Here's something I wrote a while back and liked a bit, but
I didn't figure was complete. But that's part of its potential.
It's not complete and never needs to be. It can be added to by
anyone. It certainly doesn't need to be great verse, but it can
be about beauty, excitement, solitude, exploration... anything
that is the diver's story.
There are additions by various divers. I marked those by name
and they stop at the '*'. Any un-marked verse is by me.
I hope that you enjoy it. See if you can add a verse for me.
Enjoy, seahunt
Image of San Nicolus Island West end by Chris Grossman
I'm a diver.
Shafts of sunlight through the clouds show my destination.
The golden light of the moon shows my path there.
The seagull and the dolphin are my escorts.
The wind is blowing my hair.
I'm a diver.
This is all so new to me.
A brand new world to explore and see.
Still gotta figure out all this gear.
Still gotta manage to clear my ear.
I'm dazzled and thrilled, I'm here at last,
I just can't believe that my tank empties so fast.
I'm a newbie and it's such a task.
My gear is on backwards and I just crushed your mask.
I'm a diver.
I'm the old salt with pepper in my hair.
You name the place, I've dove down there.
Two hoses on a regulator you say.
Sure that's just how we did it in my day.
I'm a diver.
I'm the photodog. Please pose for me.
I'll spend my whole tank waiting quietly.
I'll capture what I see and show it off on land.
You better pose dammit. This gear cost ten grand.
I'm a diver.
For a dive, any ocean, lake, stream, quarry or river will do.
If I see anything, I make dive two.
Take a boat or shlepp down cliff and cross beach.
I'll dive any silly place I can reach.
I'm a diver.
I'm the local who knows where it's hot.
I'll take you diving, but not to my spot.
I know each fish by sight and by name.
Watch them come begging, I've made them all tame.
I'm a diver.
Chisel and hammer hang from my BC.
When I get down there. It's just that wreck amd me.
I'll pillage and plunder for some old brass part.
Then I'll clean and polish it until it's beautiful art.
I'm a diver (Frank Farmer)
I dive to the shipwrecks strewn over the bottom,
The brass goodies beckon and boy, have I got 'em!
A porthole here, a binnacle there,
I'm in hog heaven and haven't a care.*
I'm a diver
I dive over the coral and drift like fluff in the wind.
Slowly, so slowly my corel cuts mend.
Water so warm, it's just like a bath.
Water so clear it just looks like it's not here.
I dive the ice when all others sit home.
Warm water is nice, but I'm here in Nome
My regulator is near as froze as my butt.
It's fun but then maybe I'm just a frozen dive nut.
I dive the kelp, it's the place to be.
Adrift in a forest under the sea.
I cut the urchins from out of my skin.
There is so much to see I don't know where to begin.
So lush and primeval
It takes me to human past
So wild and natural
It makes my life whole
I've been froze to the core. I've been baked by the sun.
I've gone on boats that weren't any fun.
I've gone diving some places I've managed to find.
OK, I admit it. I was out of my mind.
I'm an instructor, a diving pro.
I'll teach you the tricks and diving we'll go.
Then I will tell you why you must have your own gear.
And then I will tell you why you should buy here.
We'll get you in the water
Then I'll help you get down
There is just one rule I insist on
Don't you dare drown.
I'm a diver (JoanneR)
It is in the sea where I am truly free,
To forget all those things that I often see,
The sea gives me strength, allows time for reflection, to heal,
No wonder I keep looking for that next dive deal,
I move with the sea,
The Whaleshark, the Dolphin and the Manatee,
To look into those gently, caring eyes
It is for this that I am proud to say "I learned how to dive"*
I'm a diver (Dee)
The fish and creatures, they talk to me
They smile and wink, and beckon invitingly
Leading me through their cathdrals and showing me their homes
Making me realize this is where I belong
The water so clear and warm on my skin.
So much to look at, Oh, where to begin.
The colors, the shapes, I'll remember you see.
They are all burned into my memory.
When I smell the salt and feel ocean breezes
The world goes away and all problems cease.
I dive to renew my soul, to gladly give up all worldly control
Down there I'm just a very small part of a very large whole.
I'm a divemaster
The students say they want to learn to dive
They have no clue it will change their lives.
Come and join us, we'll teach you with great care
And if you have a problem, I will be there.*
I'm a diver (judy)
It's silent down there, under the sea,
Precious moments of escape, for my buddy and me,
At home our young daughters, like seals in the pool play
Eagerly learning to dive, to join us one day.
On a true exploration, like a spleunker or caver,
I'll swim through anything, my curiosity will not waver,
I'll fly through caverns and soar off coral crusted walls,
Like a turtle, a manta. Oh, the ocean, she calls.
Next month we'll leave our little lives behind, and we'll stray,
To an island in the sun, a long ways away,
We'll commune with the creatures that call Oz their home,
And for eight wonderful days, Dave and I will be alone.
And when we return, all golden and rested,
we'll relive each moment of paradise quested,
and then we'll start planning the next trip, oh please, make it soon,
maybe a west coast diverlinker in late May or June.*
I'm a diver (swampboy)
My mother calls me home, with salt air and sand
She wants to embrace me in love deep and grand
My brothers in scale and my sisters in feather
All wait for me there in topical weather.
I've wandered to mountain, traded bare feet for boots
but my ancestors call me back to my roots
Great Grandfather spent all his days on the blue
He loved her a lifetime she was his mother too.*
It moulds me and shapes me. It is my life.
It has cost me dearly, just ask my wife.
It's left me cold and it's left me broke.
But it's worth it you see, for it sets me free.
Enjoy the diving, seahunt
Note about the picture.
That is the west end of San Nicolas Island. It is one of the most
exposed, primieval areas to dive in California. It is a long trip
to get there, with very chancey weather. It is where the
hardcore lobster hunters go to look for the elusive 'big bug'.
When you are there, you are in the 'Big Ocean'. The deep cold one
that mariners live in. If you want to visit there, you had better
be at home in the sea. Better yet, you should be a diver.