Scuba Diver Blogger Comes to the Defense of Diana Nyad

This post has two parts. The first to send accolades to world-record holder Diana Nyad. Bravo to the United State's Diana Nyad for her recent world record long-distance swimming feat! On Sept. 2, Nyad successfully swam through the choppy shark and jellyfish infested waters from Cuba to Florida. With her swim, she became the first person to swim 103 miles from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. After this amazing 53-hour act everyone would think she'd be showered with accolades. Instead, a wave of naysayers have caused her to take the defense. Appalled hearing she had to defend herself on a three-hour conference call this blogger and Scuba diver wanted to speak up on her behalf! Time and time again, Nyad has insisted her record be recognized as "unassisted." That brings us to the second part of this post to speak up on Nyad's behalf from a scuba diver's perspective.

Let me break it down for non-novice water sport enthusiasts:

Current 101
Similar to Nyad the current can either aid or hamper your water sport experience. Nyad claims her fast time of 53 hours was in fact because of the strong Gulf Stream current near Key West. This Scuba diver has too experienced the strong Gulf Stream currents first-hand! Most recently on a shark tooth dive near Venice, Fla., at 33 feet down near the Gulf of Mexico floor. Members of the Greater Omaha SCUBA Club (Go SCUBA) were searching for Megalodon shark teeth. Read more about our Florida divecation at my Scuba Diver Life post at Nebraska Shark Tooth Divers. I want to add the current was fast. Go SCUBA had some very experienced Scuba divers on our dives. Two in the Go SCUBA group, Dwight and Jerry, who have more than 60 years of scuba diving experience between them. On our very last dive of the day, unbeknownst to these two veteran divers, they found themselves swept away in the current behind the boat. Not until the duo surfaced did they realize the fact. This is a situation--any Scuba diver doesn't want to find themselves in--having to fight the current to get back to the boat. The Hammerhead boat crew had to send out a lifeline attached to a buoy to get Dwight and Jerry back on the boat. On the other end; however, Scuba divers also use the current to aid their under water exploring. This is called drift diving. When drift diving a Scuba diver effortlessly rides the current to float him/her over corals until they reach their final destination. In short, it allows Scuba divers to use less effort on their dive.

Proper Gear
Nyad's use of gear for her swim was also brought into question. It was reported that Nyad abided by most of the Florida Straits Rules: no shark cage, no flippers, never holding on to the boat, no getting out of the water, never being supported by another human being, never holding on to the kayak or helped with buoyancy. She did however opt to protect herself by wearing a full-body suit (wet suit) and mask at times during her swim. Let us remember her swim was more than 53 hours. How long before one is in a temperature regulated bath tub before your hands prune up? Nyad is in the open ocean waters where the temperatures can spike to below dangerous conditions for a non-insulated human. A Scuba diver's very lifeline is the gear and equipment we wear. No buoyancy help without my buoyancy control device (BCD) and I would not be enjoying the sport of Scuba diving. Without fins this land dweller would not be able to keep up with her dive buddy husband either. Any water sport enthusiast knows the danger of jellyfish, which can alter a swim as much as a strong current, too. While in Cancun, Mexico, while just out for a quick snorkel my husband and I got stung by baby jellyfish. It was truly a painful experience and til this day makes me leery about doing water sports in the ocean without any protective gear.

She didn't give up, in fact, this was her fifth attempt to set a long-distance swimming world record. At 64, Nyad indeed accomplished this world record! Will any of the naysayers be training for a similar feat in their silver years? Let's commend her for a truly amazing act at any age. After her swim with teeth chattering, Nyad said: "Never ever give up, you’re never too old to pursue your dreams, and trust in a team to reach your goals." Thanks for being an inspiration to swimmers and Scuba divers of all ages--Well done, Nyad! Keep swimming and diving!

(Editor's note: Go orange! The entire month of September all population-we™ posts will be written in orange to aid No Kid Hungry's effort to bring attention to their nonprofit's cause and help end childhood hunger in the U.S. Read more about going orange at our post on Help End Childhood Hunger for No Kid Hungry.) 

-population-we™ blog post by Becky Bohan Brown

© 2013 population-we, LLC 
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Creative Writing II: 'The Bait'

I wrote the following creative writing story some 23 years ago of an encounter between a SCUBA diver and a few fish. The goal for the assignment was to write a character sketch from a picture (shown below). Today, Brian and I are avid SCUBA divers! May 2013 marks our second year of diving; we both are PADI and SSI certified open water divers, as well as belong to Greater Omaha SCUBA Club. So, after a recent shark tooth dive trip to Venice, Fla. (I'll blog on that later), and several encounters with fish on our dives, I decided to share the story below with fellow population-we™ readers.

The Bait

The puked greenish fish hesitates before lunging forward to devour probably its easiest catch of the day. One eye rests upon the waving piece of meat and the other curiously scans the man grasping the bait. The fish ponders the thought of attempting to snatch the prey from the strange looking creature.

Alfred, a month old Hagfish, happens to be new to the stony shallow coral. He's out exploring on his own the river notches, clefts, canyons, and tunnels when he unexpectedly came upon an obscure looking creature. Stunned at first, Alfred didn't know what to think of the strange creature's appearance. He had never seen a beast with tentacles jolting from its mouth that curiously connected to a blue hump on its back before. The beast spoke with echoing gurgling sound followed by the materialization of bubbles. Like an octopus, the beast had two strange arms and unusual sized webbed feet. As Alfred stared into the creatures eyes, he could catch a glimpse of his own curious reflection and then noticed two buggy eyes staring back. 

Alfred wasn't the only fish that noticed this peculiar kind of species swimming around. Lance, a Kingfish, that looks like an oversized Yellow Angelfish with a bad attitude, is hovering over the strange creature, trying to get a better view. Ralph, a Stickleback, with food always on his mind, swims over to investigate what curious edibles the beast is holding. All of the fish had one thought on their mind and that was what was this beast doing here.

The creature lunged the meat forward towards Alfred but he countered that action by jerking backwards. Now the seaweed and algae covered rocks flew through the water because of the commotion. The onlookers watched attentively now as ever, because of the creature's sudden hasty movement on their friend. Alfred, feeling a little unsure about this situation, floated a couple feet away planning his next counterattack. To Alfred's long scaly appearance, the man appeared to be a blue mammoth-sized beast, who had entered their domain. Alfred closed in on the beast for the kill. Yes, he decided to take the bait. The aroma was too strong and the circumstances too sporty for him to turn away now. Alfred threw a couple cold glances toward Lance and Ralph warning them to stay away from the beast.

Alfred wouldn't have thought twice about seizing the opportunity to snatch the meat from the man again, except for the voice of his mother nagging him in the back of his head. She would always lecture Alfred not to take food from strangely dressed creatures. Remembering his mother's wise advice, he backed up slowly, turned around, and started to swim home to his mommy. He didn't look behind himself, but in the background Alfred could hear the faint cries of Lance, whose stomach undoubtedly got him in trouble for good this time.

I hope you enjoyed my high school creative writing story; in fact, I earned an "A" for the assignment. Who knew I would some day, along with my husband, take up the sport of SCUBA diving. Read additional SCUBA diving posts at Finding Inspiration at Sea and [Earth Day Edition] pop-we Highlights Greater Omaha SCUBA Club's Project AWARE Efforts. Also, watch in the week's ahead for a blog post on our May 2013 Florida shark tooth dive. Keep Diving!

-population-we™ blog post by Becky Bohan Brown

© 2013 population-we, LLC 
If you enjoyed this post, make sure to leave a comment, 'Pin' or 'Like' it.

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