Day One Continued
Day one continued
Finally off the train. Next was a lengthy bus ride to the M.V. Ferry. Then, a ferry ride over to the Island. At least I’m on the water!
When we arrive at the boat; the Preacher decides he’s worried that after a month in the water, the prop may be fouled with marine growth and barnacles. He had the boat “short hulled” before the trip up and the bottom cleaned and inspected. I told him I didn’t think a month in the colder waters of New England would produce any growth of any substance. We could clearly inspect the bottom of the dingy, the waterline just below the surface, and the rudder of the sailboat. All looked free and clear of any growth.
The Pastor insisted we needed to inspect the prop for growth. He wanted to gear up and dive to check it out. I suggested that before he does that; he let me get in the dingy with a dive mask and stick my head under water to see if I could see the prop. He reluctantly agreed. I put on my swim trunks, slipped into the dingy, and tried to lean over the side. Oops, the dingy sides were too high to let my face in the water without me tumbling out of the dingy. So, my next idea was to stretch out, place my feet under the dingy seat (to hold me inside) and lean over the dingy. By doing this, I could get my head under water (boy the water was salty). The water at Martha’s Vineyard was a greenish color; pretty, but just enough chlorophyll in the water to keep me from clearly seeing the prop. I was tempted to tell him the prop was clean, but I decided that lying to a Preacher was bad mojo. I told him I could even more clearly see the rudder and I could run my hands down the hull and all appeared clean. Nevertheless, he decided to go diving!
The Pastor is 82 years old and having a difficult time accepting his limitations. We dug out all of his scuba gear and watched as he peeled off his traveling clothes and got into the wetsuit. Now I had to think of Skip at this point. He’s the only other person I know that dives. If Skip is still diving at the age of 82, I hope it goes better than this. If you are my age, you can remember the TV commercial of the “dancing Sunkist raisins”. They were shriveled up prunes; and so the Preacher looked as he got into his dive gear.
Now I don’t dive, so I shouldn’t be judgmental of someone who does; but, I don’t think it should turn out the way this dive did. We attached his dive tank to his dive vest. Arranged all the hoses to the proper location, and he and I headed into the dingy. I had a line that he was going to attach to himself so I could pull him out from under the boat if anything went wrong. He also took a large knife to scrape off any barnacles. Once in the dingy, he began to inflate his vest. After inflation, over the side he went. He thrashed around for a few moments and finally said, “I need to release some air from the vest, I can’t get under water”. He kept purging the vest, but he was pressing the wrong button. He was adding air, not releasing it. He tried to dive again, he looked like a child’s party balloon trying to get under the boat. He came back up and said he needed the dive weights. I got the dive weight belt and we tried to get it around his waist. As I tightened it up, I had a feeling this wasn’t going to work. His body posture is that of a pier piling. The weight belt kept slipping down his waist and only his bony butt kept it from falling down past his knees and over his feet and landing at the bottom of the sea. Again he splashed around like a seal trying to hoist its way up onto a swim platform.
By now, we had drawn a crowd of eyes from some of the other boaters moored in the anchorage. Ed, who is also a certified diver, tried to explain that he was pressing the wrong button and not deflating the vest, the Preacher would not accept that he was in the wrong. He continued to release air from the tank, and tried another dive. Feet splashing, arms thrashing, the Preacher tried desperately to get under the boat. He took the knife and made several motions with it and popped his head up out of the water and said he had cleaned two barnacles off the prop. Now, we should not be hindered on our way back home.
Once back in the boat, we checked the tank; it was almost out of air. Ed showed him the other valve he should have been pressing to deflate the vest, and the Pastor said, “That’s ok, I have another tank of air if we need it in the future.”
All the other boaters went back to reading or relaxing on their boats; the circus was done. Mike Nelson (the character on the T V show “Sea Hunt” was rolling over in his grave).
Everyone changed into clean clothes and we took the dingy in to shore to eat at a nice restaurant. When we finally got back on the boat, we set the alarm for 4:20 am and went to sleep.
Next: Headed home
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