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By Janice Raber
Crewmember and search and recovery
expert, Dave, gets his reward from Kaz, whose computer he rescued.
Photo/Jan Raber
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Ancient mariners gazed at the
ocean for hours during tedious long journeys, fantasizing
visions of the things that they longed to see. The mythical
mermaids, creatures believed to be half women, half fish, were a
sailor’s dream, beckoning these mortal men to the sea with their
beautiful long tresses and their siren’s song. They were a
mystical vision, yet never proven to be real. Modern day sailors
may still dream of seeing a woman swimming in the open sea and
if they look in the right place at the right time of year, they
have a good chance of seeing one. However, she will not be
wearing scallop shells, nor flip the fish tail depicted in your
typical artist’s rendition of a mermaid. Most likely what they
will be seeing is an Aquawoman. She will be wearing a lot more
than shells, and in actuality doesn’t resemble the mythical
mermaid at all, when garbed in several layers of scuba gear. But
she is 100 percent woman; she is today’s modern mermaid with
legs, feet and manicured toes. Sixteen of these lovely ladies
boarded The Eagle’s Nest berthed in Point Lookout (at the
ungodly hour of 5:30 a.m.) and dutifully loaded gear on the boat
by 6:00 so they would be ready to absorb every precious,
insightful and informative word of Captain Howard Klein’s
infamous briefing. Perky, cheerful gals like Kerry helped out
those of us who were more bleary-eyed. Calm and serene morning
people like Susan soothed the more discombobulated ones who were
unprepared for the slippery early morning dew that caused them
to board the boat in a manner slightly less than graceful. (By
the way, how are your bruises?) Capt. Howard and his crew were
in excellent form and did their best familiarizing everyone with
where to stow what, taking note and making special provision for
all the food that was toted along. Crews know they will eat well
when the Aquawomen are on board.
The Aquawomen gather aboard The
Eagle’s Nest for their 2004 wreck dive. Author is in front row,
third from right.
Photo/Mr. Lucky
The Aquawomen are not a dive
club or even a group that has meetings and such, it is simply a
tradition of an all-female day of diving that was started in the
1980’s by The Long Island Divers Association. Today Joan, an
Aquawoman returnee many times over, was actually sporting a
T-shirt from the very first venture, or perhaps one could say
the "maiden voyage" of the Aquawomen. Back in the 80’s, the
event was originally organized with the idea of encouraging
women to try wreck diving, offering the opportunity for newer
divers to learn from more experienced divers in a relaxed
atmosphere. It was an attempt to dispel the "he-man" image that
ntimidated some girls in those years. Well, to paraphrase a
cliche, we’ve swam a long way, baby. Today, women are regularly
found on weekly wreckdiving charters and many are working as
crewmembers. For whatever reasons it was started, the Aquwomwen
tradition has continued just for the fun of it and this year
drew participants from New Jersey, Manhattan, and Long Island as
far east as the Hamptons. Their expertise and life experiences
were diverse, ranging from college students to grandmothers;
from bar tenders to members of the bar, all of which made for
varied and lively topics of discussion. Stories were told of
exciting dives and exotic trips, dive tips were shared from
accomplished instructors like Randi, tasty recipes were
exchanged from gourmet aficionados like Freddie. We compared
dive equipment, and had some good ideas for solving the world’s
problems. We shared giggles and guffaws.Darlene impressed Capt.
Howard with her toenails painted like dive flags and he offered
an imaginative suggestion as to how he might help her display
them to passing boats. Crewmember Dave became the hero of the
day, earning him a big kiss from Kaz after he wowed us all with
his astonishing search and recovery achievement. His skills
succeeded in retrieving her computer that had fallen overboard
when we got rocked and rolled by a big wave. Our destination for
this annual trek was to be the wreck of the USS San Diego, 12
miles off shore. This World War I armored cruiser sunk in 1918
in 110 feet of water, making it a perfect wreck for varied
diving abilities since her hull can be reached at 65 feet.
Mother Nature doesn’t always see fit to provide the sea
conditions that best suit diving on this offshore wreck,
therefore Captain Howard suggested we reroute to the Eureka,
also at 110 feet, in a calmer section of the ocean. While the
Eureka doesn’t have the same dramatic history attached to it,
the choice was a good one. The wreck is thought to be a clam
dredge, broken up, but still easy to navigate, and known for
yielding bottles and lobsters. Unfortunately, after only one
dive, with the wind increasing and the seas building in excess
of five-foot swells, the group voted to return to the safety of
the dock for our barbecue where the sun finally made its
appearance. Captain Howard sought to soothe our disappointment
with his outstanding mixture of Bloody Marys. His special
concoction along with Steve’s Marguerita Magic, helped to wash
down the chips and dips, salsa, chili, salads, crab cakes, ribs,
London broil, pork chops to-die-for, and fancy desserts. Did I
miss anything? Seems no one was diet-conscious today. An
afternoon of camaraderie ended with exchanged phone numbers,
e-mail addresses and plans for future dives. Everybody went home
with lots of smiles and a special gift memento donated by
"CURVES." All in all, Aquwomen 2004 was a memorable, resounding
success! Next year we hope to see more of you modern mermaids
out there with us. You missed a one-of-a-kind, fantastic day!
Visit The Long Island Divers Association website at http://www.lidaonline.com
for future events.
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