BVI, HERES A KNIFE STORY FOR YOU..........
There I was bombing ( English for going fast for any West Atlantic readers) past the Pilgrims steps in Plymouth not a care in the world trying to see how fast I could make the rubber boat go. The little rubber duck had a wooden floor that took two lifetimes to fit and the teeny weeniest engine you could imagine, a 40 hp Army green "thrashed to death" Johnson.
Anyway, back to the story, because I felt guilty about not paying the proper respects to the steps that so many immigrants to the States used all those years ago I decided to go back and walk up them and then back down to the boat just to say "I had". Great idea in principle but not so smart for the "rushed" dive instructor. I tied the boat up and shot up the steps and back down again only to see the boat drifting off towards the open sea, so in true fashion I jumped in and chased it. This would have been ok if I had thought, decided or even went ahead and put my dry suit on first, but no I was fully clothed in my regular " before the dive" gear. When I eventually caught the boat and got in, I was not a very happy or warm Individual to say the least.
However, after arriving at the dive centre ( we used to keep the boat at the accommodation barracks.) and a couple of cups of tea I was warm and dry again and off we went to the James Egan Lane. This wreck is a Liberty ship that was struck by torpedoes and even though it was sinking and the crew abandoned it, the old girl refused to sink and motored around a bit wrecking the lifeboats which were full of crew as it did so. It was towed to shore in an effort to salvage it but this is where it did eventually sink and is now a great wreck dive in 22 meters. "Down we go" ( sounds like a submarine movie........) sorry back to the story,
I had a great dive, mainly because I always do, and of course there are no bad ones. On my return to the wubber boat I had the brain wave at the anchor line to use my knife to reset the little wire thingy on my depth gauge that shows how deep you have been. Now, for a clever, calm, sort of normal person this would be easy, set the gauge, put the knife away. Oh no, not me, I promptly decided that it would be a great idea to slip while doing it and put the tip of my knife through my dry suit and into my leg.
For anyone who has done something similar you will know that at 20 ft depth blood looks green, which is cool. unless of course it's your blood. Also I hasten to add my right side is now icy cold ( for the second time today) because "idiot boy" is now wearing a dry suit with a hole in it. I ask you, would you dive with me? I do however break off the tips of every single, solitary, stinking, stupid one of my dive knives now. I shake my head every time it reminds me how dumb I WAS, note the emphasis on was, yeah right.