Thursday, August 27, 2009

And Then He Left Me


Chris is typically a great dive buddy, very conscientious and aware of where I am at all times. He's an engineer so that seems to translate to detail oriented and hyper safe.

That is, until you get him underwater in the dark. Then, he turns into a dreamy diver, unaware of anything, including where his partner is.
We did a night dive tonight. The dive itself was incredible and the conditions could not have been more perfect - no current, little wave action and decent visibility on a wreck dive from the 2nd World War.

The exciting thing about diving at night is that different creatures come out at night. We saw moray eels swimming (typically, they stay holed up in their caves), rare teensy red crabs (the size of a nickel) and mindblowing biolumenscent squid. And, when you turn your flashlight off, the biolumenscent plankton 'spark' all around you when you move - the more you move, the more neon green sparks fly all around you.


It was an incredible dive - definitely one of the best I've been on.

Except for my wandering buddy. When you're underwater, you can literally see your flashlight beam in front of you. There's not much else you can see. And when your buddy (AKA Chris) doesn't keep track of you, you find yourself alone in the pitch blackness wondering which way is up.

He left me not once, but three times (!!!). He insists that I simply was too slow and couldn't keep up.

Chris's story, by the way, is vastly different than mine. He blames losing me on ... me. I say he was being an inconsiderate lout.

Either way, it was a magnificent dive - truly one of a kind and I feel so fortunate that we were able to experience a night dive with so much unique sea creatures and a calm, clear night.

We dive tomorrow at 9 a.m. - our 7th dive of the trip. I can hardly wait...

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Maybe you should get one of those backpacks with the leash attached. You can get some that look like a monkey and leash is the tail.

Anne-Marie said...

Totally a great idea except I don't think they make them in size 'Child' ...