The Aquarium, Virgin Gorda, BVI			N 18° 26.4', W 64° 27.2'
Dive Number 121		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 28°C	Starting pressure 3100psi
Depth 24ft	Visibility excellent	Time 47m	Water temp 29°C	Ending pressure 1450psi
Notes:	Because they had to decompress before Saturday flights, most divers avoided the Friday afternoon dive, but Jason and I joined five others (and divemaster Emily) for a dive on a shallow coral off Virgin Gorda. Jason and I descended near Kevin and Charlie, and made our way to the coral, where we quickly came across a beautiful swimming sea turtle, and I took several pictures. Kevin and Charlie continued farther along the reef, but when Jason made the "turn around" sign, I interpreted that he wanted to end the dive, and swam back in the direction we came. Back on the North side of the reef, he settled and wanted to stay a little longer, and we saw lots more fish, including a large French angel. We also spied Emily and Heloisa, and I was glad to take another picture of her, since she was a recently certified diver, and it's nice to have a souvenir. Jason and I probably ought to have stayed with them, since when he wanted to return to the boat, I led us away toward the place I thought we dropped instead of the line (we hadn't descended the line!), and it was only after he surfaced for a look-see that we reoriented toward the boat. Arriving closer we both ascended again and this time were close enough for me to swim and Jason to get towed in on a rope. Confusion notwithstanding, it was a great dive to end our trip on.

Alice's Backside, Ginger Island, BVI			N 18° 23.5', W 64° 29.2'
Dive Number 120		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 27°C	Starting pressure 3100psi
Depth 58ft	Visibility excellent	Time 54m	Water temp 28°C	Ending pressure 1100psi
Notes:	This dive site is affectionately called "Alice's Backside" because of a large rock on shore with a crack in it. We dropped in here and swam against gentle current and then were carried back to the boat. Fernando and I teamed up once more for a wildlife photo, coaxing a porcupinefish out of a little cove. With Jason concerned about air, I thought it would be best for us to follow Emily and Charlie, reasoning that Charlie would likely exhaust his air before Jason did. This in fact turned out to be true, but I had not anticipated that Emily would extend his bottom time by buddy breathing with him. Also, since we were ahead of other divers, we ended up downstream from a good nurse shark sighting. Because of the current, we swam out of the current into the shallow to complete a safety stop in the shelter of a little coral. I navigated back to the line ok, but in the current, Jason dropped again to try and decrease his work of finning, and his computer had him take a second stop.

RMS Rhone, Salt Island, BVI			N 18° 22.1', W 64° 32.1'
Dive Number 119		Buddies Martin, Fernando	Surface temp 28°C	Starting pressure 3100psi
Depth 71ft	Visibility excellent	Time 36m	Water temp 28°C	Ending pressure 1100psi
Notes:	Our divemaster Pete says that the full moon makes for interesting currents and dives, which he claims was one of the interesting factors for this dive to have been ... well, the way it was. Our group of ten divers plus Emily (our divemaster) rode over to the dive site by dark, and attached our moorings. Jason and I entered the water on opposite sides of the dinghy. Thinking we'd swim to the line together, I swam toward him only to realize that we were quickly getting swept away from the line by a strong current. I thought Jason expressed concern about getting swept away, so I asked him to inflate his BCD and grabbed his tank stem and kicked hard, dragging him back to the boat (he clarified afterwards that he never asked for help). Nevertheless, he said he didn't want to go down, so I asked Martin if I could join him and Fernando, which he thought would be fine. Before descending the line, Emily asked if either of us had seen Charlie, who was supposed to have buddied up with her. We hadn't. The few of us descended the line together, where she found a total of eight divers and quickly wrote a single word message on her slate: "CHARLIE?". None of us had seen him, so she advised us to continue without her, and she ascended. In the effort to descend, Fernando has already used all but 1500 of his air, but he, Martin and I stayed together and toured the bow a little bit. Emily had warned us that a large grouper had adapted to divers, and used their lights to hunt for food. This turned out to be true - the grouper was probably 20 inches in length, and we all tried to dissuade it as best we could. Even at the bottom, the current was relatively strong, and so while there were lots of things to see, I was feeling more preoccupied with ensuring that the count of people returning to the boat was the same eight of us that Emily had left when she had gone up to find Charlie. Near the end of the dive, we encountered a small octopus (from which Martin got a little squeeze on his finger reminiscent of an octopine encounter a year earlier). We also encountered Emily again, which thankfully meant that Charlie had been located and recovered. The ascent was comical with all divers being blown like streamers on the line, and many of us reading our gauges and computers by the light of the diver above us since we had to hold the line so firmly with the other hand. After surfacing, we learned that Charlie had indeed been swept away by the strong current, and had to be retrieved by Pete, while Jason waited alone in darkness aboard the lone dinghy tied to the mooring line. I think that five labels for this post may be a record (tropical, night, wreck, deep, rescue)

RMS Rhone, Salt Island, BVI			N 18° 22.1', W 64° 32.1'
Dive Number 118		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 28°C	Starting pressure 3100psi
Depth 63ft	Visibility excellent	Time 43m	Water temp 29°C	Ending pressure 1150psi
Notes:	The stern of the Rhone may be my favourite dive all trip. Jason and I descended without difficulty in clear water, and shortly afterwards were joined by Kat, who was working as ship's cook. She showed us a couple of the sights, including the captain's spoon, and a fun swim-through just beside the great propellers. Afterwards, she removed regulator and mask for an entertaining photo through an old porthole, and I had Jason take a similar goofy shot of me. Kat also generously offered to take a picture of Jason and I together, our only underwater shot with both of us. Jason and I encountered no difficulties, and ascended comfortably.

Salt Island Bay, Salt Island, BVI			N 18° 22.5', W 64° 31.8'
Dive Number 117		Buddies Fernando, Tom	Surface temp 28°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 36ft	Visibility excellent	Time 75m	Water temp 29°C	Ending pressure 1000psi
Notes:	I haven't been able to find any corroborating evidence on Wiktionary (or even urbandictionary), but the crew of the Cuan Law assures me that "squiffle" is a verb referring to the action of sniffing about, as a pig would do for truffles. This is what they call it when divers take an unscheduled (and unled) dive between scheduled trips out. When Fernando was thinking about dropping down for a look around the bay, I joined and Tom came along as well. Both are excellent divers - Fernando just over 500 dives, and Tom is an instructor. We got to see lots of sand tilefish burrows and large hermit crabs, and I spied a large barracuda which circled the three of us long enough for us to take pictures and video of it. I continue to hope that someone else has a shot of me with it for my album. We arrived back at the boat with over a thousand psi, so hung out a little longer in the shallows where more well lit pictures could be taken.

RMS Rhone, Salt Island, BVI			N 18° 22.1', W 64° 32.1'
Dive Number 116		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 27°C	Starting pressure 3150psi
Depth 73ft	Visibility excellent	Time 42m	Water temp 29°C	Ending pressure 1100psi
Notes:	The highlight of British Virgin Island diving for some is the wreck of the Royal Mail Ship Rhone, which sunk off the coast of Salt Island in 1867 during a Hurricane. The wreck lies in about 80 feet of water, and there's plenty of life around. For the morning dive, we did the bow section. Fish life was similar to previous dives, but the wreck is very interesting with deck supports that resemble Roman columns. Jason paused to take a photo of me as other divers passed the swim through. I oriented Charlie back to the group when he was swimming away, after which his buddy (Pete, the divemaster) led him around holding on to his gauge. Jason and I came back a little early, as his tank held fewer than 500 remaining psi.

Manchioneel Rock, Cooper Island, BVI			N 18° 22.9', W 64° 30.9'
Dive Number 115		Buddy Kevin	Surface temp 25°C	Starting pressure 3100psi
Depth 48ft	Visibility excellent	Time 52m	Water temp 28°C	Ending pressure 1000psi
Notes:	Feeling a bit less than perfect after his leg cramp, Jason stayed behind this dove, so I dove with Kevin, the third in a group of three from Detroit who was working on his advanced course during the trip. The strong current around the point of Manchioneel bay made this more like a drift dive at first, but after coming around the point, Fernando inflated his sausage and we took a more leisurely swim around the bay. I got a brief glimpse of a ray which swam away as we approached.

Vanishing Rock, Cooper Island, BVI			N 18° 18.1', W 64° 38.1'
Dive Number 114		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 27°C	Starting pressure 3100psi
Depth 43ft	Visibility excellent	Time 48m	Water temp 29°C	Ending pressure 1100psi
Notes:	This was interesting dive site with abundant fish, but with very strong current that prevented most of us from navigating around the rock. Jason developed a severe leg cramp, which I under-recognized. We took it somewhat easy for that reason. I still managed to get a shot of a French angelfish that I thought was pretty good.

Santa Monica Rock, Norman Island, BVI			N 18° 18.1', W 64° 38.1'
Dive Number 113		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 27°C	Starting pressure 3200psi
Depth 49ft	Visibility excellent	Time 62m	Water temp 29°C	Ending pressure 1000psi
Notes:	This was an uncomplicated but very fun dive. We started with a group photo to commemorate Fernando's 500th dive, and then Jason and I stayed close to the line looked around. A couple of interesting spotted filefish were seen, and I was particularly taken by a yellowtailed damselfish. I paused for some lotus pose buoyancy on the ascent.

Kelly's Cove, Norman Island, BVI			N 18° 19.5', W 64° 37.4'
Dive Number 112		Buddy Jason	Surface temp 28°C	Starting pressure 3000psi
Depth 37ft	Visibility excellent	Time 73m	Water temp 28°C	Ending pressure 1200psi
Notes:	Jason took the lead a little more this dive, and he and I stayed relatively close to the line on this independent night dive. For the first time, I took the camera on a night dive, and snapped a couple interesting pictures of an eel. We also saw a couple lobster. We got over a full hour before coming up for supper.