Afraid_of_Fish
Guest
Our story starts about one year ago in Boston, Massachusetts, with a newly licensed, fourteen-year old, open water diver. For purposes of this story well call her Jasmine. Jasmine, her brother Joey, their father, two of their uncles (Ed and Steve), and a family friend (Pat), were going on a trip to Key Largo, Florida.
Ed and Pat were advanced open water divers, who had been diving since the age of fourteen. Steve was a Dive Master, whom had also been diving since the age of fourteen. Jasmine and Joeys father was going for his Instructors license, and had been diving since the age of fifteen. Joey was a year younger than Jasmine, and they had gotten their licenses together.
Jasmine had some problems, however. One was that her worst fear was drowning. She was highly afraid that something would go wrong and she would drown. Her second biggest fear was fish. Yes, it is true. A scuba diver that is afraid of fish. Jasmine was not only afraid of big fish either, she was known to panic at the aquarium.
So our scene begins in the condo that Jasmines family has rented for the week
Youre afraid of fish? Asked Steve in amazement.
Yeah, Answered Jasmine awkwardly.
Oh, well dont worry, there arent any fish in the sea. Ed assured her, seriously.
Jasmine was not sure whether or not to believe him. He liked to kid her a lot, but he was saying it seriously. And he had never lied to her. And anyway, there were reefs all over the place where divers werent allowed to go because of special rules put in place to keep the coral safe. Maybe this was a place where fish werent allowed to go.
It was a certain feeling of contentment that Jasmine had with her when she walked onto the boat that afternoon. Not even Joey could get her spirits down when he threw goldfish crackers at her. It was beautiful, the water was clear, the weather was warm, the captain was playing Jimmy Buffet loudly while the crew and passengers sang along. And although he was not someone she often listened to, it certainly was refreshing. As Jasmine was so used to the polluted waters of Wollaston beach, she could not get over how clean these waters were.
Then the captain rang the bell that meant they would be at the site in five minutes. Jasmine dragged herself away from the side of the boat and began putting on her dive equipment. As she buckled her BCD, and stood up to check her brother, to make sure he had everything on properly she caught a glimpse of the reef. Then before she could hold herself back she screamed:
THERE ARE FISH EVERYWHERE!
The crowd on the boat began laughing but she was too amazed to care. There were fish of every size, shape and color imaginable. When she went to her father he said, Well what did you expect? This is the ocean!
Jasmine did not know what to do. She watched as snorkelers dived off the boat and followed the divers overhead. This is unbelievable, Jasmine said to herself, Its like the fish live here or something.
And it was with a feeling of great trepidation that Jasmine did a Great Stride off the side of the boat into the fish infested waters of Key Largo. Jasmine went down about four feet and considered going back up and telling her father she was having trouble equalizing and would rather stay on the boat, but decided better of it.
Jasmine had been down only about ten minutes before her brother came swimming up to her, very fast, giving her the out of air signal. She immediately grabbed her octopus and tried to give it to him. It was a few moments before she realized that he laughing into his regulator. Mad at his constant taunts, Jasmine swam away. She was looking at a piece of pretty pink coral, and when she turned around everyone was gone. There was no one in site. She looked up and saw a large group of people swimming towards the boat. This being Jasmines first real dive, she got nervous and started to panic slightly.
She checked her air, she still had about 2200 pounds left. Just as she was getting ready to begin the assent, a large group of minos swam above her, she screamed and her regulator fell out, she caught it, and replaced it in her mouth, but in her haste to get to the top she knocked off her mask. After managing to get it back on (which was difficult due to her long hair), she began to swim up again. Then she noticed a reef shark about five feet below her. She panicked and began to swim up; her depth gauge began to beep, signaling to her that she should slow down. Once she did, she noticed that one foot felt strange. She looked down and saw that one of her fins had fallen off but did not notice because she was wearing the type of fins that u wear boots with.
Deciding to ignore this, she kept swimming up. After getting all the way up, she swam to the boat on the surface, and got half way there before she realized that her BCD was not inflated. She inflated it and kept on swimming, though it was difficult because she had only one fin. When she managed to get back to the boat, and was climbing on, she dropped her mask into the water. About ready to cry, she went and took off the rest of her gear, and went to look for her father.
There was a big group around a young boy of about ten, and one of the crew seemed to be yelling at him. The boy was wrapped in a blue towel, and looked very scared.
What's going on? Jasmine asked her father. Why did you just leave me down there?
Jasmine listened, horrified, as her father told her what had happened. Apparently a snorkeler, had put on a life jack, and grabbed a spare weight belt, jumped off the boat, and when he sunk, grabbed Joeys spare octopus and began breathing out of it. He then let go of the weight belt, and went shooting up. Joey held onto his ankles and tried to hold him down, fearing that the boy may embolizing. Steve, Ed, Pat and Joeys father saw him going up and followed. They got lucky and no one was hurt. Thus ends the very eventful first dive of the Scuba Diver who was afraid of Fish.
Ed and Pat were advanced open water divers, who had been diving since the age of fourteen. Steve was a Dive Master, whom had also been diving since the age of fourteen. Jasmine and Joeys father was going for his Instructors license, and had been diving since the age of fifteen. Joey was a year younger than Jasmine, and they had gotten their licenses together.
Jasmine had some problems, however. One was that her worst fear was drowning. She was highly afraid that something would go wrong and she would drown. Her second biggest fear was fish. Yes, it is true. A scuba diver that is afraid of fish. Jasmine was not only afraid of big fish either, she was known to panic at the aquarium.
So our scene begins in the condo that Jasmines family has rented for the week
Youre afraid of fish? Asked Steve in amazement.
Yeah, Answered Jasmine awkwardly.
Oh, well dont worry, there arent any fish in the sea. Ed assured her, seriously.
Jasmine was not sure whether or not to believe him. He liked to kid her a lot, but he was saying it seriously. And he had never lied to her. And anyway, there were reefs all over the place where divers werent allowed to go because of special rules put in place to keep the coral safe. Maybe this was a place where fish werent allowed to go.
It was a certain feeling of contentment that Jasmine had with her when she walked onto the boat that afternoon. Not even Joey could get her spirits down when he threw goldfish crackers at her. It was beautiful, the water was clear, the weather was warm, the captain was playing Jimmy Buffet loudly while the crew and passengers sang along. And although he was not someone she often listened to, it certainly was refreshing. As Jasmine was so used to the polluted waters of Wollaston beach, she could not get over how clean these waters were.
Then the captain rang the bell that meant they would be at the site in five minutes. Jasmine dragged herself away from the side of the boat and began putting on her dive equipment. As she buckled her BCD, and stood up to check her brother, to make sure he had everything on properly she caught a glimpse of the reef. Then before she could hold herself back she screamed:
THERE ARE FISH EVERYWHERE!
The crowd on the boat began laughing but she was too amazed to care. There were fish of every size, shape and color imaginable. When she went to her father he said, Well what did you expect? This is the ocean!
Jasmine did not know what to do. She watched as snorkelers dived off the boat and followed the divers overhead. This is unbelievable, Jasmine said to herself, Its like the fish live here or something.
And it was with a feeling of great trepidation that Jasmine did a Great Stride off the side of the boat into the fish infested waters of Key Largo. Jasmine went down about four feet and considered going back up and telling her father she was having trouble equalizing and would rather stay on the boat, but decided better of it.
Jasmine had been down only about ten minutes before her brother came swimming up to her, very fast, giving her the out of air signal. She immediately grabbed her octopus and tried to give it to him. It was a few moments before she realized that he laughing into his regulator. Mad at his constant taunts, Jasmine swam away. She was looking at a piece of pretty pink coral, and when she turned around everyone was gone. There was no one in site. She looked up and saw a large group of people swimming towards the boat. This being Jasmines first real dive, she got nervous and started to panic slightly.
She checked her air, she still had about 2200 pounds left. Just as she was getting ready to begin the assent, a large group of minos swam above her, she screamed and her regulator fell out, she caught it, and replaced it in her mouth, but in her haste to get to the top she knocked off her mask. After managing to get it back on (which was difficult due to her long hair), she began to swim up again. Then she noticed a reef shark about five feet below her. She panicked and began to swim up; her depth gauge began to beep, signaling to her that she should slow down. Once she did, she noticed that one foot felt strange. She looked down and saw that one of her fins had fallen off but did not notice because she was wearing the type of fins that u wear boots with.
Deciding to ignore this, she kept swimming up. After getting all the way up, she swam to the boat on the surface, and got half way there before she realized that her BCD was not inflated. She inflated it and kept on swimming, though it was difficult because she had only one fin. When she managed to get back to the boat, and was climbing on, she dropped her mask into the water. About ready to cry, she went and took off the rest of her gear, and went to look for her father.
There was a big group around a young boy of about ten, and one of the crew seemed to be yelling at him. The boy was wrapped in a blue towel, and looked very scared.
What's going on? Jasmine asked her father. Why did you just leave me down there?
Jasmine listened, horrified, as her father told her what had happened. Apparently a snorkeler, had put on a life jack, and grabbed a spare weight belt, jumped off the boat, and when he sunk, grabbed Joeys spare octopus and began breathing out of it. He then let go of the weight belt, and went shooting up. Joey held onto his ankles and tried to hold him down, fearing that the boy may embolizing. Steve, Ed, Pat and Joeys father saw him going up and followed. They got lucky and no one was hurt. Thus ends the very eventful first dive of the Scuba Diver who was afraid of Fish.
