I faithfully keep my dive log. Sometimes I wonder what the point is of being such a meticulous record keeper. Like a terrier with a pencil. But it is definitely useful when I return to an area and want to refresh my memory on site details. Or want to write about my underwater century marks.

I just returned from Atlantis Dumaguete Resort in Dauin, Philippines, where I hit 700 dives. It was a special one for several reasons. I won’t go into all those details, but I will share some photos from the dive, just below my accounting of all the big 00 dives I’ve had. I will share one of the reasons it was such a special occasion: the shirt below was a gift from the Atlantis resort… a huge surprise given to me on my last full day there. (Be sure to scroll all the way down to see some of the photos from dive #700.)

Here are all the century mark dives plus one bonus dive (I’ve bolded some of the more interesting tid-bits for your skimming pleasure; the notes are from my logbook; the bracketed thoughts are new):

11/5/99: Dive #100. Site: HMSC Saskatchewan, Nanaimo, British Columbia. Buddy: Cindy Hanson. “tiny winged sea slug swam by near line.”

4/20/02: Dive #133 (first dive with a camera). Site:  Buddy: Marty Steinberg at first, then solo. “Camera in hand lends whole new perspective. Great fun.” Notes: I was using my new Sea and Sea MX-10 film camera. Marty noticed a toxic cocktail in his rebreather on the way down the line and ascended. I stayed near the line and completed my dive. [This was my first experience solo.]

6/25/03: Dive #200. Site: Sea Crest, Cove 3, West Seattle. Buddy: Andy Lamb. “Shot 19 photos.” By now my camera is a Sea & Sea Motormarine II. Longspine Combfish, high cockscomb – still to this day have not improved on that cockscomb photo. Andy was quite excited about the longspine combfish. [Yes, this is the Andy Lamb.]

4/28/06: Dive #300. Site: Sea Crest, Cove 2. Buddy: John Dorsett. Notes: pleasant with 20’ viz. But otherwise unnoteworthy. Shot roll of film. [One entire roll of 36 photos?? That’s just living on the edge.]

6/8/10: Dive #400. Site: Twin Sisters, Big Island, Hawaii. Buddy: Kerry Key. Notes: 85-minute dive. I found a Hawaiian lionfish. We aslo saw lots of octopus and some pipefish.

4/6/12: Dive #500. Site: Roca Blanca, Galapagos. Notes: I became a dive fiend at home to hit 500 during this trip.

7/28/13: Dive #600. Site: Crescent Lake, Olympic Peninsula. Buddies: Jeremy Freestone and Don Winslow. Notes: last of 5 dives this weekend on the peninsula.

4/13/14: Dive #700. Site: Cars, Dauin, Philippines. Buddy: John and the group (our friends Stacey and Andrew Hassard, the two horrible bottom-draggers from Newport Beach, and our guide Wing).

I had 19 photos I wanted to share from this dive #700. Tough to narrow it down!