It's amazing the way one of your senses can unlock a flood of memories. I'm sure I'm not the only one that associates certain things, like the way the sound of rain on a tin roof takes me back to spending time at my grandmothers house as a child.
Usually those triggers are sounds, smell or taste. But every so often the sense of sight can cause it as well, like a picture I recently saw. The picture wasn't even of me, or anyone I know for that matter, but it made no difference. I'm looking at a picture of a newbie diver on a surface interval.
Mask with colored lenses on his forehead, snorkel dangling against his cheek, wearing a jacket bc with do-dads and gizmos clipped off everywhere. Behind him is a tangle of hoses in myriad of colors that makes me wonder if someone was coloring Easter eggs and cooking spaghetti at the same time.
I see an octo clipped off in the "safety triangle" with both a mouthpiece retainer and a plastic clip holding it in place as well as an Air II and a dive alert on the inflator hose. There is a compass dangling from a retractor, and a safety sausage clipped next to it and he's holding a pair of split fins. An integrated air computer on a much too long hose crosses over and clips to his chest as well, making the front of his bc look busier than J.C. Penny the weekend after Thanksgiving.
I mean, this guy could be the poster child for Dork Divers. But the thing that really catches my attention is his smile. He has the silliest, goofiest grin on his face that I've ever seen, peering out from a mustache that I *know* has to be causing mask leaks. Seriously! It reminds me of the episode of "Family Guy" where Peter strapped his dog Brian to his face and pretended it was a mustache. It was THAT big!
But somehow, the smile was even bigger and looking at it was like stepping into a time machine. I no longer saw all the gear choices that make me shudder. The color combinations that give fashion designers nightmares. I couldn't hear the DIR crowd in the background whispering to him "you're gonna die!" Instead, I was transported many years back to the last time that I saw such utter silliness and complete foolishness in a picture.
Another diver came to mind, decked out head to toe in all the latest, greatest gadgetry. A diver sporting a quick disconnect air integrated computer that was so big you could probably put a pair of a rabbit ears on it and catch the game in between Sunday afternoon dives. With a regular pelican light, a mini pelican the size of your thumb, a yoke light and a glow stick "just in case."
But both of them shared that same silly grin. A grin that says "this is the coolest thing I've ever done even if I do look like an underwater Christmas tree." The one that conveys the same feeling of wonderment as the look on the face of a 5 year old on their first trip to the zoo. The "holy **** this is AWESOME!!" look.
Awesome. A 30 minute dive in 20' of water, 5' of viz and the most exciting thing in the whole lake was a rusty bicycle that was barely recognizable, an old toilet that a small crappie now called home and a slightly used singer sewing machine. Awesome.
But it was awesome. And I had the grin to prove it. Somewhere back in a stack of pictures, I have that same silly look on my face. That same poster child look. The wonderment of a new exciting adventure. Of doing something that I had never done before. I had BREATHED UNDERWATER! And swam around and saw stuff and happily roto tilled my way across the bottom.
So what if my instructor could hover over the platform with his legs crossed and never move an inch. Who cares if others were exploring caves in Florida? Diving past 300' on the wall in Grand Cayman? Penetrating a ship wreck in the Gulf? Learning to dive CCR? I'd get there soon enough.
But at that moment, all that mattered was that I was BREATHING UNDERWATER! And somewhere, that pic with the silly grin frozen in time proves it and I bet I'm not the only one with photographic evidence of a time we'd rather forget. I mean, really, what were we thinking back then to document that kind of silliness? I dunno, but damn was it fun!
So, to the diver out there who posted that picture, Thank you.
Soon enough, you will have people rushing to tell you that your trim isn't good. That you need to learn proper weighting, buoyancy and trim. That you should take the mask off your face because it's a sign of distress, even though you're not in the water.
To those people (and yes, I've been guilty myself) let him enjoy the moment. Instead of finding ways to detract from their experience, find ways to enhance it. At the very least, be a good example in the water.
To the diver (and you know who you are), enjoy your own wonderment of the underwater world. And thank you again for the reminder of what it was like and for posting that pic that took me back to that time and place when everything was still fresh to me.
Certain events may have been slightly embellished in the telling of this story, but no electrons were killed or seriously wounded.
Usually those triggers are sounds, smell or taste. But every so often the sense of sight can cause it as well, like a picture I recently saw. The picture wasn't even of me, or anyone I know for that matter, but it made no difference. I'm looking at a picture of a newbie diver on a surface interval.
Mask with colored lenses on his forehead, snorkel dangling against his cheek, wearing a jacket bc with do-dads and gizmos clipped off everywhere. Behind him is a tangle of hoses in myriad of colors that makes me wonder if someone was coloring Easter eggs and cooking spaghetti at the same time.
I see an octo clipped off in the "safety triangle" with both a mouthpiece retainer and a plastic clip holding it in place as well as an Air II and a dive alert on the inflator hose. There is a compass dangling from a retractor, and a safety sausage clipped next to it and he's holding a pair of split fins. An integrated air computer on a much too long hose crosses over and clips to his chest as well, making the front of his bc look busier than J.C. Penny the weekend after Thanksgiving.
I mean, this guy could be the poster child for Dork Divers. But the thing that really catches my attention is his smile. He has the silliest, goofiest grin on his face that I've ever seen, peering out from a mustache that I *know* has to be causing mask leaks. Seriously! It reminds me of the episode of "Family Guy" where Peter strapped his dog Brian to his face and pretended it was a mustache. It was THAT big!
But somehow, the smile was even bigger and looking at it was like stepping into a time machine. I no longer saw all the gear choices that make me shudder. The color combinations that give fashion designers nightmares. I couldn't hear the DIR crowd in the background whispering to him "you're gonna die!" Instead, I was transported many years back to the last time that I saw such utter silliness and complete foolishness in a picture.
Another diver came to mind, decked out head to toe in all the latest, greatest gadgetry. A diver sporting a quick disconnect air integrated computer that was so big you could probably put a pair of a rabbit ears on it and catch the game in between Sunday afternoon dives. With a regular pelican light, a mini pelican the size of your thumb, a yoke light and a glow stick "just in case."
But both of them shared that same silly grin. A grin that says "this is the coolest thing I've ever done even if I do look like an underwater Christmas tree." The one that conveys the same feeling of wonderment as the look on the face of a 5 year old on their first trip to the zoo. The "holy **** this is AWESOME!!" look.
Awesome. A 30 minute dive in 20' of water, 5' of viz and the most exciting thing in the whole lake was a rusty bicycle that was barely recognizable, an old toilet that a small crappie now called home and a slightly used singer sewing machine. Awesome.
But it was awesome. And I had the grin to prove it. Somewhere back in a stack of pictures, I have that same silly look on my face. That same poster child look. The wonderment of a new exciting adventure. Of doing something that I had never done before. I had BREATHED UNDERWATER! And swam around and saw stuff and happily roto tilled my way across the bottom.
So what if my instructor could hover over the platform with his legs crossed and never move an inch. Who cares if others were exploring caves in Florida? Diving past 300' on the wall in Grand Cayman? Penetrating a ship wreck in the Gulf? Learning to dive CCR? I'd get there soon enough.
But at that moment, all that mattered was that I was BREATHING UNDERWATER! And somewhere, that pic with the silly grin frozen in time proves it and I bet I'm not the only one with photographic evidence of a time we'd rather forget. I mean, really, what were we thinking back then to document that kind of silliness? I dunno, but damn was it fun!
So, to the diver out there who posted that picture, Thank you.
Soon enough, you will have people rushing to tell you that your trim isn't good. That you need to learn proper weighting, buoyancy and trim. That you should take the mask off your face because it's a sign of distress, even though you're not in the water.
To those people (and yes, I've been guilty myself) let him enjoy the moment. Instead of finding ways to detract from their experience, find ways to enhance it. At the very least, be a good example in the water.
To the diver (and you know who you are), enjoy your own wonderment of the underwater world. And thank you again for the reminder of what it was like and for posting that pic that took me back to that time and place when everything was still fresh to me.
Certain events may have been slightly embellished in the telling of this story, but no electrons were killed or seriously wounded.
