Diego Garcia-The Boat Ride

One day when things were slow in the maintenance department a few of the guys wanted to go deep sea fishing. I had no desire to fish, but I went along for the ride. It was a bright sunny day and the temperature was about 90 degrees. This was a perfect temperature to go on a fishing trip.

We had a guide who gave us a safety briefing before boarding. It was a smaller boat and held about ten people. There were only three of us plus the captain.

We sailed out to the open sea and along the way we had a dolphin escort. They were the neatest sea mammals I’ve ever watched. They glided along the bow of the boat, and I was just fascinated with their antics. They would swim, jump, and do acrobat type stunts the whole way. I could have watched them all day long. At some point the captain found a spot and dropped anchor and the two men got their fishing reels ready, cast the line, and set their poles in the holders. We were all chilling and just waiting for the first bite. About twenty minutes later something latched onto one of the poles. It was fun watching them reel the fish in to see what they had. Once close enough to the boat they reeled the fish in. When they finally got the fishing line above water all that was left was a head. I guess the sharks had other idea for that fish. Needless, to say the gentlemen where quite disappointed.

They cast the line again and we waited. It was during this wait that you could see a storm off on the horizon. The captain told us not to worry about it, as it was too far out to be a threat to us. Since he was the captain we thought he knew what he was talking about, so we went about our business and continued talking and waiting for fish. The guys had caught three nice size tuna and were quite proud of themselves. I continued to watch the ocean and saw some type of whale come to the surface. It was quite awesome.

The guys continued fishing and the storm kept getting closer, however the captain said we had nothing to worry about. He obviously knew what he was talking about having done this for years. He knew what the ocean was capable of and if he wasn’t worried neither were we. Things went on like this for another half an hour and the storm was right upon us. The water started getting choppy and the wind picked up quite a bit. It was at this point the captain decided to pull anchor and head for shore. It was a good thing too, because as we started heading for shore the skies opened up and a nice torrential rain soaked us to the bone. So much for the captain knowing these waters and storms.

The captain decided to put the boat into overdrive trying to out run the storm, but he wasn’t having much luck. The waves were crashing over the side of the boat and it was thundering and lightening. I thought we were going to die. If the lightning didn’t get us then the boat was going to capsize. I had all sorts of things going through my mind. The two guys I was with didn’t look  happy either. The captain could only go so fast. He hit one wave that sent the boat flying through the air. I was holding on for dear life, as was everyone else. It seemed like it took hours to get back to shore, but in reality, it was only twenty minutes or so. At this point my fun meter was pegged. I was soaking wet and the boat was tossing us all about even though we were hanging on like our lives depended on it.

The rain and waves kept coming and we all looked for the shore so we could get off the boat. You couldn’t see anything, because it had become quite dark. Thank God for navigation equipment. We finally reached the shore and we all bailed off the boat and left the captain to do his own thing. I had seen my life pass before my eyes. I was so scared it’s a wonder I didn’t pee my pants. It was only through God’s grace that we all survived that terrible ordeal. Oh, by the way the shore was bright and sunny and not a drop of moisture in the air. Go figure.