Friday was the Pool Discover Scuba Experience -- there we were in a pool with a max depth of 5 feet -- getting him exposed to blowing bubbles. After 30+ minutes he was feeling pretty comfortable and ready to go across the street into the Pacific Ocean.
Saturday he woke up early (or so his mother said) and was bouncing around their condo -- finally at 7:45 she called and begged me to get going. He came over and helped get the gear to the car and off we went to Polo Beach (my first choice of beaches is closed) where we got a good parking spot (good omen).
Lynne and I got the gear together and took his down to the beach. We went back to the car and then geared up ourselves, grabbed the camera and headed back down. OMG, there were WAVES -- at least 100 feet or more crashing onto the sand (OK, hey, we are from Seattle and the only waves we get are from the Ferries so maybe they weren't any bigger than 24 inches top to bottom -- but they looked huge). We get Matt geared up and watch as Lynne struggles through the massive surf. Matt and I look at each other and walk in.
He gets his fins on and starts floating out to join Grandma -- I'm right after him. (Note, a wonderful stranger helps Matt by carrying his fins into the water for him and gives him lots of encouragement -- Thank you Robin wherever you might be.)
We do a buddy check and swim off to where I think we might find some reef -- then we drop.
OK -- this is a DSD experience dive and the one thing Matt wants to see is a turtle -- and no, we didn't drop on one.
But we did drop on a Moray wrapped in a coral head which Matt gets to see as his almost very first underwater critter. We then wander around looking at critters, looking at shells, having him point out this, that and the other thing. The dive is going great.
We turn the dive when he hits 1500 psi and head back -- no turtles but a fair amount of critters and things for him to see. Lynne has been busy taking pictures and video -- Matt tries to match my "DIR ATP" (DIR Assume the Position -- knees bent, butt clenched, arms out and crossed!) and does a pretty good job of it.
We are back to about 14 feet and he is approaching 800 psi, the dive is about over -- and then he sees the TURTLE. He squeals, taps me and shows me the Turtle as it slowly swims around about 3 feet in front of us, and then heads off to where we've been. I'd like to say Matt just stayed right there but, truth be told, his breathing got the better of him and up he want a foot or two while he watched his beloved turtle swim by. Not even Disney would have scripted the dive with that ending.
What could I do to top that? We slowly went to the surface and then casually swam back to shore.
This really was a dive too trite for Hollywood -- and one I'll cherish the rest of my life.
[Note -- Matt's mother "invited" him to come over to our condo so that his little brother could have some peace and quiet. He has been sitting on the sofa with me while I write this -- but now he's crashed and sound asleep. Being a grandparent isn't a bad gig.]
by Unknown
