The Great Barracuda

[oneighty]

I selected the name 'Barracuda' for my pirate name. I wore a cast off broadcloth jacket my stepmother wore. My sword (Pronounced sWord) was made of an umbrella shaft salvaged from the village junkyard. The reflector from an auto head lamp served as a hand guard. My trusty sWord I carried in a jaunty sash tied around my waist.

One day I challenged Donnie to a sWord fight. He selected his sWord from the driftwood washed up on Lake Erie's shore and with that crude but effective sWord he beat my sWord back into the trash I had started with. I decided then that enthusiasm for the fight always beats finesse. Most of the time anyway. I bet

As I recall those early days of being Barracuda the Pirate I got to thinking about Sand Key south of Key West, Florida and the day we took a bus man's holiday in May of 1956.

We are trainees in US Navy Schools Underwater Swimmer. It was a rare day away from our training and for our day off we are going to Sand Key do some more swimming, underwater sight seeing, spearfishing and rock lobster tail gathering.

With us went the Swim School Medical officer and his pregnant wife. She sat in a fold up yard chair on top of the engine box covering the 4/71 GM Diesel which powered the 36 foot long Landing Craft Personnel (LCP) with the shark's mouth painted in red and white on the bow.

At sand key the water was clean and clear. A rare treat for us going to be divers. The rock lobster hide in holes in the coral. One just reaches in, grab the helpless rock lobster by the feelers and apply a steady pressure and soon he/she/it will be pulled out of hiding and the tail will be removed removed.

The rest of the body still living (sort of) would drift to the bottom and set there twitching. A fifty five gallon oil drum is filled half way with rock lobster tails.

As the day wore on most of the divers having had enough holiday get back into the LCP. Some of us stay in the water and suddenly we are surrounded by The Great Barracudas. They are everywhere. They are big, silver colored, mean looking. They flash here and there they peer into your face mask. They are like magic, appearing-disappearing.

The Great Barracuda and us suspended there in the beautiful clear water, like swimming in air.

What a treat. To be remembered forever.

180

[JitterbugPerfume]

1. cool story

Barracuda