ALARM ALARM!

Imagine the warning alarms in a nuclear power facility just moments before it melts down and destroys downtown Springfield. That is exactly the sound my iPhone makes at 6:00 am the morning of a dive. Loud, crude and annoying.

During the normal work week I am fortunate enough to be able to wake up at 9:30 am. Unless I have an early morning meeting with a client, or my Saturday class, I almost never have to set an alarm. So imagine how I feel waking up at 6 am to ERRR ERRR ERRR ERRR! I guess I could set my iPhone to wake me up to something more soothing... but then again I need to make sure I get up.

I guess it is fair to say that from the moment I wake up to the moment I splash into the water, only one thing is on my mind.... “I really really really don’t want to get wet this morning.” Of course, that feeling ends the very second I hit the water and I begin to focus on what is sure to be an amazing dive.

I am an impatient guy. Anywhere I go in life, I impatiently await the “main event.” For example, at an amusement park I pace in line, every thought on the ride. At the movies, I just want the dam thing to start already. While dating, who ever invented the “three date rule” was about two dates off. Driving, I can’t wait to get there. Even when I teach I can’t wait to start my class. For some reason, diving is different. I never care how long it takes to get there. I don’t mind a long boat ride to the dive site. I am never the first one in my equipment, nor the first in the water. With diving - I am not as over-enthused as I am with everything else. For the most part, until I am submerged, I don’t even really think about it.

On the way out to a dive site, most people on the boat trade stories about their previous dives. Everyone has a story (most of them greatly exaggerated) except me. I sit quietly thinking about my photography and the diving I am about to do. I check and recheck my equipment, listen to the dive briefing, and then non-chalantly get into the water. It is not until I get into the water that things start for me.

One possibility on why I don’t exchange stories on the dive boat with fellow divers is because this is my forum to tell my stories. A diver quickly builds a portfolio of stories - most of them can’t keep their mouth shut about them around other divers. I, on the other hand, only tell my stories here - in my dive blog and through my photographs... and sometimes to my class.