31"We'll go to Nuku for snorkeling and a picnic lunch", T said,
"then on to Mariner's." Tom looked at me and smiled.
May 14 was sunny and Nuku was as ever - a perfect gem of D.
tropical island. We lunched in the shelter on the white sand beach ~nd
after lunch, we snorkeled, but the wonders of the submarine world did
not, as they usually do, make me lose all sense of time. A feeling of
urgency swept through me. I took off my mask and went ashore explaining
to our English visitors that I didn't want to get too tired before I
went into the cave. They had been diving last year in the
Mediterranean and remarked as casually as one chooses cakes at tea,
that they would probably go in too.
When, however, we arrived at Nuapapu and stopped the engine
before the grim gray cliffs and Tom, who'd been in before, waved a
careless hand toward one of them and said, "Just there there's
where we go in", my relatives changed their minds and kindly
volunteered to keep the boat afloat; so Tami, Tom and I got into the
water and left them in command.
Tom decreed a practice period. "We'll swim under the boat", he
said, and gave me time only to adjust my mask and take a deep breath
before he grabbed my hand and down we went.
"Nothing to it!" he laughed as we surfaced 10 feet the other side
of the boat. I laughed too. Practice was fine, but it was not the
real thing. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Tami impatiently
circling the entrance waiting for us. Slowly I swam towards her and
soon all three of us were treading water over the dark sapphire hole in
the sea.