again! We saw the stop sign again! We found our way home again! Success again! I even remembered to give Mark some money for the air! For the first local dive of the year, it's a win! And I'm home in time for supper!

Something Special, Bonaire			N 12° 9.7', W 68° 17.0'
Dive Number 223		Buddy Philip	Surface temp 27°C	Starting pressure 3200psi
Depth 59ft	Visibility great	Time 63m	Water temp 25°C	Ending pressure 1100psi
Notes:	The final boat dive for the trip was Something Special. Before we went down, Alvin got on the radio because he heard that there was a frogfish (which was on Shawn's wishlist) and wanted advice on where it was. When we went down, we saw it! So cool! I had planned on joining Rob and Shawn for an afternoon dive, but there was a delay while they were testing the new adaptive lift on the pier and I was feeling keen to wash off my gear and get it ready to go home, so I packed up and cleaned my gear so it could dry out in the afternoon, and also I went for more ice cream! I was feeling pretty good about this decision until I returned and found out that Shawn and Rob got surrounded by another bait ball! Well, maybe the same bait ball, but still, failure! We had a group supper at Cuban Compagnie, and then there was another ice cream excursion. Success! I'm so grateful to have had a great week and great diving and have learned so much and made so many new friends!

Witches' Hut, Bonaire			N 12° 12.4', W 68° 19.0'
Dive Number 222		Buddy Philip	Surface temp 27°C	Starting pressure 3200psi
Depth 85ft	Visibility great	Time 65m	Water temp 25°C	Ending pressure 1300psi
Notes:	The divemaster identified this site as "Witches' Hut" but it also appears to be called Weber's Joy and that's how it's labelled on the stone dive marker and also Google Maps (in case you click through). On the boat ride up, I thought I recognized the architecture of Anne's place, Villa MaraVilla. She had told me it was north of Kralendijk, and the colours looked right, so maybe! The wall drops off sharply, and Philip and I swam much of the reef farther from shore than our peers, and also ended up going a little deeper. Many of the usual critters were in evidence, but at the end of the dive, Ben joined up with us and Aaron and Shawn were nearby when Philip spied a large octopus in a rough section of coral. I love seeing octopus any time and had not yet seen one on this trip so that was cool enough, but this one was doing the thing where it changes its colour and apparent texture to match the coral - I could have watched for much longer, but eventually it got shy and tucked itself away. Thank you, Philip!

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...