The Southernmost Farce

Photographs taken on - where else? The "Un"-Southernmost Point, Key West, Florida, USA, Jan. 2010.

Lessons on New Year's Day 2010

Today we went snorkeling in the waters off Key West. The day promised well, it was warm and mild. Fi and I ate a late breakfast and decided to catch the afternoon ferry out to the coral reefs near Key West. When we got to the boat, all prepared with swimsuits, goggles and a single-use underwater camera, they mentioned that it was possible that the waters might be choppy as the weather was expected to change all of a sudden. (In fact, as I write this, the wind is rising and the scene looks like high monsoon in Bombay.) They gave us the option to change our plans but our schedule didn't allow that, so we decided to push on.

We got to the reef, wore our swim suits, life jackets, flippers, eye/nose masks and snorkels. The water had indeed turned really choppy on the way out to the boat, the temperature of the water had dropped to a mere 60-65 degrees C, and the boat rocked violently as we prepared to step into the water. Fi walked into the restroom for a bit, and came out looking slightly green and feeling worse. He wanted us to go but clearly was in no condition to swim out over the reef with the surface of the water rocking like that. To make matters worse, he felt queasy every time he clamped the snorkel into his jaws. I told him I would come back for him in ten minutes and prepared to descend.

I clamped the camera firmly in my hands, descended the ladder with flippers, etc., and at the last step, a minute before I landed in the water, I realized I hadn't got my snorkel on correctly. Water filled my mouth - cold, salty and lots of it. The boat was rocking violently at this point. I consider myself fairly game for stuff - if not downright adventurous - but I felt a panic in my chest that had nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with the fact that Fi wasn't around. I decided to abandon the attempt for a few minutes.

When I ascended the ladder again, I found Fi waiting for me. He said, yes, I saw you had a really hard time. It's okay, sit down here. He'd been having a hard time too, and still looked a bit green. We decided that he shouldn't risk it out in the open sea like that. He told me to go on, but recommended I abandon the camera. The less equipment, the better. I decided to go on - but with Fi not able to make it, I wanted to get the ocean and the reef to him - so I decided to take the camera. I strapped myself in right this time, flippers, snorkel and the rest. I wedged the camera into my swimsuit so the tight fabric would hold it there. I descended yet again. Fi was waiting above, so at the last step, I looked up, said goodbye, and jumped before I looked into the water. The water was cold and choppy but I struck out fairly quickly. Once out of the range of the boat, it got better. I got used to the temperature and was able to swim quickly to the reef. I was there for half an hour, diving all the time to get pictures. The reef wasn't anything great, but there were many many different fish and I enjoyed swimming after them to get the best angles. Once every few minutes I'd come up to give Fi the "All OK" signal, and go down again. He stood on the deck all the time, I could see him scan for me every time I came up.

The whole experience taught me something. I'd always thought of myself as a fairly independent person but I realized how much I actually depend on Fi just for my basic dose of self-confidence. I managed it very well the second time around, but I did it this time because I knew he was on the deck watching me - and I knew I had to do it because I had to get the experience back to him - salt water, fish, cold currents and all.