Cage Diving Postponed

                                                         February 3rd 2013 (3:52 P.M.)

            Unfortunately my cage diving trip was cancelled today due to inclement weather. Two other interns and I managed to get up at 6:30 a.m. and pile in the van for the trip but when we got there, the weather started getting worse. We were a little worried but the captain showed us the forecast and it said we had nothing to worry about. In fact it was supposed to be the nicest day this week as far as water conditions were concerned.

            Bad news: none of us thought to bring a windbreaker or jacket and were extremely cold during the trip out to the cage diving spot. There were about 15 people total on the boat for the trip. Everyone started off strong but once we got to the spot and the swells were already two or three meters in height, the moral of the boat drastically changed. At least ten of the other passengers got seasick. Fortunately the two interns and I were not among those affected; although my roommate and I could feel a lingering tequila shot from the night before attempting to make its way up.

            We stayed at the spot for about 20 minutes as the boat went up and down and the waves crashed over the side of the boat. There wasn’t really an ideal location on the boat considering the weather, so we did the best we could. Inside the cabin was warm and dry, but without fail, everyone inside the cabin got sick. Outside on the rail had a better percentage of people not affected by the seasickness, but you had to deal with the wind, rain and ocean splatter. The deckhands chummed for a little bit and a little hammerhead shark made an appearance but that was about it.

            Once the wind kicked up and the waves increased in size, the captain made an executive decision to postpone the trip. He had a good sense of humor about it though. I kept throwing him movie lines from “the perfect storm” as the waves kept crashing up against the boat and he went along perfectly.

 Me: Cap’n (not captain)

Captain: Yes?

Me: What do you think we should do since the ice machine failed?

Captain: Huh?

Me: We have two choices Captain: wait out the storm here and waste our entire catch or... we fight; we fight through this storm.

Captain: (laughing) If anyone can do it, the Andrea Gail can.

Me: Aye Cap’n!

Captain: Then it’s settled, we fight! Onward!

 It was hysterical. The other interns and I smiled and laughed the whole trip back. A couple of people came and sat near us. Not sure if they thought we were actually funny or we were the only things loud and distracting enough to get their minds off being sick. The captain even yelled he would go down with the ship if he had too.

 Overall it was disappointing, but we had fun despite being cold and wet. Plus we get to go next week and we will be better prepared with hopefully better weather.

 As we were leaving the boating dock with all the other boats, we had to cross a bridge and walk through a metal gate with a guard. I walked in first and looked back at the other interns saying, “Just act like we were part of the cage diving trip. This guard had no idea our bags were empty when we got here.”

 He loved it.

So we will give it another try next week. No worries though I still have plenty of time.