Colorful Characters (And We Don't Mean The Fishes)

[PinayDiver]

I very much enjoyed reading through your stories! In fact, an officemate just asked why I kept bursting out in laughter. Thanks Ron and h20 (and Santelmo too), I needed that

More! More!

...but I guess for now the ball is back in my court? (One-for-one and all that...)

We were doing Tubbataha out on the Sulu Seas for the entire last week of May when blue skies turned grey. With the onslaught of wind and rain, our charter boat pitched and rolled. I chose to stay up on deck because I figured looking out on the horizon helped with possible dizziness better than being cooped up in my cabin.

Soon enough however, one guy couldn’t help but hurl his lunch over the rail (look out down below!). Then, like a wave, up to four people followed suit with their own gagging-and-heaving. It was not a pretty sight.

So, with all that going on, no one noticed early enough that one of the chase boats tethered to the side of our “mother boat” was being tossed by swells -- hard enough for it to slip under and then turn over! Unfortunately, in that very chase boat were the BCs, regs, and other gear of a group of divers supposedly scheduled to head out (before the weather turned).

I remember that everyone was suddenly on one side of our boat, watching the submerged chase boat as it receded under. At least two guys hurriedly suited up in a valiant effort to rescue the gear but by then these were sunk to impossible depths.

The pity for this group who lost their gear (and consequently, the chance to go out on the last few precious dives of the trip) was quite palpable.

Then came the announcement: the company’s dive shop back in Manila will outfit these guys with top-of-the-line replacements for everything they lost—down to every reel, slate or whatever equipment declared hooked to their BCs when these went down.

Human nature being what it is, pity quickly turned to envy, and there was actual talk of maybe tossing one’s own battered gear (include the rusty dive knife! and the flooded torch!) overboard “in sympathy” too.

[santelmo]

oooh! ooooh! i have one. i remember a story from Gigi that her friend/student once got so narc that she kept tearing a large Fan coral. just imagine seeing a diver tearing a fan coral while laughing and making those weird noises.... since then her nickname has been "Narc"

[santelmo]

wow! brand new stuff!!! envy...envy.... lucky divers....

[PinayDiver]

oooh! ooooh! i have one. i remember a story from Gigi that her friend/student once got so narc that she kept tearing a large Fan coral. just imagine seeing a diver tearing a fan coral while laughing and making those weird noises.... since then her nickname has been "Narc"

Shucks, she must've thought she was having a salad

My first instructor once had a student who just spaced out at 110 feet. She closed her eyes, curled up, and seemingly went to sleep. Her breathing was even enough.

He said he kept the reg in her mouth as he finned up with her. He was relieved to see her open her eyes in a minute or so.

She later told him she had been dreaming that she was back in her bed at the resort.

[Daddy-h2O]

I help out with student divers doing open waters. Recently I have been getting a little bored and need to liven things up some. As the first dive here in Upstate New York is a shore dive, and the First dive is typically when the students get all of the wet suit on. I have had them jump on one foot or raise their arm like a chickens wing to help move the neoprene around some when it appears "bunched" This is really funny when you get one of those big burly guys to flap around like a chicken.

I had one student that was bald, and every time his mask would leak I would take my palm and rub it upwards over my forehead and ask him to do the same. He would repeat this evertime without fail, towards the end he stopped giving me a rounded ok. He had a good sence of humor about it too.

I want to do this,
At the end of the last check out dive, I want to call them all over to look at a small turtle tucked into the palm of my hand and as the last one looks at it, I am going to start crushing it. After about 15-20 sec. I will show them that it is rubber. But my instructor says I have to be real careful who I pull this one on.

And I want to try Alka Seltzer at 80'

Yes I know these are not the nicest thing I can do, but I do get bored and this is where my mind takes me...

[santelmo]

Shucks, she must've thought she was having a salad

My first instructor once had a student who just spaced out at 110 feet. She closed her eyes, curled up, and seemingly went to sleep. Her breathing was even enough.

He said he kept the reg in her mouth as he finned up with her. He was relieved to see her open her eyes in a minute or so.

She later told him she had been dreaming that she was back in her bed at the resort.

scary..... although i usually feel sleepy too during my dives...

[santelmo]

I want to do this,
At the end of the last check out dive, I want to call them all over to look at a small turtle tucked into the palm of my hand and as the last one looks at it, I am going to start crushing it. After about 15-20 sec. I will show them that it is rubber. But my instructor says I have to be real careful who I pull this one on.

id like to try this too...lolz

[PinayDiver]

At the end of the last check out dive, I want to call them all over to look at a small turtle tucked into the palm of my hand and as the last one looks at it, I am going to start crushing it. After about 15-20 sec. I will show them that it is rubber. But my instructor says I have to be real careful who I pull this one on.

Oh dear. And now you've got Santelmo wanting to pull this stunt too! You do know you're both likely to get slapped by a slate (or something) by an aghast onlooker


Speaking of faking it, in Ticao Bowl, Masbate while diving for mantas, we noticed that this outrigger boat seemed to be shadowing us. The fisherman looked like he was just going about his usual business. Most of the time, he lay on his boat, probably waiting for a tug on his lines or movement in his net.

As we chatted in between dives, one of the crew noticed activity, just beneath the water's surface, at a short distance. The local DM excitely said that it could be a manta.

The fisherman and his banca suddenly leapt to life, quickly motoring off to that area. We actually saw him threw a harpoon into the water. We screamed. One of the divers, shouting obscenities throughout, pulled out a gun and fired shots in the air (which was scary in itself; he turned out to be a local law enforcer). We were relieved to see the fisherman pull the harpoon out of the water with nothing stuck at the end.

That this fisherman (from another town, the local DM was sure) trailed us knowing that we were here for the mantas (that divers unwittingly bring danger to what we love) was a sobering realization!

[Zero]

I had a dive with a couple of Irish guys once and the language was rather colourful on the surface. Every second word was fookin this or fookin that. Made me look and im a truck driver so that says something. Anyway off on the dive we go and its rather peaceful without them in the near area swearing their heads off. Get back on the line at the end of the dive and the 2 of them are just above me and still talking! Not much is audible but you can still pick out every second word. Finish the dive and get back on the boat and their at it again. After getting out of my gear i was under the shower and one of them walks past still all geared up. On his wrist slate it looks like hes written a novel underwater there is so much scribble on it. On closer inspection of it all 3 slates are full on both sides and every second word thats on there is fook! Thinking no way it could be all like that i had a look at the other guys and it was just the same. 3 pages of fook as well!
They are 2 characters that stick out in my diving and luckily i havent seen them since.

Matt

[santelmo]

Oh dear. And now you've got Santelmo wanting to pull this stunt too! You do know you're both likely to get slapped by a slate (or something) by an aghast onlooker

hihihihi