I.
Jacques Cousteau once wrote a book called The Silent Sea. Chelsea had always wondered why he chose that inaccurate title – the seas are full of noise, especially if you’re a scuba diver. The scuba diver is always surrounded by the sound of bubbles escaping to the surface.
But in all other ways, swimming underwater was as peaceful and as beautiful as one could imagine, especially in the waters off Bimini. The visibility was 100 feet – a 100 feet. And they were surrounded by colorful fish - beautiful fish. And there…there was the Bimini Road.
Like a good buddy – or client – Robert Wade was right at her side. She pointed toward the Road, he nodded and they swam towards it together.
Chelsea watched Wade as he flippered along, using a frog kick so as not to stir up any sediment as he seemingly scanned the Road inch by inch.
For a newbie, he was doing quite well. Of course, diving down to 15 feet was not all that difficult, but he was swimming around quite calmly. She could tell by the rate of the bubbles heading to the surface that he wasn’t gulping air, and he was maintaining his buoyancy with ease. He was obviously a natural diver – or he’d been well-instructed – or both.
Despite its name, the Bimini Road extended only 50 meters (90 feet) before coming to an abrupt end. Once they’d swam from end to end, Chelsea gestured for Wade to follow her, and she took him to the first of the two supplementary roads, a bit closer to the coast.
Suddenly, a pod of spotted dolphins appeared. For several minutes they cavorted nearby, swimming past the human beings in their domain and watching them to see if they enjoyed the show being put on for their benefit. Chelsea looked at Wade and he looked back at her. She could tell that he was delighted by the experience and delighted that he was sharing this experience with her.
Back on the Scylla and Charybdis, Wade said, “Damn, I wish I’d thought to bring a camera. I would have loved to get photos of that pod.”
Chelsea hid a grimace. She actually had a couple of underwater cameras on board the Scylla. It just hadn’t occurred to her to bring one of them down under. After all, she’d dove these waters for years, and had plenty of photos of the dolphins and other aquatic life around Bimini. Not to mention the shipwrecks…such as they were. But of course her clients would find all of this new to them.
Note to self, she told herself, Never dive without a camera.
“I’m sorry,” she told Wade. “We’ve got cameras on board here. I should have brought one down. Well, shall we go down again and take some photos of the Road?”
“Yes, please.”
Chelsea brought out one of the cameras, and showed Wade how to handle it. Then, after rehydrating, they put fresh scuba tanks on their backs and returned to the ocean.
II.
I like her, Robert Wade thought to himself. And she is an excellent dive guide. Very thorough. Oh, a slight mistake with the camera, but she owned up to it and corrected the problem. I…I think I’ll ask her to take me to the SS Sapona tomorrow.
I….I wonder…I think I’ll ask her out for a drink tonight. Supposedly, after you have a drink, you’re supposed to lose all your inhibitions and be able to talk to people…I think I’ll try it.
No comments:
Post a Comment