GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE

IT IS THE CAMERA ANGLE

"Honey, it is the camera angle", I tried to explain but she wasn't buying it. She was furious. How could I have endangered her "baby" boy of 15 with such a fool hardy stunt.

The trouble began with a trip to Walkers Key in the spring with Tony Eggleston and Lam Ngo to dive with the sharks. It was so much fun that I decided to share it with Patrick that summer. He was 15. Tony, Lam, and I came out of that trip excited and unscathed so I was sure that it was safe enough for Patrick. Besides, during the feeding frenzy, there were little kids at the surface watching. Here is Tony looking a little wide eyed during the frenzy. I knew that Patrick would have the experience of a life time, not the end of one.

The long weekend started out with some routine diving. Patrick and I made some standard reef dives. I shot video, Patrick shot video, I shot pictures of Patrick, Patrick shot pictures of me. We played in the reefs and caves, ate some great meals, and enjoyed our vacation in the warm Bahama sun. The big day was coming. Then on one afternoon when Patrick decided not to dive, I had the best dive ever, . Patrick and I have always had a rule that if one of us doesn't want to go diving or anything else, we do not force the other. Kids know when they are not having fun.

The big day for the shark dive came. We got to the shark canyon and the two boats circled and raced the motors. I was ready early so I told Patrick I would meet him on the bottom. I dropped into the crystal clear warm water and sunk to the bottom video ready.

About a hundred sharks were milling about waiting for the handout. Patrick soon followed me overboard. Later he told me when he saw all those sharks the thought went through his mind..."What has Dad gotten me into now?" I watched proudly as my son checked his gear, cleared his ears, and slowly settled down beside me, camera in hand. He turned and snapped a shot of me with my video ready for the excitement to come. He had been told about what was to come, had seen my video of the last trip here, and I could see the excitement in his face as he watched the milling sharks. Barry got everyone lined up so there would be room for the sharks and he could keep things under control. The mob of divers impatiently waited for the action to begin.

Then with a tremendous splash the chumcicle hit the water and plunged to the bottom, sharks in cold blooded hungry chase of their prey as their ancestors had done for a millions of years. You could hear the crunch of their jaws as they sawed pieces off the chumcicle as we watched in fascination. Even though I had done this before, it was still fascinating to watch the interaction of the sharks and other fish. After things cooled down a bit we again were allowed to move around as long as we stayed 10 feet from the action and made sure that no piece of fish fell on us. That would bring a mob of sharks down on us like dive bombers after a ship.

They put on a great show, collecting their pay mouthfull by mouthfull while we watched in fascination. What if that was my arm or leg. Crunch crunch crunch tear shake crunch.

Some of the sharks were really quite large, great subjects for photos, and that was to cause the problem later.

"I thought you told me they were little sharks" she said furiously as she waved the 8x10 with one hand and pointed a shaking finger with the other. She spread her hands out about two feet...."About this size"

"I don't think I said that and didn't you see my video from the last trip", I replied in my defense. This wasn't going well. She was clearly upset and mother bear syndrome was clearly in display. "We came back with all of our arms and legs." I tried weakly.

"It's a good thing you did....those are really big sharks." She muttered.

Patrick laid low, he is a smart kid.