The low point (Galapagos) - 30 March 2009

A little background information is necessary here:

Jennifer is the driving force behind our diving. It's not that I dislike it, necessarily, it's just that I'm not that comfortable in the water. It's not that I can't swim, it's just that I'm not proficient at it. My swimming could charitably be described as a rythmic thrashing motion that resembles a crawl stroke.

A long, long time ago (ok, 15 years ago) when Jen and I were just friends we were at the beach with our friend Jason (who'll make a guest appearance shortly). We were just hanging out in the ocean, treading water and floating. Jason was talking about how he couldn't float (probably because he was so skinny), I was getting tired from treading water, and then Jen mentioned how she spent her summers as a lifeguard. Oh, and was on the swim team in high school. She's basically a fish.

All of the above to say that while I'm not comfortable in the water, Jennifer is extremely comfortable in the water.

We did our first two dives without incident and then went on our third dive. The dive plan called for us to swim through a lava tube, circle around an outcrop, and then stick with the divemaster for the remaining of our bottom time.

We probably should have aborted the dive when our divemaster couldn't find the lava tube on the first descent. We all had to come back up so that he could get directions from the boat driver. Then, when we descended again we found it, but instead of going through and staying on the other side we went through and then came back out.

Then, we swam along the reef and swam into some shallow water between a rock and the shore. Jen went in first and then I followed. There was a lot of surge, and we had to hold onto a piece of coral to keep from being pushed up against the rocks. Thinking that Jen was a stronger swimmer, I waited for the surge to start to go out and swam back out into the ocean.

Once I was out, I looked back expecting to see her right behind me. Instead I couldn't see her anywhere. I looked around 360 degrees and then ascended. When I hit the surface all I could hear was her screaming.

She got caught in the surge and tumbled up against the rocks. Her regulator was ripped from her mouth, and the divemaster pulled her out of the surge. She was shaken up - as you'd expect, and we had the boat driver take us back to the boat.

Later, Jen shook it off and continued diving, so it didn't ruin the week, but it's the scariest experience I've ever had.