Charlie,
My tribe is all staying at the BREAKERS for he next few days, we had dinner and supper there yesterday, The east wind is coming across the ocean and there are whitecaps as far as you can see. In near shore constant 5 ft. waves rolling in for well over 200 yards out. Still, Barry, Matt and Mike wanted me to take them diving on The Breakers Reef. Also, Lance. Hard and against my better judgment said OK, I had guessed and hoped it would clear up some once we got out far enough which is about 600 to 700 yards straight out. Everyone got geared up and after fighting through the waves we made it out about 300 yards only to find ourselves in huge swells about 6 feet or more, many breaking on top of us.
The water was warm and though they couldn't know it I knew we were in a strong north current. We kept swimming out and I kept screaming at Lance to stay close to me. At least a dozen serious waves collapsed on him and each time he came through them like a trooper. I was honestly amazed at his ability considering that he is 8 years old. Once we were out about 700 yards or so and still in swells I could see it was over 30 ft. deep and we had lost the reef I wanted to be on, at least 400 or more yards north and going strong in the current. I was glad to see nobody panicking and I kept us together as best as anyone could. The water was bad stirred up and visibility was about zero. I saw a guy on a red jet ski and motioned to him and he said we were nearly a half mile out and had better get our ass in. Nothing I didn't already know. I told the group to stay with me and to begin our swim in. I kept on telling everyone to just take it easy and that we would make it. I didn't want anyone getting scared or cramping up. And I was watching Lance like a hawk. Still amazed at how the child was handling the ocean in what was actually a very mature and somewhat desperate situation.
I swam a good deal on my back and made certain that our direction held steady towards shore as it was easy to get off track. After a half hour or so we made it into the crashing waves and then onto shore, still on Palm Beach, but on the north end, close to the Kennedy home. Chesteen was watching all of us from shore and she said she knew we were in a bad situation. I was very relieved to get Lance into shore but really, he handled himself throughout the entire exploit and I never once really did a single thing to help him other than to keep him near. So many times his little face popped up to stare at me for a new command. A real trooper and I know in my heart a real diver in the making. Water is totally second nature for him. Chesteen's brother had motion sickness when we got in and vomited. He remained sick for two hours afterwards and continued throwing up or trying to. He was embarrassed but I assured him that what he had done was nothing to be embarrassed about. It had been a wild dive in the swirling warm ocean. The one thing I kept in the back of my mind was the shark population and how we were sitting ducks and in a perfect situation for them. But I never mentioned it to anyone as it was the last thing I wanted on their minds. Still, I knew the presence was here and It was one of the main reasons I kept us together and my swimming the way I was doing. The whole dive was a total wipe out and I should have never allowed myself to let them talk me into going. I think part of it was due to the fact that I dove the reef this time last year and remembered how beautiful it was. But this new wind coming across the ocean has it all different. I'm seeing very damn few boats, actually none at the moment as I lookout onto the Gulfstream. I'm just very thankful we had no incident out of the dive and I learned more about Lance on that adventure than you might ever dream. He is something else.
Your Most Humble And Obedient Servant,
E. Lowell "Robbie" / " No Sweat " Robbins, Jr.
My tribe is all staying at the BREAKERS for he next few days, we had dinner and supper there yesterday, The east wind is coming across the ocean and there are whitecaps as far as you can see. In near shore constant 5 ft. waves rolling in for well over 200 yards out. Still, Barry, Matt and Mike wanted me to take them diving on The Breakers Reef. Also, Lance. Hard and against my better judgment said OK, I had guessed and hoped it would clear up some once we got out far enough which is about 600 to 700 yards straight out. Everyone got geared up and after fighting through the waves we made it out about 300 yards only to find ourselves in huge swells about 6 feet or more, many breaking on top of us.
The water was warm and though they couldn't know it I knew we were in a strong north current. We kept swimming out and I kept screaming at Lance to stay close to me. At least a dozen serious waves collapsed on him and each time he came through them like a trooper. I was honestly amazed at his ability considering that he is 8 years old. Once we were out about 700 yards or so and still in swells I could see it was over 30 ft. deep and we had lost the reef I wanted to be on, at least 400 or more yards north and going strong in the current. I was glad to see nobody panicking and I kept us together as best as anyone could. The water was bad stirred up and visibility was about zero. I saw a guy on a red jet ski and motioned to him and he said we were nearly a half mile out and had better get our ass in. Nothing I didn't already know. I told the group to stay with me and to begin our swim in. I kept on telling everyone to just take it easy and that we would make it. I didn't want anyone getting scared or cramping up. And I was watching Lance like a hawk. Still amazed at how the child was handling the ocean in what was actually a very mature and somewhat desperate situation.
I swam a good deal on my back and made certain that our direction held steady towards shore as it was easy to get off track. After a half hour or so we made it into the crashing waves and then onto shore, still on Palm Beach, but on the north end, close to the Kennedy home. Chesteen was watching all of us from shore and she said she knew we were in a bad situation. I was very relieved to get Lance into shore but really, he handled himself throughout the entire exploit and I never once really did a single thing to help him other than to keep him near. So many times his little face popped up to stare at me for a new command. A real trooper and I know in my heart a real diver in the making. Water is totally second nature for him. Chesteen's brother had motion sickness when we got in and vomited. He remained sick for two hours afterwards and continued throwing up or trying to. He was embarrassed but I assured him that what he had done was nothing to be embarrassed about. It had been a wild dive in the swirling warm ocean. The one thing I kept in the back of my mind was the shark population and how we were sitting ducks and in a perfect situation for them. But I never mentioned it to anyone as it was the last thing I wanted on their minds. Still, I knew the presence was here and It was one of the main reasons I kept us together and my swimming the way I was doing. The whole dive was a total wipe out and I should have never allowed myself to let them talk me into going. I think part of it was due to the fact that I dove the reef this time last year and remembered how beautiful it was. But this new wind coming across the ocean has it all different. I'm seeing very damn few boats, actually none at the moment as I lookout onto the Gulfstream. I'm just very thankful we had no incident out of the dive and I learned more about Lance on that adventure than you might ever dream. He is something else.
Your Most Humble And Obedient Servant,
E. Lowell "Robbie" / " No Sweat " Robbins, Jr.
RSS Feed