The Underwater Wireman's Club

LESSONS AND REFLECTIONS OF SOME INCREDIBLY LIFE-CHANGING EXPERIENCES

- CAPT. JASON "TINY" WALCOTT

Summer 1992: The warm blue water of the Virgin Islands’ North Drop filled my sinuses as a sickening feeling of weightlessness overcame me. With two bad wraps of 600-pound Jinkai monofilament around my right hand, I was being pulled into the abyss. Dread and panic followed as I struggled to reach for my mono cutters on my right side with my left hand, my eardrums swelling from the pressure as I watched the light fade. With only half a breath and the surface seemingly miles away, I’m not going to make it was my only thought. Suddenly, I felt the pressure release from my hand, and in disbelief, I quickly unwrapped the cinched leader from my glove and headed toward the surface. My lungs were burning. Just when I thought I was in the clear, I was engulfed by a wave of white bubbles-the force of a 60-foot Hatteras' prop wash at full throttle hit me like a freight train catapulting me into a spinning ball, my head between my legs as I was somersaulted through the water column before it pushed me to the surface. Soon, I found myself gasping for air; shock had already set in. As I focused on the boat that seemed miles away, I could hear the crew screaming, "Swim!" and waving me toward them. I took one long stroke and glanced to my right-20 feet away was a green 300-pound blue marlin shaking its head on the surface and heading in the same direction.