Aruba Trip Part Seven

Fear is something that each of us deal with throughout our lives. Fear of this.....fear of that......fear of all sorts of stuff. It's no wonder that so many people are prescribed medication in order to handle stress. After the heart attack when I was 42, I became determined to try to eliminate as much stress as possible and fear was one of the results of having had a heart attack. I surely have not suffered with stress to the extent that I needed any medication for it as others do.............I have enough pills to take as it is...............the challenge for me has been dealing with certain phobias and fear of having another incident with the heart. It is a terrible way to live........in fear of anything. Sure......some things are worthy of your fear.......but there are so many things that we have to deal with everyday that are intentionally designed to make you feel fear. Fear of the I.R.S..........fear of the police car on the side of the road with his radar gun.........all of these various assorted things that are designed to scare us silly.............so why should stuff that so many people are enjoying be the cause for any fear?

The ocean is ominous enough..........for me......since I cannot swim......never have been able to......the notion that I would jump on in where I know the water would be way over my head.....well......let's just say the thought of it is very stressing to me. Nervous would be a good word to use. So I watched as almost the entire group of people on the catamaran got ready to take the leap into the deep. I had an idea in my head...........just maybe I could do this.

Underneath the catamaran, was the Antilla. It was a German freighter that was deliberately sunk by its captain to prevent being seized by the Dutch. During World War II, Aruba was a strategic supply source for fuel..........as a result, German U-boats and other naval boats would patrol the waters of Aruba in order to try to destroy Allied fuel tankers..........and throw a proverbial wrench into things. At the time......May 1940, the captain of the Antilla did not know that Germany was at war with Holland and found his ship surrounded by Dutch warships. The Dutch served a "24 order" to board the ship and the captain of the Antilla, rather than surrender, gave an order to scuttle the ship. The captain and crew rigged the ship to explode after they abandoned the craft in lifeboats. The Antilla to this day sits a few hundred yards off the coast of Aruba...................precisely below me.

Obviously, the shipwreck has become an attraction. I have seen this kind of stuff on television, but never with mine own eyeballs and in person. I looked into the water under the catamaran and I could see lots of black fish with beautiful blue fins checking out the bottom of the boat. Amazing!........This was something I had never seen before............I kept thinking and thinking............could I?

I watched as, one by one, members of our party leaped off of the side of the catamaran. I could never dive in like that......I would sink to the bottom......hehehe.

It sure looked fun, though...........I wished I could swim.

At the front of the catamaran, the rest of the group prepared to descend down a ladder and begin snorkeling.

I told my wife, Supernurse............."I am gonna do this...........I am going to snorkel too!".
Supernurse didn't believe me........."You aren't"..............I said "I am gonna do it......watch me."

I looked down at the water and could see even more fish in the clear waters.........I had to get a better look at this. I grabbed some snorkeling gear and headed down the ladder. Now remember folks.......I cannot swim and I am getting into water that is way over my head............my stress level is at maximum at this point. Nervous doesn't describe it. Scared isn't even a good enough word for it........ But I absolutely want to see what everyone else is seeing and there is no other way to do it.
Sure.....my heart was pounding away......I must be crazy to do this.........this could be my demise right here...........but I have to do it now.....no turning back......I am gonna conquer that fear and do something I have never done before...........this is a huge challenge for me..........so there I went.......down the ladder. Just beyond the bottom of the ladder and extending across between the pontoons, was a rope! I gotta hold on to that rope...............that was my thought as I entered the water.

I held tightly to that rope as if my life depended on it..............well.........IT DID depend on it!
It wasn't like I was gonna jump in and start swimming like a dolphin all over the place like everyone else.
I had to see what was under the water..........I put my face into the water and immediately water began to get up into my nose...........something wasn't right. After a few minutes of tightening the mask I tried again and it still leaked like crazy. Darn! The problem was the hair on my face.......I could not get a good seal. Oh well........I had to improvise......I decided to hold tight the bottom of the mask with one hand..........all while the other hand was busy hanging onto that rope..............now I have no hands free to try to keep balance and tread water.

So I did what I could and put my head back into the water and I was amazed at what I saw...........it was beautiful............there were fish everywhere I looked and they were looking back at me! I couldn't believe that there were so many fish right there next to me........looking at me as if I was stupid or something. They were beautiful..................and farther down I could see the ship laying on its side at the bottom. Unbelieveable! Now I know why people snorkel! This was great.........but harrowing because I can't swim. Supernurse took the pictures as I struggled in the water.

I did it! ........I actually did it!

The vest was missing a strap...........which caused alot of the problems I had trying to stabilize myself in the water. My legs kept coming out from under me even though I had the fins on. After I got my fill of looking under the water, I began my attempt to get back onboard..........the challenge was that I had to take the flippers off of my feet before getting onto the ladder.

Yeah right.
And I only have one hand to use.........the other hand is busy holding that rope.....hehehe.

Here is where it gets fun folks...............I got those flippers off my feet somehow and went to reach the ladder with my feet and OUCH!......my right foot slammed into the bottom edge of the ladder...........Uh oh........this ain't gonna be good. I got back on deck and looked at my foot..........wait until Supernurse sees this!..................the fourth toe was bleeding.........it took the brunt of the collision and it was hurting like all hell. I limped across the deck to the back of the catamaran where Supernurse was..............."I need a nurse". She said something about that it would get infected and need to be amputated eventually............gee thanks...........I looked down and the toe proceeded to swell a bit and turn a nice shade of deep purple. I guess there is always a price to pay for something. Broken toe...........now I would have to limp around like a cripple for the rest of the week.

The rest of the gang continued snorkeling as I downed another Balashi, Aruba's Own Painkiller.
It must be nice to swim like that.

Florence Nightingale brought an underwater camera with her on this trip. It was a new camera and she was hoping to take some pictures underwater. I told her that I would love to get a copy of whatever she took while snorkeling. The following pictures are some of the pictures she took.............thankfully, she did not include the picture of the shell-less "turtle" that she saw.

It was exactly as I had seen............beautiful fish...............everywhere.

It was like being in an aquarium.

The ship was a bit spooky............didn't I say before that the sea is ominous and foreboding?

The fish didn't seem to be afraid of the wreck............they liked hanging around it.

This is, without a doubt, one of the things everybody must do at least once in their lives.

The Antilla................dead, yet beautiful.

Thanks to Florence Nightingale for these underwater shots.............if my own camera had bee waterproof I don't know how I could have taken any pictures with one hand holding the mask and the other hand holding that rope............I can see it now.........picture a bunch of fish laughing hysterically.

Then again, what should one expect from a clown fish?

The water was incredibly clear.

I can safely say...........

.............I am grateful for the opportunity to have seen this..........and I am glad to have conquered yet another portion of fear.

Some of the gang used the slide at the rear of the boat..............

Splash!
There were two snorkeling experiences on this day..........the site of the wreck of the Antilla, and one closer to the shoreline in more shallow water..........and I did BOTH of them! Supernurse went out with me for the shallow one............she can swim and she helped me while in the water.
I would be a lost soul without Supernurse. I would have been content to have just sat there at the back of the boat with her watching the others go snorkeling.........and while that would have sufficed........well.....you know the old saying "Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained"..............I gained much on that day because I dared to venture.

So whaddya do about the broken toe?

Nothing.......let it be broke.......it ain't gonna stop me!