- Nov 12, 2017
- 12,663
- Pool Size
- 12300
- Surface
- Plaster
- Chlorine
- Salt Water Generator
- SWG Type
- Pentair Intellichlor IC-40
Now, what I read was... "Please tell us the story!"
I was scuba diving in the Sea of Cortez, and we were between dives. All of a sudden the boat captain goes crazy and recalls everybody out of the water and tears off to another destination, full speed. We learn en route that another dive operator has spotted Orcas, and had radioed our boat. We pull into the area and there's the other boat and sure enough there's a whole pod, too. We're watching the other boat's passengers jump off their boat, and we're waiting to see if that is a good idea or not. Hey, either way it's going to be a heck of a show!
Nobody's screaming over there, so we look to our group leader and the boat's dive master for what to do. We're all in wetsuits, and masks and fins, no tanks (no time). Everybody's shrugging their shoulders. So the captain decides and he starts moving in. I'm on the dive platform with the dive master and my very adventurous girlfriend, and we're clinging to the rails while egging each other on to be the first to jump in. She decides for all of us and pushes the dive master into the water, laughing hysterically. Not sure the dive master thought it was all that funny. Anyway, everybody takes that as their cue and they all join in. Jumping in, or trying to slip in. No harm so far.
But I have an instinct not to get in yet (and not just self preservation!). Sure enough, all the commotion is driving the Orcas away from the boat, so I know nobody's going to really get a good view of them. I wait it out as the captain is circling the boat to keep track of the divers. I spot a lone Orca, off aways, and as I'm watching her I happen to catch a glimpse of a smaller fin along side. The captain is heading for them inadvertently, as he's circling, and I'm not sure he even sees them. No one but he and I are on the boat. I time it pretty good, and very quietly slip into the water just in the path of the two whales. Now I know this is pretty risky, but I have this memory in my head, from a conversation with a friend, that there are no known attacks of wild Orcas on humans. Of course, I don't actually know if that is true, even now, but that's what I'm telling myself as I leave the boat. My calculations were at the same time spot on, and completely incorrect. I time the entry perfectly and I am now directly in her path. So I stick my face in the water to see the calf, and realize my mistake instantly. The mother and baby are being flanked under water by three of her full-grown sisters, directly underneath them, for protection I presume. I don't have any time to think about this, nor any way out of it. So I just stay still and float. All five of them keep coming head on, and I remember thinking, "Well, if this is how you're going to go out, this is the way to do it!" And then right in front of me they all very gently dive downwards. The calf follows along and all five pass just a few feet below me. I turn to watch and they fade off into the depths. A memory for a life time...
Full disclosure: the chances of that picture actually being the one I swam with are remote, but it is a picture of one of the pod that day, and I like to think it was her...
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