After I finished my open water my dad took me out with him on a dive
trip to the ocean. We drove down to California in a van with a group
from the dive shop where my dad was an instructor. The others on the
trip were all much older then me so I just hung out with my dad when
we would stop along the way. When we got there it was late at night
and we drove up to the peer which stank horribly, which I mentioned
and my dad told me that is just what the ocean smells like. I had
been to the ocean a couple of times before and that is not what it
smelled like but I didn't argue. We got on the boat and I started
feeling wobbly instantly so my dad outfitted me with a trans-dermal
sea sickness patch that fit behind my ear. It helped but I was not to
sure about going out to sea. The captain was driving us out in what
looked like to me huge waves and a forbidding ocean but everyone else
seemed okay with it so I kept my mouth shut and sat on the back of
the boat watching Los Angeles get smaller. My dad had me come to bed
so I would be ready to dive in the morning but the problem with that
was that we had to share a bunk and my dad was a really big man and
because he got claustrophobic he made me sleep on the inside edge
between the hull and him. It was immensely dark and the waves were
slapping the side of the boat inches from my head and my hulking
snorting fidgeting father was hemming in my other side. I was
uncomfortable and terrified. After what seemed like hours I pushed
passed my dad on the pretense that I needed to pee and went and sat
on a bench on the back of the boat. The night was clear and there was
no moon and the only light were stars and the ethereal glow of the
Los Angeles megalopolis over the horizon. The hum of the boat and the
sweetly salty smell of the air was calm and reassuring and I fell
asleep on the deck bench and slept until morning. I would take a
blanket up the the rest of the nights on the boat as well and sleep
on the bench instead of between my father and the deep blue sea.
