There I was on my deepest ever dive on regular air and I can remember chuckling all the way back up the wall, it wasn’t Nitrogen Narcosis it was pure joy. Now, you might ask what is this diver doing having a laugh working his way back up a cliff face on the way to the top of the wall at 80 ft. Then, I was planning to fin over to the mooring line where I think I left the boat…………?
Anyway, back to the dive story. I hear people grumbling ( I was going to say something stronger but I’m not supposed to, I don’t think in print) about Lionfish in the Atlantic. They say how they are going to wipe them off the face of the planet with hunts, teaching people how to eat them and of course killing them whenever they see one. I am not a scientist, so I cannot tell you one way or another whether Lionfish are good or bad.
However, Mother Nature and I have a very clear understanding where scuba diving is concerned. I don’t damage her coral, kill any of her wildlife or tease her animals by pulling their tails or riding them. Her side of the agreement so far is that she hasn’t had me eaten by a shark or squished by a piece of falling wreckage.
Anyway, back to this deep dive, I should tell the reader that I am an experienced deep diver having been to 185 ft at least once a week for two years at Small Hope Bay Lodge, Andros, in the Bahamas. They employed me to keep their guests safe, at this, some would say crazy depth ( it is their signature dive ). I have since taken friends deep and come back in one piece as well as doing what purists would consider ill advised depths myself on a regular basis. I understand the risks and am prepared for and accept any consequences.
So enough defending myself and back to the story. I was heading back up the wall after completing this deep dive and I want to say that I never exaggerate about diving, there is no point. I promise you, there were dozens of Lionfish allover, they were in every hole I glanced in on the way back up. It was as if all of the Lionfish had a meeting and decided that if they stayed below 200 ft no one would or could get them…….ha ha, they might be right too.
Anyway, I was chuckling to myself all the way up every time I saw one imagining it giving the fin…….ger ( ouch) or in my case being a bit of a Brit two fingers to all the people trying to kill them. I remembering thinking that Mother Nature has a habit of changing her profiles when we barge into her world, good for her I say and if she keeps me safe I will love her even more.