December 12, 2010- A Weekend Worth A Thousand Memories

    

     A common occurrence on our island is PCS (permanent change of station) parties. Tonight, we said goodbye and happy adventuring to a couple of dive buddies.  If you have been reading my blog since the summer, you will remember a couple of weekends full of dives on Roi with friends and the airplane graveyard.  I’ll always remember those weekends as it was the first time I ever dove three days in a row, and it was the first time (and so far the only time) I’ve ever dove 6 dives (2 dives a day) in a row.  As far as our association with these friends, we have 2 wonderful weekends of diving together.  That’s it.  We intended, but never really had the opportunity, to dive or hang out with them again, but they were assigned to a new duty station in Europe a couple of months later. The interesting thing about it is that weekend was worth a thousand memories to all of us. 

     Our friends will always remember that weekend because diving the airplane graveyard on Roi-Namur was part of their “bucket list” of dives to do, and they loved every second of it.  One of them found a cowry shell (with its owner still in it) sitting in the cockpit of a plane on that dive.  She found that so interesting and darling that she brought up the shell as a memento of the dive, but when we discovered the creature inside, we felt a bit bad about killing it for its home.  Instead, my boyfriend suggested he fill his mask holder with sea water and put the creature in until we arrived back to the Scuba Shack, and she could decide then whether or not she wanted to sacrifice a life for the absolutely beautiful shell and of course, the memory of the dive.  Upon arriving back, I found the creature had pushed out his slimy foot and stuck himself so hard to the mask case, that I could not pull him out unless I used a good amount of force. This convinced our dive buddy to put it back in the ocean since it had such a strong will to live. :) 

     Because that weekend was so special to them, it is even more special to us. We’ve dove the planes many times, but to dive it with buddies who are so enthusiastic and appreciative of the history and unique beauty of that dive made it worth a thousand other dives to everyone on the trip.  These friends have dove places we have only dreamed about, and they will continue to on their newest adventures in their new country of residence. As for me, I’m proud to be part of their repertoire of underwater memories and to be considered a friend! Farewell and we hope to see you again someday.