Shiprekd
Guest
The Devil of a Dive
.
Ship, Gail and Bob want to do an overhead environment dive. Im going to send them with you out to Devils Grottos. I want them back with 500psi in their tanks. I figure you should be about an hour. In the meantime, the rest of us are going to go island touring and will be back in an hour and a half. Gail and Bob both looked at me with anxious expressions, I said suit up! we are Goooonneee
We surface swam out to the marker and I gave the usual short but sweet speech of keeping an eye to their equipment, staying close, and Ill be right there if they need me. The adventure started as soon as we started the descent. We hit about 25ft down and immediately were blessed with the sight of a school of big tarpon hanging out just under a ledge. As we moved in on them, they completely ignored the fact we were there. Some would turn and meander by, separating us in a shroud of flashing silver.
I let Gail and Bob set the tone where they wanted to go initially, and just kept an eye to them. I would hand gesture this way and I would point out busy wrasse all the while slowly work them towards one of the openings in the coral. We got to a patch of sand where we kneeled down on and I wrote on my slate Ready to go in? with thumbs up, we rose up and entered the grottos.
The grottos are a series of unofficial caves where most of them have openings to the surface. Some have openings in the walls where you can slip through and be in another cave to explore. All large enough for divers to turn around in but yet close enough to know youre in an overhead environment. We would pass through one, stopping to write on my slate what animal they were looking at or to point out something small that would go unnoticed normally. I had them pass through smaller openings to exit the caverns and go back down through. Gingerly, almost to the point of comical, they would pass through trying not to touch anything. They would look at me with wide eyes in accomplishment and somewhat of a silent thank you.
Finally I gestured it was time to surface, for some reason though, during the last exit through one of the grotto ceilings, both Gail and Bob were keeping a distance a bit farther than usual from me, I turned to them and gestured for them to get closer, but they just looked at me. Finally, Gail looks at Bob and he shrugged his shoulders, thats when Gail raised her hand and pointed to behind me. When I turned around to see what she was pointing to, there behind me, was a 4 ½ ft Barracuda. What looked to be motionless, he slowly backed away from me. I slowly took my knife from my sheath and gestured for Gail and Bob to watch. I reached out and dropped the knife. It started spinning, flashing as the sunlight hit on its way down. The barracuda, turned on a dime and like a rocket, shot right for it. The knife hit the sand below with a light poof and in a blink, the barracuda was on it studying it. After a few seconds, it backed away and off it went into the blue.
I obviously descended down and retrieved my knife and came back up to finish the safety stop with them. As soon as we hit the surface, they were chattering away about this, and about that. The big topic, was the tarpon that they had to swim through in one of the caves, and the other, was that the barracuda was shadowing me for quite awhile. I mentioned we had two choices, we could submerge and make the swim back to shore slowing working our way into shallower water, or we could surface swim. Pointing out that the current, wind and waves were a bit stiffer now than when we began the dive. They chose to submerge and cruise back to the entry point by practicing their navigation skills. With 800psi in their tanks, and at 10ft depth, they were going to be close to the exit mark of 500psi. Only thing was, we were going to be an hour and 15 minutes instead of an hour.
We reached the shore entry point and there was the trip guide/instructor standing there. As soon as I popped my head up, he started yelling that we were late, and had no business putting his students at risk, and so on. I calmly stated about the changing conditions and took the abuse (which was warranted to a point). But all of a sudden, Gail, pipes up and yells back Mack, Let me tell you something, that was the best dive I have ever had! Better than any dive that you have EVER led! As ADULTS, he gave US the option of what WE WANTED to do and he brought us back safe. Looking at her gauge, she says Ship, btw I have 500lbs in my tank .. Bob then softly stated he agreed with Gail and considered the whole deal a waste of drinking time..
That was NOT what I wanted Gail to say, but felt honored by the fact she stuck up for me when she didnt have to. Terms with Mack from then on werent very favorable. Eventually, we agreed that my diving philosophy and his were two different animals and it better that we part on good terms. I felt that they paid for their vacation to enjoy their diving. Not to be driven or made felt they were being led by the hand. Mack felt that while they were advanced divers, they needed to led along with a strict agenda and straying from it would jeopardize their training and safety. I cant say as I learned a lesson that day, whether to go with my assessment of the divers, or to go with what was on the agenda/plan. I do know this, I dont regret my decision ..
Ship, Gail and Bob want to do an overhead environment dive. Im going to send them with you out to Devils Grottos. I want them back with 500psi in their tanks. I figure you should be about an hour. In the meantime, the rest of us are going to go island touring and will be back in an hour and a half. Gail and Bob both looked at me with anxious expressions, I said suit up! we are Goooonneee
We surface swam out to the marker and I gave the usual short but sweet speech of keeping an eye to their equipment, staying close, and Ill be right there if they need me. The adventure started as soon as we started the descent. We hit about 25ft down and immediately were blessed with the sight of a school of big tarpon hanging out just under a ledge. As we moved in on them, they completely ignored the fact we were there. Some would turn and meander by, separating us in a shroud of flashing silver.
I let Gail and Bob set the tone where they wanted to go initially, and just kept an eye to them. I would hand gesture this way and I would point out busy wrasse all the while slowly work them towards one of the openings in the coral. We got to a patch of sand where we kneeled down on and I wrote on my slate Ready to go in? with thumbs up, we rose up and entered the grottos.
The grottos are a series of unofficial caves where most of them have openings to the surface. Some have openings in the walls where you can slip through and be in another cave to explore. All large enough for divers to turn around in but yet close enough to know youre in an overhead environment. We would pass through one, stopping to write on my slate what animal they were looking at or to point out something small that would go unnoticed normally. I had them pass through smaller openings to exit the caverns and go back down through. Gingerly, almost to the point of comical, they would pass through trying not to touch anything. They would look at me with wide eyes in accomplishment and somewhat of a silent thank you.
Finally I gestured it was time to surface, for some reason though, during the last exit through one of the grotto ceilings, both Gail and Bob were keeping a distance a bit farther than usual from me, I turned to them and gestured for them to get closer, but they just looked at me. Finally, Gail looks at Bob and he shrugged his shoulders, thats when Gail raised her hand and pointed to behind me. When I turned around to see what she was pointing to, there behind me, was a 4 ½ ft Barracuda. What looked to be motionless, he slowly backed away from me. I slowly took my knife from my sheath and gestured for Gail and Bob to watch. I reached out and dropped the knife. It started spinning, flashing as the sunlight hit on its way down. The barracuda, turned on a dime and like a rocket, shot right for it. The knife hit the sand below with a light poof and in a blink, the barracuda was on it studying it. After a few seconds, it backed away and off it went into the blue.
I obviously descended down and retrieved my knife and came back up to finish the safety stop with them. As soon as we hit the surface, they were chattering away about this, and about that. The big topic, was the tarpon that they had to swim through in one of the caves, and the other, was that the barracuda was shadowing me for quite awhile. I mentioned we had two choices, we could submerge and make the swim back to shore slowing working our way into shallower water, or we could surface swim. Pointing out that the current, wind and waves were a bit stiffer now than when we began the dive. They chose to submerge and cruise back to the entry point by practicing their navigation skills. With 800psi in their tanks, and at 10ft depth, they were going to be close to the exit mark of 500psi. Only thing was, we were going to be an hour and 15 minutes instead of an hour.
We reached the shore entry point and there was the trip guide/instructor standing there. As soon as I popped my head up, he started yelling that we were late, and had no business putting his students at risk, and so on. I calmly stated about the changing conditions and took the abuse (which was warranted to a point). But all of a sudden, Gail, pipes up and yells back Mack, Let me tell you something, that was the best dive I have ever had! Better than any dive that you have EVER led! As ADULTS, he gave US the option of what WE WANTED to do and he brought us back safe. Looking at her gauge, she says Ship, btw I have 500lbs in my tank .. Bob then softly stated he agreed with Gail and considered the whole deal a waste of drinking time..
That was NOT what I wanted Gail to say, but felt honored by the fact she stuck up for me when she didnt have to. Terms with Mack from then on werent very favorable. Eventually, we agreed that my diving philosophy and his were two different animals and it better that we part on good terms. I felt that they paid for their vacation to enjoy their diving. Not to be driven or made felt they were being led by the hand. Mack felt that while they were advanced divers, they needed to led along with a strict agenda and straying from it would jeopardize their training and safety. I cant say as I learned a lesson that day, whether to go with my assessment of the divers, or to go with what was on the agenda/plan. I do know this, I dont regret my decision ..
