Scuba Diver proposes marriage… underwater?!
Visibility: 60 ft | Water Temp.: 84F | Current: None
Captain D.J.
Master Instructor
Hi folks,
�Just wanted to bring you the latest action from out on the reef. We had the pleasure of taking Phil and Angie out to the reef today so that Phil could execute a little surprise plan. Phil was planning on asking Angie to marry him, underwater!! He was very well prepared, he had the ring in a sea shell, and a waterproof sign asking her to marry him, and even a safety sausage that was informing us of the positive response he received from her! When it was all over, we even had the dolphins jumping in the wake for the boat ride back. You can see it all in the nice pictures taken by�James who is one of the participants in the Rainbow Reef Dive Center Internship program.
�We’d like to extend our best wishes to the happy couple and we were honored to be part of the memorable occasion.
February 12th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Here’s how it went…
I wanted to make this proposal to Angie something special, memorable and different. Something that we will never forget and a story that people will love to hear. I chose this underwater proposal idea after many came to mind, but I just thought this one fit the best. Here’s how it went.
I’m not going to bore you with the weeks of preparation for this event, but know that WEEKS went into the planning of it. As time drew closer and closer, the main thing that I was concerned with was the looming storms that were approaching the Florida coast. Luckily, we had spectacular conditions.
I arranged for us to sit next to each other on the flight down to Miami. This was perfect as we simply couldn’t get enough of each other and it gave me a chance to review some of her dive skills and tables that she needed to brush up on. She had it down cold as we departed the airplane. We got our rental car and began our 1.5 hour drive down to Key Largo. We wanted to find a really nice seafood joint to grab some dinner so I punched in “Seafood” in the GPS and it rambled out a list of places beginning with the closest to our location. We both agreed that the “Salmon and Salmon Restaurant” sounded pretty good. I even called them to verify they had seafood. She spoke with a heavy Spanish accent but this is Miami, so I figured, no big deal.
When we sat down to eat, we quickly discovered it was a Peruvian restaurant and the owners’ names were Salmon and Salmon. Okay, we’re still good, let’s try something a little different! Well, when we were all done and we had had our fill of this very ‘different’ cuisine, we took off down the road. Once we got to our hotel, both of our stomachs were churning from the dinner and we were just hoping to make it to the next morning! Whew, that was a close one. Note to self, stick with a known on the day before a dive!
Next morning, a nice light breakfast and out to the boat. We got all of our gear together and met with the instructor. She gave us the typical run down of what was to be expected that morning and we took off for the open seas. Once there, we all got in the water and we began our dive. The seas were a little rougher than normal and had 5 -10 ft swells. This was the first day out for the dive crew since they seas had been too rough for days for days prior. There were approximately 10 other divers who basically paired off and went their own way. Angie had Kristin (her instructor) all to herself for her instruction. As they descended into the 45 ft deep waters, I trailed along just to make sure my baby was okay and not freaking out in this new environment. She did well in the deep blue (well, not too deep). All they way up until it was her turn to surface. The water was surging back and forth as she was performing her skills. As she surfaced, she started to feel a little bit sick to her stomach. She got sick a little bit before boarding the boat, then it was right up to the front of the boat so the other divers wouldn’t hear her “chumming the waters”. Now she told me that she absolutely hates to vomit and now I can see why. When she goes at it, she doesn’t quit for a long time and she throws up harder than most men that I know. Poor girl. The other folks on the boat were asking me to go diving for the second dive but I wasn’t about to leave my baby hanging there. I just stayed there with her and held her hair back, gave her water and pointed out all the pretty fish that she was feeding right below her as she was hurling into the water.
We opted to skip the second dive and just pick up where we left off the next morning. So when we got back into port that afternoon, we headed to the showers to rinse off the salt water and we both took about a 2 hour nap. She woke up from the nap feeling 90% better and ready to have some fun. We went out and had a nice dinner and did some shopping. We found her a really nice wet suit for half the price of the same Colorado version. There’s nothing that makes a girl feel better than a nice little shopping trip (especially when they FIND what they are looking for and it looks great). That night, I was so proud of her. She kept on telling me, and herself, that NOTHING was going to stop her from getting certified the next day. NOTHING!
The next morning, another light breakfast and off to the boat. Same routine, but a different destination today. The first day, we dove the ever popular Molasses Reef. This morning, we’re heading to the wreck of the Benwood. She sank after running into the USS Tuttle in April 1942 during WWII. She was salvaged then later used as target practice by the Air Force. Needless to say that ship will never see direct sunlight again. It was down about 45 ft and loaded with fish and coral. I let Angie finish up on her skills with her instructor and I dove with a guy named Justin. He ended up being our photographer for the proposal. He couldn’t dive the wreck alone and Angie needed to finish up her skills so this worked out for the best.
For the final dive, we motored over to Sand Island, which lay in 22 ft of water with plenty of sandy bottom. The sun was shining brightly and the water was such a beautiful blue. It made for an exquisite setting. Angie needed to finish up on 3 more skills, the Emergency Ascent, the Mask Removal and the Compass work. As she swam off with her instructor to work on the compass, I prepared my presentation area. I chose a wide open patch of sand with constant smooth ripples that looked like a Japanese sand sculpture. I laid the shell with the ring in it and backed away about 10 ft. Just then, a barracuda began circling the shell a couple times that I had just laid. I just let him swim, but would have fought him big time if he had any weird ideas. Once Angie came back to my area, she performed her final underwater skill for the instructor and they embraced in a congratulatory hug for meeting all the requirements and becoming a certified scuba diver.
Once they were done, Kristin handed Angie off to me. I brought her over to my area and got down on one knee. Angie was 100% convinced that I was going to make her do a few more skills to practice. As she was about to tell me, “forget it pal”, I pulled out a laminated group of pictures of our kids all posing and smiling for the shot. Under each picture, the words read, “Let’s Combine Our Families”. Angie looked at me with a look of, “okay, sure”. I then flipped the grouping of pictures over and revealed the sign, “Will You Marry Me?” At this point, she let out a very large group of bubbles from her regulator. I was hoping she wasn’t going to freak out and forget to breathe, but she did wonderfully. She then gave me the thumbs up. However, a thumbs up in dive-speak means I want to go to the surface. She quickly realized that this is not what I wanted to hear so she gave me the okay sign. Again, this means that “I’m okay”. Again, not the answer I’m looking for!!! Finally, she figured out what she really wanted to say and she nodded her head up and down. That’s what I wanted to hear. Later I would ask her again on the boat for the final clarification, just in case she was delirious. LoL
Once she has nodded, I pulled out a signaling device used in scuba diving which I had written on saying, “SHE SAID YES!” All the while, Justin is snapping off shots of us. I signaled to Angie that I wanted her to take her regulator out of her mouth to kiss me again, which she did successfully. This is trickier than you think. You gotta remember to take a nice breath first. We then swam over closer to the shell. I pointed to the shell and Angie pointed to her chest as if to say, “Do you want me to pick it up?” I nodded my head. She swam over to it, picked it up and opened it up. She didn’t notice that I had cut a sponge in the shape of a heart and mounted it in the shell that held the ring. All she saw was there was a ring in there. Again, a rush of bubbles escaped toward the surface. I took the ring from its holder and placed it on her finger. We kissed once again and this time, it was as official as it gets. I felt like dancing a jig underwater, but opted to just play it cool. After the ring was on her finger and we had posed for a couple of shots, we swam off hand in hand in to the beautiful blue of the Florida coastal waters. Of course, if she would have said “no”, I would have just shot off her air supply!!!
The rest of the story continues to be sweet and beautiful, but this was our story of how we got engaged to each other. Our story will truly will end up in the “and they lived happily ever after” category, because we truly were meant to be together.
The Beginning!