Scuba Diving – September 2019

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78 / SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019 SCUBADIVING.COM

N

ell loved macro photography more

than anything. She had the patience

for hovering in place, waiting for her sub-

jects to forget she was there. They would

return to their normal activities, and Nell

would get the shots she was looking for.

The problem was, her dive buddies did

not have her patience. They got bored

and wandered off while she waited.

THE DIVERS

Nell had more than 10 years of diving ex-

perience. She'd dived for years before

the photography bug bit her. Since then,

she's lived and breathed it. She was good

at spotting little things on a reef that

most divers missed, and she quickly dis-

covered she had the skills necessary for

macro photography, capturing extreme

close-ups of small underwater animals

and fi sh. She was petite and fi t from a life

of regular exercise.

Ted had been diving for a year and had

made about 50 dives. He was in his mid-

30s and had no known health problems.

However, he didn't exercise regularly  and

wasn’t in the best shape. He was 6 feet,

2 inches tall and weighed about 250

pounds. Because he didn’t get out much

during the day, he liked to swim around

a lot on dives, doing his best to see as

much of the reef as he could before ex-

hausting his air. He was known to fi nish

dives early because he ran low on air.

THE DIVE

Ted’s regular dive buddy was sick, but

he didn’t want to pass on their dive boat

OUT OF FOCUS

Annoyed by his photographer buddy, a diver forgets his basic training

BY ERIC DOUGLAS

ERIC DOUGLAShas been a

PADI IDC Staff instructor, medic,

and author on scuba safety and

adventure. Visit his website at

booksbyeric.com.

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