Chapter 08 - The Boat
Tuesday he had to let one of his other instructors complete the next session so he could run the charter. No need to have a mate with a small group, and that'd save some money. Plus, he had the instructor working the shop anyway.
The four divers boarded with their gear. They looked like seasoned pros with the mixed gas and double rigs. Jake had seen this many times before; someone took a techno course, talked his buddies into it as well and stocked up on the latest gear. The stuff looked brand new, couldn't have made more then a couple dives on it. They lugged the oversized tanks and laid them in the center of the deck, looking around to boat to store their gear bags.
"Stow your tanks in the rack along the gunnels and you bags under the bench. Dry bags in the cabin, there's plenty of room, but try not to spread out too much." Rookies, he thought. Didn't even know how to lash down a tank.
"'scuse me capt'n got room for a walk on?" he heard from the dock.
"What's your rating? I have room, but these guys look like they want something deep."
"Been up and down the Atlantic, and half way around the Islands. Deep don't bother me. I'll keep an eye on these rookies if you want," he said with a wink.
"Where's your gear?"
"Got it over there, didn't want to drag it down if you ain't got room."
"Come on, the boat's almost empty. I'll cut you a deal if you can keep up with these four."
"Better they keep up with me… get in less trouble that way. I'll grab my stuff."
"You got a name?"
"Sure do… Bond, James Bond. Yeah, I know real corny, my folks had a real sense of humor. Just call me Jim."
Jake tried not to laugh at the plight Jim's parents left him with, but the urge was too great. "Ha ha, not an easy name to live down."
"Like I said, a real sense of humor. I'll grab my stuff." He walked to the end of the pier, slung a large backpack over his shoulders, slipped his weight belt around his waste and tossed a bottle on each shoulder. Before Jake could bark out his instructions, Jim had all his gear properly stowed. "You have a hang bottle?" he asked Jake.
"Yeah, you need one?"
"Got one in the car, didn't know if I'd need it."
"You can use one of mine; I only need one tank later for dinner…"
"Thanks."
As soon as Jim had his gear bag stashed under the dive bench, he glanced up to see a pair of smooth, tanned, slender legs step past, followed by a younger pair, equally smooth and slender but not so tanned legs and a pair of muscular legs. All he could do was let out a low cat-call whistle.
"Eileen, welcome aboard. You gonna join us today?" Jake called from the bridge.
"Can't, got to take care of some business in town. Jake, this is Harriet and Herman, my cousins from overseas, kids this is one of my dearest friends, Jake Stevens."
"Harriet, Herman, make yourselves at home. I need to brief the paying passengers before I cast off." He looked the two over, and thought they looked familiar, but couldn't place them.
"Sir, we don't want to be a burden or hardship, we'll pay the going rate," Herman offered.
"No, don't charge family, or a good friend's family for a sight seeing trip. Relax and enjoy the trip. There's a padded bench on the fore deck, you can join me on the bridge once we get underway. You can put your bags below in the cabin. There's plenty of room today, so enjoy, just try to stay out of the way. And help yourself to a Coke in the cooler marked 'Crew Only'."
The two teens thanked their host, bid good-bye to Eileen, and retreated to the isolation of the forward bench.
In two steps, he scaled the ladder to the bridge, swung his legs over the edge and sat on the lip, overlooking the divers below.
"Listen up, we're about to head out, I need everyone diving to sign the log book and the waivers. Some basic rules, first, even though the boat's empty, space is still at a premium, so, please, work out of your bags and don't scatter your gear. Second," he turned to the two teens, "this includes you two, this boat does not have a bathroom, or toilet. It has a head. This boat uses a holding tank, so if you need to use the head, remember nothing goes in you haven't digested first. And if you haven't finished digesting it and you need to 'find instant relief', just lean over the lee side and let'er go." He heard some chuckles and giggles for those listening, but not from the two youths, they were listening with respect for the speaker. A respect he hadn't seen in kids this age before. "For you diving, don your gear, everything but your fins, WALK to the swim platform, put on your fins and use a giant stride entry. Swim to the bow, and down the anchor line. STAY with your buddy. Jim, I want you to triple with the last pair in." He heard some complains being mumbled and ignored them. "Lastly, you will return to the boat with at LEAST 500 pounds, or your day's over. Understood? Good. Now, any requests?"
"Yeah, we wanted a couple deep dives, but he" pointing to Jim, "won't have as much bottom time, he'll mess up our dive."
"Don't worry about me sonny, just dive your profile, I'll hang if I need to. Just point this tub out there and drop the hook, I'll be happy," Jim offered, as he unpacked his backpack, piece-by-piece, mounting everything on his first tank. The others sat and sipped their coffee.
"How 'bout a deep wreck?" one of the tech-divers asked. The others nodded.
"Best we can do will be 90 to 100. The deeper stuff is too far out."
Really not that much farther, but Jake wasn't sure about these 4. None of them looked or acted very seasoned. Except Jim, his gear looked like it was bought used and beat to hell. He used an aging Sherwood Magnum Blizzard, something you don't see in Florida. And old USD jacket BCD, the kind with an inner bladder, and a hard back. The tanks had very little original paint, and the boot on one was held together with duct tape.
"Alright, there's a liberty ship in 80 to 90 with a reef jutting down to 110. It'll take about an hour, so get ready by the time we get there. We'll do two there and a third in shore, I gotta fill a promise to a friend."
The group of four sat and watched as Jim finished his pre-dive assembly, and Jake fired the massive engines. "Capt'n, want me to free the lines?"
"Thanks, release the bow and stern lines. Good. Release the starboard spring." He eased the starboard engine back and the tension on the remaining line caused the boat to gently arc from her slip. "Release the port spring." The boat eased out of the tight space and he cut the wheel hard over, throwing the port engine forward a third. The force of the two engines turning in opposite directions swung the bow straight, and he snapped the starboard ahead a third. The massive steel hull slowly glided forward as he eased the throttles back to slow.
"Thanks, Jim."
The grizzled diver waved an acknowledgment and went to finish getting his gear ready; he slid into his thin skins and the short wetsuit. Last, he slipped on his boots while the others simply watched.
"Why'd you rush to set up? We have an hour."
"Yeah, an hour at high speeds and rough seas. I'd rather set up at the dock, incase I need to grab some spare gear from the car. You guys ought to have some fun bouncing around while we're underway."
The four looked blindly at each other; the truth was they had only gone resort diving in flat seas, typical 'SAND' divers (Sorry Ass Novice Diver) to the more seasoned vet. This was the Atlantic, and it was the beginning of Hurricane season. Jim smiled as he climbed to the bow where the two teens were sitting, hand in hand, her head on his shoulder.
"Howdy, kids. Here for a boat ride?"
"Yes, sir. Where here on holiday from school."
"Where you from?"
"We're both from England," the brunette said. "My name's Her..arriet Gratter, and this is my, brother Herman."
"So brother and sister… she feeling ok, kid? The way she was resting her head, thought she was 'bout to chum early."
"Pardon?" the young man replied slightly confused.
"Huh?"
"He meant he thought I was about to be ill. Really, Har..mon you need to think more like them."
"Hmmmm, I'm gonna check with Jake for a minute. Enjoy the ride." Jim turned and climbed around the catwalk to the bridge just above where they sat. Jake was able to hear the entire conversation, and he was building his own list of oddities and questions.
"Mione, you have to be more careful, you almost called me 'Harry', and you almost used your own name. We're supposed to be in hiding."
"Shhh, I think he can hear." She pointed cautiously behind them to Jake. "And I did feel a bit squeamish when we left."
Jake sat up in his chair and made mental notes of the questions he was going to ask Eileen when they got back. 'I'll let them be, they can't hurt anything,' he thought.
The roar of the engines mage simple conversation difficult; any discussions had to be shouted to one another. The trip to the old liberty ship wasn't as rough as Jim led the other divers to believe. It was rather flat and calm, so the trip was faster then expected; only taking 50 minutes. The two teens sat on the bench, feeling the salt air rush past, blowing through their hair, her thick brown hair and his jet black hair. The boy relished the feel of the air in his face, daydreaming to other innocent times. She liked the feel of the sun and warmth on her snowy white skin. She nuzzled her head back on his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his.
The four techno divers fumbled with their gear, and, just as Jim had predicted, two of them had parts scattered through the deck. Jake refused to watch, for fear he would toss them all over the side. Instead, he watched the pair sitting quietly on the bench, themselves watching the ocean in front of them.
"Damn it Frank, I thought you brought the parts kit. How's Steve going to dive with a broken strap?"
"Nah, Steve had it last."
"Don't sweat it, I have a spare." Jim tossed an old mask strap to the diver sitting still fumbling with a broken strap. "Didn't anyone teach you guys how to wear a mask? Not too tight, the pressure will cinch it up." It was obvious this guy had no desire to make the dive. The strap was deliberately broken, and the parts kit was left behind. "Listen, if you're nervous, go in the last group, I'll hang back with you."
"W-we're on mixed gas... how?"
"Kid, listen, mixed gases only means your decom limits are a bit different. All I gotta do is use the old Navy table and watch my time. Don't sweat it."
"T-thanks. I am a bit nervous, haven't done much on boats in the ocean before, we've been doing springs."
"Thanks for the insight. I'll mention this to Jake, don't worry; he won't make a big deal of it. I'll have him suggest a weight check first."
Jim headed to the ladder to sit with the captain on the rest of the trip, thankful to be out of earshot of the four arguing about whom forgot this or who's watching times. 'They ALL need to watch their OWN time,' he thought. Diving was a singular sport that depended on others for safety, but ultimately it was the individual diver's responsibility for his own safety first, then his dive buddy, then others in the group. Jim was an old, cautious diver. Some things he learned the hard way; many he learned by watching the more experienced divers, something these four haven't done before.
"Jake, had an interesting talk with one of the rookies. He's a bit nervous about this; they've only done springs. Think they should do a weight check first."
"Thanks, I should hire you as a dive master."
"What makes you think I haven't been one?" The two chuckled; both could sense the experiences of the other in their voice and mannerisms. "So, what's their story?" he asked as he pointed to the two in front of them.
"My friend's cousins, brother and sister."
"If they're brother and sister, then I'm a SAND diver. Look, I'm not trying to nose into their business, but they're a bit too chummy. I used to fight with my sister all the time, and they don't even look alike."
"You're right, it isn't your concern. I know all I need to know." Jake had to set his 'walk-on' passenger straight, he did cut the guy a lot of slack, even letting him on the bridge, a rule he seldom bent. "I trust their cousin and believe her. We'll be there in 5, so get the rookies ready."
"OK, capt'n, you're the boss."
He slid down the ladder to the deck and lit a fire under the others.
"Let's go, wanna get wet before I die. Get your rigs ready…"
Jake cut the throttles to a slow speed and carefully watched his monitor for the GPS until it blinked. He reached over to a bin next to him grabbed some object and tossed it over the side. It hit with a splash. The two up front didn't expect the flurry of activity that followed. Jake swung the boat around until he was on top of the marker he tossed out, hit full reverse, and cut the wheel. Jim jumped to the top of the ladder and slid down the catwalk to the very front of the boat.
"Lemme know when."
"Wait… wait… NOW!"
SPLASH… the anchor was released, and the sound of the chain rattled through the hull startled the two teens, never having been on any vessel like this before.
Jim gave the chain a tug, satisfied it was caught on what ever was marked, and left the bow as quickly as he got there. He walked to his rig, turned it so the jacket was away from him, slid his hands through the arm holes and in one fluid motion, lifted and slid the rig into place on his back, picked up his weight belt and slung it around his waist and grabbed his mask and fins. "Let's go girls…" And he stood by to wait for the others to gear up. The four techno divers took their time helping each other into their rigs, 'over-kill for a 100 footer,' Jim thought, but let it go.
As they put their gear on their backs, they lumbered to the swim platform off the back of the boat, and each in turn took a large step off the back, snapping their feet together as they hit.
Once all were wet, Jim jumped in to join the small group, as Jake checked the buoyancy of each diver. He needed to hand each of the four extra weights they slipped into the BCD pockets.
Jim signaled the group by making a circle with his thumb and forefinger, the universal 'OK' sign, and pointed to the bow. He still had his regulator in his mouth, sucking lightly. The others spit theirs out as soon as they bobbed to the surface. 'Dumb move, ' Jake thought as each kept getting water splashed into their mouths.
The group of five now followed the seasoned diver, none wishing to prove just how inexperienced they really were. At the anchor chain, they stopped to re-group. Another group 'OK' signaled that it was time. Jim raised his arm holding his dump valve high over head and released the air in his vest, sinking down the chain. The others followed but the last was a bit slower to descend.
A quiet swim
The five divers descended the anchor chain, disappearing into the ocean. The two teenagers watched in fascination at the entire orchestration of events to allow survival under the surface. Jake had a thousand questions he wanted to ask. He knew Eileen was the most unusual woman he'd ever met, and he got the impression these two were just as unusual.
"Kids, why don't you both come on down to the main deck, I'll break out some snacks."
"Thank you, no, we really don't need anything," the girl replied.
"I would like to know about this thing they're doing, it's called 'diving'?" the boy asked, trying to break the ice and avoid any other questions being asked.
"Yeah, SCUBA. Stands for Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. Simple really, a tank holds air under pressure, the valve has a regulator that reduces the amount of air to escape the tank, and the second stage, the part in your mouth, keeps the high pressure from giving you too much at one time."
"And the jacket, Buoyancy control devices, right? Are used to maintain neutral buoyancy underwater. I read up on it last night when Eileen mentioned the trip," the girl added.
"Right. How much DID you read about it?"
"Knowing her, she read every manual written. Ouwww!" She whacked him on the arm with a stinging blow from her hand.
"Serves you right," she quipped.
"NOW you two seem like brother and sister!" Jake laughed. "I was having my doubts, thought you were hiding something."
"Umm… like what?"
"Well, the way you two were acting, it wasn't normal."
"I can assure you we are perfectly normal. We've just had some rough times and we're looking for a chance to relax."
"That's what Eileen said; you've had a rough time. You two just relax, that's what this is all about. Why don't you two take a swim? The water's great. You DID wear a swimsuit, didn't you?"
"Well, yes, but isn't the water deep? I heard you say it was 100 feet deep here, isn't that around 30 meters?" Herman responded.
"So? Don't you swim in a pool at your school?"
"No, we have a lake, but the water's usually too cold to swim. Also it's not safe to swim in, let's just say there are things in it that can hurt you."
"Sounds intriguing, where exactly is this lake? It might be fun to go dive it."
"Actually, he's right, it's not safe. He rescued me and two others from the lake two years ago; he almost didn't make it out himself."
"You must he the hero of the school, kid."
"You can say that. Can we drop this talk of school? I don't want to think about it for now."
"Sure kid, just passing time. So you kids wanna take a swim? I'm going to cool off."
"No, thank you. He's much better then I am; I can hardly swim at all."
"Shame, I was going to let you try this stuff when we go shallow." He pointed his thumb at several spare rigs in the corner. "I always keep a spare set or two just in case." Jake pulled his tee shirt off, tossed his sun-glasses on the bench next to them, and in two steps, dove off the side of the boat.
"Come on Herman, let's go sit on the bench on top and watch the ocean." They went to the refuge of the bench they sat on the entire trip out, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled his face to hers, she leaned in and their lips met, briefly, just a 'we're still fine' kiss. The couple sat comfortably in each other's arm watching a lone dolphin play in front of the boat.
"Alright, swim to the stern one at a time and climb out," Jake yelled to the group as they broke the surface.
Harriet and Herman watched in awe as the people emerged from the ocean's depths. "They weren't gone that long, is something wrong?" Harry asked his host as they watched the group swim to the stern of the boat.
"Nah, it's about right, for a gas dive. They'll have some 'up-time', about an hour and a half or two, maybe, so make yourselves comfortable."
The second dive of the day would proceed like the first; they planned the second to the same location. Between the first and second dive, all the divers rested, ate a snack and swapped tanks. Jim took the lone lobster out of his catch bag, turned it over and measured it, it was well over legal and he dropped it in his cooler next to his lunch. Jake sat in his command center, soaking the sun and keeping an eye on his two young friends as they quietly sat and talked to each other.
Jake figured an hour surface interval before getting them suited up, should give them an hour and fifteen, getting them to a "C" group. That'd only give Jim 12 minutes, and the others 18 at that depth, if he stayed with them it would put Jim in a bad spot, requiring a serious decom stop.
"Jim, you got enough bottom time to repeat this spot?"
"Gimme an hour thirty, I'll squeak another 5 outta it and hit 'B', I'll sit at 90, and watch from there. If I need to drop, I'll hang."
"It's your skin, make sure the others know."
"Right capt'n." Jim turned to the group as they finally finished swapping and checking their rigs.
"How long have you guys been doing mixed gas?" Jim asked the group.
"We took the class a few months ago, this is the first chance we've had to get out."
"So this was your first gas dive?" He was more concerned then angry.
"Excuse me," the young boy asked Jake, finally finding a voice, "what do you mean 'mixed gas'?"
"Son, they enrich the air with pre-measured amounts of Nitrogen, Oxygen, or Helium depending on the planned dives. Let's them stay longer without going through decom or as much decom."
"Decom?"
"Herman, he means decompression, which is allowing the air to expand back to its original state, from being dissolved into tissue, since they are using compressed gas at the additional pressures under water, I assume Henry's law would apply."
"Smart sister you have there," Jake answered, "how many of those manuals DID you read to find Ol' Henry?"
"Honestly, I read about Henry's Law a couple years ago, I started reading about physics and thought it was terribly interesting. I started writing an essay for school, as it pertained to our studies."
"And you say you're only sixteen?"
"Yes, she's always reading past everyone else. Bad habit, you see."
"Bad habit? And if it wasn't for me reading past, you and Ron wouldn't have passed our, exams last term."
"But we did, and we've got one more year left."
"Sounds like you kids have an advanced school, where did you say it was?"
"It is an special school, and we didn't say where it is, you wouldn't know the area," Harriet replied.
Jake tried to turn the conversation. He knew Eileen wanted them to relax, answering questions like an inquisition wouldn't help. "Kids, you want some lunch? I have some sandwiches in the cooler. Help yourselves."
"Thank, you, but we have a lunch packed, I left it in the cabin."
"Why don't you grab it and join me up here on the bridge and leave these guys to their fun."
"Mi- Harriet, sounds like a good idea. I'm getting hungry."
Jake sat back in his command chair in his command post, a spacious platform above the dive deck where he could control the entire operation. Off to the back there was a collapsible table where he usually ate when he had a full boat. He quickly set it up and pulled out a spare 'seat', since there was only a bench with enough room for the two kids.
Herman was the first to scale the ladder, carrying the basket with their lunch. Harriet followed.
"Just set it over there," Jake pointed to the table.
"Wow, you really have a good view up here."
"Yeah, I can watch the groups getting ready without getting in the way. You both seem more relaxed, there's really nothing here to worry about."
They looked at each other, and the boy simply smiled.
"Look, I thought I recognized you from somewhere." They looked at each other; a tense look came over both their faces at his comment.
"Oh?" was all she could muster.
"Yeah, I was on the beach yesterday, and saw some kid beat up one of the local thugs. I didn't get a good look, but I did see the kid's face, he had that same scar that's on your forehead."
"Y-You must be mistaken."
"Forget the act, kid. I saw you protecting your 'sister'. All I'll say is good job, kid."
"Thanks," he said sheepishly. A wave of relief passed over the two as they began lunch.
"The offer for this afternoon's still open, if you want to try a short dive; I'll take you two down. Harriet here seems to already know the basics."
"Thanks, but I think we'll just stay here and watch."
"Suit yourselves, I'm going down later to fulfill a promise I made to a friend."
On the surface during the second dive while the five divers were exploring the same wreck, Jake leaned back in his command chair, laid his hat over his eyes and sat, soaking in the warmth of the sun. The two teens quietly sat on the bench on the foredeck. The boy scanned the horizon, as if on guard for trouble, and she leaned on his arm, holding tight.
After the second dive, Jim stripped his gear and collapsed on the bench. "Damn, I'm getting too old for this," he said and deposited two more lobsters in his cooler. That trip under went just as smoothly as the first; Jim had dropped to the bottom for a couple minutes, to snag the other lobsters while he waited for the others to descend. He snared the two morsels in only a couple minutes, and then he ascended to 75 feet and hovered for the rest of the dive while watching the others.
Jake pulled the anchor up when the last diver stepped on the main deck, and fired the engines. He waited until the tanks were lashed to the racks to get the large boat under way, then he swung the bow around, pointing it back to shore. The trip inshore lasted only 20 minutes, but the divers needed more then an hour on the surface to make even a brief trip down. He wasn't in a big hurry to get there and wait, but there were other boats out there today, and he wanted to hit the bridge rubble, there was a spot he knew of that always seemed to have several good size lobsters hiding, and he needed to grab at least 4 for tonight, more if they were small.
That dive was short, due to the fact that the four tech divers were short on bottom time; Jim had a few more minutes in reserve and paired with Jake while he hit his bug-hole. He managed 6 fair sized lobsters, between 1 ½ to 2 pounds each, a fair dinner he thought, and on the way back to the anchor, they glided over the sand. As he slipped effortlessly less then a foot from the bottom, he expertly slid his knife in the sand several times, and retrieved a nice size flounder with each stab. Fresh flounder broiled in wine and butter made for a decent supplement to a steamed lobster.
They surfaced with their catch; Jim had helped himself to another 2-pound lobster on the way back to the anchor, and climbed the ladder ready to leave.
The return trip to the marina was quick; the seas were as calm as glass. Once at the marina, Jake expertly piloted the craft back into its berth, as he had done hundreds of time before. Jim help tie up the boat using the mooring lines he released as they left. Unloading the gear seemed to be a rapid activity; Jim wanted to get home with his meal, but Jake needed to clean the boat before he could leave. The teens stayed on the boat until Jake had cleaned the main deck, then they switched places. Eileen instructed them to stay on the boat until she returned, and they obediently remained with Jake.
Jake had grown to like these two quiet and polite teenagers, a refreshing change from the local kids their age. Many times he would catch several of them where they didn't belong. These two were the kind of kids he'd like to have hanging around. He thought about Eileen whenever he looked at Harriet; she looked so much like her older cousin, but half her age. His thoughts drifted from his work, and dove deeper into his daydream of Eileen's eyes. 'Damn her, she mush be a witch, she's got a spell on me.' He chuckled to himself, as he shucked the daydream and resumed his task.
As if on queue, the attractive brunette arrived to retrieve the teens. "Have a nice ride?"
"It was very relaxing, and quiet. We both enjoyed the time to relax," the girl told her cousin, and then turned to her host for the day. "And sir, thank you for the enjoyable trip, it was refreshing and quite relaxing."
"You're welcome, miss. I have one more thing to ask," he said as he winked to Eileen. "I made a promise to an old friend the other night; would you two like to help me fulfill it?"
"What sort of promise?" the boy asked.
Jake opened his cooler with the day's catch and simply said, "Dinner tonight?"
Eileen nodded and replied, "Seven-ish ok?"
"Sure, that'll give me time to finish here and at the shop. Bring an appetite!"
"See you then." With her last statement, Eileen and the two teens carried their few things off, while the remaining people from the trip lugged their dive gear back to their respective cars. Only one person out of the group was spending a few extra minutes with his equipment on the dock, carefully rinsing everything that had been used with fresh water before packing it in his bag.