Posted by Dave on February 21, 2005 at 21:37:11:
I remember diving on a charter boat one day out at the Northern Channel Islands. I think the boat was the Liberty, as I recall the boat had a higher than average length to width aspect ratio, very narrow I remember.
It was quite rough heading out, and by daylight, even as we were anchored we were being treated to an E-ticket ride. Rough weather never bothered me much...reminds me of that damn weather radar commercial jets now have, I figure for as much as I am paying, I ought to at least get knocked around a bit for sport, it is not like the plane is going to breakup midair.
Anyway, it was so rough a small group of divers asked the Captain if he could call the Coast Guard for a rescue, not because they were sick, they thought we were going to capsize. I thought that was a rediculous proposition, both the capsizing part, and even more so, the Coast Guard thing...give me a break I thought, what is the Coast Gaurd going to do?! But as irrational as they were, their fear was real, and I don't like to deride people for being fearful, no matter how silly.
Anyway, the Captain sorta looked at them like : "You're kidding, right?" So on we were diving. At the end of each dive, the poor miserable misguided souls who were diving in wetsuits in the winter in the northern Channel Islands would huddle in the downwind aft side of the cabin to try to keep out of the bow wave spray coming all the way backwards over the cabin and deck from the driving wind, and most were holding hot coffee, shivering with their pasty white faces and purplish blue lips huddling en masse, trying to not get any colder.
Being a diving super hero, I was in my customary drysuit, with the hood off no less, and having a nice lunch, walking about the wildly pitching aft deck doing my human gimble impression, with my soul concern being wave spray getting onto my hot off the griddle burger and not spilling my ice cold Pepsi. So I see this guy leaning over the corner railing where the gunwhale intersects the transom, staring down intently into the water for quite some time, oblivious to the crashing spray. Eventually curiosity finally gets the best of me, and off I go with my lunch in tow, wave spray be damned. I walk right up next to him, look over down into the water to see what held his rapt attention. He stands up quickly, looks right at me then my food just as my right hand lowers the Pepsi and my mouth clamps down on a huge chunk of burger. Just like like when Bugs Bunny chomps down on a carrot and asks; " What's Up Doc?" I ask him whats up?" just as my mandibles find their mark. He whirls around back down to the railing and hurls all over the place. The poor sap was violently seasick, I didn't know it, and I just made things worse with my greasey burger caper.
I couldn't help but laugh at my naivete and the reaction it caused as it was damn funny although I felt really bad for the guy and what I did as I would never intentionally gastronintestinally provoke someone who is violently seasick.