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'om $2. simulate the weird and enjoyable 5 sen- sation of weightlessness. ~ As for myselfil have come full circle in my skin diving career during the past few years. I started out as a snorkel diver, using the simplest equip- ment, and then I got SCUBA. For some time this was a great thrill, being able to stay below for comparatively long periods of time, I and another diver set up a little company in the vacation country of Southern Ontario and offered our services as divers in the construction of docks and the recovery of outboard motors that had been lost over the side. There wasn't enough diving to keep us profitably employed all season, but we did make enough money, largely through one dock job that lasted a month, to pay our tuition the next year at school. Our holidays were divers' holidays and we spent our spare time gliding through the cool green depths of Georgian Bay, one of the best places for diving in this province because the water is so clear. One of our targets was the S.S. Elizabeth, which sank in 1873. We were in search of salvage but the wreck has been pretty well worked over by other divers some of whom got Wedgwood cups and saucers from the ship's china closets. We brought back porcelain door knobs just to show we had been there. Safety-glass face mask. . . But I grew tired of SCUBA and now I am a snorkel man again. Some- how this kind of diving seems more natural, more of a challenge. I came to this conclusion, I think, during a holiday I spent last year off the Florida coast (with a skipper who takes skin diving parties out in his yacht). During the month I was with him, I suppose 1 spent eight hours a day diving, coming back with snapper and grouper for our supper and occasion- ally bagging a crawfish for variety. He taught me a great deal about diving in the Caribbean. He taught me, for instance, that the coral caves where the crawfish lurk often harbor deadly moray eels. He told me about sharks $5 to §7. to $100. Regulators (hoses and mouthpiece) from $50 that are sometimes encountered in the Gulf Stream. I learned that in deep water they are dangerous when in groups and will attack particularly if the diver is bringing back a catch of fish. I've dived in the Bahamas, and everywhere 1 go the increasing number of men and women who have taken up this sport indicates the great surge it has undergone. The speargun has been a factor in this popularity. These guns, powered with strong elastic in the simple models like the one I have, or with gas in the fancier versions, are accurate up to ten feet and enable divers to stalk and hunt fish as though they were hunt- ing game in the forest. . 1h (em (6 Harness for tanks... $12. Dry Suit... clothes--keeps water out. My own feeling is that it is un- sporting to hunt fish while wearing SCUBA. But not all divers agree with me and some do hunt this way. I feel, however, that when you take a gulp of air and go down to hunt you are giving the fish the even break it deserves. I have done some underwater pho- tography and this is as good a sport as spear fishing to my mind. This is particularly good fun in the southern waters where the fish are so brilliantly colored. 1 recall one occasion in the Bahamas when I found myself in a school of black and yellow-striped sergeant-major fish so thick I could not see through the press of fish surrounding me. Incidentally, spear fishing. in On- tario is illegal. For full information call the Ontario Department of Lands and Forests. Interesting places to dive: Georgian Bay, (Bruce Peninsula, 30,000 islands) St. Lawrence river, (1,000 islands) Muskoka Lakes, Rideau Lakes. Wherever you dive there is a won- derful new world awaiting you--a world of peace and quiet and absolute freedom. I feel we get so much joy from it because this sport offers one of the last opportunities to give vent to the Columbus in all of us. Compressed Air Tanks... Refills cost $1.50 per tank. from $60 a tank-- $25 to $100--worn over under- Wet suit... $50 to $80--foam neoprene worn ases for regular cameras are avail- | : ) ) with bathing suit--water can seep in. out $15 up. $3 to $30. Underwater watches. . . from $30. Depth gauge... Diver's flag... $2.