Firstly , sorry that I missed tagging (Chapter 8) onto the last ramblings. Sorry also that I had to rattle your cages a little to generate the "not so nice" stuff to go with the "sugar & spice". Thanks for obliging. All contributions were well recieved!
Soooo.....Tim!
For the second time in as many days I found myself travelling on feet that didn't belong to me. Tim however was much gentler than Mary & I peered contentedly from his cavernous arm pit as the road flashed by beneath me. So this was what they meant by full service, eh? I was beginning to think that I could easily become accustomed to this.
Let me explain.....Tim was having a great day!! It was his birthday & he'd already spent seven hours underwater since leaping excitedly from his bed at 6:00 am. He still hoped to fit another couple of immersions in before the light faded & then his heavy night dive schedule would begin. He'd told 'em weeks ago that he would dive his brains out & he sure as hell wasn't going to disappoint anyone.
So here he was parked outside Jake's house (who was by now away in the States) & about to dive the reef cam. He'd wondered if he could sneak unnoticed through the side of Jakes yard but quickly decided that although it was wide enough to drive a car through, he might be just too big to make it. At the suggestion of the pipe cleaner sized English guy, tucked under his arm to hurry things along a little, they were going to reach the water by using a pathway betwen the houses, one hundred yards or so along the road. He galloped along pausing momentarily to reposition my badly parked truck with a deft flick of his left foot. There was space aplenty for me & all my dive gear in the angle of Tim's bent right elbow. To balance this lopsided burden, he carried his own rig & enough party equipment to open "Birthdays are us", in the crook of his left. Chuckling happily Tim cleared the small gate which lay ahead in a single bound landing delicately on the balls of his feet at the waters edge. He lowered me to the ground & seeing my tank topple over, nonchalently flicked it back upright with his right forefinger.
The dive went well. Tim set out his marquee, table & chairs at fifteen feet down & we proceeded to tuck into his birthday cake. Apart from failing in his numerous attempts to light his candles it was sheer perfection!
 
I'd promised Tim that I would dive my favourite site with him, but time was at a premium. Tomorrow was to be his last day & he had to be out of the water for the last time by noon. He already had five morning dives arranged so I generously offered to pick him up from Habitat at 06:00. To my dismay he accepted!
I was sure he would oversleep after his birthday exertions of the previous day & arrived at Habitats reception at the appointed time fully expecting that I would be able to return to home & bed a few minutes later. Woe is me! He's there & raring to go! Some thirty minutes later we arrive at the site & get out of the truck. After three abhortive attempts to remove Tim's blindfold I make one last despairing lunge skywards & manage to catch it with the tips of my fingers before falling earthwards again. Tim opens his tired eyes & closes them again quickly. "I didn't see that. Right?" he whispers hoarsley. "What you mean the two Orcas framing the rising sun in the arch made by their entwined tail flukes?" I replied. "If that's what you say it is, then yes that!" "Of course you saw it! Now open your eyes quickly or you'll miss the rest of the show". Tim's eyes popped open wide just in time to see the first of a dozen bottle nosed dolphins launch themselves, spinning one at a time through the arch before this aquatic masterpiece slowly slipped back beneath the mirror like surface of the water. For a moment all was still & the orange glow of the early morning sunbeams twinkled on the glassy sea illuminating a huge grin on Tims face. "Is that it, or is there more?" he questioned hopefully. "You'll see soon enough. Now get kitted up or we'll be late". Tim wondered (with his few remaining undived out brain cells) what we could possibly be late for. One thing was sure though...he knew he didn't want to miss it! In no time he was ready, hastily adding an extra twenty pounds of lead to his usual forty to make sure that getting down would be a breeze. Just imagine he thought, the horror of flapping around underweighted on the surface whilst God knows what was going on in the depths below him. He'd never have forgiven himself.
As we approached the waters edge Tim let out a half strangled cry "What the hell's that?" Two enormous bow waves were speeding towards us. Suddenly all became clear as the two Orcas beached themselves at our feet. "Well, don't just stand there. Get on & be careful where you put your fins as they're quite sensitive creatures." Tim didn't need telling twice & our hour long aquatic roller coaster ride began. Tim had never seen a Narwhale before & later commented that the horn protruding from it's forehead reminded him of a Unicorn. I told him that I'd have to take his word for it because just for once he had me at a disadvantage. We don't have Unicorns in England & I'd never come across one on my travels. Actually, he was extremely fortunate as it had taken much begging on my behalf to persuade the Narwhale to leave his Arctic seas just to put on a display to cap Tim's diving week. A pair of Marbled Rays played tennis with a somewhat reluctant Puffer fish as we flashed by scattering fifty or more spectating seahorses. At the limit of the three hundred foot visibility Hammerheads could be seen busying themselves with a game of lawn croquet using a vast carpet of seagrass as the playing surface & their heads as mallets. Occasionally Tim forgot himself & tried to rub his disbelieving eyes through the lenses of his mask. If only he could tell the folks back home about this he thought....but then they'd never believe it, would they? All too soon the dive was over (the Orca finally tiring of sharing air with Tim who had sucked his tank dry in five minutes with excitement) & we were gently deposited on the shoreline once more. Spitting out his redundant reg, Tim fired a salvo of questions at me. "They were mermaids polishing that turtles shell, weren't they? And what were those little winged things riding on the backs of the Mantas?" I couldn't answer him immediately as I still had a small team of cleaner shrimps finishing the last of their chores in & around my mouth. Their tasks complete, I lowered them gently back in the sea & gave Tim my reply "Yes they were Mermaids, but I'm afraid that I missed the little winged things as my view was obscured by the shoal of Whalesharks". And so the queries continued finally ending with "What were those giant flat fish, the size of ping pong tables, rolling about together at two hundred feet?" "Ah...you must mean Sol & Cyan. They're Sun fish, or Mola Mola as they prefer to be known. Which reminds me...I asked them to give you a few somersaults not a sexual display. I'll read them the riot act next time we meet!"
Soon I was saying good bye to Tim back at Habitat. His brains now dived out of existence, he had decided to skip the remainder of his last mornings programme & have a lay down instead. Trying desperately to get his head around the early mornings adventure he drifted into welcoming sleep & a dream where two lilac striped Tarpon were holding a skipping rope for an energetic Manatee.
Three hours later saw Tim awake again & rummaging through his dive gear. What a relief! he thought. It's wet. I really did go & at least some of it wasn't a dream! But what about Andy? Surely, that must have been in my imagination.....no mere mortal can have diving skills like his?!
Whatever am I going to do for Chapter 10? |
By Andy Keely on Monday, December 3, 2001 - 3:43 am: 
