Friday afternoon Zac, Ken and I decided to go diving. This would mark my first time donning the scuba gear since we wrapped up class and got certified. Zac and Ken have been out a couple times since then, but I didn't tag along. Since the guys were done with work early on Friday, we headed over to the scuba shop to rent our gear. Ken owns all his gear - decided to invest in it after getting certified - and only needed tanks. Zac and I needed everything. While we were getting our stuff, one of the employees of the shop told us that our intended destination, Electric Beach, had high surf. He suggested a place up on the North Shore instead. Zac and Ken had only dove at Electric Beach, but they decided that we could try out a new spot so we headed up to the North Shore and ended up diving at Three Tables and Shark's Cove.
It was a great dive. I got a new mask before the dive, so all of my previous mask woes were gone. It makes a huge difference in quality and enjoyment of the dive when you can see. (Sight is one of my favorite senses.) There was some current that we had to contend with, but overall it was a really fun dive. There were lots of lava formations with some neat coral and plenty of sea life. It wasn't a deep dive at all - maybe 30 feet. I think we'll have to check it out again.
The toughest part of the dive was getting out of the water. You know how there are different kinds of snow? Dry stuff, wet stuff, big flakes, tiny fluff balls, etc? Well there are lots of different kinds of sand as well. The sand at Three Tables was not nearly as compact as at other beaches, meaning that trying to get out of the water at first was like wading in six to eight inches of quick sand. Combine that with a certain amount of physical exhaustion from fighting the current plus add in heavy scuba gear and you get an awkward, bumbling, collapsing Kate on the beach. At least I amused the beach goers.
Adding to the tough exit was the steep incline that was about four feet high that I had to get up. As I was attempting to navigate it, a couple sunning themselves asked, "So how was it out there?" At that moment I tipped over like Humpty Dumpty and landed on my side in the sand. Without missing a beat I quipped, "It was great. Why don't I just sit here for a few minutes to tell you about it." That got a good laugh from everyone within ear shot.
Once I finally made it back up to the car we decided that it was too late in the day to do our second dive. We made plans to go out early(ish) the next day at Electric Beach. Zac and I went home, watched Dollhouse and went to bed not to long after that, as we were tired from the dive. Saturday morning we headed out to Electric Beach and were in the water by 9:00. We dove this beach back when were taking our scuba class, but this time I enjoyed myself much more. No skills to perform, just diving. And, again, my new mask made things much more fun.
Electric Beach is named such because it is across the street from one of the electric power plants on Oahu. There is a large pipe that discharged warm water offshore which attracts lots of sea life. It also has created an artificial reef, meaning lots of other sea formations. We saw a number of cool critters on this dive including a HUGE sea turtle that looked like it had barnacles growing on it. I haven't seen a turtle that big. It seemed to be unimpressed by us and swam near Zac and Ken. (Legally we're supposed to stay away from sea turtles, as they are a protected species. But when you're in the water and they swim right by you? You count your lucky starts and appreciate it.)
Coolest sighting? A white tipped reef shark.
No, that is not me in the photo.I was about 15 feet away from a shark. Super cool. Now the shark wasn't very big - maybe three feet, but there is something about seeing a shark right in front of you that is pretty neat. My thought process went something like, "Look at the neat fish. Look at that big one. Oh, is that a shark? Cool! It IS a shark! Wait a second, #$%&@!!! It's a shark! Eh, it's not going to eat me. Ken! Zac! Shark!!! Cool!" After the two dives I've decided that I really like scuba and I'd like to get out on a boat dive so I can give a deep dive a shot again. We didn't break 30 feet this weekend, so I'm looking forward to trying out a 50-60 foot dive again.
After the second dive we had to run home, change, and get ready to head out for a going away BBQ. One of the guys Zac works with is going IA to Iraq. Zac coordinated a BBQ to get everyone together to have a nice send off. We had it at Hideaway which is a bar out at the Barber's Point Coast Guard station. It was a really good time. A lot of people turned out, even some people that we don't usually see socially, so everyone had a good time. There was sand volleyball, drinks and a lot of laughing.
While we were sending off our guy, there was a group of Army guys there sending off one of theirs. He apparently had been wounded (I gathered while over there somewhere) and was "retiring" due to his injuries. I say "retiring" because this guy didn't look old enough to be retiring from anything, except maybe frat life. Actually, all of the Army guys look young. And really in shape. Like an Ambercrombie advertisement but with military haircuts and lots of tattoos. And there was a certain aura about them - a tense, close-knit-ness. This was in contrast to our group - a bunch of senior enlisted guys in their mid to late 30s. All on shore duty. Not necessary ripped from the floor up.
The Army guys spent most of the evening off in the corner of the bar complex on the basketball court. They formed a big circle around the retiring guy. I was curious about what all was going on, because there were probably about 30 guys making up the circle and they were there for at least an hour. All of their girlfriends/wives were excluded from the circle. They sat off at tables talking amongst themselves. Finally I had to ask what was going on. I stopped one of the gals as she was heading to the bar and asked, "What is that they're doing?"
She called it a paddle ceremony or something. There is a paddle (like an oar) that's about three feet long that gets passed around the circle. When you're holding the paddle you say something good about the guy in the middle. Something funny, something memorable, something meaningful. Something to say how much you appreciate serving with him. This group always did it when they had to say goodbye to one of theirs.
She also mentioned they were a scouting unit. And suddenly the buff, young, tense Army guys made sense. They are highly skilled, finely tuned killing machines. And they were maybe 22-24 years old. At one point, when the circle had disassembled for a moment to refill drinks, a handful of them made their way to the bar and downed a shot together. "One shot, one kill!!!" they bellowed right before they slammed their alcohol. Then it was back to the circle where they continued their ceremony.
It was hard not to watch them, even though I was 75 feet away and couldn't hear what they were saying, save the occasional hooting and laughing. It was like there was a dome of emotion enclosing them, and they didn't give a damn about the world outside of it. They were there, toasting their brother, talking about things that only they understand, recalling experiences that only they share.
As our group wrapped up our evening and started to head out, the paddle ceremony had finally ended. The Army guys changed gears - the drinks started flowing and they started singing along with the band who was playing Green Day-style covers. You could tell that there was a certain aggression even in their celebration. I wondered when they'd be cycled out again, scouting, patrolling, killing. But I guess you have to live for today. And today they were celebrating their retiring brother. Bravo Zulu, soldier. Thank you for your service.
1 comment:
This was a great post. Looking forward to reading more.
Post a Comment