Dennis Hollingsworth

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An old Navy Buddy writes in after reading the previous snorkel report:

Hey Dennis.
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Bob Burnidge comment here. Not sure if I am doing a comment to your blog correctly, so this is just a test.

You talk about Shark attacks and the other sea critters that can ruin your day when you do your skin/scuba diving events.
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Bummer about that Aussie dude Crocadile Hunter that took a StingRay stinger to the heart.

I bet the Insurance Policy adjustment after your wife's foot injury about a year ago is nothing compared to the Insurance Policy for StringRay Barbs to Dennis Hollingsworth's Heart if it happened today.

Snorkel Diving with a Bullet Proof Vest will now be manditory equipment during your fun dives.

I am not a diver myself, but I would think about hiring a girl from a TopLess Bar... 44DD Chest to perhaps be your escort in them Dangerous Waters.

Always fun to check out your site Dennis. You did me many favors, many years ago. DRT artwork by Dennis Hollingsworth during ASW?kept them LCDR's off my back.?

Yea, it was tough, that news about the stingray attack. He flirted with danger and fed a family with it.* Tough stuff all around. Our culture is life-centered but the only way to understand our fascination with those who create a show business from a proximity to death is that perhaps it makes our life more vivid. It must have been a nasty surprise when that barb flashed.

No worries about me over here, I'm a lightweight when it comes to outdoor adventures. And the sea life has been depleted, que lastima! Although Kiko wants another night dive this week. We are to go around Cap Tossa, that piece of rock with the lighthouse atop it. He wants to spear some dinner that might be sleeping 'neath the rocks -with tridents and flashlights no less. Shades of King Neptune! The swim is long enough to make you happy to see land again. This time, I think I'll take an inflatable buoy along just in case I need to catch my breath.

(Note to the public: pay no mind to the sailor talk in paragraph six.
Note to Bob with a smile: I'm a married man, my friend. I've earned my medals of fidelity over here in Spain. )

Nice to hear from you!

-Dennis

As for the acronyms:

DRT: Dead Reckoning Tracer, a glass top table lit from below with a machine that represents the ship's movements in scale. A guy on the adjacent radar calls off targets with bearings and distances and the plotter (me) would draw a picture of the surface situation at sea.

ASW: Anti-Submarine Warfare. Helicopters, sonar, ASROC torpedos.

LCDR: Lieutenant Commander. An officer who has seen enough service to know his way around and thus does a lot of heavy lifting for the Captain and XO.

Postscript:
I've just got back from a night dive with Kiko. A beautiful night, flat sea, but the nearly full moon probably kept the fish from sleeping peaceably. I thought spearing sleeping fishes 'neath the rocks wold be like machine gunning deer from a helicopter (not that I would know) and I therefore had a lingering doubt about the enterprise... but it was a lot harder that I had anticipated. We each speared one and I injured three others, poor things. Kiko said that in the past he would spear eight in a night. I hope it's just the full moon that made the difference. I'd hate to think that the sea has been depleated that much.

The moon was so bright that we didn't need flashlights to see the sea floor. As a matter of fact, the water -thick with saline- diffused the light so much that we saw much less of the surrounding terrain with them on. (I wonder if anyone has made night vision dive masks yet?) We could see the fishes though. Kiko knew all the of the crags and fissures along the way, the homeboy advantage. The fish seemed to be easily startled by the lights. After a few lunges with the trident, the whole affair seemed to be a reasonable sport, mano-a-fisho. Water was warm or at least not cold. After an hour and a half, we emerged and gave the fishes to Pepa, the owner of the bar "El Pirata" located at the top of Codolar. Immediately she gushed: "...con cebollas y patatas y tomates en la horno..." as she planned tomorrow night's dinner.

Not bad for a good turn around in the snorkel report.

PPS:
* This is a problematic issue, as Steve Irwin's career was somewhere between Evel Kneval's, Jacques Cousteau's and an Alaskan crab fisherman.