Okay here’s another off color tale.
In the late 60’ I was mate and stand in skipper on a converted 130’ LCU ( landing craft utility ) the company had a four year MSTS contract with Pan Am to service and supply the various tracking stations that did the telemetry work for everything shot off Cape Canveral. We ran from Walkers Cay throughout the Abacos then down to the Berry Islands, Eleuthera even Turks & Caicos. Our base of operations was a remote location on Grand Bahama Island’s North side called north Riding Point and a Air Force Aux base on the South side called Gold Rock Creek.
It was a fun job running in and out of these small islands supplying diesel and gasoline, food and heavy equipment for crews of tower climbers, building and telemetry dish repairs you name it. She was known as the ‘ Lucy Boat ‘ to the Out Islanders and was USCG 100 ton inspected ( how the company got that rating is a mystery ) and of course American flag. When we got to a site and finished our work it lefts us with hours of good diving time. I was there close to three years and we literally logged thousands of hours diving mostly 20-40’ snorkeling but lots of scuba time when we had reef walls and depth. Spear fishing and selling to local markets and restaurants gave us plenty of rum and tobacco money plus diving upgrades.
One Summer we got word the company owner was sending over his Son to spend a month with us. We didn’t know anything about the kid except this was his Summer off before going off to college and he was a water polo star. We soon learned he had never done physical or dirty work in his life but wanted to learn to dive and spearfish. He showed up with all the diving gear including some really nice expensive Italian spear guns. He was soon diving with us every day and after a couple of weeks got pretty accurate with a gun. One day we had the full day off and took the small boat out from Carter Cay to the barrier reef that separated Little Bahama Bank from the deep ocean. We knew at high water the bigger fish would come over the top of the reef and feed and this included species that aren’t normally seen on the banks including big bull sharks, hammerheads and even a Tiger shark from time to time. So the three of us anchored the boat and started fining our way to the reef about two hundred yards away. No tanks just snorkels cause this was more exploratory at this time, new territory.
So we hear the kid behind us banging on his spear gun signifying something is up. We surface come together and he tells us ‘ oh man I have to take a dump really bad can we go in “ . Well no that’s a ways back and we are here. So Richard, the other diver, tells him just fall back drop your trunks and take a crap, I’ll hold your gun. Couple of minutes later Richard and I witnessed one if the weirdest and funniest things we ever saw. This kid back there rolled into a ball in a giant cloud of his his own excrement. I mean a big cloud. All we could see were his flailing legs and arms trying to get out of it and pull his trunks back on. It took me probably five minutes before I could keep my snorkel in my mouth I was laughing so hard. Where was our underwater camera ?
Rick
In the late 60’ I was mate and stand in skipper on a converted 130’ LCU ( landing craft utility ) the company had a four year MSTS contract with Pan Am to service and supply the various tracking stations that did the telemetry work for everything shot off Cape Canveral. We ran from Walkers Cay throughout the Abacos then down to the Berry Islands, Eleuthera even Turks & Caicos. Our base of operations was a remote location on Grand Bahama Island’s North side called north Riding Point and a Air Force Aux base on the South side called Gold Rock Creek.
It was a fun job running in and out of these small islands supplying diesel and gasoline, food and heavy equipment for crews of tower climbers, building and telemetry dish repairs you name it. She was known as the ‘ Lucy Boat ‘ to the Out Islanders and was USCG 100 ton inspected ( how the company got that rating is a mystery ) and of course American flag. When we got to a site and finished our work it lefts us with hours of good diving time. I was there close to three years and we literally logged thousands of hours diving mostly 20-40’ snorkeling but lots of scuba time when we had reef walls and depth. Spear fishing and selling to local markets and restaurants gave us plenty of rum and tobacco money plus diving upgrades.
One Summer we got word the company owner was sending over his Son to spend a month with us. We didn’t know anything about the kid except this was his Summer off before going off to college and he was a water polo star. We soon learned he had never done physical or dirty work in his life but wanted to learn to dive and spearfish. He showed up with all the diving gear including some really nice expensive Italian spear guns. He was soon diving with us every day and after a couple of weeks got pretty accurate with a gun. One day we had the full day off and took the small boat out from Carter Cay to the barrier reef that separated Little Bahama Bank from the deep ocean. We knew at high water the bigger fish would come over the top of the reef and feed and this included species that aren’t normally seen on the banks including big bull sharks, hammerheads and even a Tiger shark from time to time. So the three of us anchored the boat and started fining our way to the reef about two hundred yards away. No tanks just snorkels cause this was more exploratory at this time, new territory.
So we hear the kid behind us banging on his spear gun signifying something is up. We surface come together and he tells us ‘ oh man I have to take a dump really bad can we go in “ . Well no that’s a ways back and we are here. So Richard, the other diver, tells him just fall back drop your trunks and take a crap, I’ll hold your gun. Couple of minutes later Richard and I witnessed one if the weirdest and funniest things we ever saw. This kid back there rolled into a ball in a giant cloud of his his own excrement. I mean a big cloud. All we could see were his flailing legs and arms trying to get out of it and pull his trunks back on. It took me probably five minutes before I could keep my snorkel in my mouth I was laughing so hard. Where was our underwater camera ?
Rick
