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Murphy’s law, Cell Phones and Dick |
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This is a little story of an adventure we had while in South Africa. It all started when we wanted to go diving in Sodwana Bay. It was to be a group trip organized by our friends at The Whaler Dive Center. Four days camping out on the coast, diving twice daily, cooking out, drinking and having fun with the other people afterwards. We had some reservations about our VW Passat actually making the 500 or so kilometer trip to Sodwana Bay so we arranged to ride along with another diver who was also making the trip from Jo'Burg- Dick. Now, I wouldn't want people to think that this is a story about Dick, who is a really nice guy. Rather it is a story about cell phones, unforeseen circumstances and Murphy's Law. It just happens to involve the two of us and Dick and what humor Lady Luck can have with a trio of travelers. Dick, is a businessman in Jo'burg. Owns a printing company if I'm not mistaken. He is an Afrikaner and Afrikaans is his first language. He is an avid scuba diver. I first met him while I was taking my PADI certification course with The Whaler Dive Center. The picture I will always have in my mind of Dick is one of him chasing an octopus across the sandy floor of the Indian Ocean at a depth of some 24 meters. Underwater, Dick is full of energy, finning about from here to there, poking his torch into nooks and crannies, always rousting some creature from its hidey hole to be viewed by the rest of us. As a consequence, he uses a lot more air than he would if he were more passive. I have seen him a couple of times sucking air off another diver's bottle to supplement his own dwindling supply to prolong his stay in the world beneath the surface. Anyway, during a dive at the “Cathedral” at Aliwal Shoals he had scared an octopus out into the open and the poor thing was quite keen to escape but found this difficult with Dick in hot pursuit. That is the memory I best treasure of him. Another thing about Dick is, he is as avid a conversationalist as he is a scuba diver. This is important to the story as we will soon see. |
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Part 1| Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Conclusion |
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