For some strange reason, people do not seem to be grateful for saving their lives.
The first one happened at the mangers pool in Waipahu. We were all sitting around when I noticed on of the Lyon’s kids struggling on the bottom of the pool. I dove in clothes and all and pulled him back up and onto dry land. The kid was fine but nobody said boo!
The next one happed at Kipu Kai, a private beach area on Kauai. One of the wives was snorkeling when she was hit by a big wave and dragged under. I dove in and pulled her back to shore, then went and recovered her mask and snorkel. She was shaken but all right. Again no one said boo.
The next one happened at a beach on the West side of Oahu. Jeff and I were sitting on the beach and a bunch of servicemen were in the water swimming when one got caught in a riptide. He struggled a lot and appeared to be fading fast so Jeff and I donned out fins and dragged him back to shore where he rested and went right back in again. No one said boo! To make matters worse, I had stuck my wallet in my fin and it was soaking wet!
Although not a drowning, I had to stop a young girl from ascending too fast on a scuba dive of the sunken submarine off Lahaina. She panicked when we got to about 90 feet of depth and took off for the surface risking an embolism that can be fatal. I grabbed her and held her struggling until she calmed down until we could ascend normally and stop for a brief rest stop. She did not say boo either.
On another dive, my friend’s son forgot to turn on his aoir and indicated with a ‘throat slas’ that he had no air. So we calmly buddy breathed back to the boat where his dad chewed him out. Too bad, the kid did exactly what his training taught him-stay calm and count on your buddy diver to help you. A good boo this time!!!
Speaking of scuba, we were taught first aid and CPR during the training course. Just after we finished training, I went to a party where I noticed a guy gagging on a piece of meat. I did the Heimlich maneuver on him and he spit it out. No boo this time!!
