That was so funny it nearly killed me...

[H2Andy]

i thought we might like to share humorous episodes from
our diving experiences... i'll go first

Andy’s (Excellent) Tarpon Encounter

I was doing a night dive at Buddy’s Reef (Bonaire), loving it, and so on. It was a solo dive,
so no worries about buddies or staying close to anyone.

At one point, I became aware of a large, looming, ominous threat to my right and slightly
forward of me. I said to myself, “hey... there are no large, looming, dangerous threats
in these waters,” so I shone my light in that direction.

Horrified, I saw a monster of the deep with RED BEAMS OF LIGHT coming out of its
eyes swimming right at me. My mind screamed at me, “Oh my God... the large, looming,
dangerous threat is not only coming AT YOU, it has RED BEAMS OF LIGHT coming
out of its eyes!”

This was in the one second that it took for me to realize I had just “flashed” a tarpon, who,
since they are night hunters, have reflectors on the back of their pupils, which shine the
light back at you.

Back on the dock, I found out that “Charlie” is a local tarpon that comes out to greet
night divers with regularity, because we “light up” his meal for him.

Cleaning my wet suit was no trouble at all, really.

 

[Boogie711]

At a friends wedding. Friend is getting married on Flowerpot Island in Tobermory, which is a beautiful nature reserve and a popular scuba destination. You can't get married there normally - my buddy had to pull a few strings.

So - couple has their back to the water. Preacher and "congregation" gathered on rocks etc. facing water. And in the middle of ceremony, up quietly popped two scuba divers! Preacher didn't notice them, and the couple had their back to them.

They looked quite confused over what was going on - until they figured it out. I saw one lean over to the other, whisper something quietly, and they both very quietly disappeared back into the water.

I guess they didn't want to disturb the ceremony - very nice of them, I thought.

 

[geraldp]

i thought we might like to share humorous episodes from
our diving experiences... i'll go first

Andy’s (Excellent) Tarpon Encounter...

I was on my very first solo dive last weekend up at Sunnyside Beach in the Puget Sound, WA. I am supremely confident when I'm around other divers, but I have to admit I was kind of freaked out being by myself out there (even though I was only diving to 44 feet and there were other divers nearby). Vis was about 15 feet. I found a small sunken open top boat, and as I approached I found 2 green men sitting on the back bench of the boat. That scared the bubbles out of me - it looked like two bloated dead guys sitting in the boat. Later, when I read a book on local shore dives that described the site, I found that somebody had sunk a "Santa and Frosty the Snowman" at the site.

 

[ScubaTexas]

We were in Grand Cayman. My wife, my father in law and I decided to do the stingray city dive. After we were done playing with the stingrays, we ventured out to find the resident green moray eels. The DM was leading us and my father in law was ahead of my wife and I but slightly back from the DM. The DM rounded a coral head and as my father in law was following the DM a large (about 5 foot) green moray comes swimming along from the right going by my wife and I and approaching my father in law from behind. The father in law is unaware of the approaching moray. We were too far back to catch his attention. He was oblivious to it all, which made it even funnier. All we could do is take pictures. All of sudden, the father in law turns and the moray is right in front of him. He practically jumped out of his BC and I'm pretty sure he _ _ _ _ his wetsuit. We just about spit out our regs laughing so hard. If only we had a video camera with us.

 

[DennisW]

I went diving several years ago with a friend that had not been diving in a couple of years. I made sure she was comfortable in the water by having her come over to my house and get in the pool with her gear and making sure she could clear her mask, find her octo, buddy breath, etc.

The next day we headed to West Palm Beach with a group from work. We had a wonderful dive and she did fine. After the first dive we were floating on the surface holding onto the float line waiting for the rest of the group to get on the boat. I was watching her hold her regulator out of the water while we were waiting. I guess she saw the question in my face, because she says: Can I get this wet?

I laughed so hard I let go of the float line and the current nearly took me off from the boat.

 

[FredT]

Way back in the dark ages (early '70s) I used to hunt for all my food underwater, this being the least expensive way a broke engineering student could aquire calories. I had a buddy that liked to dive after work, and we hit the same reef several times a week. I also had a College of Ocean Engineering secretary who loved to bake, and liked french grunt to the point she'd pick them up uncleaned, and deliver whatever she was baking that day in return. Stitches Reef was covered in grunts then, to the point we had to push through them to find the reef, so it was no problem collecting a few on demand, and it also held a good supply of large grouper and bugs so hunting for my table there worked well too.

One day in the summer of '72 we were joined by a mobile silver telphone pole with teeth. That 'cuda was well over 8' long and had the same doberman puppy attitude common to 'cudas. All teeth and curiosity and no "attitude." To make a long story shorter he became an unwanted "pet" that learned to recognise the sounds of Al's boat engine. He'd wait under the keel, join us for the decent by swimming between us, and then we'd have to feed him until he stopped taking grunts off our sling shafts before we dared hunt for ourselves.

One of my school aquaintences had just gotten certified that summer and wanted us to take her out diving. Liz was decent people and good scenery as well so out she came with us. She had been informed of our "friend" several times in the past so we didn't think anything about it and hooked up on Stitches. This being her first dive without her instructor she did as most new divers do and had her gear bag explode all over the stern deck of the 24'er we were using. This boat had very limited deck space and no ladder, entry being to roll over the side with about 18" of freeboard and exits involved floating the gear on a tag line and climbing up the lower unit and over the Mercruiser engine cover. Al and I stored our gear assembled in the cuddy so we told her to just get in and we'd join her about 10' down on the anchor line in a minute or so, since there wasn't room on the deck to get our tanks out without putting them on her gear anyway.

She finished dressing out and rolled over the side. Al and I reached into the cuddy and grabbed our tanks. When we turned around we find a very wet Liz on deck madder than any woman I've ever seen, and the hatch cover is still dry. Apparently Liz rolled over the side, and when the entry bubbles cleared all she saw was the teeth on the front end of our friend about 6" from her face. She immediately swarmed back up over the side madder than a woman who just caught her best friend in bed with her "intended."

It took us about 15 minutes to get her calmed down enough to dive and WE had to get in first. I still don't know how she swarmed aboard in full gear. I was never able to do that in several attempts on subsequent trips.

FT

 

[aquaoren]

Got attacked by a trigger fish in the Red Sea. It was my 8th dive in total.
He scared the crapp out of me but my buddy couldn't stop laughing back on the boat.

 

[alemaozinho]

i thought we might like to share humorous episodes from
our diving experiences... i'll go first

Andy’s (Excellent) Tarpon Encounter

I was doing a night dive at Buddy’s Reef (Bonaire), loving it, and so on. It was a solo dive,
so no worries about buddies or staying close to anyone.

At one point, I became aware of a large, looming, ominous threat to my right and slightly
forward of me. I said to myself, “hey... there are no large, looming, dangerous threats
in these waters,” so I shone my light in that direction.

Horrified, I saw a monster of the deep with RED BEAMS OF LIGHT coming out of its
eyes swimming right at me. My mind screamed at me, “Oh my God... the large, looming,
dangerous threat is not only coming AT YOU, it has RED BEAMS OF LIGHT coming
out of its eyes!”

This was in the one second that it took for me to realize I had just “flashed” a tarpon, who,
since they are night hunters, have reflectors on the back of their pupils, which shine the
light back at you.

Back on the dock, I found out that “Charlie” is a local tarpon that comes out to greet
night divers with regularity, because we “light up” his meal for him.

Cleaning my wet suit was no trouble at all, really.

LOL

 

[Mark Vlahos]

I think it was about three years ago in Turks and Caicos. We were doing a night dive, the plan was to pair up on the surface, head for the bottom, and then out on a particular compass bearing about 40 feet to the wall. Once we found the wall we were to descend to our intended depth and keep the wall on our right. We had a turn pressure, time, or a landmark to indicate when we should head back so it was really relaxed.

We were only about 20 feet from the landmark, and nearing the time and pressure as well. There were two other buddy teams nearby as well. I was a few feet ahead and to the left of my buddy when his light waves like crazy and I hear him yell "OH S**T" (this was the first time I ever understood what anybody said underwater). I instantly turned to my right to see a 5 foot nurse shark swimming past me, It has swum right between his legs and below his torso.

His eyes were HUGE he was still yelling and waving his light! After the nurse shark got only a few feet away from him it turned and he was able to see it for what it was. It only took him a few seconds to start laughting. The buddy team about 20 feet ahead of us turned around and saw the shark and made OK signs. The other team nearby was actually on the other side of a rock formation so we only saw their lights.

When we got back to the boat the close buddy team thanked my buddy for pointing out the shark. We overheard another team talking about all the commotion at the turn point, and wondering what it was all about. After a few minutes we told them about the shark and we all had a good laugh.

Mark Vlahos

 

[scbababe]

H2, I know what you mean! When the Conch divers did the Pompano pier clean up there were many BIG tarpons! they were so BIG I thought they were sharks!
But then again anything bigger than me, looks like a shark to me!....(lol)...