Ladydi69
Registered
So let me set the stage. I was cetified in 1997 and bought all of my gear at that time. One thing about old BCDs is that they didn't have integrated weights so my buddies (who I conviced in later years to get certified) always laughed at me when I struggled with a weight belt on my dives. On recent trips I have noticed I was the only one with a weight belt and an old school BCD. I always found my gear easier to carry when I was wearing it so I commonly donned my weight belt on the dock and wore it until I returned. Easier to carry and it wasn't in anyone's way on the boat.
So last year I was with my buddies in Bonaire and we took a little boat over to Klein Bonaire for a few fun dives. Everything was great and only got better when on the way back to Bonaire we spotted a pod of about 30 dolphins that acted like they wanted to play. The captain stopped the boat and the dive master hopped in with a mask and snorkel and lo and behold the dolphins turned around and came right up to him and started to play all around the boat. The dive master said we should join him in the water with mask and snorkel to see the sights.
Well we didn't have to be asked twice, and the boat started to empty faster than if there had been a fire on board. So everyone is bailing over the side for a snorkle swim and I was almost over the side myself when I realized I still had on 12 lbs of lead. I was so close to going over the side I lost my balance as I tried to stop myself. Luckily I did take my weight belt off before bailing over the side to snorkel with a pod of very playful dolphins, but I've often wondered how deep I would have gotten before I realized why I couldn't surface.
Darwin was lurking around our boat, and I was almost the first victim.
The other near victim was my dive buddy with about $10,000 of camera equipment who jumped over with a mask, snorkel and a load of camera gear. If you are a photographer you will realize that a fancy housing with strobes that make you look like a ship out of Close Encounters of the Third Kind is just a little negative. So my buddy is really enjoying the great photography opportunity and if you've ever been buddied up with a photographer you will know they sometimes get focused on the subject and kind of lose sight of other things around them. So my buddy heads off after some dolphins and gets pretty far away from the boat.
I at least was smart (lucky) enough to not get in the ocean with a bunch of extra weight but my photag buddy has now swum off into the blue lugging what soon became a $10,000 weight threatening to drown him.
As everyone else was getting back onto the boat after our unscheduled dolphin snorkel we saw my photagrapher buddy well away from the boat signalling that he wanted to be picked up NOW. When we finally got to him, he was really struggling and this left me wondering how deep he would have to be before he dropped his $10,000 in extra weight.
Luckily we got everyone back on the boat and got some great pictures and stories of diving with dolphins.
Darwin was held at bay.
I don't carry my weight belt on my waist anymore on dive boats because when I told my wife the tale, she bought me a new Zeagle and took out a new life insurance policy on me.
My photag buddy tells everyone how dolphins rescued him from a near drowing event that was never his fault. Got pics to prove it.
Everyone's a winner.
So last year I was with my buddies in Bonaire and we took a little boat over to Klein Bonaire for a few fun dives. Everything was great and only got better when on the way back to Bonaire we spotted a pod of about 30 dolphins that acted like they wanted to play. The captain stopped the boat and the dive master hopped in with a mask and snorkel and lo and behold the dolphins turned around and came right up to him and started to play all around the boat. The dive master said we should join him in the water with mask and snorkel to see the sights.
Well we didn't have to be asked twice, and the boat started to empty faster than if there had been a fire on board. So everyone is bailing over the side for a snorkle swim and I was almost over the side myself when I realized I still had on 12 lbs of lead. I was so close to going over the side I lost my balance as I tried to stop myself. Luckily I did take my weight belt off before bailing over the side to snorkel with a pod of very playful dolphins, but I've often wondered how deep I would have gotten before I realized why I couldn't surface.
Darwin was lurking around our boat, and I was almost the first victim.
The other near victim was my dive buddy with about $10,000 of camera equipment who jumped over with a mask, snorkel and a load of camera gear. If you are a photographer you will realize that a fancy housing with strobes that make you look like a ship out of Close Encounters of the Third Kind is just a little negative. So my buddy is really enjoying the great photography opportunity and if you've ever been buddied up with a photographer you will know they sometimes get focused on the subject and kind of lose sight of other things around them. So my buddy heads off after some dolphins and gets pretty far away from the boat.
I at least was smart (lucky) enough to not get in the ocean with a bunch of extra weight but my photag buddy has now swum off into the blue lugging what soon became a $10,000 weight threatening to drown him.
As everyone else was getting back onto the boat after our unscheduled dolphin snorkel we saw my photagrapher buddy well away from the boat signalling that he wanted to be picked up NOW. When we finally got to him, he was really struggling and this left me wondering how deep he would have to be before he dropped his $10,000 in extra weight.
Luckily we got everyone back on the boat and got some great pictures and stories of diving with dolphins.
Darwin was held at bay.
I don't carry my weight belt on my waist anymore on dive boats because when I told my wife the tale, she bought me a new Zeagle and took out a new life insurance policy on me.
My photag buddy tells everyone how dolphins rescued him from a near drowing event that was never his fault. Got pics to prove it.
Everyone's a winner.