Fish – Underwater
Ah! No secret! And you figured this was coming. An excuse to post dive shots! Free divers – their name – it means no scuba. Scuba – self-contained underwater apparatus – you knew that, right? I started very basic. I have a good camera. Nope! It’s not going underwater. It would break my heart to wreck it with saltwater. Be sure that at some point every camera has some saltwater.
It’s not good. I have personally fried a couple cameras before I learned to dive. I have a healthy respect for watertight. It’s very hard to do. And it’s easy. I see other divers casually treat their stuff. And I watched a poor guy fry his iPhone. Yup, dead. It was pretty funny watching him try to revive it. No, rice did not work.
It was about as funny as watching my kids when they each respectively dropped their cellphone into the toilet. Now ask yourself, how was it so, that I was there when it happened to each of them at different times? Yup. Timing! There’s a story. And so I bought insurance for each phone. And it cost ?$99. And I used it once. Yes, one kids had another water accident. And I denied it fell in water. And after the accounting, it was break even. The cost of insurance was the same as the phone.
That happened with my last Volvo. I got the extended warranty. $1500. And wouldn’t you know it. Nada! Till… the alternator went. Interesting. The car died just outside a McD’s in Maine. And wouldn’t you know it! There was a Sears down the block. Towed – AAA – first time I used that insurance too. But no, it was the alternator. New battery died at the intersection a few days later. The new alternator cost $1500 – break even. No, I do not buy extended warranty any more.
So, the free divers wear camo – and they are elegant looking. The purpose is to dive to reach depth on one breath and surface again. Not too interesting a process, but they call it fun. Long fins, a small weight belt, a snorkel. They hang weights off a rope and go up and down. I’m good in my gear and tank and one hour ticket to see the fishies.
There are things to see! One instructor kindly pointed into the blue. A school of fish approached. If it is the first time to see this, you should be duly impressed. It is a nightmare. With open mouths, it looks like they are on the hunt and you are the meal in their sights. Yeah! They swam around us. And then left. I got a few shots. The behavior? Beats the heck out of me. I was there. I have seen it again. I see these fish all the time when they are not exhibiting this behavior. But once in a while they school and swim with their mouths open. And it is impressive. Really! You don’t see this every day. And yes, I’m still impressed when they do this. Fierce! If you can see, they just have their mouths open. The gills are spread wide. There’s nothing. It’s the classic “Bark worse than your bite!” I’m suitably impressed – I told you, right?
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