Dive Into Your Imagination

We had to line up and jump in one after another in military fashion so the boat could quickly pull away. It was cool and felt like we were going to disarm some explosives like something right out of a summer blockbuster. On the first dive I was with our friends Stephanie and Cass, who were going to do a deep dive test. I did not want any part of that because at about 70 ft, I began to shiver.

They kept going deeper and I just hovered above them. Below, the oil rig supports were the home of millions of organisms like crabs and barnacles. I looked around at all the crazy anemones and the sinister alien looking skeleton shrimp that crawled on everything. The first dive was fun, a bit cold and kinda scary. But then on the second things got a little more interesting. I would be taking a video camera with me! I was really excited that I had graduated to "underwater videographer" status like Annie and everyone else on the boat. Cass and I would share the camera and light, which meant we would be sticking together. I saw many more things this time and got much closer to the life on the oil rig supports.

The camera was really fun to use but then something disastrous happened! I was really enjoying being an underwater filmmaker!! I was conscious of the lighting, the composition, the zoom...constructing the edit in my mind. This combination of filmmaking and being underwater suddenly became deadly when Cass pointed to my gauge. I was in the red! I instantly freaked. Camera? What camera? I looked at my gauge again. How much air do I have? How deep are we? What do I do?! Where is Cass going!? Cass turned around as if nothing was wrong. I started breathing erratically swimming after her for help and air. I caught up to her and showed her my gauge as if she forgot I was about to drown. She had more air than I did and I knew this because on all my previous dives, I was the one who sucked air the fastest.

So we double checked my air supply and agreed to start the ascent. I think we were at about 60 feet when all this happened and I knew we still had a safety stop to attend to. Luckily I had enough air to get up to 20 feet for the safety stop. We held onto a thin support and finished off my air, then I took Cass's alternate. I still couldn't believe how foolish I was to forget to look at my gauge. But I learned a valuable lesson which I won't be making again, and hopefully my story will prevent other beginners from repeating it as well.