I survived....(I am back from the weirdest cruise ever)

[Writers Bloque]

So the cruise ended a day early due to a hurricane approaching the Caribbean, despite us being in the Bahamas. (miles south from each other.)

We were supposed to there. But the Itinerary changed, due to the turmoil in Haiti and the weather. The ship piddled around the West Indies a bit, one major port we spent any considerable time at was Nassau.

The islands were fun for everyone, except my daughter, who burned like a steak. History, and the food, it was fun for me.

But the weirdness started on the 4th day of the cruise.

Me and the wife were eating dinner as the others were watching movies or doing god knows what else, when a strange couple sits at our table. Trying to blend friendly and protective of my wife and my food, I tried to be personable. So my wife and the man's wife hit it off. Seems they are only minutes older than us. Enjoying the company, we finish our meal and hit the lounge for some after dinner drinks. Me and the husband start a game of pool while the wives are merrily chatting away, after my fourth win, and fifth white russian, we all decided that it was time to retire to our rooms.

It's now almost midnight, and the buzz I had building was wearing off, so I fish out my thinking smokes, and moved to the designated smoking area on the deck, which was a little bus stop looking place, protected from the wind and ocean spray. Under the little light was an old man, puffing away on a pipe, with a book in his hands. He was reading a collection of Nietzsche's works, which was cool, since he was a misunderstood man, whose own sister took his works after he was committed, and twisted them into propaganda for the funny mustached man in the '40's.

I announced my presence as not to scare him with "It is the will of the Supermen to surpass Man, What have you done to surpass man?" And he looked up and smiled and said "Absolutely nothing, because those who seek to surpass will often find themselves surpassed." We hit it off hard. We talked about everything literary,  I think he was testing me, to see if I knew something or was full of shit, and I answered honestly, even when he threw in questions about contemporary works like King, and I said the scariest thing about Kings novels isnt the monsters, but the human nature of the characters who are dealing with it. This piqued his interest and he asked me to elaborate and I explained my point:

The monsters in King's books are just pure fluff to guide the characters along, the true horror is the people themselves. Take for instance "Needful Things." Temptation and deceit, and self service are the true monsters, not the demon Gaunt."

I prattled on about how the monsters were just a mask for the darkness that resides in our nature, and he thoughtfully listened to every word, and then he agreed, but rebutted one point. He said it wouldn't be a very good horror novel if there was no monsters, because not every reader will pick up on the subtle nuances I was pointing out. So we talked until the midnight horn, and we parted ways. I felt my first man crush. I wanted nothing more to be cuddled by him, reading the classics. I told my wife and she laughed and asked if I needed a clean pair of underwear.

The next day I found the ship's library, or what they consider a library, which is 90% magazines and only a few interesting books. So when we went as a family to breakfast, I noticed the old man with his family eating and I waved at the man, who nodded back. You would have thought I forgot how to man. Men don't wave to each other, we nod curtly to even our best friends.

I have more to share if anyone is interested.   

[msslave]

Of course we want to hear more. What's a cruise without finding a crush. So what if it's a guy.
 

 

[Pornhubby]

Me and the husband start a game of pool while the wives are merrily chatting away, after my fourth win, and fifth white russian, we all decided that it was time to retire to our rooms.

[Writers Bloque]

Of course we want to hear more. What's a cruise without finding a crush. So what if it's a guy.
 

 

Me and the husband start a game of pool while the wives are merrily chatting away, after my fourth win, and fifth white russian, we all decided that it was time to retire to our rooms.

They had the good kahlua, almost upper top shelf. The vodka was Stoli, so it was decent. But after five I was starting to sing Diggy Diggy Hole.

The young couple stuck to us for a few days, and they were nice and all, but they gave off a little predatory vibe, like they wanted something we had. The next evening the old man was sitting in his spot, puffing on his pipe, when I showed up with my copy of Justine, because no matter where I go for longer than a day, I never seem to get to read past a certain part. He snorted and laughed when he seen the book. I was a little annoyed. He is reading Tolstoy and I am read De Sade. I asked why he was laughing, and he said that I was a few hundred years too young to understand what Justine was really about. I said that it was more of an allegory for the wrongs he did his lovers. He bit back and said it was more of his upper class fluff. I figured he wasn't a fan of De Sade. He told me that his writings might have been controversial in his era, but now you can see worse on t.v. But it also did not excuse him for being a down right bastard.

We dueled with words for an hour, and my second smoke half gone, I decided we needed a change of venue to continue our contest of wits. We moved to a less crowded lounge, where the only music came from a softly played piano. We plopped our tired asses at the bar, and I made the first move.

"Two shots, Walker, Blue Label."

We were served and I slid him his shot. We both downed them, and the conversation resumed. Back and forth until he told me De Sade's writings amounted to nothing more than pre revolution dime store trashy novels, that were really just his perverted open rebellion against the nobles of his time, a Lese Majeste against the ruling society. It was him saying "You lead and rule, and yet behind the peoples back you all are filthy." I couldn't retort because in a way he was right. I also learned a new phrase, with Lese Majeste. It means to insult a ruler, or treason. But after my second shot, I remembered something. "He got arrested a few times for the things he wrote, and apparently tickling his naked made with a feather. So he had the right to speak out."

Nope, he rebutted that he was a minor royal and even though he had a connection to the king, he was on a tighter leash as to not bring shame to the throne, so no one really gave a damn about the points he was trying to make.

We ended it at a draw, because while most of his writings were erotic, they all had a moral, like a perverted Chaucer's Tales. Another shot, and I had to know where did he learn all that stuff. He explained that he was a professor of classical literature. I thought that was super cool. I asked where he taught and he told me he doesn't anymore, he retired a decade ago. I said neat and as per the rules for tit for tat, I told him a bit of my history, and he looked at me like I told him that the ship hit a solid gold iceberg and its raining gold coins on deck. He asked why did I waste my talents. I told him honestly that I was really scared of my future before I knocked my gf up. My parents were poor, so a good college was out of the question, I didn't do the SAT because I did not have enough money to pay for it, and my parents couldn't because my little brother and sister needed braces.

He told me he had me beat in the sad life department, he was diagnosed with skin cancer, and that they did not catch it in time. Two weeks before the trip he got the final prognosis, and that it was terminal, having spread out, throughout his body. Doctors only gave him at most until christmas, I said that was pretty fucked. And he said sometimes your hand wins, and most of the time, the hand you are dealt loses. He said he wasn't the type to waste time feeling bad about it. His wife was playing Bingo, his kids and grandkids stopped talking to him a year ago, and he was just fine with his wife, pipe and a good book.

Dude was becoming my hero/spirit animal.

I asked the barkeeper for something salty to snack on. He poured a small bowl of a pretzel mix, and we both sat there chatting like he did not drop a nuke in my lap. It was one a.m. and our spouses found us nursing scotch and pining for our youth to return.

I was just at that nice stage of buzzed where I could think and talk, but I was almost floating to our cabin.

More?

[Writers Bloque]

Sun, Skin diving and Sin.

The first day of being docked in Nassau was a blast. We left the ship, thankful to be on dry, not moving land. It took us a minute to get our land legs back, and I told the girls to stay the fuck together, don't go off with strangers, and if we get separated, meet at the docks. Ashley and Bethany said they would escort the girls, since Princess wanted to look around too. I found a hotel near the docks and beach with rooms still open, and I rented the rooms for a couple of nights, wanting to be back on the ship long before departure.

Me and the wife went off looking for something to do, when there we found a dive shop, offering diving tours. Wife *can* do some shallow diving, as I taught her the basics, but anything deeper than twenty feet she needs official training. I asked if they had any charters open, and they said the last open one was this afternoon at three pm. I asked if I have to stay with the tour group, since I am certified for 75 feet (25 meters for those who are metric based.) The lady asked for my credentials, and I showed them to her. She said I could go that deep with the group, but I had to have my gear checked out officially. So while the wife was picking out a new suit for this adventure, I schlepped back to the ship to get my gear. I brought it in (its heavy as all fuck) in my nylon mesh bag and the woman looked it over between serving other customers. Apparently my fins were out of regulation date, and had to be replaced with newer more efficient ones. my tanks were okay, though the right ones seals were showing wear, and my gauge could be replaced with a newer digital like one. I was like okay. But after the inspection, she drained the air, and refilled it with fresh new air, since its been awhile, *technically* I am supposed to drain them to store them, but its a pain in the ass to haul them to refill them. The only problem she seen was the harness digging into my skin, since this was a skin diving area.

Skin Diving: a no suit dive, usually casual, light tanks, etc. Mostly shallow, because the water isnt cold, and also some areas limit the suits because while great underwater, they do limit the freedom of movement a bit, and mostly are reserved for deeper dives.

Wet suit: (what I own.) it gets soaked through, adding a bit of weight to help you go deeper on top of dive weights. Also sexy as all hell, if you see a woman diver in the movies, it is super form fitting.

Dry suit: (expensive as hell) Mostly for cooler or colder water dives, as the water does not soak through. Think of the bond movies where he comes out of the water in a dive suit, takes it off and is in a full tux. They are annoying as all fuck because its like being a person covered in another person, because its layers of insulation makes doing more than just diving and swimming a chore.

Naked Dives: As the name implies, its just you and your gear and nothing else on. Not recommended for men packing big dicks or women nearing the bad days, because one, some fish will attack a mans dangling dick, and two, the hormones released will draw unwanted attention. I only have naked dived a couple of times and its refreshing but annoying when fish wont leave your cock alone.

But the worst thing about places like this, is they want to up sell you on personal skim dive crafts, like little things that pull you around. or worst, that joke I made about the sitting dive scooters, and the old ladies in the underwater walmart. They sold and rented those. Wife of course wanted to ride one, and I slapped my head. Its three hundred to rent it for the entire trip of a couple of hours. Wife called the girls, who were on their way back to the hotel, and asked if they wanted to join us. Daughter and Mimi did, the rest were too tired. Fine by me. I forgo wearing my suit for this, because I wasn't going full depth in unknown waters, so I asked to see the current flow maps and other information. After reading everything about where the charter was taking us I opted out of going full depth, because it was a shelf, the shallow part was large enough to explore free hand, but where I wanted to go dropped to 55 feet and barely had any light down there, even in the noon sun. Danger level: Medium. Meh. I had a super bright dive light, the poking stick with chemlight inside and if something wanted me for a snack, I had a cool dive knife or my bare hands.

Understand I wasn't itching for no fights. I am no hero of the deep, aquaman, or Posideon, I am just a bored office worker with a nice life and family. I toted my gear back to my room, as the boat was not in harbor at the moment. I said we needed to eat hours before the dive, as if we eat before the dive it will mess us up. So we had a light lunch of the local cuisine, which was amazing. I had packed everything I was taking, including my dive camera and the four of us were on the dock.

It was a group a little over twenty people, so there were two dive masters and two assistants, and in the group we were in the dive master was a literal goddess.

A literal fucking, hotter than the sun and all of hell itself, twenty-three year old, light skinned, the color of creamed and sugared coffee, almos looking like a white lady super tanned, her hair was dark brown and light brown in spots, tight tummy from all the exercise, not overly huge but a firm handful rack, her ass was tight enough to bounce bullets off of, had that seductive, but innocently doe eyed look that said, "Come play around and see what you get" look.

My wife was smitten.

My daughter and Mimi were smitten.

I was listening to Neffex - Rumors in my earbuds. I was smitten. (I would like the ladies of the forum to listen to this and tell me if they would be flattered or insulted if described by this song, please.)

We were loaded on the boat, along with all those damnable sea scooters and sea jets. It took us twenty minutes to get there.

Once we were there, the Dive master Goddess was going with me, since I was the only one with a license for deep water. I said I was okay to go alone, but she would not take no for an answer. We set our guide dive line, since we were not going straight down, She dropped first, and waited for me, I turned my back to the water and back dove in. I do that to make sure everything is secure and its easier on my knee.

I waved underwater to my wife and kids and we headed for the shelf. It was kind of eerie, seeing the reefs kind of die off as the water turned a little cooler, I was taking video of it, when a big shark made its appearance, but had no interest in us, because it was heading for the warmer water, away from the other skin divers. But we were heading to the shelf. On the edge I stopped her and showed her my regulator, which was holding strong at 84% I gave her the hand sign to proceed carefully, as the next shark might not be so oblivious to us. She agreed, and we stayed in the lit areas along the ridge of the shelf, where the water was still warm enough to not freeze us. The plan was to hit the goal and loop around to the 30ft deep reef, and then skim our way back to the boat.

That poking stick was real useful, for the eels that thought we could be dinner. and also helping a turtle who got stuck in some rocks. That was neat. I wanted to see something half way into our journey and I took a chemlight, tied to a fishing weight, activated it and dropped it. The light vanished in the count of six, so it was around 60ft deeper or more. She signed that it was a small valley, 90ft down. Too deep for me. We moved on. We were at 40ft when her harness got caught on some strong rocks and coral. It happens, but it is also scary too. So I signed for her to relax, and she signed that she was almost out of air. I forgot she was only using one tank. I checked her gauge and she had less than ten minutes left. Not an emergency as we were relatively shallow, 40ft isnt scary, but its not exactly safe either. I turned on my octopus and let her use it, while I freed her by cutting the caught strap, and she *clung* to me as she was sharing my air, which at this point I was at half, 50%. I freed her gear, and turned her tank off. We might need the last breaths for the slow ascent.

I signed for her to hold my straps, as my octopus was not long enough for her to swim beside me.

The feeling of a taut body pressing into me, the feelings of her breasts pressing into my arm, I was probably going to either attract some horny lady fish, or bleed from my nose and attract sharks.

I unhooked the line I usually keep connected to my belt, which is connected to my gear, in case I have to ditch it. I am not going to buy a new tank and everything. and hooked it to hers, so I can drag it with us while I swam. Now, I am not a hero, because its the dive buddy system. Sharing air is part of it. but I was rock hard, and wished I could freely use it as a rudder though. But we were reaching 30ft, I had to slow down, because the bends isnt a joke. a couple of days to a week of decompression will ruin a vacation. So we slowly made our way back to the boat, and once we were comfortable enough, we surfaced, and I was at 20% air left. I let her climb up first to watch that god carved perfect ass climb the ladder, and she offered me a hand up. I pulled her gear up, apologizing for cutting the strap. She shrugged and smiled, offering me a cold beer. We sat and drank, resting and catching our breaths. We reviewed the footage, and we noticed a reddish brown spot on the sea floor, and I said it could be lichen, and she said no, because there would be clear edges to it.

We pondered it for a few moments, and I stood up, and watched the girls under the boat and water goofing off, so I took my knife out of the sheath, kicked off my fins, and jumped back in. Free diving is DANGEROUS but fun, you can get over confident and get fucked quickly. But since the target was close to the boat and dive line, it was a matter of breath control and heading straight down. I was close to shitting myself in fear as I made it to the bottom, and I touched the reddish brown thing, expecting an animal, but I dug around it with my knife and loosened the soil around it, and I could lift it out. I slowly swam up, my lungs screaming in protest, but I fought the urge to panic, as this was one of the tests for my license, a free dive to show breath control.

I tossed the heavy little lump on the deck, and she poked it with her foot. She asked it what it was. I said she was the proud owner of a pure lump of raw iron. Its not unusual for ore to be found on the sea floor, and sometimes a sign of it is reefs. She was not happy. I said its a good find, melt it down and you can have it made into something. She wanted to throw it back, but I gave it to the shop owner.

We resumed relaxing when it was time to haul everyone back aboard. Once everyone was back aboard, and everything locked down, we rode back. I talked to Dive Goddess Noni some more with the wife. We invited her to dinner that night and it was fun....

[msslave]

Oh man reminds me of the dives I used to make in Mexico. I was never certified. I started by doing "resort dives" as they were called. We'd go to a swimming pool and go through the basics then off to a shallow 30 foot dive.

[Writers Bloque]

Oh man reminds me of the dives I used to make in Mexico. I was never certified. I started by doing "resort dives" as they were called. We'd go to a swimming pool and go through the basics then off to a shallow 30 foot dive.

Thats how I was certified at the Dive school, since the Cola has a really good one. I mean I never been to Mexico, but the waters off of Nassau are beautiful. When I first got my certs, I worked weekends with a local fishing charter. Like if they had a sunday charter, I would dive for them in their planned fishing area to make sure they could catch something, because the fish sonar on the boats cant entirely be trusted, so I would dive down, take pictures, and sometimes (now illegal) throw some bait out and dive up. Also joined in a few Lionfish hunts. They taste good prepared right. I cant really do much more, because my knee in the deeper water likes to lock up, and I am also afraid of that being what kills me underwater. Motorcycles and SCUBA diving is in my blood.

I think I told you all this. My grandfather passed a few years ago, but during his time in the navy he filmed a sea survival training reel. 1 week on the open water with limited provisions. But he taught me that you could survive if you didn't lose your head. Like if you feel like your in the sun too much, swim under the raft or in its shadow, etc.

Shallow dives are fun. My wife putted around on those underwater scooters, like she was at a fish market. She told me she found several yummy fish and I was like nope. We did go by ourselves the next day, snorkeling. She pointed out the fish, and I had to sadly tell her they could not be eaten. But i really wished for a sea cucumber to mess with her with. But Diving with the goddess was fun. I kind of wished I pushed my wife into getting trained and certified. But she wasn't really interested at the time.

And no, I did not want to fuck my wife in the depths. Sex is out of the question, because you would burn more oxygen than you could keep track of, and also get cramped up really bad. So IF you do want to deep sea fuck, do it in the shallows between 10-30ft, and also be careful. There are some fish who might bother you when you release your seed, or juices. Fish are sensitive to the at kind of thing.

I wish I could send you the video, but there are like only two or three in focus good frames. And one of them is the ass of the dive goddess. because she backed up to let a school of fish pass by, right into the middle of my frame.

The trip and time with my family was Amazing. Next time I go, I hope to have won the lottery, so I could just charter us an entire cruise ship just for KB and everyones SO and family.

[Pornhubby]

My grandfather passed a few years ago, but during his time in the navy he filmed a sea survival training reel. 1 week on the open water with limited provisions. But he taught me that you could survive if you didn't lose your head. Like if you feel like you’re in the sun too much, swim under the raft or in its shadow, etc.

I was amazed to learn about open water survival by the movie Unbroken.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Zamperini

[Writers Bloque]

My grandfather passed a few years ago, but during his time in the navy he filmed a sea survival training reel. 1 week on the open water with limited provisions. But he taught me that you could survive if you didn't lose your head. Like if you feel like you’re in the sun too much, swim under the raft or in its shadow, etc.

I was amazed to learn about open water survival by the movie Unbroken.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Zamperini

He told me that there is no magic trick or one solution, as each ocean brings its own troubles. The Atlantic gets colder more north you go, same as the Pacific, but in the Pacific the threat of sharks is higher, on top of the currents that may or may not push you towards land. Like he said, if you focus on the tasks of survival, and not lose your head you can make it. because fear and paranoia are your enemy. I sat for hours listening to his advice and stories.

[Hilda]

My grandfather passed a few years ago, but during his time in the navy he filmed a sea survival training reel. 1 week on the open water with limited provisions. But he taught me that you could survive if you didn't lose your head. Like if you feel like you’re in the sun too much, swim under the raft or in its shadow, etc.

I was amazed to learn about open water survival by the movie Unbroken.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Zamperini

Fascinating! Thank you for that link to information about Zamperini. There was much in that Wikipedia article that was completely new to me. The internment camps in Tokyo, for example, or MacArthur's list of forty most wanted war criminals.

Another item of ocean-related information that I came across recently concerned Point Nemo, the place in the ocean that is farthest from land. It came up in an online discussion about how engineers plan to de-orbit the ISS when it's decommissioned. The plan is to aim for Point Nemo in the Southern Pacific. The chances of ISS fragments hitting anything are zero. No islands, no ships. Just ocean.

[Writers Bloque]

Point Nemo is where the fear of deep oceans is born from. Survival is extremely hard but not impossible. Pull up a map of the worlds shipping lanes and overlay it with Point Nemo, and if you know where they are you could survive. But the biggest hurdle is not tiring yourself out quickly on top of the lack of food or water. Would I want to test it? no. I like being alive.

There are other things that happened on the trip, one of the funniest was how I shut down a rich couples plans:

At the hotel, eating dinner with some friends we made, a really aggressively rich couple from the ship joins us. Think of a modern parody of those aristocrats who would go on safaris. We were talking about the dive, and then the rich couple offered me a chance to go cave diving with them. That is a hard pass for me. I don't cave dive. I am not afraid of caves, or deep water, but caves with deep water shakes me a little. I am also not certified to cave dive. Nor do I want to. I like being alive. No, fuck that, I really x100 like being alive. Dad wanted to cave dive around here, there is a famous one near Eglin AFB. No. You can go prove your not long in the tooth buddy, I will keep my ass up here where they can find my body. My dad laughed and went and had a good time, a decade ago with his friends.

Movies did it to me. There is a reason caves are caves and not fully explored.

So I had to ask, what are they certified for? You would have thought I asked the mans wife how many orgasms in a row has she had before. They looked at each other and replied they didn't. I said nope. They begged me. I told them flatly that even if I was inclined to die in a cramped, dark place where my body would never be found, I would rather go with people who knew what they were doing, to die with. My wife laughed. I did 0 study on the Bahamas for caves, that is just how much I am vehemently opposed to cave diving. I dont care if the cave is fully explored, has gift shops in air pockets and has a sexy mermaid brothel at the end. Wont catch my less fat, fat ass anywhere near a watery cave. Not even for all the riches and pussy in the world. Not even for a cache of a lifetime supply of never going stale or flat grapico.

They were dejected. I said sorry, but the way I want to die is either saving the human race, or smothered in pussy with a shot of that ultra expensive liquor. Not in a cave. Not alone. And not with some asshats who have more money than common sense. Our friends agreed. One reason our friends offered is that it takes time to plan that. Permits and such. We were heading back to the boat the next day, so there was that. Also they said they were chartering a seaplane to take us there. I said no. Too far away. They might have the money to blow getting back home to meet the ship to get their stuff, but I didn't.

They left us and the ship alone. They were not their when we returned to home port, and their stuff was put into a storage for them to pick up.

I really hope they are okay.

But another incident happened with Mimi and Claire. If I havent said so before, all the residents of my house are now of legal age. We adopted Mimi, but Claire and a couple of other girls are crashing at my place permanently. I did not adopt them, but due to various issues with their home life, my wife put her foot down to allow them to crash our nest. So we brought them on the cruise. I told someone that the girls biggest gripe was that the 18+ dance club on board was mostly girls. Well mostly, there was a small population of married men hunting barely legal ass. Not me, cause dance clubs are not my scene. I do not know the girl version of sausage fest. But Daughter and Mimi made some friends and enemies. Apparently, the girls with me showing up was a pussy too much, and the boss chick of her little chick pecking party was increasingly becoming territorial, and my daughter isnt like that. But this daughter grew up watching the Aristocats, and "A Lady never starts a fight, but she finishes them." Wife told me to stay out of it. Baby girl needs to learn to use her claws. I thought she did that in high school, but sadly, that was a warm up for real life. Mimi and Claire are my daughters dearest friends, so when Mimi and Claire came back to the cabin, Daughter knew something was up. Wife joined the whole girl group for a trip to the spa. I was left alone, even Princess got to go.

They handled it like Ladies. But It also got a stern warning from the ship staff. I was not there, so all I can say is that they seem to have won? But I can feel safe that my baby girl can handle herself.

[Pornhubby]

I am a PADI certified diver. But I only surface dive now.  Years ago I did a deep dive to the edge of the Continental Shelf off  Grand Cayman, about 85 feet down.

It was a peaceful descent. Controlled breathing. But when we got to the edge, I found myself looking into the abyss.  About 25,216 feet (7,686 metres), the deepest point in the Caribbean Sea. I suddenly felt very claustrophobic. I felt the weight of 85 feet of sea above me. I have never felt as terrified as I did in that moment.

I did a controlled ascent, with necessary pauses, but I got out of the water into the boat and said to myself, “I am never fucking doing anything like that again.“ I’m happy just to feed manta rays and sea turtles now.

[Writers Bloque]

I am a PADI certified diver. But I only surface dive now.  Years ago I did a deep dive to the edge of the Continental Shelf off  Grand Cayman, about 85 feet down.

It was a peaceful descent. Controlled breathing. But when we got to the edge, I found myself looking into the abyss.  About 25,216 feet (7,686 metres), the deepest point in the Caribbean Sea. I suddenly felt very claustrophobic. I felt the weight of 85 feet of sea above me. I have never felt as terrified as I did in that moment.

I did a controlled ascent, with necessary pauses, but I got out of the water into the boat and said to myself, “I am never fucking doing anything like that again.“ I’m happy just to feed manta rays and sea turtles now.

When I went through training, my instructor was PADi certified. At the time PADi was a pretty hardcore group of instructors. My instructor told me the facts of life, like I was not cut out for deeper than my certification license would allow. He said being a bigger guy, I would lose air volume quickly, and he told me stories of cave divers who vanished and were never found. Like Vector springs in the north county of Escambia County.

That man put up with all of my youthful bullshit and countered it with real world facts. I remember our first real dive together, as he was hired to inspect some of the early artificial reef project sites. So PH you have my deeper respect. But the man was also retired Navy also, so would tell stories of what he did. I told him my first wish for diving was to get a bottle of the fresh water spring at Clearwater. He said that was silly as they sell water bottled from the srping.

[Hilda]

told him my first wish for diving was to get a bottle of the fresh water spring at Clearwater. He said that was silly as they sell water bottled from the srping.

Photo: Hilda

This is a bottle I picked up on a dive in Bridgetown, Barbados. The dive instructor didn't think much of it. "The harbour's full of them," he said. "The sailors used to lop off the neck of the bottle, drink the wine, then throw the bottle overboard. If you can find one with the neck intact, it might be worth something. Otherwise. . ."

On another dive I brought up three large conch shells. Unfortunately two of them were still inhabited. The instructor told me the "quick" way of extracting the unfortunate mollusc was to insert a fish hook into the flesh, then hang the shell by the hook. Eventually the poor creature will tire of supporting its own weight and will let go.

[Writers Bloque]

told him my first wish for diving was to get a bottle of the fresh water spring at Clearwater. He said that was silly as they sell water bottled from the srping.

Photo: Hilda

This is a bottle I picked up on a dive in Bridgetown, Barbados. The dive instructor didn't think much of it. "The harbour's full of them," he said. "The sailors used to lop off the neck of the bottle, drink the wine, then throw the bottle overboard. If you can find one with the neck intact, it might be worth something. Otherwise. . ."

On another dive I brought up three large conch shells. Unfortunately two of them were still inhabited. The instructor told me the "quick" way of extracting the unfortunate mollusc was to insert a fish hook into the flesh, then hang the shell by the hook. Eventually the poor creature will tire of supporting its own weight and will let go.

I would have snagged a conch shell, but honestly I was mostly after pictures, as I have some trinkets I found on past dives that I wasn't really looking for more stuff to lug around. An old dive buddy of mine regularly goes diving two miles due south of New Orleans and brings back bottles and such, and his wife cleans them carefully to sell in Pensacola at the farmers market. New Orleans was a pirate town, you can find some neat things in the water, but anything of historical value has to be turned into the historical society. The coolest thing I found underwater with Noni was an almost intact barrel, but Noni said to leave it, because while it looked like that, odds are that it will fall apart when you try to extract it. There was a wreck a mile from our dive spot, but neither of us were certified to explore it, as it was almost 100 feet down. But sadly, it was a well explored wreck, so the odds of finding treasure was nil. I just wanted a nail from it, but I was not going to risk it. If you want a neat dive, try Pensacola Bay. A lot of history, and you can get a cannon ball if you look hard enough.