Diving and Joking

Not a Great Mix BUT, You Had to Be There

During the summer of 1982, I drove out to Long Island to visit a friend from the great institution of Boston College. His name is Bill, just Bill. We drove out to Montauk on the eastern tip of Long Island to go scuba diving and have some fun. That is where our story begins.

The drive from Baldwin, Long Island, New York to Montauk was not a short one. It took over two hours to get there and when we arrived, we wanted to get right to diving. We got all of our gear down to the edge of the water and suited up. Because I have read dozens of Sports Afield articles over time about the amount of sea life in Montauk, and was very excited. Bill was not an experienced diver. Relative to him, I was. I really wasn’t.

We got in the water and began to dive. We were about 50 yards offshore and in 20-30 feet of water. Since we are in the Northeast and not the Caribbean, visibility was not optimal. The water had a brownish green tint as opposed to crystal clear. Yes, we saw some fish. They were not very big. We were definitely not crowded by the fish. Everything was about to change.

After being underwater for about 30 minutes, I got a sudden feeling of dread. What was it, I asked myself. I never let on to Bill that feeling because I did not want to get him spooked. I continued to dive, but cautiously. Then it happened. Approximately 20 feet in front of me was a large black shadow that was moving. The shadow disappeared and reappeared a couple of times. Whatever it was, was circling us. I was looking closer and closer to try to make it out. It was a shark. I don’t know what breed. My first thought was that it was Jaws circling us and after calming myself down a little bit, I estimated that it was a 6-8 foot shark.

What should I do about Bill? I thought about that a lot and realized that we were a couple of college idiots, at least I was, and we, meaning I do stupid things. Why should now be any different? That was my logic. So, I tapped him on the shoulder and pointed out the shadow. I never thought I could hear anything underwater. I heard Bill scream and shoot up to the surface in the blink of an eye. Luckily, we were not in deep water and the gods were forgiving. I swam to the surface to join Bill and to make sure that he was okay. We both swam towards shore. The shark did not attack. Was it really a shark? You bet it was.

Well, later that night, we had a bluefish dinner and a few beers. We decided to get on a party boat and go fishing. 20 minutes into that trip. I became seasick in an ugly way. Bill sort of got me back.

*The pictures shown in this article were not from that trip. Digital Cameras did not evemasqueraden exist back then. They are just to give you an idea of what I saw or thought I saw.