[whataretheysaying] Mary Madigan: Nightdiving

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Posted by Mary Madigan:
Nightdiving
http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1164136366.shtml


   I finally got into the water on Friday. I saw lots of [1]pretty fish..

   diving fish

   ..swam through a few open caves and had a lot of fun doing somersaults
   and flips 30 ft down. I [2]didn't get to see Jesus, due to low
   visibilty. Maybe next time.

   underwaterJesus

   Our last dive was a night dive, with only a flashlight and a glow
   stick to show the way.

   Before we jumped into the water, I asked our instructor, Howard "how
   does the boat find us?" He said "it doesn't. We have to find the
   boat". I was glad to have an instructor to keep us from wandering too
   far.

   I probably should mention that I'm still phobic about diving. When I
   jump into the water with many pounds of gear on, with a suit that's
   tight around my neck, I still feel the same crushing, claustrophobic
   panic that I felt when I first started diving. But I also know that I
   feel better after I've been underwater for a few minutes. I have no
   idea why. I guess that's what unreasonable fears are all about.

   I was worried that diving in the darkness would make me feel more
   hemmed in, but instead I was distracted by the newness of it all. At
   night, the lobsters and the rays come out and the eyes of the little
   shrimp sparkle. With the glow sticks and the roaming flashlights, the
   underwater had a vaguely halloweeny atmosphere. Green moray eels and
   cave dwellers popped out of their hiding places and receded in the
   down deep funhouse.

   My daughter agreed that this was the best dive.

   We rode back under the stars (the Leonoids were, unfortunately, not
   visible, but most of the sky was). Howard described a meteor shower
   he'd recently seen and the one meteor that didn't burn up like the
   rest, the meteor that kept coming closer and closer. Like pilot tales,
   his stories about cool things were all about the wind, sand and stars.
   Like most of the instructors, he'd left his old career to teach
   diving. Some people are driven by ambition, some just want money and
   some want to explore, to push the envelope because, you know, it's
   there.

References

   1. http://www.keylargochamber.org/dive.htm
   2. http://www.keylargochamber.org/images/dive_christ.jpg