TheScubaSherpa | Bubble Mirror
Ever checked yourself out in the mirror? How about in a bubble?
If you've never dove before, bubbles grow in size on their way to the surface. Being exhaled from 20ft below me, this bubble rose right into my face creating this shot.
Bubbles are fun! Glad this one didn't knock you're mask off. I've had that happen while trying to capture a manatee that needed medical attention. I think the bubble was its weapon to make us back off, but I kept a cool head, cleared my mask and helped corral him into the sling to take him back to the zoological park for treatment on the Crystal River in FL.
I have always wanted to snorkel with manatees at Crystal River. Was this manatee causing problems because it was hurt? Can manatees be dangerous? Just curious.
No, no problems...he just needed medical attention. This was 1986 when the world wasn't sure if manatees would be around in 2017. He'd been hit by a boat and had a gnarly infection and they asked for volunteers to capture him for minor surgery and major antibiotics. I held his face during the debridement of the wound. First he struggled and even tried to bite me, but I've worked with horses and I was able to block the worst of his nipping with my pointy elbow. Then, I guess whatever the vet was doing started to give relief, or he just gave up, because he rested his face in my arms and started humming. I helped feed him over his weeks at that stupid alligator farm-zoo until his release and he used to come out to where we held our dive classes and beg for cabbage until the tourist season got real busy, or maybe he finally found his friends again.
Very cool story to have such close contact and glad he recovered. Manatees seem like such gentle creatures. Hate to see them get hit by boats but I'm guessing there is not much to prevent it when humans and manatees are frequenting the same waters.
Wow, very cool. Glad you could help. Do you still work/help there?
No...my boyfriend back then was ridiculously jealous of the dude who owned the dive shop I worked with just north of Clearwater. He was jealous I got the job of dive assistant, mostly because I already knew how to pilot a boat, swam like a fish, had adventure tourism experience. Glen really really wanted a girl on the team to make seasick chicken liver-ed wives enjoy the scuba experience too. Anyway, our last big blowout fight over this ended with this jerk knocking some of my teeth loose and me breaking his ribs when I threw him into the kitchen table. His momma wanted to press charges, so I ran home to my momma before I got arrested and have been in southwestern Virginia ever since.
That will teach him to mess with @ladyktryn. Glad you were able to get out of that relationship.
Dang, that took a turn lol. Glad that you're happier now!
What a cool shot!