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 Monday, September 10, 2007 11:47 AM CDT |
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Student learns scuba diving is simple as A-B-C
Connie Moore had good reason to be afraid to try scuba diving after she married. Her husband, Garry, once operated his own scuba shop in Florida. But at age 57, Connie Moore couldn't swim. She was always left behind on the boat whenever her husband went diving with friends. But, she found out even support duty can be dangerous. Once, modern-day pirates showed up. The boat's captain was forced to buy them off with rum and beer. Another time, the boat came loose from its moorings. She was drafted to go to the bow and look over the railing for air bubbles to help locate the divers. Yet, she was still more than reluctant when Garry Moore said one day she must learn to dive or be left behind in Bloomington-Normal when he went on his next underwater adventure. She took lessons from Midwest Diving Specialists operated by longtime diving instructor Dick Smith of WildCountry in Normal. All the while she thought, "I can't do this, I can't do this." She learned scuba diving was as simple as A-B-C when Smith led her, her husband and about 20 others in April to Bonaire, which provides the "B" in the ABC Islands. The small island in the Bahamas lies off the coast of Venezuela near the islands of Aruba and Curacao. Known as a stopover for migrating flamingos and for making salt from seawater, the Bonaire motto stamped on the island's license plates says it all - "The Diver's Paradise," Connie Moore said. The water is clear. The ocean is calm. The sea life is the most diverse Smith has seen in more than 30 years of diving. Connie Moore has a new favorite sport. "All my friends said, 'You are so spoiled. This is so not right,'" she laughed. Several people who made the trip were so impressed, they plan to return with Smith this month. The Moores can't go due to vacation schedules, but Connie Moore said she is sure they'll return sometime. The adventure began in Bloomington-Normal, during diving classes at a local high school one night a week for five weeks. Instruction from Smith, Kathy Griffin, Glenn Vetter and Scott Voorhees was split between classroom lectures on safety and underwater procedures and learning to dive with air tanks in the pool. They took Connie Moore to the point that all she had to do once in Bonaire was complete her saltwater underwater certification. "When we first got in, I thought, 'The ocean is kinda deep,' much deeper than the Normal West (High School) pool," she said. "But, (in Bonaire), you see 15 species of fish just putting your face in the water. I thought, 'Oh, my gosh!' " "Diving in Bonaire probably gives you the widest selection and most sea life to see of any place that I can think of," agreed Bob Cunningham, 48, who works at State Farm Insurance Cos. with Connie Moore. He plans to return to Bonaire with the group this month. "We saw more turtles, frog fish, more sea horses than any place else in the world. ... Diving is like swimming in a large aquarium. Some people go to an aquarium to see fish. I'm in there with them," he said. "Thirty yards right in front of Buddy's Dive where we stayed is a reef where 293 species of fish have been counted that close to shore," Smith added. "If you want to see it, you are going to see it there. Unique ones, like frog fish, a master of camouflage. We saw yellow, green and pink ones. They actually walk on their pectoral fins. They are ugly. Only their mother could love them. Then, there are the sea horses. There were sea turtles. I filmed a school of squid. ... You see the diversity of life. It's a world people just don't realize is down there." Before each dive, dive masters would show pictures of four or five unfamiliar fish species to locate. Afterward, Smith would help identify others they'd seen. "The sea horses were totally amazing," Connie Moore said. "There were hog fish. It's the ugliest fish you ever saw." Divers on a night dive spotted a large moray eel swimming around a shipwreck. The Moores went there the next day to see if they could find it. Garry Moore pointed a light into a hole under the boat, and there it was, mouth open. "It was so scary, so scary," Connie Moore said. The running joke for the remainder of the trip was to mimic her as she told the others of the close encounter. "It was HUGE!" she said. Cunningham enjoyed watching a 5-foot-long tarpon that swam along with the divers as they watched it eat. They also got close-ups of octopi. One highpoint of the trip came when divers visited the wreck of a cargo vessel Bonaire authorities seized and sank after finding marijuana concealed behind a bulkhead. There was no need to have a boat to visit other good diving sites, Smith said. All that was needed was a Jeep to drive the perimeter of the island to find painted rocks with names of diving targets just offshore. At one point, divers, including Connie Moore, jumped about 12 feet from a cliff into the water below to make a shore dive. "Diving is a very dangerous sport if you don't pay attention," she said. "But, I learned to ski two years ago and golf last year. I'm diving now. I'm addicted to all of them. When I got married I didn't know I was going to have such an adventurous life, but I love him for it. ... I thought I would be afraid, but I wasn't. I was probably the biggest skeptic of all. But, if you think you can't do this, you can. ... I always used to tell my kids you can do anything you put your mind to. But, my kids can't believe I did it." Bonaire's ABCs• Bonaire is the "B" in the ABC Islands, which also includes Aruba and Curacao. • Bonaire's first inhabitants were the Caiquetios, Indians who sailed from the coast of Venezuela almost 1,000 years ago. • The Spanish were the first Europeans to arrive in 1499. Seeing no economic potential, they enslaved the natives and removed them. The island remained unpopulated until the French began using it in the 1520s to raise animals for their skins. Early inhabitants were convicts. The Dutch took ownership in 1816. By 1837, Bonaire was a center of salt production. Slavery was abolished in 1863 about the same time Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation in the United States. • The island has about 15,000 permanent residents who are extremely friendly, according to visitors. Most of the people raise a hand and wave to total strangers on the street. • Divers from the Twin Cities are returning to Bonaire Sept. 22-29. Cost is $1,649 including round-trip airfare, lodging, breakfasts and unlimited diving, including free nitrox. Many of the divers who made the trip in April logged more than 20 dives. Phone Dick Smith at (309) 888-4141 for more information. SOURCES: www.abc-travelguide.com and Dick Smith of WildCountry in Normal E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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