Diving with Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum

This actually happened a while ago, but I went diving at the same site today and was reminded of it. On the day of the staff party to the Cays, I elected to go on a dive with Damian and two fun divers. Fun as it might be to drink free beer all afternoon on an overloaded boat packed with dive staff, I just wasn't in the mood. I hadn't been out diving for fun for a while, so I jumped at the opportunity.

The fun divers didn't know each other before the dive. One was a Spanish man from I have no idea what country, and the other an older man from New York State who is fairly new to diving and has antiquated gear. They were both very nice men.

As we pulled up to the buoy at Airport Caves, Tweedle-Dee fell off the boat. It seems he decided to clean his mask off before the boat stopped, lost his balance, and tumbled into the water. When he called out, I asked the captain to stop the boat, and he swam to the boat with his mask on upside down (nosepiece on the forehead). I could hardly stop laughing.

Next, Tweedle-Dum, in his outdated scuba equipment, did the most interesting little hop into the water. There are two basic ways to enter the water from a dive boat. You can do a giant stride entry off the back (big step, enter the water upright), or a backroll off the side of the boat (if the boat is low enough). Tweedle-Dum walked to the back of the boat, turned around backwards, and did a little spring into the water, landing on his back. Poor Damian, the Divemaster, didn't have enough time to get Tweedle-Dum to stop before he was flapping about in the water.

During the dive, I think Damian had it easy. He lead the dive, followed by this interesting pair, and me in the rear. My job back there was to make sure no one got lost. Normally, this is an easy task, but it was remarkably difficult with Tweedle-Dee the photographer and Tweedle-Dum the naturalist. Damian would swim off out of my sight, while one stared at coral, the other wandered after a fish, and I was left floating, trying to figure out where everyone was.

It wasn't all bad though. Tweedle-Dee had a very good eye for spotting fish, and he pointed out all kinds of awesome things to me. Also, the boat was incredibly peaceful with only four divers on it; usually, there are up to 16. Basically, I ended up regularly getting water in my mask because I couldn't stop laughing at this most interesting pair underwater.

Nothing new to report from here. Things have settled down after the earthquake, and I finally bought myself new sandals yesterday. The dock and the bridge both get too hot, and I couldn't handle burning my feet walking around barefoot anymore. Hope you're all well!