We have a small boat pick us up from the dock by Toast, the seaside grill, where we grabbed dinner last night before going back to the room at Mahogany Bay Resort. They will take us to a larger dock where we will be picked up at 730 for a three-tank dive day. We are grateful that Dolly and David, the couple who joined us in the Great Blue Hole dive, met the owners of this boat and extended the invite. The wife, Joan, holds the record for the least air used on a dive.

The first dive is sans wetsuit, and there are plenty of bright blue fish to keep us company. The second dive is with my 3mm wetsuit on and I’m about the same level of cold. I’m focused on colorful coral and hundreds of cyan sea life, while a few divers are spearfishing the lionfish that will be served with our lunch. I’m glad that we have volunteers helping to decrease the population of an invasive species, and then feed it to me with chicken, potatoes, coleslaw, rice, and beans.

Our third dive could have been in the same spot or on the other side of the island. There was still coral and fish, exactly what we came to see, especially in warmer water than can be found off the coast of California. We’ll talk with Spencer, the husband, for the hour-and-a-half ride back. A woman asks if my one glove is a dive secret, but the captain knew I was hiding something, so he let me keep it… Michael Jackson style.

Spencer was a police officer for 15 years and then a homicide detective for just as many. He tells us about a guy who blew his skull off and had his intact brain slide across the floor, with no AK-47 bullet in it either. We were just as curious about the science behind the scenario as he was, but not enough to get a job as a medical examiner. I’m hit or miss when it comes to bloody scenes as I’m interested in what the body can do, but sometimes what it’s forced into is cringeworthy.

Anywho, Spencer offers to take us out again tonight, but I’m ok focusing on food for the evening. He drops us off at the Victoria House dock, and after a shower, we get our daily milkshake. We are handed three cups to accommodate our add-ins, so Caleb has the energy to clean our gear after dinner. We ordered guacamole and a triple-cheese pizza, and just as quickly got it to-go to escape the mosquitoes. We hang our rinsed gear in the closet and sunroom.