Post by SeaRat on Sept 16, 2013 7:40:43 GMT -8
I have begun the long task of completing my memoir, and came across this section about a snorkeling trip in Bermuda.
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8 Dec 69--Diary Entry
We had a good time yesterday. At about 1:00 PM Nick, Roy and I got our gear together to go diving. Roy drove to the Transit Quarters to get two reservists who wanted to dive with us. They came in with the HC-97. One was a PJ.
We dove in a new area, off an old cement dock at St. George. The water was about 25 feet deep, and clear. We jumped off the 15 foot dock and went to the bottom. It was clear, until we moved. Four inches of silt covered everything. After finding no old bottles and on an easily stirred up bottom, we got out and went to Clearwater to do some snorkel diving.
When we got out of the cove and to the outside of the rock, the waves were about three feet, but the visibility was twenty feet or better. After a half hour or so of checking the lobster pots (they were illegally put there), we had found nothing.
The first weekend I was here Roy, Don Beasley, Nick and I found a pot with three lobsters and three fish in it. We took it to the island to try to unload it there, which was a mistake. The waves were three feet or so and smashed against the coral. Things were getting confused when we tried to get at the lobsters. One wave came in and knocked Roy off balance; he dropped his spear. I picked it up underwater and swam out away from the coral wall about thirty feet. When I surfaced, I saw that Don had been washed up against the wall and was now being washed out again. He was carrying my new spear and, as he left the wall, it caught on both ends (it was a pole spear about 8 feet long) and bent into a "C" shape. Don came out of his scrap with only one fin and with two lacerations in his back, through a 1/4 inch thick wet suit, no less.
Swimming to a different area a little further out, I found a coral head with some beautiful angel fish under it in a cave. I had my spear (we had straightened it out), but the rubber was broken. I had to be content just watching the fish. Sometime soon I'll go out there with a camera. They'll be good subjects.
We had a good time yesterday. At about 1:00 PM Nick, Roy and I got our gear together to go diving. Roy drove to the Transit Quarters to get two reservists who wanted to dive with us. They came in with the HC-97. One was a PJ.
We dove in a new area, off an old cement dock at St. George. The water was about 25 feet deep, and clear. We jumped off the 15 foot dock and went to the bottom. It was clear, until we moved. Four inches of silt covered everything. After finding no old bottles and on an easily stirred up bottom, we got out and went to Clearwater to do some snorkel diving.
When we got out of the cove and to the outside of the rock, the waves were about three feet, but the visibility was twenty feet or better. After a half hour or so of checking the lobster pots (they were illegally put there), we had found nothing.
The first weekend I was here Roy, Don Beasley, Nick and I found a pot with three lobsters and three fish in it. We took it to the island to try to unload it there, which was a mistake. The waves were three feet or so and smashed against the coral. Things were getting confused when we tried to get at the lobsters. One wave came in and knocked Roy off balance; he dropped his spear. I picked it up underwater and swam out away from the coral wall about thirty feet. When I surfaced, I saw that Don had been washed up against the wall and was now being washed out again. He was carrying my new spear and, as he left the wall, it caught on both ends (it was a pole spear about 8 feet long) and bent into a "C" shape. Don came out of his scrap with only one fin and with two lacerations in his back, through a 1/4 inch thick wet suit, no less.
Swimming to a different area a little further out, I found a coral head with some beautiful angel fish under it in a cave. I had my spear (we had straightened it out), but the rubber was broken. I had to be content just watching the fish. Sometime soon I'll go out there with a camera. They'll be good subjects.
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