03/31/2016
“Ah Sh*t!” Moment
Have a plan B for those “Ah Sh*t” moments
Have you ever started to pull out your dive gear out of your bag at a dive site, only to find that there is one dive boot missing? I have and it was, well, embarrassing. I thought to myself “How could I have forgotten on fu***ng boot?” I double checked my bag. I went back to the car and checked there too. The only result I got was no dive boot. What am I going to do? I didn’t want to stop my dive buddy from diving. After all, we planned this shore dive at Lovers Cove in the Monterey Bay area for a couple of weeks. (If you are not familiar with diving Monterey, it can be quite cold.) My mind was racing, where is the closest dive store, where did I leave the Dammed dive boot, and what am I going to do? This is an “Ah Sh*t!” moment.
The weather was sunny and warm. The seas were calm with only one to two foot waves hitting the beach. The Sea Gulls were doing there “Finding Nemo” imitations “Mine, Mine, Mine” to all of the beach goers with anything that even resembled food. There were Sea Lion roaring in the background and a pair of Sea Otters cracking shell fish on their bellies while floating in the Kelp Beds. The conditions were Post Card perfect. I Wanted To Go Diving! I Wanted To Go Diving Now! Now here I am dealing with this “Awe Sh*t” moment just because I forgot one of my Fu***ng dive boots!
In my racing and frantic mind at the dive site, I wondered if I would stay warm with two cotton socks on one foot. Ah, what the hell, I put my big boy panties, manned up and decided to go diving with what I had. Yeah, yeah, that’s what I will do, Man Up. Just go diving and deal with the consequences. I knew that I would look like a Dumb Ass to the other divers there, but I didn’t care at that point. I figured that at the very least this would teach me a lesson that I would not forget my boot again! So I geared up with my partner, did our Dive Buddy checks and went in for our first dive. After more than twenty minute into the dive, I realized that both my feet felt the same level of warmth. That is in Monterey, they both the same level of coldness. Mental note, an “Ah Sh*t” plan for missing boots is just to wear socks. This worked so well, that we did our second dive that same day. Our plan all along was to do two dives before lunch. The day was saved! The lunch, by the way, seemed to be particularly good that day for some reason. Maybe, I was just feeling proud of myself for dealing with the “Ah Sh*t” moment so well.
I have to admit that I have learned from my mistake that day. I now do a routine called “Build a Diver” on the floor of my living room, at home. I will lay out all of the dive gear in a manor that resembles a diver, just without the Human. This allows me to see everything for my own buddy check.
BTW, another “Ah Sh*t” plan is when going shore diving, bring a body board or serf board. If, when you arrive at the dive site to see 6 foot waves pounding the beach, go surfing. If you don’t like to surf, there is always the good ol’ fashioned Barbeque. The smell of cooking food on the grill will brighten up any day!
