Scuba and Swimming

I met my wife, Lucia, at a scuba club party years ago and when she heard I had started Undercurrent, all she could do was tell me how I had given Lahaina Divers, the Maui dive shop she worked for, a bad review. They deserved it. We went out to dive the submarine south of Lahaina but when we descended the line to 140 feet, there was no sub in sight. Thankfully, she wasn’t on that dive. After certifying hundreds of divers for Lahaina Divers, she went on to other endeavors. When she learned I had e-mailed resorts and instructors asking for their funny experiences, she shared this with me.

- - Ben Davison

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After instructing two non-divers before their first resort course dive, I took them for a shallow dive near Lahaina Harbor. We went through the usual mask clearing and regulator exercises, which they handled easily, so I motioned them to follow me. After I swam 10 feet, I saw they were both just kneeling, looking around in wonderment. I motioned again but I only got a wave from them. They stayed put. After several tries to get them to swim around and have a look, it was apparent they were going nowhere. They didn’t seem frightened but they wouldn’t budge. Eventually I took them up the line, helped them into the boat and out of their gear. “So, how come you guys didn’t follow me?” I asked. “Didn’t you want to swim around and explore the reef?” One looked back at me in amazement and said, “Well, we couldn’t. You see, we don’t know how to swim.”

- - Lucia Wolter Christopher