Thanks Rusty.... I grew up on a Florida beach and swimming, snorkling, diving, chicks, skinny dipping etc.... was a way of life.......
Here is a short one, but action packed.....
I had a chance to dive with my guru instructor that tought me to dive on a late May trip, 1983.....
We ventured out to around 50' +/- on a new reef he had located a week before..... He had an open water dive (graduation) for a recent class of 8 he tought eariler that month..... The closest thing these people had ever seen to "open water" was Crystal River LOL.....
He orginized 2 groups, 4 and 4..... Group 1 w/ him & group 2 w/me...... We all hit the water and parted ways at the anchor and off we went in different directions..... I, as always, had my trusty seahornet speargun with me, locked and loaded..... and so did my instructor w/ group 1......
I showed the "kids" a few cool boyancy moves and breathing techniques that I learned from the Bahamas trip, eariler post mentioned...... It was going great.... many happy moments.....
I shot a 10# or so red Grouper and strapped him to my stringer that was hooked to my weight belt....... I was taking aim at another, with the "kids" directly behind me...... when something felt---- not right! I turned just in time to see a large cloud of bottom sand 30' away along w/ large thumps...... Kato Kalin/O.J. Simpson thumps..... bam, bam, bam..... then nothing..... dust settled and we finished our dive---- and back up the anchor line to the boat......
What I saw when I got to the surface, I could never describe w/ words, but here she goes..... Of the four w/ the instructor, 2 women were hanging from the transom in total shock trying to get into the boat, dive gear and all..... the other 2 from that group were reaching from inside the boat for the 2 women trying to get them on deck ASAP!!! The instructor was still in the water and is in a total and complete defense mode- looking straight down- seahornet aimed down as well...... One glance at that train wreck told me to get my group on deck NOW!
All was safely on the boat and I did a "finger and toes check" with all of em---- not one LOL from anyone!!!.... Then my instructor, white as a sheet, took me aside and told me what had happened.......;
"Wolf," he said, "I shot 3 10# grouper and stringered them to me.... out of no where I feel a tug on my stringer and hear "underwater screamming" (group 1), when I looked back, all I saw was teeth, than a grey nose, and the teeth were snapping away at the tethered grouper inches from my side......
I punched that shark (Dusky or Bull he guessed) on the nose and released my stringer just in a nick of time- I watched him eat all 3 grouper and my stainless steel stringer in one bite- 5 feet from my eyes!" I asked him how big was the shark? "Wolf, it was 10 to 12'"........
Out of the 8 student divers that attended that trip, 6 never went open water diving again..... 1 moved to Colorado and only 1 ever hit saltwater again.... My instructor friend, still to this day contacts all 8 of them at least once a year.......
WOLF
ps where are you these days????
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