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Authors: Randy Wayne White
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thermostat, which solved the problem.
Michael bought a second thermostat just in case, she said. I suppose most of youve heard the rumors that Michaelmaybe all of usran offshore and sank the boat intentionally for the insurance money. Well, check with the marina. Why would he have bought a second thermostat if hed planned on sinking his own boat? Why would he have bought a second thermostat if wed planned on rendezvousing with a drug boat, sinking the Seminole Wind, and escaping? Thats another theory youve probably heard.
Around me, I could see the island fishing guideseight of them, sitting in their own little groupthinking about it, nodding their heads. Yeah, it didnt make any sense. If you were going to sabotage your own vessel, you might buy new canvas or pay for a new paint job, just to make it convincing. But a backup thermostat? Very unlikely.
Gardner, an attorney, was already doing a good job of making her case.
On their way offshore, the four divers stopped at a wreck called Bens Barge, which is about three miles off Marco. Sanford, a fisherman, wanted to catch some bait so the four of them could fish the Baja California after diving it.
Using tiny hooks and bits of shrimp, they filled the sterns bait well with small bluegill-shaped fish called pinfish.
While we caught bait, we discussed what we wanted to do, Gardner told us. We were listening to the weather channel on the radio, and Michael told us it wouldnt be real nice out there, but it should be okay. A couple days ago, I had got my hands on the actual forecast from NOAA. It was small craft should exercise caution, wind out of the east southeast, fifteen to twenty knots, seas four to six feet, with bay and inland waters choppy.
She saw the guides react, and said, I know, I know. We shouldnt have gone. The temptation is to put the blame on Michael. It was his boat, hed made the dive several times. But thats bullshit. We were all adults, all certified divers, and we all agreed. We wanted to dive the Baja California, and, because we were still close to Marco Island, I guess we figured we would be protected from an east wind. It seemed fairly calm three miles out. What I didnt know at the time was that you dont measure a wave from its trough. You measure it from sea level. So, when we were anchored on Bens Barge, I thought the two-foot waves we were seeing were actually four to six feet high. That changed pretty quickly.
Amelia said the seas were considerably worse once they were fifty-two nautical miles offshore and reached the Global Positioning System numbers (GPS) that marked the wreck, but the waves still didnt seem overwhelming. She remembered Michael Sanford telling the group that it sometimes took him three or four times to get the boat anchored just right, but on that Friday, he dropped the anchor, fed out line, and nailed it first try.
We could see the wreck on the screen of his electronic bottom recorder, she said. The bottom was flat, then all of a sudden there was this long geometric shape jutting up. It looked like a small, flat mountain. Michael explained to us that the little floating shapes we saw above the wreck were fish. There were fish all over it. Like a cloud. Because of that, we decided to fish first, then dive.
Once again, the guides began to shake their heads. It was not a wise thing to do. Hooked fish send out stress vibrations. Stress vibrations attract predators. Why attract predators before getting into the water?
Amelia said, We fished for maybe an hour. You know how barracuda will crash a live bait right by the boat? The girls had fun with that. But it was getting a little rougher out and Grace started to feel sick, so we decided to gear up and get into the water because we thought shed feel better then.
Gardner said that she paired up with Janet, and Sanford paired with Walker because she and Sanford were the two most experienced divers. Plus I
Michael bought a second thermostat just in case, she said. I suppose most of youve heard the rumors that Michaelmaybe all of usran offshore and sank the boat intentionally for the insurance money. Well, check with the marina. Why would he have bought a second thermostat if hed planned on sinking his own boat? Why would he have bought a second thermostat if wed planned on rendezvousing with a drug boat, sinking the Seminole Wind, and escaping? Thats another theory youve probably heard.
Around me, I could see the island fishing guideseight of them, sitting in their own little groupthinking about it, nodding their heads. Yeah, it didnt make any sense. If you were going to sabotage your own vessel, you might buy new canvas or pay for a new paint job, just to make it convincing. But a backup thermostat? Very unlikely.
Gardner, an attorney, was already doing a good job of making her case.
On their way offshore, the four divers stopped at a wreck called Bens Barge, which is about three miles off Marco. Sanford, a fisherman, wanted to catch some bait so the four of them could fish the Baja California after diving it.
Using tiny hooks and bits of shrimp, they filled the sterns bait well with small bluegill-shaped fish called pinfish.
While we caught bait, we discussed what we wanted to do, Gardner told us. We were listening to the weather channel on the radio, and Michael told us it wouldnt be real nice out there, but it should be okay. A couple days ago, I had got my hands on the actual forecast from NOAA. It was small craft should exercise caution, wind out of the east southeast, fifteen to twenty knots, seas four to six feet, with bay and inland waters choppy.
She saw the guides react, and said, I know, I know. We shouldnt have gone. The temptation is to put the blame on Michael. It was his boat, hed made the dive several times. But thats bullshit. We were all adults, all certified divers, and we all agreed. We wanted to dive the Baja California, and, because we were still close to Marco Island, I guess we figured we would be protected from an east wind. It seemed fairly calm three miles out. What I didnt know at the time was that you dont measure a wave from its trough. You measure it from sea level. So, when we were anchored on Bens Barge, I thought the two-foot waves we were seeing were actually four to six feet high. That changed pretty quickly.
Amelia said the seas were considerably worse once they were fifty-two nautical miles offshore and reached the Global Positioning System numbers (GPS) that marked the wreck, but the waves still didnt seem overwhelming. She remembered Michael Sanford telling the group that it sometimes took him three or four times to get the boat anchored just right, but on that Friday, he dropped the anchor, fed out line, and nailed it first try.
We could see the wreck on the screen of his electronic bottom recorder, she said. The bottom was flat, then all of a sudden there was this long geometric shape jutting up. It looked like a small, flat mountain. Michael explained to us that the little floating shapes we saw above the wreck were fish. There were fish all over it. Like a cloud. Because of that, we decided to fish first, then dive.
Once again, the guides began to shake their heads. It was not a wise thing to do. Hooked fish send out stress vibrations. Stress vibrations attract predators. Why attract predators before getting into the water?
Amelia said, We fished for maybe an hour. You know how barracuda will crash a live bait right by the boat? The girls had fun with that. But it was getting a little rougher out and Grace started to feel sick, so we decided to gear up and get into the water because we thought shed feel better then.
Gardner said that she paired up with Janet, and Sanford paired with Walker because she and Sanford were the two most experienced divers. Plus I
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