I learned to scuba dive in Guam back in the early ‘90s. I was in the Navy and stationed on an island, so it was more of a need than a choice. I scuba dived all over the island; in caves, sunken ships, off sea-cliffs and straight off the beach. I loved it more than anything.

Last year I had a job servicing tide gauges along the eastern seaboard. I had to scuba dive to get at the submerged portion of the gauges. These gauges were attached to piers, channel markers and docks, and were quite often difficult to reach and impossible to see because of the typically low visibility of the water down here. I did a lot of diving by touch, which is not the funnest.

The last dive I did for this job was at the Navy pier near Cocoa Beach, Florida. There was a nuclear sub docked there just then, so the security guys were watching me like hawks. I was tinkering with the gauge in about twelve feet of water, perfect visibility, cool water gliding gently over me, sheepshead fish nibbling gently at the detritus falling from the gauge as I worked, when all of a sudden a felt something big pulling on my tank. I looked up and there was a manatee trying to eat my air line. I rubbed its belly and it swam off.

I need to dive more.