A Fool's Gambit

Hey all. I'm in Key West. I'm officially living on my Cape Dory 27. While I'm selling it. I'm buying a Cape Dory 33. Much better. In the meantime, I'm enjoying being jobless and sleeping on the boat, getting her all prettied up for whoever her new owner will be. Could it be you? Who knows? Maybe!

Anyway, internet access is a hassle, so we'll see how often I keep this updated. I'll see about pictures and stories of being here in Key West, FL, around 24º33'N 81º44'W. Or thereabouts. I haven't turned on the GPS yet to get an exact location.

Okey-dokey.

So, last Wednesday I got Lasik. Now, I can see. That's pretty cool. The healing process is a little drawn out. I'll be putting drops in my eyes for months. But it's really nice to be able to see things without glasses or contacts to worry about. My primary concern was losing my glasses overboard. Now I don't have to worry about that. So that's one less thing.

The beliefs which we have most warrant for, have no safeguard to rest on, but a standing invitation to the whole world to prove them unfounded. If the challenge is not accepted, or is accepted and the attempt fails, we are far enough from certainty still; but we have done the best that the existing state of human reason admits of; we have neglected nothing that could give the truth a chance of reaching us: if the lists are kept open, we may hope that if there be a better truth, it will be found when the human mind is capable of receiving it; and in the meantime we may rely on having attained such approach to truth, as is possible in our own day. This is the amount of truth attainable by a fallible being, and this is the sole way of attaining it.

-John Stewart Mill, On Liberty

Here's a site with more photos from the Wounded Warriors Disabled Scuba Project dives last weekend.

http://picasaweb.google.com/juliacmetcalfe/GTMOSCUBAJan31Feb52008

Ahh, I'm exhausted. I've spent the past four days working with a program called Wounded Warriors, or alternately SUDS (Soldiers Undertaking Disabled Scuba). It was a blast, rest assured. But lugging gear, diving two and three times a day, giving scuba instruction, lugging gear back, washing gear, shindigs, parties, Superbowl parties, and on and on and on... Let's just say I'm looking forward to my bed tonight.

The details: 6 soldiers (well, at least one was a Marine, but let's not quibble) injured in the line of duty. One was in a training accident in California, the others were in Iraq and Afghanistan. All are amputees, ranging from half of a foot to both legs above the knee. I worked with Igor, a Russian immigrant who was 'only' missing one leg below the knee. He lost it in Afghanistan in a fire fight. If you see him in long pants, you might notice a little limp, but you might just think he was strutting. He had a prosthesis specially made for swimming. The first training dive, I was a little cautious and went slow, not being sure exactly how fast he could swim, or if he would have issues with stamina. It turns out I didn't have anything to worry about. He can swim faster than me, and would probably outlast me, too. He went through air a little quickly, but all new divers do that, so I'm not too surprised about that. On boat dives he did a seated forward roll, but other than that, there were no issues. He climbed up the ladder with his scuba gear on. On beach dives he would go in and out of the surf zone unassisted. It was really unbelievable what he was capable of.

This is Igor and me at the Superbowl party. He's Russian, so you know there's an alcoholic beverage just outside of frame.

Even though Igor was my main charge, I also worked with others, helping the two divers who used only one leg underwater in and out of the water. (They were above the knee amputees.) I helped with gear assembly and the aforementioned lugging of gear to and from the dive sites and in and out of the water for some of the 'more' disabled participants. Still, all of these guys were totally at home in the water. Not one of them was an 'instructional challenge', and all seemed very comfortable with their limitations, comfortable asking for help, and comfortable asking to be let alone to do something themselves. Before meeting them, I was worried that I would be ill-at-ease around them, and that might put them in the same mood. But they all had great senses of humor. My favorite remark of the whole trip was made on the first day, as we were getting off the boat for the first dive. Josh, the double-leg amputee waddled up to the edge and said, "Hey, check it out, it's 'Dorf on Diving'!"

All told we did nine dives, including the 4 dives for the Open Water certification, a night dive, and four fun dives. And all I got was a lousy t-shirt. And these photos below. And great memories to last a lifetime. Was that too hokey? That sounds too hokey.

This photo doesn't really fit, but this is the first time I've been out to the cemetery here on base. It's in an area that's usually restricted, but I got to check it out on the way to our dive site today. I think most of the people buried there are from the Spanish-American War and the first couple decades of the 20th century.