Scuba certification - part 2

This is part two of my certification dive in Florida during March 1993. I suggest you read part one if you had not done so yet.

The boat motors slowed and stopped. The momentum carried us a few more yards than the captain came out of his cabin and told us that this would be our last dive of the day. I looked and Gilligan (1^st mate reference) grabbed the anchor, no mask and a rope. He winked at me, did a sailor dive off the side and disappeared in the water. The captain never broke stride in his conversation and didn’t even turn around to see Gilligan (behind him) leap off the side. “You are going to a sunken military vessel about 80 feet below us. The visibility is much better here and remember if you leave your buddy, I may leave you our here. It is 1.5 mile swim back in. Remember that!”

We paired up, and the captain pointed to each pair to signal each of us to go. Back flipping into the water, I learned my lesson from last time. My vest was barley pumped up, and I was kicking to say afloat. I let air out as I swam to the rope. I looked back at the boat, looked at my buddy, and we both followed the rope down. The visibility was still 2-3 feet on the surface but quickly cleared as we were about 10+ feet down. The military ship again appeared like a beacon before me. I reached my destination and began swimming along the hull. I swam over the ship and view the other side. I noticed on the last dive everyone stayed on one side.

My flashlight in hand, I explored. My buddy was about 15 feet from me, still followed the golden rule of keeping my buddy in sight. This is where the fun began. I again saw sea urchin below me. I even gingerly touched one. Is saw tons of fish, including moonfish. If you saw Finding Nemo, these were the fish that swam in large schools and made various shapes. I was eventually enveloped in a school of them. I looked all around me. Up, down, left, right, all I saw was moonfish. I moved my arms; they formed around it. I did the same with my legs, same result. I was dancing with the fish. I moved slowly enough as to not scare them off. This went on for a few minutes. Suddenly in an instance they all darted off. Strange, I thought. Why did they all just leave? Then it hit me. WHY did they all just leave? I turned. My breath became rapid and shallow.

The furthest I could see in front of me was about 15 feet ahead. The clear blue water before me then faded to dark blue, then black. WHY DID THEY LEAVE? My thoughts were SHARK! Something spooked them, and it was now spooking me. Every JAWS movie ran through my head. I looked down at my flashlight beam and thought. Is that a signal for food? Turn it off, idiot. I grabbed my dive knife, the only protection I had. I stayed there, back against the ship, for what seemed like an eternity. My aluminum tank banged against the hull of the ship, echoing off into the abyss. My heart pounding, my breathing short and rapid. I was in a panic. I thought, I am going to run out of air!

Then to my right a shadow appeared. Was this it? Was I about to be eaten? I saw the figure getting closer. I wanted to look, but was also terrified to turn my head. My peripheral vision saw a shape but could not make out what it was or the size of it. Fear got the best of me and I slowly turned my head toward the figure.

It was my buddy. She saw my knife, and I she later told how big my eyes were. She came up to me and gave me the “OK” sign. Relieved and not clearly thinking, I dropped my knife and signaled back the same. She could tell something was wrong and gave the thumbs up signal motioning upwards. This is the diving signal which signified head up. I nodded yes. Together we swam back to the top of the sunken vessel over the deck of it and back on the other side. I continued to look behind me as I felt something was there watching us. We made our way back to the rope tied off between this ship and the one 80 feet above.

Again she glanced at me and gave me the OK sign. I nodded, and we began our ascent. She went first up the rope; I followed. The entire 80 foot swim was scary. I kept looking below me. Sharks attack from below, you know. The white sandy bottom disappeared and went from light blue to a dark blue abyss as I could no longer see anything but darkness below me. This didn’t help my fear.

We were soon at the surface. I filled um my dive jacket with air. My energy and strength were gone. Not from exertion, but fear. My buddy checked on me and took out her regulator out of her mouth to ask if I was okay. Bam, salt water in the mouth. I had been down that path. Mine stayed in until I got on the boat.

As we both were safely on the deck and in our respective seats, I explained to her what happened. Her eyes got big as well. “I wonder what scared them away” she said. To this day I only have thoughts to as what it was, but I will never know. Was it a predator fish, was it their time to move on, or was it me?

My heart rate slowed down as I took my scuba gear off, grabbed a baseball cap and draped a large towel over my shoulders and head. The other dive teams made their way onto the ship, and a few asked if I was okay. I never responded, but my buddy explained the situation. I sat there for the 1.5 mile ride back to shore. I watched the water flow back and forth across the deck and didn’t lift my head up again until the motors slowed down.

I successfully completed both dives and received my certification when I got home. I still have that card and those memories. I wished my buddy Shawn could have been there with me, but I accomplished what I sat out to do.

I have more scuba stories I will share in the future, but this was the most impactful one to me. It is amazing what the mind can do. I am just glad I was not shark bait that day.

Until next time,

Tim (Kilmer)