The log below tallies every scuba dive I've taken, from my very first introductory dives during open water certification training to the present day. I've taken 79 scuba dives to date, with a total bottom time of 61 hours and 8 minutes.

Dive #1 / 31 May 2000 / Sharks Cove / North Shore, Oahu
Maximum Depth: 44 feet. Total Bottom Time: 45 minutes.

A little worried about effects of pressure at first, but frequent equalization really works! Slow steady breathing really does keep your mind clear and body relaxed. Fish don't flee at the sight of us, maybe because movements are so controlled and relaxed?

Dive #2 / 31 May 2000 / Sharks Cove / North Shore, Oahu
Maximum Depth: 28 feet. Total Bottom Time: 25 minutes.

Controlled descent and ascent getting more comfortable. Must remember not to deplete energy reservoir entirely since scuba equipment is very heavy out of the water!

Dive #3 / 12 June 2000 / Sharks Cove / North Shore, Oahu
Maximum Depth: 29 feet. Total Bottom Time: 60 minutes.

Bright sunny day, lots of good visibility (100 feet plus) in every direction. School of coronet fish near bottom. Tiny moray eel and Spanish dancer near the bottom of the rock where the float was tied.

Dive #4 / 12 June 2000 / Sharks Cove / North Shore, Oahu
Maximum Depth: 29 feet. Total Bottom Time: 56 minutes.

Inflating/deflating BCD excessively really consumes a lot of oxygen! Much more efficient to control breathing for buoyancy control. Colorful yellow & black crabs hiding in between the rocks at about 25 feet down.

Dive #5 / 25 June 2000 / Sharks Cove / North Shore, Oahu
Maximum Depth: 35 feet. Total Bottom Time: 55 minutes.

More turbulence and waves at surface than last time. Had to go out and descend quickly to keep off rocks and keep from getting seasick. The right side of sharks cove is known for turtle sightings, so that's where we headed. Didn't take long to see one! My first sea turtle!! Swam with him for several minutes and he didn't seem to mind; he just swam in lazy circles around me. I finally left him alone and went closer to shore and there was another one! Like me, he had a hard time keeping clear of the rocks, so he turned back out to the open sea. By contrast, I turned back to shore, headed out of the water and on to work.

Dive #6 / 9 July 2000 / Sharks Cove / North Shore, Oahu
Maximum Depth: 25 feet. Total Bottom Time: 80 minutes.

Back again with Brian, this time to photograph sea turtles. Armed with my new Costco underwater camera, we headed back out to the right side of the cove where the turtles usually gather. Within just a minute or two, I sighted one. Then two. Then three! With three turtles to choose from, it was a little hectic trying to decide which to follow, and of course it's not like they just stand still posing for pictures. It was fun trying to get good shots, and I shot 24 pictures in the first 15 minutes. Lucky thing, since shortly thereafter the weekend crowd arrived and the turtles fled the scene, which is understandable. Obviously it pays to get up early and be the first ones in! Scott gave me a 3000psi tank today, and because it was a little denser, he dropped my weights down to 12 pounds. Worked fine. My first dive was with 16 pounds, last time was with 14 pounds, and now this time with 12 pounds. I liked this better; I think I'm getting closer to my ideal weight.

Dive #7 / 26 July 2000 / off the Kona Coast / Big Island
Maximum Depth: 30 feet. Total Bottom Time: 55 minutes.

MANTA RAY NIGHT DIVE!
"It's all downhill from here." -- David, divemaster
"They should have sent a poet" -- Jodie Foster, Contact

In a nutshell, this is why I got my scuba certification in the first place! Lots of firsts tonight: first time seeing manta rays, first time night diving, first boat dive, first time with full-length wetsuit (more buoyancy means more weight needed, even with 16 pounds it was sometimes difficult to stay in place on the bottom). Where to start? How can this experience be described? Just after sunset, several dive boats converged to a predesignated site just offshore. One had already set lights up on the bottom. Then it was time to strap on the gear and roll backwards into the water. Lights were tossed to each of us, and we dropped to the bottom and swam in a group of six to where the big lights were. Manta rays were everywhere!! The lights attract plankton, the main food source for the mantas. They're conditioned now to know there's lots of food where the lights are, so they swoop in very close! It was easy to touch them; all you have to do is hold your hand out. Too many to count (one person counted 18!). They came in so close they'd often inadvertently bump into us. Truly magnificent creatures. On the boat ride back we were treated to a glimmering show of phosphorescent plankton in the boat's wake. Really memorable evening!

Dive #8 / 25 Aug 2000 / Motu Nuhi Nuhi, Tiputa Pass / Rangiroa, French Polynesia
Maximum Depth: 35 feet. Total Bottom Time: 47 minutes.

With Dream Dive in Rangiroa, French Polynesia. I signed up for a few dives, but they "forced" me and a couple other novices to do a shallow exploratory dive first - wise, considering that Rangiroa is known for very strong currents. The purpose of this dive was more for the instructors to watch how we behave underwater rather than the abundant sea life. Still, some good viewing was had: a large clown fish trying desperately to hide in anemones nearly half its size, a big school of red fish that allowed me to come along side them, a huge Napoleon wrasse off in the distance lazily observing us - a tantalizing hint of the huge sea creatures that have made Rangiroa famous. It was a haunting vision since he as actually above us in depth and was nicely backlit. Some "fun" cross-cultural stuff: the pressure gauge shows bars, not psi; we had to approximate how many kilograms to put on my weight belt; I understand only portions of what the dive shop staff says. Thankfully we don't need to speak underwater as hand signals are universal. It's taken me a while to get used to the way French people say my name, with the accent on the second syllable.

Dive #9 / 25 Aug 2000 / Avatoru Pass / Rangiroa, French Polynesia
Maximum Depth: 63 feet. Total Bottom Time: 43 minutes.

The current was leaving the lagoon, so for the afternoon dive we had to stay close to the coral wall on the ocean side of the pass. As the boat left the tranquility of the inner lagoon, the ocean got much choppier. There were dolphins jumping in the ship's wake -- a beautiful sight, but the waves were getting to me and I just wanted to go in the water and descend ASAP. A backwards roll into the ocean and... calm! I'm always amazed at how violent the ocean surface can be and then it's completely calm just a few feet down. Calm and peaceful, so peaceful in fact that a pair of reef sharks didn't even phase me. They stayed quite a ways away, just close enough for me to appreciate how graceful and beautiful they really are (for some reason fear disappears when you see sharks at eye level; they're much more scary when they're underneath you and can't see them). We cruised along the reef wall and saw lots of colorful fish. A large black moray eel with white teeth. Towards the end we came upon a hawksbill turtle eating a sponge; he didn't seem to enjoy the sight of divers descending all around him with cameras. But he obliged us and kept going about his business. I wasn't at all looking forward to the prospect of having to surface and figure out a way to climb back on the boat rocking in the waves, but I managed with just a slight bruise on my left thigh. But I was still happy to stand on solid ground again after we got back.

Dive #10 / 26 Aug 2000 / Sharks Point, Tiputa Pass / Rangiroa, French Polynesia
Maximum Depth: 88 feet. Total Bottom Time: 35 minutes.

Incoming current from Tiputa Pass. According to the Lonely Planet, this dive is supposed to be for experienced divers only. But since the divemaster asked if I wanted to go, I guess I'm ready?! It was a little scary at first; Yann said the current was strong and we must descend as quickly as possible after rolling off the boat. So of course I floated! No idea why. Finally I was able to descend and join the rest of the group. One member of our group said she saw dolphins, though my eyes were locked on the sharks. A few more than yesterday, and they came a bit closer. They do look a bit more menacing as they come closer, but the overall experience was more amazement and wonder than fear. Hopefully some of the pictures will come out. The current was indeed strong. We hugged the reef wall in an effort to minimize its effects. A couple interesting stops along the drift dive were small caves. One was just large enough to shelter us and a huge school of red fish with big black eyes. On the back right side lived a huge moray eel, the biggest I've seen so far. Dark black with big white teeth. A lionfish was hiding under a nearby ledge. My air supply was running low, so I knew this dive would end with my air. We slowly ascended, the needle slowly dropped. In the end I was breathing fumes, but thankfully I was only about 5 feet below the surface at the time and rose to the surface without incident.

Dive #11 / 26 Aug 2000 / Avatoru Pass / Rangiroa, French Polynesia
Maximum Depth: 75 feet. Total Bottom Time: 37 minutes.

Back to Avatoru Pass for what was supposed to be a drift dive, but the current was nearly flat so we ended up just exploring along the coral wall. Divemaster Stefan got the ball rolling with a little shark feeding (I knew something was planned after I saw his metal prod and plastic container filled with fish chunks). He had us lie down flat along the coral , which was a little hard at times during surges. Then he opened his plastic box and wedged a big chunk of fish meat under a rock. Several sharks surrounded us, all silvertips. They came quite close and cooperated quite nicely for my photography spree! They came near enough for me to get good views of their rows of teeth; so close, in fact, that I realized they were actually getting closer than the recommended minimum distance for my underwater camera! Every now and then I'd turn over my shoulder to see one coming directly towards me; usually they would veer off once I established eye contact. Everything was so calm and controlled it was easy to sometimes lapse into a feeling of watching sharks in an aquarium behind a big wall of glass; I had to occasionally remind myself, "Hey! You're actually in the water with them! In fact, that one there is just now coming close enough to touch..."

Dive #12 / 14 June 2001 / Garden Eel Cove / Kona, Big Island
Maximum Depth: 90 feet. Total Bottom Time: 47 minutes.

After nearly 10 months since our last dives, the five of us who got our scuba certification together decided to go to the Big Island for a pair of PM dives. Kind of nice to have the whole class together again (Jeanne, Kiyomi, Rachi, Kirsten, and me). The first thing we saw on this dive was the garden eels, the namesakes of Garden Eel Cove! We descended fairly quickly and came to a sand clearing, approaching the eels from the side as we crawled along the sand. With our bodies nearly flat against the ocean floor, we slowly moved forward. The eels were visible in the distance, looking like scattered blades of grass several inches high, uniformly spaced apart, with an arch toward their heads that made them look like tiny cobras. They would drop into their holes before we could get too close, of course, but it was still mesmerizing to see them in person. Next, we moved to a head of coral that is home to a moray eel and a pair of cleaner shrimp (one was on the moray's head when we arrived!). As we slowly rose to higher depths, we encountered a healthy-sized school of Heller barracuda. Very impressive to see how they were clumped together and would move and change direction in unison. Lastly, a trio of manta rays was visible off in the distance near the surface. They weren't close enough for pictures, but it was a thrill nonetheless to finally see some in daylight hours!

Dive #13 / 14 June 2001 / off the coast of Kona / Big Island
Maximum Depth: 35 feet. Total Bottom Time: 50 minutes.

Hard to believe nearly a year has passed since my first manta ray night dive. Where does the time go? I still remember our divemaster last year saying we were lucky because the high concentration of mantas was the best they'd ever seen. Their energy was contagious, and I couldn't wait to get back into the water. This time was more subdued, and it was kinda fun to go on the manta ray night dive knowing already what to expect. Instead of just being mystified by being in the presence of these gentle giants, I could sit back and relax and concentrate on the smaller details, like the little remora fish attached to the bottom of one of the mantas, gulping furiously as the manta glided by, trying not to miss out on his share of the plankton feast. One of the mantas had a clearly abnormal serrated backside, which our instructor said was most likely caused by an attack from a tiger shark. When asked how he could possibly know what animal was responsible for that row of gashes, he said that a tiger shark was the only animal in this area capable of inflicting damage like that. It was either that, or a mako... In all, only a few mantas showed up this time. Perhaps four to six. The plankton swarms didn't seem as thick, so perhaps that's why it wasn't so "crowded" this time. But fewer mantas meant it was easier to watch them glide so gracefully through the water, something I don't think I could ever get tired of!

Dive #14 / 26 Oct 2002 / off the coast of Leone village / Tutuila, American Samoa
Maximum Depth: 60 feet. Total Bottom Time: 44 minutes.

With John of the Tutuila Dive Shop, who was nice enough to take the boat out even though I was the only one with him. "Just think of me as your alternate air source," he said as we strapped on our gear just off the coast of Leone, one of the largest villages on Tutuila. Its beautiful twin-towered white church glistened like a beacon. I had asked John to pick some relatively easy spots to dive since it's been over a year since my last one. The boat ride was a little choppy but no white caps, so relatively smooth conditions. We dropped down to about 60 feet to an immense stand of low, flathead coral and moved towards a few protruding outcrops of other species. The usual assortment of tiny colorful tropical reef fish. Nothing too terribly exciting, which is perfect for an enchanting refresher after so long. The highlight was at the very end as we made our way back to the anchor rope. Right there next to the anchor was a huge white anemone with two fist-sized clown fish dancing around it. It was a shame the dive was over as I would have just loved to spend more time watching them. Footnote: we dove with no wetsuits. Just a BCD and fins. 12 lbs weight belt. Felt very liberating not to be surrounded by neoprene! Will have to do more of this kind of diving in the future. Loved the flying fish escort on the boat ride back!

Dive #15 / 26 Oct 2002 / Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary / Tutuila, American Samoa
Maximum Depth: 60 feet. Total Bottom Time: 44 minutes.

"Have you ever gone diving alone," John asked? I wasn't sure if it was a trick question or not. The reason, I found out soon enough, was because this time John did not intend to come with me. We motored over to the Fagatele Bay National Marine Sanctuary over some beautiful colorful color heads rising just underneath the boat. Fruit bats flew around the trees along the coast. We stopped near the shore where the water depth averaged only 15 feet. John reasoned it would be a safe dive for one if I followed the coral at that depth along the east side of the bay. The water depth plunges from 15 feet near shore to more than 500 feet just a couple hundred yards off, hard to believe even though I was seeing it with my own eyes on the boat's depth gauge. John pointed to a rock formation to the south near the mouth of the bay, told me to drop to 15 feet and then slowly follow the reef, keeping an eye on the compass to make sure I was staying on course. I certainly can see why this reef was protected as a marine sanctuary! Lots of tropical reef fish. Butterfly fish, yellow tangs, a couple of parrotfish. As I got closer to the mouth of the bay and the reef got a little deeper, I knew I'd reached the end point. Proud to say I surfaced exactly where I was supposed to, coming up from under two medium-size barracuda.

Dive #15(s) / 5 Nov 2002 / channel between Ofu & Olosega / Manu'a, American Samoa

Seeing as how I came to American Samoa for some scuba diving but ended up seeing more exciting things on one of my snorkeling episodes, I wanted to make a separate log entry to always remember it by. As irony would have it -- of course -- this was the only time snorkeling in two weeks of daily forays that I did not have a camera with me (thought I'd seen everything already in this part of the world and had already packed everything away. DOH!), so in a very real sense, this page is my only recorded memory of the day. Low tide in the tiny channel between the islands of Ofu & Olosega. I had spent the other week and a half snorkeling on the reef in front of the beach that fronts the Asaga Inn. This was my first time in the channel between the islands, though. Right under the bridge supports was a beautiful scorpionfish. It was a real treat to watch him skitter across the rocks with his dorsal fin and side fins fully extended. I was close enough to closely inspect that quills for the hidden poisonous barbs. The lighting was perfect, and he sat on a rock 3-4 feet beneath the surface, literally posing for photos. I later ventured away from the bridge towards where the reef meets open ocean, as I wanted to explore what looked like a long line of stones set up in a traditional Polynesian fish trap layout. I swam along the inside wall and was surprised/delighted/shocked to discover a blacktip reef shark (4-5 feet) swimming parallel with me on the outside. Very beautiful to see how graceful sharks are in the water. He gave no indication he saw me. He turned across in front of me and disappeared. On the way back I saw the largest puffer fish I've ever seen plus two curious blue blanquilla. All in all, it would have been a spectacular dive!

Dive #16 / 8 July 2003 / Turtle Canyon / Oahu
Maximum Depth: 35 feet. Total Bottom Time: 49 minutes.

In what seems to be shaping up as an annual reunion, Jeanne and her family (in my original certification class) invited me to join them for some local diving, this time joined by her newly certified son Mitch. First time for us to use Splash Dive based out of Hawaii Kai. They use a rather large barge and visit some of the popular sites a couple miles off the southeast shore. First stop: Turtle Canyon, rather sandy bottom with scattered coral heads bottoming out at about 35 feet down. Only saw one turtle despite the dive spot's name -- but beautiful nonetheless; turtles are so calm and graceful in their natural environment. I can watch them for hours. Saw the requisite moray eels of various sizes and shapes. No monsters, but I had no idea that morays were so common in Hawaiian waters before getting my scuba license. The highlight of the dive was the two octopus encounters. Divemaster Jason stuck his hand in two separate openings in the coral (how does he know what's in there?) and gradually pulled out two small octopuses, which we could touch or have crawl on our arms. I was worried about their beaks more than anything else, but their main defense mechanism is the ink, of course, something we saw quite a lot of! Wore a short sleeve/leg wetsuit with 12 lbs of weight. Still working to cut the size of the weight belt down.

Dive #17 / 8 July 2003 / Koko Crater / Oahu
Maximum Depth: 50 feet. Total Bottom Time: 40 minutes.

"So pretty, yeah? I wish I was a fish..." -- Sarah, deck hand

After Turtle Canyon, it was off to Koko Crater, not far away. This was a little deeper, maxing out at about 50 feet. Same sandy bottom with random coral heads. First I didn't see anything impressive, but we gradually finned over to a small ledge of coral with 3 giant resting turtles. I've always heard that turtles rest on the bottom, but since I know they breathe air, and all the turtles I've ever seen in the past have been swimming, it still struck me as odd that turtles just sit on the bottom with their eyes closed. But there they were! I went to position myself directly across from one -- just a couple feet away -- and he opened his eyes slightly. But he didn't look at all disturbed by my presence; he's probably used to seeing divers by now since it's a pretty popular site. The coral ledge had a nice host of various sea creatures. Schools of red solderfish, a couple of small eels. The highlight for me was a bright green frog fish, the size of a fist. Very difficult to see at first as they blend in perfectly with their surroundings, which of course is the point; he looked like a blob of algae and seaweed. We had fun playing with him and passing him around a bit. Beautiful views of Koko Head Marina on the way in and out to sea. Will have to bring my camera next time.

Dive #18 / 22 July 2003 / Turtle Canyon / Oahu
Maximum Depth: 25 feet. Total Bottom Time: 40 minutes.

Thought it might be fun to visit the exact same dive spots a couple weeks later as an experiment of sorts -- obviously sea creatures are not going to sit patiently waiting for my return -- but how much would things change? This time I brought my camera, more so for the above-water shots of Koko Head. Well, the first obvious change was visibility. It had been windy the last couple of days and unfortunately that resulted in much more suspended sediment this time. The ocean was choppier too, but thankfully that effect is not at all pronounced under the water, which is always so calm and peaceful. Saw a turtle on the surface taking a breath right when I was ready to go into the water, but that was it as far as turtles were concerned at alleged Turtle Canyon. Went down the descent lines and found some small moray eels fairly quickly. I still can't believe how many different kinds of moray eels are out there -- various sizes and colors -- and to think that a typical snorkeler probably passes tons and has no idea that they're there; that's one benefit of diving in that you can stay under water long enough to patiently investigate all the nooks and crannies along the reef looking for something good. The highlight has a huge stonefish that I never would have seen on my own without the divemaster pointing it out. The size of a nerf football, it blended in perfectly with the background until nudged by a gauge console. To think there is enough poison on the spiked dorsal fin to kill a human!

Dive #19 / 22 July 2003 / Koko Crater / Oahu
Maximum Depth: 35 feet. Total Bottom Time: 45 minutes.

Still amazed at how easy it seems for experienced divers and instructors to find things invisible to me. Just like two weeks ago, the divemaster stuck her fingers into a very thin crack in the coral. After several minutes wondering what was going on, out came an octopus squirting ink all over the place. This one was a tiny juvenile that could fit inside a cupped hand, but the amount of ink he was able to squirt out certainly made me think it was coming from a much larger creature! The highlight of this dive was with a Hawaiian sergeant fish fiercely trying to protect her eggs. It was quite funny, really, watching a fish a few inches in length fearlessly hurl itself in my direction. It would dart out of the rocks and get to within striking distance of my mask before veering off and trying the same move again and again to try to scare me off. The eggs were a very thin purple layer coating the surrounding hole. It was cute trying to communicate under the water about these guys because there just aren't international hand signals for talking about sergeant fish trying to protect their eggs. Instructor Kyoko carefully etched M-O-M in the sand as the sergeant fish made another frenzied rush towards our masks. Wound up in the same exact spot as two weeks ago, with two turtles resting on the bottom exactly as before. It was as if they never moved. In the end, the divemaster signaled she was returning to the boat but that I could stay down longer until my gauge was at 500 psi. Another vote of confidence in my skills?

Dive #20 / 30 Sep 2003 / Chief Minister's, Grand Turk / Turks & Caicos Islands
Maximum Depth: 65 feet. Total Bottom Time: 40 minutes.

With Sea Eye on Grand Turk Island, a location I chose not only because of its world-class scuba reputation but also because of its extreme rarity on the ham radio bands (IOTA NA-003). I must also confess that the fact it is known for short boat trips was also a big selling factor as "the wall" drops to 7,000 feet very close to its shore! Went diving without a wetsuit again; I have to say it's pretty liberating. After watching some European tourists spend an eternity trying to get their wetsuits on, then their booties, gloves, and other paraphernalia, I felt great just snapping my BCD on and rolling backwards into the abyss. My first impression: salt! Is it my imagination, or is there more salt in the Atlantic than the Pacific? It was visible fine sediment hanging in the water no matter where we went, so that definitely cut visibility. But anything within close range was still vibrantly colored. After settling on the bottom to wait for the others, I watch some blindingly bright blue & yellow fish dance in & out of the fan coral. I felt like I was staring through the glass of an aquarium, only in this case the fish were cautiously looking at me so the roles were reversed. Our dive guide Mackey pointed out a little moray eel poking his head out for a look at us. I saw a turtle far ahead of us paddling to get out of our way. For me the highlight was the sandy floor covered with garden eels -- quite shallow at 35 feet. It was fun to s-l-o-w-l-y creep up on them to get as close as possible before they'd retreat inside their burrows.

Dive #21 / 30 Sep 2003 / Coral Gardens, Grand Turk / Turks & Caicos Islands
Maximum Depth: 50 feet. Total Bottom Time: 45 minutes.

Had to laugh when I first heard the name of this site, as every diving locale has a place of the same name. And of course the coral here looks like the coral everywhere else here -- that is to say beautiful. I love the purple fan coral the best. This site is best known for its resident grouper, which for reasons unknown just loves divers. Even the divemaster doesn't have an explanation, as he says no one ever feeds it. Sure enough, after flipping back into the water, I looked down and there he was, coming over to us for some attention. If ever a large fish (2 feet approx) can ever be said to enjoy posing for pictures, this was the guy. It was amazing to watch him react to us. He seemed to actually like being touched. I ran a couple fingers gently down his side because I didn't want to hurt him, but then I saw the divemaster pet him pretty firmly like a dog, so obviously my caution wasn't necessary. What was additionally amusing was that he followed us at the same distance back on the entire dive! We finned over to where the coral wall drops off into depths impossible to fathom and went poking around in nooks and crannies looking for lobster. We didn't find any of those, but we did find an enormous crab the size of a football peering out at us. As with many large sea creatures, he displayed no fear of us. I'll never grow tired of seeing that difference between snorkeling and scuba diving. Joining the sea life in its natural environment seems to render them more curious than fearful.

Dive #22 / 1 Oct 2003 / Tunnels, Grand Turk / Turks & Caicos Islands
Maximum Depth: 80 feet. Total Bottom Time: 30 minutes.

This site is so named because of a large coral arch that marks the turnaround point. After jumping overboard, I was surprised to find myself in some very strong current, so I decided to use the descent line to conserve my energy so I wouldn't have to keep kicking madly to keep from floating away. The water seemed exceptionally murky too, so this was not shaping up to be my favorite dive. Thankfully the current diminished after we hit the bottom and rounded some coral heads. A nice 2-foot barracuda followed us to the right, most likely checking out what we were looking at. We followed the coral wall until we reached the aforementioned coral arch. No big deal, to be honest; I've never been that fascinated by swimming under an unmoving arch. Lots of reef fish greeted us on the other side, a bit shallower and more sandy. And there they were again, a seabed of garden eels everywhere. I crawled along the bottom very slowly trying not to scare them, but of course most went back into their holes before I could get close enough to threaten them. Thankfully a couple brave souls kept their heads poking out from the hole entrances as I got up to a few inches away. Just the mouth and eyes were sticking out, staring at me. Very cool.

Dive #23 / 1 Oct 2003 / Library, Grand Turk / Turks & Caicos Islands
Maximum Depth: 60 feet. Total Bottom Time: 45 minutes.

Really great dive, capped by me using my film so quickly that I was out of film by the time I got to the really good stuff. Doh! Visibility was slightly better. We finned over to the wall dropoff and it was truly breathtaking. Suddenly the floor of the ocean disappeared into a deep cobalt blue. In spite of myself I ended up taking the plunge head first! It was exhilarating -- a feeling of diving into infinity, but in slow motion. We followed along the coral wall peeking under ledges looking to see who was lurking beneath, but the real treat turned out to be above me. Every now and then I take a quick look behind me, always remembering that sharks are ambush predators. Nothing behind, so I decided to do a 360 degree horizontal roll and found, much to my fear (at first) and then glee (after a couple seconds to settle down) a rather large barracuda about 10 feet above me on a parallel course. We eventually made our way back in the direction of the boat and encountered teeming schools of yellow Spanish grunts. I've always thought that schooling fish are mesmerizing -- I could have stared at them for hours. To top the dive off, I was first to spy a nice-sized grouper watching us in the distance. I slowly moved towards him, descending to just above and in front of him. It was exquisite, me hanging above him at a 45 degree angle with my face pointed down directly at his looking up at me. At one point his eyes were just a handful of inches away from mine and we just stared at each other. Simply beautiful!

Dive #24 / 2 Oct 2003 / English Point, Grand Turk / Turks & Caicos Islands
Maximum Depth: 60 feet. Total Bottom Time: 55 minutes.

This was the second choice for this morning's dive since the current was quite swift at the first choice. I was a little sad to leave the first spot since the visibility seemed to be quite nice. Oh well. The second site was tamer and featured a good mix of everything from previous Grand Turk dives this week, from garden eels to Spanish grunts, colorful purple coral to glimpses into the untold depths of the abyss over the wall. I must admit I'm starting to have fun just floating around in the water, even if there isn't anything particularly noteworthy to look at. Not sure why, but I'm really having fun observing things like a trumpetfish suspended in the water almost upside down, watching all the fish float by. In a way, it's liberating because it's something that can't be done on land, of course. But by improving my buoyancy skills, I'm learning and discovering the joys of being nearly weightless in the water. Just bought a Caribbean reef fish finder so I can list some of the ones I've seen quite a bit of here: loads of blue chromis and fairy basslets; they're particularly intriguing to watch since they don't school per se but act and move uniformly nonetheless. They'll fan out from a coral head to see who it is that approaches their turf, but they're naturally timid and all jump back behind the coral together when startled. Other creatures I happily viewed include: large bright blue tangs, squirrelfish, queen angelfish, queen parrotfish, trumpet fish, and schools of shimmering goatfish and grunts.

Dive #25 / 2 Oct 2003 / Windmills, Grand Turk (followed by Gibb's Cay) / Turks & Caicos Islands
Maximum Depth: 50 feet. Total Bottom Time: 50 minutes.

My last dive on this trip to the Turks & Caicos, so I tried to cherish each encounter. Saw not one, not two, but three barracuda all in the same general area. I used to be a little skittish around them but have seen enough on this trip to turn my fear into awe. Hung suspended in the air over a moray eel that seemed to be sunning himself on the bottom. Made for great photos as he just sat there, fully exposed, with his mouth open. Saw a hawksbill turtle that allowed me to swim parallel to him for a while. And at the end, while hanging 15 feet below the surface for the mandatory safety stop, I watched a stingray slowly maneuver across the sandy bottom below. All of this was a preview to our fantastic visit to uninhabited Gibb's Cay, off the eastern coast of Grand Turk. This is the area's "stingray city" where stingrays that have become used to people in the water will actually approach to be fed. Magnificent! I must have spent a good 2 hours in the shallow water frolicking with them. The rays feed by sucking up things with their mouth underneath. Armed with little finger fish, they were all over me. What was really the best part was copying Cal and lying on the sand on my back so I could feel the rays as they would glide over me -- really amazing to see and feel their mouths, gills, and underside as they'd glide across. Truly magnificent creatures. We also did a little amusing "game" of feeding the 3-foot long barracuda that swam in looking for his share of the feast. Using bits of fish, we got him to come as near as a couple feet away. They sure move fast when grabbing their prey!

Dive #26 / 10 June 2004 / Garden Eel Cove / Kona, Big Island
Maximum Depth: 55 feet. Total Bottom Time: 57 minutes.

Hard to believe 3 years has passed since my last trip to the Big Island. Once again our scuba certification class is reconvening for the famous manta dive off the Kona coast. Wanting to get as much for our money as possible, we signed up for a two tank dive, one day/one night, in the same spot. This turned out to be exactly the same place as 3 years ago. But -- just like it is impossible to stick your hand in the same river twice, diving in the same spot is never quite the same either. Our guide said he saw a 10-foot tiger shark earlier in the day, but this dive was dominated by all the little creatures. I don't remember seeing so many yellow tangs before, for example. Lots of peculiar longnose butterfly fish too. Peacock groupers (about 1 foot max) imported from French Polynesia were a common sight. The dive got better as it went on. Returning to the direction of the boat, we came across a green sea turtle. Then another. A couple small moray eels peeked at us from nooks and crannies. My favorite was a beautiful black/green undulated eel a couple feet long, gasping menacingly from between two rocks. Not nearly as menacing as the dark green crown of thorns starfish perched right above him. Lastly, the highlight of the dive for me: a huge manta ray passed over us on the surface above, framed by the rays of the setting sun and perfectly backlit. Absolutely breathtaking! And to think I almost left my camera at home since I had already dived this place before...

Dive #27 / 10 June 2004 / Manta Heaven / Kona, Big Island
Maximum Depth: 35 feet. Total Bottom Time: 50 minutes.

The world famous manta dive, for my third time! Even though it's not as magical as the first time, it's still such a haunting and riveting sight that it's hard not to just stare and gape in awe. The setting is almost like an eerie underwater cathedral -- nothing about the setting is natural, from the bright flashlights tied together to attract plankton to the huge gathering of humans sitting in a grand circle breathing air 30 feet below the surface. But of course this is still a very natural and wild environment. The point of attracting as much plankton as possible is, of course, because that's what the manta rays eat. But nothing says they have to show up, and indeed this time only a single manta showed himself. The good news is that he stayed the entire time, nearly always close enough to touch, scooping up mouthful after mouthful of plankton as he glided over the blazing lights. Everything was visible, from the lazy arcs and swoops that encircled us to the slow approach to the lights, how his mouth would open wide - the various ridges inside showing fantastic detail, then passing overhead, mouth closing to flush excess water out through rippling layers of gills, then feasting on the remaining plankton. We watched this single manta feed for nearly 45 minutes, and time passed by incredibly quickly. Moray eels come out of their hiding places at night, so it was fun to see them in such abundance as well. Sometimes they crawl around divers just to check out what's happening. Luckily this was covered in our briefing, so I was not taken too aback by the sight of a rather large eel appearing in my field of view without warning - crossing left to right - mere inches from my face.

Dive #28 / 25 Sep 2004 / Black Coral Canyon / Salt Cay, Turks & Caicos
Maximum Depth: 130 feet! Total Bottom Time: 36 minutes.

"Did anyone else get narc'd?" -- one diver
"My dive computer sucks. It says that I'm dead" -- second diver

With Salt Cay Divers, Kevin divemaster. Had so much fun last year on Grand Turk that I decided to come over again this year. Only this time there was no room at the place on Grand Turk I stayed at last year, so had to switch gears to much smaller and much more laid-back Salt Cay. Just four miles long with 60 people at most, it feels like I've dropped off the edge of the world. No TV. No internet. Radio stations from the Dominican Republic (in Spanish!). Hurricanes pound the area and head to the US Southeast in one of the worst storm seasons in memory. By far the deepest dive I've ever done. Diving head first down a gap in the coral wall made it feel like we were sliding into the abyss in a luge. Not too many fish, this was more for the elaborate fan coral and the occasional grouper. Experienced my first and hopefully last flirtation with nitrogen narcosis -- don't know how to describe it other than to say I sensed something was suddenly different. Not bad. Not good. Just off. As I'm not a big fan of any kind of mind alteration, I was relieved to leave that depth behind after a few minutes. Enjoyed a seemingly infinite swarm of 2-inch translucent jellyfish as we hung on the safety bar to get our bodies ready to surface. We played with them for a while (thankfully not a stinging variety).

Dive #29 / 25 Sep 2004 / The Rockery / Salt Cay, Turks & Caicos
Maximum Depth: 80 feet. Total Bottom Time: 38 minutes.

The Rockery consists of a sandy bottom with various clumps of rocks, coral, and ledges for creatures to hide under. We hoped to find some nurse sharks, but no such luck. I did spy a blacktip reef shark cruising along the wall drop off. He didn't stay long once he saw the size of our group, however, so I was lucky to catch a glimpse of him before the others arrived and he disappeared into the blue. The rest of the dive was leisurely spent poking around the various coral formations and seeing & photographing the usual Caribbean reef fish: trumpet fish, parrot fish, wrasses and mini groupers, squirrelfish, and the most dazzling queen angelfish I've ever seen. Even saw a pair of huge triggerfish, which reminded me of Hawaii except these fish were much larger and more colorful than the ones so commonly seen back home. No doubt that's due to the fact that there's a lot less pressure on the reef environment off an island with 60 residents and virtually no tourists vs. an island of a million people with millions of tourists more!

Dive #30 / 26 Sep 2004 / Tunnels / Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos
Maximum Depth: 80 feet. Total Bottom Time: 34 minutes.

Funny that I stayed on Salt Cay to supposedly do something different, but I ended up back at the same place off the coast of Grand Turk! Oh well. I didn't mind considering the sites here are superior to the ones I've seen so far on Salt Cay and the boat ride across the 8 miles of open ocean between the two was pleasant enough. We started off at Tunnels, so named for the big arch swim through that leads directly to the wall drop off on the other side. This was my first encounter with a nurse shark, a small one just resting under a ledge. Two feet long at most, but I was still excited because it's always fun to see new creatures in the wild for the first time. As we hung along the wall peeking in various holes and caverns looking for surprises, we found a huge fat dark green moray eel. Opening and closing his mouth and breathing slowly, it was is if he was just resting there, posing for pictures. Afterwards we headed over to Grand Turk for the much-deserved surface interval where we feasted on gigantic cheeseburgers and got a chance to check email and enjoy other signs of civilization. Perspective is an interesting concept - last year Grand Turk looked like the end of the Earth, and now compared to Salt Cay it seemed like a beacon of modernity!

Dive #31 / 26 Sep 2004 / Coral Gardens / Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos
Maximum Depth: 65 feet. Total Bottom Time: 40 minutes.

A real sense of deja-vu as we back rolled off the boat and quickly encountered Alexander, the big grouper that delighted us last year and ended up being the subject of my nice VP5/AH6HY QSL card. It was amusing to be in exactly the same place an entire year later and see the exact same fish. Only this time there were 3 groupers! They stayed with the dive group as if they were part of the team, sometimes getting in the way. But they were cute, coming right up to us and letting us pet them. Maybe they thought we were cleaners? They seem to like being stroked. In all, I ended up using nearly all of my 36 exposure roll of film on just these guys since they were so photogenic! Came back to the boat and saw first hand one of the hazards of this area: divemaster Kevin backed up the boat into a rock and badly bent one of the 3 propeller blades. Back to shore on Grand Turk to get a replacement, which thankfully they had, before speeding back across the channel to Salt Cay.

Dive #32 / 27 Sep 2004 / HMS Endymion / Turks Island Passage, Turks & Caicos
Maximum Depth: 40 feet. Total Bottom Time: 65 minutes.

HMS Endymion, 983 tons, 300 crew, 140 feet long. Sank in 1790 in 40 feet of water. All that's left over after nearly 215 years on the bottom are the 4 anchors and assorted cannons and other debris. Getting to the site was quite an adventure in itself. From Salt Cay it lies due south, past Great Sand Cay and then a few miles beyond into the open ocean using a portable GPS instrument to pinpoint the spot. Thank God for dramamine... My first wreck dive! I hadn't planned on any wreck dives on this trip but was talked into it by the near pristine reef (obviously the cause of the wreck in the first place!). It was amazing! Probably the best dive I've been on in terms of new & exciting. It was like jumping into an aquarium, which was a very welcome relief from the heaving swells on the surface. Purple sea fans were everywhere! I can never get enough of their intricate beauty. Fire coral was also abundant, so I made sure not to touch anything. Greens, yellows, oranges, and reds -- the perfect colorful backdrop to the purple fans and multitudes of glistening blue tangs. It was almost like a canvas of chaotic spilled paint. Saw the largest spiny lobsters I've ever seen; a cluster of specimens nearly 2 feet long were peeking out from the crevices of the boiler. Large hogfish, queen parrotfish, and queen triggerfish nibbled along the mini walls. Hovered a few feet over the anchors to fully appreciate the enormity of their size before dropping back down to touch this piece of history in person.

Dive #33 / 28 Sep 2004 / The Rockery / Salt Cay, Turks & Caicos
Maximum Depth: 75 feet. Total Bottom Time: 57 minutes.

After yesterday's trip to the HMS Endymion, this was bound to be a bit of a disappointment. Nothing earth shattering here, just a spell of cruising along the wall looking for goodies in the nooks & crannies. Saw a beautiful bright juvenile queen angelfish, less than an inch long, peeking shyly from a protective hole. Ironically the best part of the dive was the endless sea of translucent walnut-size jellyfish that were EVERYWHERE at the depth of our 15 foot safety stop. At one point I flipped upside down and enjoyed the backlighting from the sun above, hovering motionless in suspended animation with the jellyfish all around me. Positioning one right in front of my mask brought such amazing detail -- the pulsating movement and what appears to be rhythmic internal runway lights. It was fun to push and prod them with my waterlogged fingers.

Dive #34 / 28 Sep 2004 / Rock's Paradise / Salt Cay, Turks & Caicos
Maximum Depth: 40 feet. Total Bottom Time: 68 minutes.

I loved the name of this site; it certainly generates lots of pre-dive potential! The briefing detailed a plan to explore the wall and then end the dive at a massive triple coral head, which is frequented by fish big and small. The only treasure discovered along the wall this time was a massive spiny lobster. I can't believe how big they are throughout the Turks & Caicos Islands! They're HUGE! And no doubt would be quite a tasty treat for lots of predators, including man. Hence all the spiny protection. Saw a pretty queen angel as well. The coral heads were amazing! A medium-sized, camera shy grouper watched us explore. Tons of little & medium sized reef fish played around the colorful fan, barrel, and brain corals. Trumpet fish, loads of fairy basslets, graysby, trunkfish, squirrelfish, parrotfish, grunts, and blue tangs. Saw a pretty rock beauty as well. Tried to trick a cleaner shrimp out of its hole by sticking my face very close to him, but he wouldn't bite. Literally. Still, it's quite fascinating to come eye to eye with some of the tiniest reef dwellers for a close-up look at their micro world.

Dive #35 / 29 Sep 2004 / Northwest Wall / Salt Cay, Turks & Caicos
Maximum Depth: 100 feet. Total Bottom Time: 70 minutes.

My last day of diving in Salt Cay. For the past week I've woken up to an alarm and walked nearly a mile from the Sunset Reef to Salt Cay Divers. Passed the strange odors of stagnant salinas, the braying of donkeys & calls of roosters echoing across the ponds. Across the street from the "white house" (the old salt baron's place) constructed in 1840. Hearing the daily singing of the schoolchildren as they start their day inside the protective shade of the Balfour Library, and then onward by various government offices, clinics, and residences, nearly all closed and boarded up. Salt Cay feels like a ghost town in many respects, and I'll be glad to leave to get back to civilization. Though I will definitely miss those quiet morning walks. Northwest Wall -- a great way to begin my last day here. Went down to 100 feet at one point but spent most of my time between 40 - 70 feet. Found a massive green moray eel about 75 feet down posing nicely for photos. A large barracuda suddenly appeared above us to see what we were doing, then was gone as quickly. Closer to the top of the wall and the explosion of colorful tiny reef fish. I love the yellow/black contrast of the rock beauties, the purple, yellow, and orange of the queen angels, and the odd white & black spotted drum, with what appears to be a giant horn of a fin topping his head, looking like some sort of freakish aquatic rhino.

Dive #36 / 29 Sep 2004 / Kelly's Folly / Salt Cay, Turks & Caicos
Maximum Depth: 40 feet. Total Bottom Time: 65 minutes.

For my last dive on this trip, I asked Kevin to take me to "someplace colorful". Kelly's Folly did not disappoint. Starting with the swarms of what seemed like millions of the transparent jellyfish that have delighted us this whole week, and even a couple moon jellies that we played with by placing our hands on top of their domes -- the same size as our outstretched hands & fingers -- and watching them pulsate against us. Very cool! This is a rather shallow dive, lots of coral heads and holes & ledges for critters to hide in. Found a couple large groupers peering out. An enormous crab about a foot long including legs was holed up waiting for something interesting to swim by. Loved swimming in and around and among the schools of yellow goatfish and French grunts. And was delighted to suddenly be surrounded by a school of Bermuda chub, rather large by comparison to the other schooling fish I'd seen so far. Each larger than a football and looking very much like piranha, I'm sure this would have been a much more terrifying experience if I had been submerged in the Amazon! Ended the dive feeling like I plunged into an aquarium -- schools of Uzbek tile-like bright blue fish circulating around and in front of me as I readied my ascent.

Dive #37 / 3 Aug 2005 / Airplane Canyon / Waianae, Oahu
Maximum Depth: 110 feet. Total Bottom Time: 35 minutes.

Something old, something new... with Jeanne and her family again, but this time we were headed for the west side. Jeanne's daughter Kiyomi is getting married this weekend, so they've got lots of out-of-town guests to entertain. So we were joined by former roommate Cari and cousin Lani to start the day off at Airplane Canyon off the Waianae Coast. I was a little disappointed to hear the Beech plane wreck we would be visiting at about 80-90 feet under the surface was placed there intentionally to begin an artificial reef. Something seems wrong with "artificial" and "reef" in the same sentence. But it was nice to see a huge school of grunts hovering over the plane. Lots of little fish poking in and out. Got some great pics of an octopus that the divemaster yanked from its hiding place. But the most dramatic vision here was the medium-size eel posing for pictures with a cleaner shrimp doing his business. Got lots of good shots of him. A small sailboat hull was sunk recently next to the plane but not long enough yet under the water to have any significant coral growth. A few turtles were also seen.

Dive #38 / 3 Aug 2005 / Star / Makaha, Oahu
Maximum Depth: 60 feet. Total Bottom Time: 45 minutes.

Then to this, our second dive of the day, our surface interval spent cruising north along the Leeward Coast to just north of Makaha - a dive site called "Star". This one consisted of nearly identical fauna as the last site: lots of octopus -- I'm always amazed at how the largest of these is able to wedge itself into such tiny crevices and holes. A few more moray eels to complement the scenery and perhaps the largest green turtle I've ever seen came out from under a ledge and swam right beside me. His main body seemed to nearly match my own in size! He was massive. Bet he has a lot of stories from his life to share. Lots of lava tubes and arches to swim through and under, including one time lying flat on my belly skimming the sand to the other side.

Dive #39 / 13 Sep 2005 / RMS Rhone (bow section) / Salt Island, British Virgin Islands
Maximum Depth: 74 feet. Total Bottom Time: 38 minutes.

The signature dive of the British Virgin Islands, the RMS Rhone, a royal mail steam ship that floundered and sank off Salt Island in a hurricane on October 29, 1867. Crew of 300, all but 6 of whom perished. The movie "The Deep" was filmed at this wreck site. The wreck is so large and so scattered that two dives are necessary to take it all in. The first covers the (deeper) bow section; the second examines the stern. We started by dropping down to the anchors lying prone and coral-encrusted in the sand. Then we slowly finned along the bottom towards what was first a dark haze that quickly solidified into dramatic ship "ribs" poking up from the sand. Kind of looked like a dead whale on a beach, bones bleached in the sun. Only this was half a ship, 70 feet down, ribs reaching desperately to the reflection of the sun on the surface above. Actually this is a series of deck supports since the ship lies on its side on the bottom. Past the skeletal remains of the exterior and in to the body of the ship itself. Mostly pitch black, but enough light streaking through to make the occasional illumination possible. The largest lobster I've ever seen -- the length of my fully extended arm! -- manned the far forward section. Gigantic schools of backlit 1-inch shimmering silversides pulsated above us and ahead, leading the way out. Skimming along the top portion of the wreck, eyeing the row of portals -- some even with intact glass! Then dropping head first through the escape hatch and making our way back to the dive boat. Perhaps best of all, I had the whole wreck virtually to myself! The wonders that await the off-season diver...

Dive #40 / 13 Sep 2005 / RMS Rhone (stern section) / Salt Island, British Virgin Islands
Maximum Depth: 72 feet. Total Bottom Time: 48 minutes.

After exploring the bow and appropriate surface interval, it was time to check out the stern. What an amazing dive! Seriously, as I found myself hovering over a ship's skeleton extending in all directions as far as the eye could see, I realized I had found a specimen of the perfect dive. And there was sea life here too: a flounder that perfectly camouflaged itself on one of the rusted ribs, a stingray flapping lazily across my field of view from left to right. Soldierfish and squirrelfish were everywhere, some with prehistoric-looking isopods attached to their bodies. Highlights of the dive include passing through an enormous exploded boiler, spying a piece of checkerboard tiling that used to be part of the ship's dance floor, and rubbing the surrounding casing of "lucky" portal #26, believed to be the "honeymoon suite" on the ship. Its glass remains intact to this day, though not so for the rest of the portals lined up in a spooky row. I found these to be one of the most fascinating elements of these dives: the portals, most open to the elements now, surrounded by coral growth, but still easily discernable. Over the water pump and lifeboat winches and into the middle of a field of debris impossible to describe. A little swim-through and then turning back around to see what remains of the ship's giant propeller. Simply breathtaking! Back to shore to enjoy a nice lunch at Pusser's: conch chowder followed by jerk chicken. Later back at Sebastian's on the Beach to watch "Titanic", which thankfully I had the foresight to bring. The similarities were gripping: the ship lying in two major pieces (bow & stern) in different places on the ocean floor. And of course that it was a tomb for some. I was luckier, getting to fall asleep to the sound of the ocean lapping the shore a few feet away. A truly perfect day.

Dive #41 / 14 Sep 2005 / Carrot Shoal / Peter Island, British Virgin Islands
Maximum Depth: 62 feet. Total Bottom Time: 48 minutes.

Just off the coast of Peter Island lies Carrot Shoal, visible by looking directly below the boat to where the water color changes. The dive consists of making a slow right hand circle out to the end of the shoal and back to the boat again by returning on the opposite side. As soon as we started to descend I saw what looked like a shadow moving across the murky waters at the top of the shoal. After we dropped down further and I looked up, I got a better view with a bit of backlighting: a reef shark! The notch in the tail gave it away as he swooped his way out of view. The top of the shoal is covered with fire coral, so I did my best to keep away, making sure to position the divemaster between me and the coral at all times. :) Saw some pretty large dog snappers, a pair of semi-rare spotted spiny lobsters under a ledge, and a beautiful queen angelfish -- always a treat on any dive. I can watch them for hours! The dive ended with us being surrounded by a small school of purple creole wrasses, all swimming and turning in unison. Can't complain about having a sendoff like that! As we ascended in a cloud of large moon jellyfish, I did my best to keep from touching the sides and played with a couple by palming and poking them gently from the top.

Dive #42 / 14 Sep 2005 / Coral Gardens, Dead Chest North / British Virgin Islands
Maximum Depth: 40 feet. Total Bottom Time: 48 minutes.

Last dive for my quick visit to the BVI. Above water, this little island is famous for a story involving Blackbeard the Pirate, who reportedly marooned a group of suspected mutineers on her shores with nothing but a bottle of rum. Eventually the group tried to swim to larger next-door Norman Island, but most drowned. The lovely white sand beach facing us from Norman is now called Dead Men's Bay as a result. The dive was easy. Lots of various colored brain, barrel, and fan corals. Primarily reef fish, as expected. Beautiful queen angelfish and giant queen humu with striking purple stripes. I tailed a rather large (size of a big dinner plate!) French angelfish for a while as he made his rounds. The definite highlight was the 4-foot nurse shark sitting on the sand underneath a ledge. I came up pretty close to him, just enough to make him shift positions, before deciding I should move off. Overall I was very impressed with Dive Tortola, the company I signed up with this time. They were very attentive (no doubt helped by the fact I was the only one there most of the time. I love off season!) and clearly concerned with safety. In addition to a descent line and hang bar positioned 15 feet below the surface, they also hooked up an extra regulator to hang at the safety stop as well in case anyone needed extra air before returning to the surface. Very thorough concern for the well being of their divers was evident at every step.

Dive #43 / 1 May 2006 / Buck's Reef, between Apolima & Manono Islands / Samoa
Maximum Depth: 57 feet. Total Bottom Time: 45 minutes.

Back in the metric zone, so need 5 kilos in weight. With Brian and Amy for a one-week stay in Apia at the Vaiala Beach Cottages. Decided to get at least one day of diving in, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of dive operators on the island to choose from. Went with AquaSamoa since they seemed to have a better web presence. Went out with instructor Barry, just the two of us in the water. Brought the digital camera as well. This dive was the "micro" dive of today's two because I really tried to take pictures of the small critters. Unfortunately fish don't always stay motionless for pictures, so this proved to be annoyingly difficult at times given the slight delay in digital cameras from the time you push the shutter release until the time the picture actually is taken. The best results were my pictures of the longnose butterflyfish, bright yellow and striking in appearance against a rather dull coral background. Also got a few keepable shots of clownfish and their attendant anemones since they tended to stick to the same spot which makes picture taking easier. Other favorite views on the dive were the trio of French angelfish moving in front of us in perfect unison, and the several lively schools of Pacific half & half chromis, their little black & white contrasting halves always give them such a sharp contrast against whatever backdrop is behind them. Saw a nice peacock grouper too, which is always a treat.

Dive #44 / 1 May 2006 / Laumei (Turtle) Canyon, between Apolima & Manono Islands / Samoa
Maximum Depth: 53 feet. Total Bottom Time: 47 minutes.

In one of the more interesting surface intervals I've ever had, we went "turtle hunting" on our way to Laumei (Turtle) Canyon. The boat was steered into clumps of sea grass floating on the ocean surface, which apparently is quite the delicacy for the green turtles since they were everywhere! I've never seen so many, far too many to keep track of. Too bad this was all from the surface, so all we really got to see was a lot of turtles diving quickly as we glided through the water. Still, it was an impressive sight as the water was blue and clear enough to see their mottled green oval shapes descend way down into the deep. This was the "macro" dive since my digital camera batteries died fairly early on (reminder: always start with fresh batteries before each dive day! Duh), so without a camera to worry about I just swam and enjoyed the view. Saw a couple turtles far off in the distance, several spadefish, but the highlight was the blacktip reef shark that made a lazy pass in front and below us from left to right. He gave no indication that he even saw us, just gracefully eased on by. Sharks truly are the most graceful and efficient swimmers in the ocean. I never get tired of just watching them while hanging suspended in the water in mid ocean.

Dive #45 / 26 Sep 2006 / Wreck Alley / British Virgin Islands
Maximum Depth: 81 feet. Total Bottom Time: 36 minutes.

Back in the British Virgin Islands almost exactly a year later. The Rhone wreck captivated me so much last year that I had to come back again. But that specific site will have to wait until later in the week; today was devoted to new discoveries. We started off at Wreck Alley, a dive the makes it possible to see 3 wrecks at once. Unlike the Rhone, however, these boats were deliberately sunk. Strange to see multiple ghostly images of ship carcasses appear gradually from the deep blue. Honestly, artificial wrecks don't have much emotional impact for me, so I used this dive to reaquaint myself with my "new" underwater Cybershot digital camera. It worked absolutely fantastically, I'm happy to report. Not unexpectedly, the highlights of this dive were natural, not man made. Two gigantic French angelfish were clearly at home in the tugboat wreck, weaving their way in and out of the portals and doorways. At the far end of the former interisland cargo ship was a stretch of flat sand that housed one of the largest stingrays I've ever seen, half buried but with his eyes openly protruding, watching. Keeping in mind what recently happened with Steve Irwin at the hands of a stingray, I gave him a wide berth even though they are generally nonthreatening creatures. The words of boat captain Hillary rang in my ears: "Don't get complacent. The sea can be a harsh beast."

Dive #46 / 26 Sep 2006 / Vanishing Rock, between Cooper & Salt Islands / British Virgin Islands
Maximum Depth: 39 feet. Total Bottom Time: 70 minutes.

Vanishing Rock -- I love the sound of this dive site, so named because its prominent feature is the pinnacle that pierces the surface at high tide. Just barely. Located in the small channel between Cooper and Salt Islands. It's always a good sign when the person in charge of the dive is excited about the spot and can't wait to get wet, so I knew this was going to be a good one! Currents can be difficult so this spot doesn't get a lot of traffic, which is always a nice treat. And it's a relatively shallow dive, so LOTS of bottom time to take it all in! This is a great dive for colorful fish & corals. Lots of ledges and underhangs to peek under. Brain coral, fan coral, tube coral, and a colony of pillar coral so elaborate it looks like a miniature underwater version of Bryce Canyon. Schools of grunts, soldierfish, squirrelfish. A lone pufferfish swam next to me, completely without fear (just once I'd like to scare one of these enough to make it want to inflate). One of the strangest sightings was a green turtle with two large ramoras attached to the top of its shell. Can't say I've ever seen that before. Saw a couple giant spiny lobster under a ledge, getting me in the mood for lunch. Speaking of which, I dined on black bean soup and grouper sandwich at Pusser's in Road Town, then back to Sebastian's on the Beach to put VP2V/AH6HY on the air for the first time.

Dive #47 / 27 Sep 2006 / Blonde Rock / British Virgin Islands
Maximum Depth: 56 feet. Total Bottom Time: 54 minutes.

Ironically Blonde Rock played a role in the tragic sinking of the RMS Rhone, for it was in attempting to avoid Blonde Rock that the Rhone struck Black Rock instead, sending it to the bottom of the ocean. Lots of light colored sea plants waving in the current, which I thought was the namesake of this site only to find out later that it's supposedly named for the abundance of yellow-colored fire coral. Oops. Not a lot of color on this dive, but I got some nice closeup pictures: a really good portrait of a spotted graysby that was content to just sit there and stare back at me no matter how close I got. Also got a really nice closeup of a rock beauty; that made me really happy because they tend to be very skittish and are definitely not the kind of fish that enjoys posing for pictures. Also got a shot of a spiny lobster -- I'm always floored by how gigantic the lobsters get here. I guess that's what happens when the taking of lobsters is made illegal -- they are free to grow to enormous proportions.

Dive #48 / 27 Sep 2006 / Painted Walls / British Virgin Islands
Maximum Depth: 45 feet. Total Bottom Time: 45 minutes.

This was supposed to be an easy dive, but the water was a bit choppy during the surface interval and I was feeling really queazy by the time I got back in the water. Took a few minutes of the relative calmness underwater for me to start feeling better. Nothing is worse than the feeling you might throw up in your regulator, that's for sure. At least scuba certification training includes what to do in that very scenario so the confidence that I'd be OK even in the worst case scenario was actually enough to start making me feel better, thankfully. This site gets its name from the colorful collection of soft corals and sponges that line the steep vertical rock walls in certain places. Lots of oranges, reds, yellows. Even some blue & green thrown in at random intervals. Lots of little fish everywhere. Saw a trio of horse-eye jacks swimming towards me, which I thought was a little strange; usually the bigger stuff keeps a safe distance away lest they be the next contribution to the food chain. And speaking of sea creatures coming towards us, saw a fearless hawksbill turtle do that as well. According to Hillary, that's typcial hawksbill behavior. Green turtles are the ones who usually bolt. I didn't know that each turtle species had distinctive behaviors.

Dive #49 / 28 Sep 2006 / RMS Rhone (bow section) / Salt Island, British Virgin Islands
Maximum Depth: 80 feet. Total Bottom Time: 41 minutes.

Almost a year later and I'm back 80 feet below the surface of the ocean hovering over the haunting image of the broken Rhone again. I didn't have a camera with me on that last visit, and wanting to photograph this immense wreck was actually the main reason for my return trip to the British Virgin Islands again this year. Shot nearly 150 pictures in the two dives today. That averages out to nearly one every 30 seconds over the entire time underwater on both dives. I couldn't help myself; I wanted to somehow capture EVERYTHING about what it was like to be there. The mystery was gone this time as this wasn't my first visit to the ship, but that didn't stop the feeling of wonder. Tried to make sure I got good pictures by doing everything multiple times ... some shots with flash, some without. Some from far away, some close. Very pleased with the results. Hillary took me through the side of the hull into the interior of the ship for a sizeable length which was a nice variation from last time, when we dove through an open hatch and entered the hull from the top. Got a scare when I realized I hadn't been paying attention to my rapidly dwindling air supply and had to make a hasty retreat back to the boat when I saw it already down to 300psi. Yikes. Must... remain... calm. Thankfully an extra oxygen bottle was thoughtfully attached to the safety bar at 15 feet. Whew. Thank God for small favors. "Worth every breath," Hillary later said. I couldn't agree more.

Dive #50 / 28 Sep 2006 / RMS Rhone (stern section) / Salt Island, British Virgin Islands
Maximum Depth: 68 feet. Total Bottom Time: 41 minutes.

Hillary stayed on board for the stern dive so Jenny jumped in as my buddy. She borrowed Hillary's underwater tablet and turned out to be quite the chatterbox, if you can be such a thing underwater. Had to laugh at her running commetary. "Get good photos," she wrote about 20 feet down, as if I would need the reminder. Saw the usual circuit of points of interest, starting with the gigantic ribs splayed out over the ocean floor like an artichoke fillet, then moving up to the propeller shaft, gearbox, and finally the swim through over the massive 15 foot propeller itself. Found the black & white checkerboard dancefloor piece, still lying there where it was a year earlier. Also the the intact glass of the honeymoon suite portal, rubbed to an almost shine for good luck by myriads of previous divers. A real treat was the colony of sergeant majors who had laid their eggs in round purple clusters all over the hull, each guarded dutifully by one of the parents. Is there a better example of the fact that life will always find a way to continue even in the face of unspeakable tragedy? "Imagine this at night," Jenny wrote furiously, sticking the tablet in front of my mask to make sure I'd see. Yes Jen, I can imagine.

Dive #51 / 7 Apr 2007 / Labyrinth / Lighthouse Bay, Exmouth, Western Australia
Maximum Depth: 43 feet. Total Bottom Time: 45 minutes.

One of my least favorite dives, which was not a good way to get back into scuba diving after a several month long break. The water was rich with view-killing nutrients from this week's algae and coral spawning, which left lots of thick matter floating around at all depths. That's to be expected, I guess, since I have come to this part of the world to view the whale sharks that are attracted by this sort of natural phenomena. I've regretfully discovered that great whale shark conditions do not equal great scuba diving conditions, that's for sure! This coupled with the hordes of Australian students and families traveling during Easter break meant a very crowded dive boat. Twenty divers in all, kicking up lots of sand & sediment to further impede views. And ours was just one of many boats out there. It was like trying to take photographs through sandpaper at times. Saw one sleeping turtle who literally had his head shoved under a piece of coral for leverage, a tiny octopus out in the open trying different camouflage patterns to blend in with the sand & rocks, and the largest school of Moorish idols I've ever seen. I sat on me knees motionless on the bottom while they swirled near me. Very cool. But in the end, I was just happy to get back to the boat.

Dive #52 / 7 Apr 2007 / Blizzard Ridge / Lighthouse Bay, Exmouth, Western Australia
Maximum Depth: 46 feet. Total Bottom Time: 49 minutes.

Still had to contend with the floating sediment and being repeatedly bumped by the crowds of other divers (thus reinforcing why I go to the Caribbean during hurricane season so I can have the reefs to myself!), but this dive was much more pleasant that the first. Lots of sea life to keep my attention. Started off immediately with my first ever sea snake (light olive green color) followed quickly by a couple of whitetip reef sharks resting on the sandy bottom. Always good to get the adrenaline running! Tried to crawl up to them slowly on my belly but they swam off before I could get too close. Found a really pretty black nudibranch with bright red flecks & streaks. A beautiful small green moray eel with jaws wide open showing off his bright white teeth. Lots of lively schools of fish, especially babies & juveniles -- sometimes so thick I had to sweep my hand in front of my face just to clear them out of the way. Their constant presence made taking pictures of anything else quite challenging, but it was quite exhilarating to be surrounded by so much pulsating life on all sides. Saw lots of old standbys -- Moorish idols, peacock groupers, and some new stuff too, like the school of shimmering semi-transparent fish with black fin trails on top & bottom; I'll have to look up what those are called later. Lots of bluespot butterfly fish, which I also found to be particularly striking.

Dive #52(s) / 6 Apr 2007 / Whale Shark Viewing / Exmouth, Western Australia

WHALE SHARKS!
"How long do you have to wait after eating before going in the water?" -- Brad, crew member
"Two minutes" -- Brad, answering his own question, thus starting a chaotic scramble on board to find gear and get everyone ready for whale sharks!

Not a true dive, but since seeing whale sharks was the entire reason why I had come to this part of the world in the first place, I thought the adventure deserved a separate log entry even if the only equipment worn in the ocean was a wetsuit and a snorkel. Ningaloo Reef off the coast of Western Australia is one of the only areas of the world where whale sharks appear with regularity at certain times of year, making such encounters predictably possible. What could I possibly write to fully capture what it's like to be in the water right next to the world's largest fish? Words will always fail to describe the experience fully. A few random thoughts: they're absolutely breathtaking to watch, amazingly graceful considering their size. It seems that the larger the fish, the less it has to move to propel itself through the water. Compared to hyperactive reef fish, watching a whale shark slice through the water is akin to deep meditation. I don't even remember breathing. You wouldn't think it, but even these massive creatures have a way of completely sneaking up on you by surprise. Happened more than once, actually. One moment, there's nothing but blue. Then suddenly a massive whale shark covers most of your field of vision off to the right side. How long had it been there? I swear it wasn't there a second ago. On another occasion I saw nothing but a giant mouth appear eerily from the murk heading straight towards me -- I could see nothing else of the whale shark since it was coming directly at me. Had to make some quick kicks sideways to make sure I would be well clear of its path by the time it got to where I was, which was all of just a few seconds. I'm sure the shark would have turned on its own before coming into contact with me, but I didn't want to leave anything to chance. It's also interesting to see how many other sea creatures follow these gigantic beasts along their journeys through the ocean. One had the largest ramora I'd ever seen free swimming underneath it, large enough for me to think it was an accompanying blacktip shark at first. Another had an enormous ball of reef fish flitting about just in front of its gaping mouth; as he crossed directly in front of me from left to right I was actually able to see his eye pivot and size me up before he continued on. Yes, I was close enough to a whale shark in the wild to actually see its tiny eye shift and focus on its surroundings -- that's a dream experience if there ever was one! Lots of companies do whale shark tours; I used Ningaloo Blue both times. Loved the service, including fruit snacks at several points during the day as well as a sumptuous lunch buffet served on board consisting of various coldcuts, cheeses, salads, tuna, and chicken. At the end of the day they give you a nice souvenir to certify you've swum with the largest fish in the world. Even got a nice chocolate Easter egg on the bus ride back since it's now Easter weekend. Ningaloo Blue also offers free internet access to anyone booking with them, which is something I gratefully took advantage of during each day of my stay in Exmouth.

Dive #53 / 9 Apr 2007 / The Canyon / Coral Bay, Western Australia
Maximum Depth: 34 feet. Total Bottom Time: 51 minutes.

I guess the name "Coral Bay" isn't a misnomer; have to say I enjoyed the dives here much much more than the ones in Exmouth a couple days ago. Much more and varied coral and better visibility, though still far from ideal. Much smaller crowd too, thankfully, as only six of us were in the boat with divemaster Darren. Started off small with a vibrantly colored nudibranch and one of the smallest moray eels I've ever seen -- striking bright white color caught my eye despite his tiny size of just a couple inches. The highlight was definitely the gray reef shark cleaning station. One moment, we're just finning slowly through the murky soup, the next minute there are ghostly shark outlines zipping back and forth just beyond the field of view ahead. Every now and then one would veer close enough to break through the haze just enough for me to see the its shimmering silky coloring, but for the most part the sharks remained tantalizingly at the outer edge of visibility. They were quite numerous, too many to count as they swirled in and out of view. A couple turtles on the way back to round out a very pleasant time underwater.

Dive #54 / 9 Apr 2007 / Lottie's Lagoon / Coral Bay, Western Australia
Maximum Depth: 35 feet. Total Bottom Time: 54 minutes.

Really nice dive with lots of variety. Mostly sandy bottom, which at first didn't seem like a plus but actually worked out quite nicely since it was easy to stop and either sit down or use one hand to anchor myself while trying to get some good closeup photographs. Lovely Christmas tree worms of various hues to start the dive off with. I'm proud to say I found all sorts of critters before anyone else saw them, the main prize being a lionfish that dutifully posed for some nice pictures while keeping his poison quills pointed at me. At one point I was in the rear so was the only one to see a small parade of blue spotted stingrays skim by behind the group. Plenty of nice-sized groupers and jacks. Found a pair of enormous many-spotted sweetlips hanging out under a coral ledge. Saw a couple black sailfin catfish, which are found nowhere else in the world. Ended beautifully with a leopard shark (my first!) that quickly bolted from left to right just above the sand before I had time to even remember I had a camera.

Dive #55 / 3 May 2007 / Crocodile Island / Boracay, Philippines
Maximum Depth: 62 feet. Total Bottom Time: 30 minutes.

In the Philippines on a six-week work assignment for Hawaiian Airlines. Unfortunately our company is outsourcing its reservations department to the city of Baguio, a peaceful mountaintop metropolis that is one of the only places in this 7,000-island country that is not near the ocean. So I'm treating myself to a 3-day weekend break in the more tropical part of the country to recharge my batteries and get some scuba diving in as well. Randomly selected Alvin at Scuba World from the many dive shops along the length of White Beach to be my divemaster for the day. He said Crocodile Island is his favorite dive site here, so off we went in the traditional Filipino version of motorized outrigger. This is a relatively shallow wall dive. Lots of small reef fish. Nothing too extraordinary but I enjoyed the plethora of multi-colored hard and soft corals. And for some reason clown fish are everywhere here! I've never seen so many. They should probably rename the site accordingly. And so many different species of clown fish. Completely different sizes and colors. They're relatively stationary so much easier to photograph than most other reef fish.

Dive #56 / 3 May 2007 / Friday's Rock / Boracay, Philippines
Maximum Depth: 61 feet. Total Bottom Time: 37 minutes.

Also one of the most popular Boracay dive spots, thankfully closer to shore and on the protected western side of the island, so much less choppy and easier to get in and out of the boat. Fish are definitely used to divers here, so obviously there are people who feed them here. Lionfish were the theme on this dive. We saw three! Two were the regular dark orange & white common lionfish, but one was surprisingly dark -- almost black & white. I've never seen a black & white lionfish before -- turns out this is the coloring of a juvenile lionfish, so not really a separate species from the other two I saw. Also saw a lot more clown fish. They're so plentiful in the waters here, all sizes and a wide variety of colors as well. Just like with the lionfish above, I had no idea before this trip that there were so many varieties of clown fish. Some of the larger ones were very protective of their anemones and territories, coming straight for my camera and mask to try to frighten me off. I was the only diver on the boat to elect not to wear a wetsuit; after answering that I was from Hawaii, one female Korean diver said to me philosophically, "You do not know the cruel cold reality of this world." After later enjoying a breathtaking helicopter tour of the island for the express purpose of being able to photograph the magnificent fringing reef from above, I am going to have to say she is right. I was the only passenger, and the pilot asked me if I wanted him to remove the doors for better picture taking. Sure, why not? Quite the sense of vertigo while in the air, I must say, but it was a fantastic day both above and below the waterline.

Dive #57 / 3 May 2007 / White Sand Beach (night dive) / Boracay, Philippines
Maximum Depth: 14 feet. Total Bottom Time: 44 minutes.

Aside from the manta ray night dives off the coast of the Big Island, I've never before had a real scuba dive after dark. I guess because I've always associated vibrant colorful sea life with vibrant colorful blues & greens of the ocean. But a whole different world comes to life on the reefs at night. My first impression: urchins. They were everywhere. And they were on the move. Before (on previous dives during the day) I always assumed they were mostly inactive, barely a form of life, with all the activity and personality of the surrounding rocks. So it was really interesting to see so many urchins on the march across the sand after the sun went down. Also saw lots of crabs. Huge ones! I guess they hide pretty well during the daylight since I had no idea there were so many here. Saw some beautiful lionfish out in the open patrolling on top of coral heads. Several eerily ghostly transparent shrimp. The highlight was a cute little baby squid, barely 2 inches in size. He would ripple through the water directly towards the beam of my flashlight. What primeval force draws these creatures to brightness like this? Afterwards I dined on succulent lobster on the beach just a few feet from the ocean's edge. Is it sacrilegious to eat seafood right after diving? Obviously I don't think so. Also I can say this was the first time I've ever typed up a dive log on my laptop while still on the beach itself. Wiggling your toes in the sand while checking email certainly lends itself to a new definition of the advance of modern technology.

Dive #58 / 18 May 2007 / Black Buoy / La Union, Philippines
Maximum Depth: 65 feet. Total Bottom Time: 53 minutes.

The opposite of Boracay in nearly every way, La Union features only one dive shop that I know of, and access to the dive sites is by small two-man motorized outrigger boats called "banca", thus ensuring there aren't too many of you in the water when you finally get to dive. The owner of Ocean Deep, an American expat named Tim, said Black Buoy was his favorite site in the area, so I deferred to local expertise and selected that to be the first dive of the day. Shop divemaster Maribeth and I were off. The site consists of a series of high coral & rock walls with plenty of crevices and caves to explore. Large fish are hard to find in these waters due to overfishing and dynamiting, so sea life was unusually scarce. But there were some small reef fish, and of course the requisite clownfish and anemones that seem so abundant in Philippine waters. We found a giant clam with mottled yellow fleshy meat, but had to try to take pictures from afar because he would close up his shell tightly at the first sign of visitors. The highlight for me was an usually delicate looking spotfin lionfish hidden out of view under a small ledge. Maribeth shined her flashlight on it while I snapped off a few pictures. Then back up to the surface to slowly take all the gear off one piece at a time to lighten the load as we try to climb up and over the edge of the banca without flipping it over. Reminds me of seals or penguins trying to hoist themselves up onto a piece of ice. Very hard to look graceful while attempting to do this, trust me. I had my first glimpse of my scuba diving mortality as I realized most divers I see around the world are young, and climbing in and out of a boat like this is something that requires almost more upper body strength than I currently have. Guess I'm glad I came before the years progressed too much further!

Dive #59 / 18 May 2007 / VOA Reef / La Union, Philippines
Maximum Depth: 60 feet. Total Bottom Time: 58 minutes.

Named after the massive Voice of America antenna array that dominates the Poro Point cliffs nearby, VOA Reef had much more small reef fish life than Black Buoy. Lots of colorful brain, table, and barrel corals too, so this site was much better for color photography than the last. Also noticed some significant thermoclines here. I almost never wear a wetsuit, but I had a quick chill after jumping off the banca at this site and started regretting my decision not to wear one. While trying to think of a way to stay warm, suddenly I was enveloped by an unnaturally hot current. Slowly descending deeper and deeper brought more normalcy to the water temperature, but the occasional quick upticks and downturns in water temperature were a feature that stayed constant throughout the entire duration of this dive. Got lots of good shots of anemones and clownfish, some really tiny ones that are great for macrophotography. Found a single giant lobster sticking his antennae out from under a ledge, but he hightailed it deeper into the reef when we got too close. Lots of starfish, thin blue ones and fat mottled ones. Found a tiny 2-3 inch spotfin lionfish hiding in the mouth of a barrel coral head. Easy to photograph because he really couldn't go anywhere. Also trapped a really pretty long-beaked coralfish into a small wedge so got lots of good pictures of him as he just sat there trying to figure out a way to escape. The dive ended by heaving ourselves back up into the banca and then having to help push the boat high into the sand with each surge once be got back to the shoreline. Overall a physically challenging and exhausting day, which made me appreciate all the more the weightlessness and sensation of freedom and flotation you can experience only while underwater.

Dive #60 / 25 May 2007 / Research Reef / La Union, Philippines
Maximum Depth: 62 feet. Total Bottom Time: 54 minutes.

My last "weekend" in the Philippines on this business trip, so I couldn't resist the urge to head back to La Union coast for a couple more quick dives. Actually, this was tacked on the end of a weekend getaway to the UNESCO World Heritage city of Vigan in northern Luzon, with a convenient stop in San Fernando for more diving on the way back (and as a nice way to break up the looong bus ride from Vigan back to Baguio). Research Reef was the first dive site. Very similar to VOA Reef last week. Lots of walls and crevices to swim through. Plenty of colorful corals. Lots of clownfish and anemones (I'm starting to sound like a broken record; that's the same on every dive in the Philippines I've had). Had some fun getting some good macro shots of the clownfish. Putting my camera on wide angle and then macro allowed me to get some good shots of them from just about 2 inches away. Of course the clownfish would dart in and out from under the protective tentacle shield, so sometimes I'd click and get nothing to show for my efforts but anemone arms, but I snapped off enough shots to ensure I'd get something good of the fish as well. Also photographed a large foot and a half scrawled filefish that just sat there while I took pictures of it. I've never observed such compliant behavior from a large fish before. He held his ground as I got real close, then actually rotated his body sideways as I passed over the top of him so that his side was still exposed to me. Very strange.

Dive #61 / 25 May 2007 / Tamayo Reef / La Union, Philippines
Maximum Depth: 65 feet. Total Bottom Time: 67 minutes.

We decided to maximize our bottom time by watching our dive computers during the surface interval to make sure we would have over an hour under the water on the next and last dive of this trip, at Tamayo Reef. This was a short distance away from Research Reef and for all practical purposes is just an extension of that dive. Same flora and fauna. Same underwater topography. I continued trying different macro shots of clownfish and started zooming in real close on some of the more spectacular coral formations (wish everything was as easy to photograph as coral!). Also had fun trying to catch little schools of white chromis above their hard coral hiding places. This necessitated me slowly crawling up to a piece of flat coral, camera at the ready, and then waiting for them to feel courageous enough to start coming out from underneath and hovering over the coral again. They sure are skittish, but with a little patience it was easy to get some good shots of them. Saw a little moray eel that we could not coax out of his hole for some closeup pictures, though. Oh well. Moved on and were surrounded by a swift moving school of yellowtail fusilier. They dart around so quickly that they are difficult to shoot, and remain just far enough away to challenge visibility, but it was still fun to be surrounded by their sudden burst of energy before they eventually got bored with us and moved off. The day ended exactly as last week's dives -- heaving the banca on the beach like a sea turtle desperately trying to hoist itself above the high tide mark, then straight back into town with what little energy I had left to try to catch the next available minibus back to Baguio.

Dive #62 / 26 August 2007 / Kon Tiki House Reef / Mactan/Cebu, Philippines
Maximum Depth: 84 feet. Total Bottom Time: 38 minutes.

There's nothing more dramatic than arriving in a foreign city in the middle of the night, lightning streaking across the sky, thunder pounding a dramatic warning, feet completely disappearing in muddy puddles of questionable depth, and getting hopelessly soaked in torrential rains while trying to find your hotel room in the pitch blackness. Graffiti everywhere. Barbed wire. Concrete blocks in various states of disrepair. Not the best first impression of Cebu, but I didn't come here for what's above the waterline. Spirits lifted with the sunrise the next morning and the fact that it had stopped raining and I could actually see the sun. Diving in the Philippines in the middle of rainy season has a way of triggering a wide range of emotions and experiences. Stayed at the Club Kon Tiki on Mactan Island because its house reef is supposed to be the best dive in the immediate vicinity. And diving here was as easy as can be: strap on the gear, walk to the rocky coastline, descend concrete steps that plunge directly into the ocean. Shore diving at its finest. Had to wear a full body wetsuit this time since the rainy season is also jellyfish season here. I resisted at first, but after hearing stories of wailing Korean divers who were stung wearing shorties, I heeded the expert advice of the locals. So weighted down and heavy with gear on land, I couldn't wait to get into the water and feel weightless again -- one of my favorite parts of diving. A few minutes kicking away from land and the coral drops off suddenly into a deep vertical wall. What appeared to be a baby remora about 8 inches long followed me for a few minutes, trying to decide if I was worth attaching to for the free ride. Then we reached the wall and dove headfirst over the side. Pelagics sometimes visit here, but the largest critter I saw was a single lone barracuda cruising tantalizingly just inside the field of view. Mostly the usual reef fish on this dive, but a true highlight was the large school of fusilier that completely enveloped us on the return. Left, right, under, over -- they were zipping around in frantic panic everywhere. It was fascinating to watch them finally ball up together in defensive posture to my left and then pulsate with rapidly-changing shapes as they swerved in perfect unison in random directions. What an ingenious way to confuse potential predators, I realized. It's impossible not to be deeply affected when witnessing such a perfect display of natural beauty.

Dive #63 / 15 October 2007 / Helen's Garden / Dos Palmas Arreceffi Island, Palawan, Philippines
Maximum Depth: 50 feet. Total Bottom Time: 45 minutes.

The end of our second and supposedly final trip to the Philippines to finish our call center training, had to treat ourselves to a wonderful weekend in Palawan to unwind in complete luxury before heading home. Stayed at the Dos Palmas Resort on Arreceffi Island. Fantastic all-inclusive private island. From the moment you arrive, live musicians serenade you with local tunes while a welcome drink is pressed into your hand. Soothing flute & piano music is piped into each room and most common areas, forcing relaxation even on the most reluctant. All-you-can-eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner buffets featuring local delicacies. Hot oil massage in a private beachside room with mesmerizing views over the water. Gazing across Honda Bay to the main island, especially at sunset when the sky turns brilliant orange, then deepening red. The next morning it was time to sample life in Palawan below the waterline. A short few minute boat ride from Arreceffi brings us to Helen's Garden. Visibility was quite poor, no more than 10 feet at times, but that didn't stop all the fish from finding us. Clearly they are used to being fed here because we had a parade of fusilier and parrotfish follow us for most of the dive. To extend your hand -- even with nothing in it -- gets an excited response from the local residents. Cleaner wrasses tailed us well, looking for something to nibble on. In addition to the regular reef fish, lots of mini spotted grouper were seen. Also encountered two blue spotted stingrays wedged tightly under a ledge, some medium-sized sweetlips, and the amazing abundance of brilliant blue nudibranches with white stripes around their perimeters. Picked up one and toyed with it a while. They feel almost like nothing -- formless and weightless. Lionfish were everywhere, as seems to be the case all over the Philippines. Came across a giant swaying wispy orange fan coral and counted five separate lionfish embedded in it to various degrees. Looked like a natural shower curtain with lionfish patterns at regular intervals. Perhaps the most memorable part of the dive was the giant clams. Some were SEVERAL FEET in length. I've never seen mollusks that large before. I didn't want any of my appendages to get anywhere near them for fear of getting trapped, but the divemaster coaxed me to touch near the fleshy sides to watch the shells close partially. Very cool. Ended the dive under the launch platform just watching a massive school of jacks circle in one long continuous clockwise ball.

Dive #64 / 29 June 2008 / Marissa I / Pearl Farm Beach Resort, Samal Island, Davao, Philippines
Maximum Depth: 55 feet. Total Bottom Time: 32 minutes.

Back in the Philippines in 2008 for more call center training. Didn't expect that to happen, but might as well take advantage of the extra time here to see more of the country. Seeing as how I'm (once again) here during rainy season, I've been spending most of my off time on the island of Mindanao since it lies south of the typhoon belt. Last weekend was spent in Zamboanga, this weekend in Davao. Since my time here is almost up, I decided to treat myself just like we did with Palawan at the end of last year's stint. This year's excursion was to Samal Island and the Pearl Farm Beach Resort, a self-contained property 40 minutes away from Davao. The bungalows are built on stilts over the water in the style of the Samal tribe. The all-you-can-eat buffets and free wi-fi were much appreciated. Enjoyed an evening spa massage to the accompanying sounds of crickets, frogs, and the pitter patter of gently falling rain. Serenaded to sleep by water lapping just outside my door. The scuba diving was mediocre, though. Due to the recent heavy rains, there was a lot of runoff and visibility was poor, about 10-20 feet at best. Still, it was nice to get in the water again. I wish I could scuba dive more regularly; I think I'm part fish and need a regular dunk in the water to feel whole. Today's dive site was Marissa I, an underwater seamount about 50 feet down (there is also a Marissa II & III nearby). Lots of coral. Plenty of interesting bumpy-looking starfish. But not many actual fish. Seeing the many local-style fishing boats out on the water on the boat ride from Davao to Samal explains why. As with other dive sites in this country, a lot of the larger creatures have already been fished out. Too bad. It was fun to try some macro photography with coral & anemones. Lots of little reef fish, but I don't think I saw anything larger than 3 inches in size. There are many dive sites here considering the relatively small size of the resort, and I wouldn't mind returning for a longer visit with more favorable weather.

Dive #65 / 3 July 2008 / Lighthouse / La Union, Philippines
Maximum Depth: 53 feet. Total Bottom Time: 46 minutes.

An impromptu dive because I've suddenly become conscious that my time in the Philippines is almost up. Again. Decided to take the bus down to the coast right after work, even wore my bathing suit under my work clothes so I could make a quick escape to warmer climes as soon as we left the office. There's only one dive outfit in La Union, but it was still a pleasant surprise that they remembered me from last year. Everyone was the same, from the shop staff to divemaster Maribeth. She said visibility still hadn't fully recovered from the effects of Typhoon Frank a week earlier, but at least the surface was calm now. So off we went. Picked the Lighthouse as our dive site, mostly because it was one of the only relatively close spots I didn't cover on last year's trip. Had a kick with the feeling of being surrounded by familiarity, from the staff down to the melodic sound of the pump boat as we headed about past the new Thunderbird Resort, which was still under construction on my last visit. It's blinding white color, central blue dome, and elegant archways look like something from the Middle East. Certainly a nice backdrop as we skipped along the coast. The site was named for the nearby lighthouse on Poro Point (duh). Overall a wonderful dive, given the poor vis. Started off by seeing a cowry shell on the bottom, the first time I've ever seen one of those on a dive. Saw lots of familiar faces from last year, from the many species of lionfish proudly displaying their wares, to the numerous nudibranches. Played with a tiny Spanish dancer smaller than the size of a dime. I didn't wear a wetsuit but Maribeth did, and it was funny to see cleaner wrasses start to attach themselves to her wake and follow her. Some interesting vertical rock formations, home to some groupers and a spotted sweetlips, the largest thing I've seen in the Philippines so far. Nice to see there is still a place here where some larger fish can still hide and survive. Took some pictures of a nice sized black moray eel who obliged by sitting perfectly still while I snapped away. Ended the dive on a nice flat area that was popular with large blue starfish. A really nice way to end the work day, even though I had to stall and wait a couple hours in town before heading back up to Baguio due to the altitude.

Dive #66 / 6 July 2008 / Cedric's Wall / Siquijor, Philippines
Maximum Depth: 76 feet. Total Bottom Time: 50 minutes.

My last weekend retreat on this Philippines business trip. We got the extra day off for July 4 back home, so a 3-day weekend for a nice rare treat. Had to use the extra day to get a bit further down the road less traveled. Went to Siquijor Island, a place famous for voodoo, witches, and vampires according to most of my Filipino friends. Stayed at the Kiwi Dive Resort with the lovely Eden and very capable divemaster Neal. Headed off to Cedric's Wall. Had a bit of a sinus equalization problem in the beginning which I tolerated and paid for later when I surfaced with a small nosebleed; just goes to show you that your body is very good at telling you when something is wrong. The scuba diving was some of the best I�ve seen in the Philippines. Visibility was amazing. It helps that Typhoon Frank has receded further into the past and things have started to settle down. Reminded me of some of the famous wall dives in the Caribbean. The coral wall drops straight down into the depths of the earth, and you just float along the edge with the current. Effortless, really. Part drift dive, part wall dive. Stopping any time something caught our eyes. Neal was good at pointing out some really tiny things I would have missed, like a pair of minuscule transparent harlequin shrimp less than half an inch in length fearlessly defending their cave from my taunting finger. But the highlight for me was something I can barely describe. I�ll have to look up what it is when I get home. It was slightly larger than my hand, anchored to a rock. Looked like it was part starfish. Part anemone. Part coral. Frankly, I don�t know what the hell it was. I thought it was coral at first, except it would periodically coil up one of its extended arms into a ball that it would then lower down to the middle part of its mass, where its mouth was. After sucking off plankton, that arm would slowly roll back into place and the next one would be curled up and pulled in for feeding. Bizarre. Further along, saw several gigantic clownfish. Most of the clownfish I�ve seen in the Philippines have been an inch or two in size, but these were almost the size of my fist. Just huge. Also saw tons of the large blue starfish that seem to thrive in Philippines waters. Lots of nudibranches, some spectacular angelfish and even a giant puffer.

Dive #67 / 30 Sep 2008 / MV Corinthian / St Kitts
Maximum Depth: 69 feet. Total Bottom Time: 53 minutes.

"What's on the itinerary today?" -- clueless British lady
"Scuba diving." -- Mike, deadpanning divemaster

My first dive in St Kitts! I actually took my time getting to it, but I guess that's just part of the hypnotic relaxation brought about in off-season Caribbean travel. Met up with Mike at Dive St Kitts after a few days of putting a couple thousand QSOs in the log as V4/AH6HY and taking the car ferry across the narrow strait to tour Nevis. Realized that my time here was fast dwindling away so had to remind myself to get diving. Our first site of the day was the sunken tugboat MV Corinthian, damaged in a storm a few decades ago and left to sink here on purpose. Visibility wasn't the greatest, but that had its good side too as the tug slowly emerged from the deep as we moved closer. An incredibly relaxing dive as we slowly circled the wreck and the accompanying debris (crane, etc). Played with some tiny purple cleaner shrimp that kept hopping on my finger. Saw lots of sergeant majors guarding their purple egg clutches. Had to laugh as it reminded me so much of the RMS Rhone in the BVI. What is it with wrecks that attract sergeant major moms? Highlight was a beautiful curious tiny angelfish that cooperated and nicely stood still as it posed for pictures. That was a real treat as those things almost always take off at the first sight of people. Ended the dive by toying with a tiny 1-inch squid who had stationed himself above us near the top of the ascent line.

Dive #68 / 30 Sep 2008 / Bird Rock Boulders / St Kitts
Maximum Depth: 21 feet. Total Bottom Time: 59 minutes.

A much easier, shallow dive for the second dive of the day since we had a brand new diver with us for this one -- and elderly lady from England. Essentially this was just a nice relaxing hour spent finning around the reef and rocks. Lots of swaying purple fan coral. Some colorful green & purple barrel corals too. I even found a sand dollar, which I believe is a first. Took lots of pictures of a small black & white eel. Mike had a good eye, spying a gigantic puffer fish hiding in the rear of a small overhang. I would have completely missed it. He also found a large octopus that had stuffed itself inside a small hole. Perfect for pictures since he really couldn't go anywhere. I got in really close, literally just a few inches between our eyes. Close enough to watch him pulsate with each breath. Stunning.

Dive #69 / 1 Oct 2008 / Sugar Bowl / St Kitts
Maximum Depth: 57 feet. Total Bottom Time: 47 minutes.

Started off the day's diving with an easy circuit around the Sugar Bowl, a large circular-shaped sand flat surrounded by coral. Nice slow easy exploration of the corals, peeking under ledges and in holes looking for critters. Saw a stingray flitting across the sand as soon as we arrived, no doubt trying to get out of our way. Took a lot of pictures of a very pretty black & white banded coral shrimp. They are very photogenic and are popular with aquarium enthusiasts. Another highlight would have to be the massive barracuda that stealthily appeared out of nowhere. It hung in the water above and behind us, and made for quite a startling impulse when I turned around and saw it RIGHT THERE (!) when a few moments ago there was nothing but blue. I have to remember to start keeping a better eye behind and above me when I'm swimming because the wildlife can really come at you from all directions. Some large schools of blue fusilier joined us for a while. Also played with a couple big moon jellyfish that seem so abundant in these waters.

Dive #70 / 1 Oct 2008 / MV River Taw / St Kitts
Maximum Depth: 42 feet. Total Bottom Time: 48 minutes.

The signature dive of St Kitts - the massive 144-foot sunken freighter MV River Taw. Sank in 1985 and sits upright on the bottom at about 40 feet. Hurricane Hugo ripped it in half in 1989, and now the stern sits separate from the bow a la Titanic. Absolutely amazing dive, even if there was a lot of sediment in the water and visibility was poor. The dive profile called for exploring the bottom portions first, then making our way to the top halves. Started off by seeing lots of grunts and soldierfish underneath. Also a pretty squirrelfish. Finished off the stern section and started moving towards the bow. Saw a mini school of squid, several inches in length with big bulging eyes. Way cool! Came upon a sunken VW Bus (yes, really) teeming with zillions of baby fish. A nice spotted eel had taken up residence as well. A giant barracuda cruised by just inches from my mask. I have no idea why I didn't freak out at this thing appearing so close with no warning, but I am happy to say I was completely at peace. I watched as it headed towards the divemaster and knew it was going to be a shock. He looked right just as the barracuda was about a foot away -- and jerked backwards instinctively. Had to laugh. Not every day that I seem more in control than the divemaster on a dive! Held a spider crab in my hand and played with it for a little bit. It looked like a giant daddy long legs with a very small body and long spindly legs that gave him the approximate size of my hand -- the kind of thing that would totally freak me out on land but not underwater for some reason. I wonder why that is? Made it to the bow section, which was really eerie and ghost-like as it gradually became visible in the haze. Dark shadows from afar, but once we were skimming across the top, it was like swimming in an aquarium with schools of fish pulsating across the bow and around the ship's sides.

Dive #71 / 26 June 2009 / Keyhole / off Lehua Rock, Niihau, Hawaii
Maximum Depth: 116 feet. Total Bottom Time: 47 minutes.

Actually had this dive trip planned for last year, but it was cancelled at the last moment due to ocean conditions. But boy was it worth the wait! It took roughly 2 1/4 hours to make the crossing from Kauai to Niihau & Lehua Rock, the last of the major Hawaiian Islands. I have been one of the rare people to have set foot on Niihau in the past, but it was still a treat to get a close glimpse of the "Forbidden Island" again, even if just from a boat. Actually, the best dive spots in this area are next to Lehua Rock, just north of Niihau. The boat was slowly backed up right next to the large "keyhole" shaped opening in Lehua Rock (where this dive site gets its name) and off the back of the boat we went into the water. First impression -- cold! I guess Caribbean diving has spoiled me over the years; I forgot how cold Hawaii's waters are by comparison. Thank God I wore a wetsuit (3mm XL shortie). Shafts of early morning light pierced down into the water as far as I could see, and slowly descending felt like gliding down a curtain of shimmering light. Really otherworldly experience that is impossible to describe in words. Had alternating sensations of free falling and of vertigo in some of the best and deepest visibility I've ever seen. It was fun to hear the dive shop staff so excited about it too, some saying it's the best they've ever encountered -- up to 200 feet or more in most places. Interesting how the prominent lava layering and sediment visible on Lehua Rock from the boat continues way down into the water too. Gliding along the massive lava protrusions made all of us feel so small; it was like happening by chance on the ruins of an ancient civilization. Cruised along old lava flows through massive schools of pennant butterflyfish until rounding the corner and saw gray reef sharks everywhere! It was impossible to count them all as they swam up and down in lazy patterns. Absolutely stunning vision! For those paying attention to micro as well as macro, a nice large pair of saddleback butterflyfish stayed well hidden under a rocky protrusion.

Dive #72 / 26 June 2009 / Vertical Awareness / off Lehua Rock, Niihau, Hawaii
Maximum Depth: 101 feet. Total Bottom Time: 39 minutes.

My first dive with Nitrox. Had an introductory briefing about the benefits of that and then it was time to get wet again. This dive features a seemingly endless vertical wall of lava. Almost completely devoid of coral, though, so not too exciting in its own right. But descending through a blizzard of pyramid butterflyfish to reach it certainly was exhilarating. Schools of them were everywhere; I can't remember ever seeing so many of this species before. Reminds me of how different remote waters can be and how much more fish thrive when there is almost no human impact. The highlight of the dive was the numerous encounters with the rare Hawaiian monk seals. My first time seeing those!! They're huge, some bigger than humans. And they have large teeth, too, so it is always a good idea to remember they are wild animals no matter how "cute" they may seem. They sure were charmers, though. They would side right up to a few feet away from us and just look at us and check out whatever we were looking at. So curious about why we were there and what was of interest to us. Sometimes they would sneak up behind you with no warning. You'd get the sensation you were being watched, then turn around and see a seal there hanging in the water just staring at you. They are so graceful and at home in the water. I was really conscious at this point of all the heavy, ugly gear strapped to my body and how unnatural it all was for me to be like this in their environment.

Dive #73 / 26 June 2009 / Niihau Arches / Niihau, Hawaii
Maximum Depth: 72 feet. Total Bottom Time: 46 minutes.

A much shallower dive to end the day with. Directly below the boat were two gigantic rock arches with large schools of yellowtail goatfish at their base. Lots of caves and swim throughs. A large group of bigeye emperors floated nearly motionless nearby in between two caves. Bunches of surgeonfish hung out at the entrance to another. The main attraction here is "TV Cave", so named because if you swim all the way to the back wall of the cave and turn around, you are treated to a giant rectangular view of the blue ocean outside. You can sit, relax, and watch random lifeforms in the ocean pass by while you stay hidden inside. Lots of black coral hangs from the ceiling in this cave, adding some dramatic flair. More monk seals were seen. Not sure if they were the same ones as before or new friends. Coming out through the back exit of TV Cave brought me face to face with another first -- four spotted eagle rays in perfect synch flapping lazily by. I've always wanted to see those in the wild, so I can now cross these amazing creatures off my list. As advertised, the boat ride back at the end of the day was significantly rougher than the trip over in the morning. Armed with my mp3 player, I reclined on the deck on a plastic mat and used a child's life vest as a pillow. Surprisingly comfortable. Or maybe it was because I was so exhausted at this point anyway. Whatever the reason, I successfully coaxed myself into a nice quiet state of relaxation by keeping my eyes closed, listening to my music and thinking I was on a nice swaying train ride somewhere and not out in the open ocean with the boat pounding and heaving home through large swells.

Dive #74 / 30 September 2009 / Charlie Brown Wreck, St Eustatius / St Eustatius, Netherlands Antilles
Maximum Depth: 85 feet. Total Bottom Time: 28 minutes.

Weird to be standing on the island of St Eustatius looking across the ocean to the island of St Kitts on the horizon, when exactly a year ago I was on St Kitts looking across at St Eustatius. Once again the desire to relax and operate ham radio seemed to outweigh diving as a priority, but I finally got around to getting wet before my week on the island was up. Finally got hoarse enough working the pileups as PJ5/AH6HY and headed out into the water for a little bit to give my voice a rest. The view of the Quill (Statia's 2,000 foot volcano landmark) was breathtaking from the water. The dive today was to one of the more popular wreck dives on the island, the Charlie Brown, sunk in 2003. Since it's a relatively new wreck, it didn't have much coral growth on it yet and the ship was clearly visible, lying on its side. Visibility was OK, just thick enough to allow the giant propeller to slowly emerge into view as we descended closer to the 80 foot level. Cruised along the hull for a few minutes. Not too many fish, but there was a nice-sized barracuda hanging motionless under an awning just a couple feet away from me to the left. Amazing in how it just stayed put and didn't budge as I got closer. We entered the ship's interior through a door on top and swam down a hallway and out towards the bow. A couple sharks made lazy explorations along the sand below; a small school of jacks swam by above. Not a spectacular dive, but a little bit of everything to make it a nice, relaxing memory.

Dive #75 / 04 May 2012 / Mayan Princess / Ambergris Caye, Belize
Maximum Depth: 83 feet. Total Bottom Time: 45 minutes.

Been over 2 � years since my last dive! Haven�t been to the Caribbean in quite a while since my last couple of big ham radio trips took me much farther afield; there�s not much scuba diving in Kurdistan, Iraq and South Sudan, let�s put it that way. I did return to Statia in 2010 for the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, but the birth of so many new DXCC countries kept me on the air and out of the water the whole time. So here I am on Ambergris Caye nearly 3 years later wondering how on earth I�ve made it to 48 years in my life without ever having been to Belize! I came here to dive the world-famous Blue Hole but have to sign up for a couple local reef dives first just to make sure I haven�t forgotten too much since my last dive. Stayed at Xanadu Island Resort and they hooked me up with Ecologic Divers. The fringing barrier reef is only one mile offshore and is gorgeous from the air. In the water, though, nothing really spectacular. Lots of large crevasses to swim through. Did see a fair amount of medium-size sea life: groupers, sea turtle, nurse sharks.

Dive #76 / 04 May 2012 / Mermaid's Lair / Ambergris Caye, Belize
Maximum Depth: 72 feet. Total Bottom Time: 41 minutes.

Wore 16 pounds of weight each dive on this trip out of the misguided concern for my vastly increased BMI since my last dive, but in the end that proved to be completely unnecessary. Note to self: next dive trip drop back down to 14 lbs or even 12 lbs. Since I don�t wear a wetsuit unless I absolutely have to, I�ve also shed that increased buoyancy as well, so no need to compensate with so much weight. After a surface interval back at the Ecologic Divers shop, back in the water for the second of today�s 2 Tank Dives. Nearly identical to the first dive this morning in flora and fauna. But more nurse sharks, which I soon learn appear on almost every dive in Belize. Several of them were cruising the sandy bottom directly under our boat, so that was a fun way to start the dive as we descended and equalized. Belize has some fat green, long moray eels as well, another regular sight on each dive. Would have loved to skip the nagging nausea at the end, though.

Dive #77 / 05 May 2012 / Blue Hole / Lighthouse Reef, Belize
Maximum Depth: 140 feet (!). Total Bottom Time: 32 minutes.

Next day. Now that the refresher dives are out of the way, time to take in the world-famous Blue Hole, �probably the whole reason you came here,� as the Xanadu front desk clerk correctly surmises. I signed up with Amigos del Mar for this trip. Cool name, you have to admit, but I did so mostly because it was the largest boat I could find; I just couldn�t imagine making the 2 � hour sail to the Blue Hole over some open seas in a small boat like we had yesterday with Ecologic. The ultimate irony is that the Blue Hole is so much more spectacularly beautiful when seen from the air. But even from a boat it is still possible to see that it is a perfectly-formed 360 degree circle of dark deep blue smack dab in the middle of the shimmering green aquamarine hues of the main Lighthouse Reef lagoon. Saw a couple reef sharks way off in the distance, but this dive was more about bragging rights and seeing the eerie stalagmite-type rock formations down -- way down -- where the walls of the Blue Hole expand outward into small caves. Large columns of rock stand in silent witness to the passage of time. Did I mention this was deep??! The good stuff starts at about 120 � 130 feet down. Hello, nitrogen narcosis! I went down to 140 feet and stopped there, though it would have been pretty easy to just keep going. A new record for deepest dive for me! I�m not a big fan of the light headedness that goes with nitrogen narcosis, so I didn�t stay too long. My underwater camera also chose this record-setting moment to stop functioning, and I just couldn�t find the patience to try to get it operational again. I�m gonna also attribute my impatience to the narcosis as well.

Dive #78 / 05 May 2012 / Half Moon Caye Wall / Lighthouse Reef, Belize
Maximum Depth: 70 feet. Total Bottom Time: 51 minutes.

After the relatively �lifeless� Blue Hole dive, we were promised much more sea life to be had on the next two Lighthouse Reef locales. We sailed over some breathtaking shallow blue & green waters until we were parallel with Half Moon Caye National Monument. There certainly was a lot more fish now that we were diving along an actual coral wall. Partly to avoid seasickness, I always volunteer to be among the first to get off the boat and jump in the water. Another benefit is that I get to be one of the first to start descending and equalizing, so I can calmly take my time and steal away a few extra minutes on the bottom while everyone else comes in after and catches up. This time there was a large barracuda just hanging down in the water with me. I got progressively closer and closer, snapping pictures the whole way, and he just sat there. Once the rest of the divers gathered on the bottom and we started the actual dive, he followed slowly behind most of the way. Lots of colorful purple sea fans along the journey, and more small reef fish than I had seen anywhere else in Belize so far. A literal explosion of underwater life!

Dive #79 / 05 May 2012 / The Aquarium / Lighthouse Reef, Belize
Maximum Depth: 66 feet. Total Bottom Time: 45 minutes.

After spending time on Half Moon Caye for lunch, to check out the red-footed booby colony, and of course to burn off some of the accumulated nitrogen, it was finally time for the third part of a FULL DAY of diving at Lighthouse Reef � a well-known site called The Aquarium. Full of the usual reef fish, but on this dive the divemaster broke out some fish food and was immediately surrounded by a frenzied group of Bermuda chub all diving in for a piece of the action. While it was fun to photograph the chaos � and also to enjoy my turn at being the center of attention for a little while � it did have an artificial feel about it since fish wouldn�t normally crowd around humans like that. The divemaster was quite adept at finding huge bony crabs hiding underneath ledges and crevasses. Saw a huge school of blue tangs glide gracefully by. It was time for the 2 � hour sail back to Ambergris. Just over 12 hours later, I was standing back at the same dock where the day began at 5:30 that morning, a very full day indeed. Proud of myself for coming to Belize and taking the plunge and remaining calm � I noticed that my air was lasting longer than most of the other divers on this trip. Yay me! Some supplemental notes for next time since it might be years before my next dive and I might forget in the meantime: 1) remember to drop weight down to 14 lbs or less, 2) consider Dramamine even for near-shore reef dives, especially if there is any surge and/or a small boat is involved, 3) better to use spit to clean masks before jumping in. If soap is used, fine, but MAKE SURE the mask is rinsed thoroughly or else you�ll be enjoying some nasty eye stings on the entire dive.