Story Time- Spanky & the Shark
I attended a short-lived course run by the same Scuba Nazis who teach the Combat Diver qual at Key West called the Waterborne Infiltration Course. It was by any account an epic adventure and I have many tales to tell about it. One of my favorites is this one about a foolhardy attempt to spear a trophy shark.
The first episode of Story Time can be seen here, Habu the pit viper is not your friend.
Are you talking about Fleming Key?
When I went through scuba school we trained on and off Fleming Key, and we fucked, and drank on Key West.
I’m so confused.
One other thing.
The local sharks are Lemon sharks. Only the most paranoid wannabe’s ever freaked out when encountering one.
No one ever spanked the monkey during the the day.
It was the night navigation dives that saw any attrition during the course. Unfortunately the only MEN that I witnessed fail the course were Army officers.
It’s amazing to finish a night navigation dive, sit on the beach, and watch someone in the officer class pop five feet out of the water screaming that there is a shark DOWN HERE!
It was extremely gratifying to see that man told to pack his trash and go home.
I know why Uncle Jimbo was against the whole shark thing…
Vikings had dragon’s heads on the front of their rides… not sharks.
It was definitely Fleming Key, and i never felt obligated to ask sharks what flavor they were. Lemon, lime whatever Sharks are bad mmmkay.
Cordially,
Uncle J
‘72-73 I was a junior at Key West High living in Navy housing at the NAS Annex. During night fishing at the heliport, my dad (s diesel submariner) and mom met up with two green berets who were attending the WIC. After a long night of fishing and drinking they told my folks that I could join them for a recreational night dive the next evening. I only had snorkle gear but I also had a three banded speargun with a .223 powerhead attached. One of the guys, Phil, was thrilled to now have an underwater firearm. So it’s night, there’s about five or six of these guys in scuba with lights out at the end of the first sea plane ramp and I’m snorkling up above doing the occasional surface dive. I hear a low thud and then Sgt Duda comes up and tells me to head in. Seems Phil spotted an eight foot lemon sleeping up under the ramp and decided to shoot it. It disappeared in a cloud of silt.
[...] November 30, 2009 A true story from Uncle Jimbo’s Story Time. [...]
I attended the last WIC in Key West in May/June 1991, Best time of my life… Met my wife at Rick’s on Duvall Street… That was 6 weeks of party heaven.