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 Sun and Sea 23 A James Gang Story by Mike C

   Feedback : mikec (at) nspace.net

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   "I tell you, after all the build up, as pretty as this is, it ain't
gonna cut it!' Amanda grumbled.

   "And kicking the water won't make it happen faster!" Hazel laughed, "I
know it's hard, but have some patience, OK dear?  We need to be here before
it starts, or we will miss it all!"

   'Here' was a spit of sand joining two of the many small rocky islands
the Bahamians called 'Keys' but were spelled 'Cays.'

   An hour before daylight, Hazel and Amanda had come on board, and we had
sailed 'Jester' 8-miles to a closed cove, framed by a ring of coral and
rocks.  A small dip on the seaward side had allowed sand to build up until
the entire basin was no more than 4-feet deep.

   In the crisp light of dawn, we had waded in until we reached a small
beach under overhanging cliffs.  Around us were about two miles of
glistening pink sandy shallows.

   "Why is there no vegetation in here?" Brenda asked, "and where are the
fish?"

   "That's a very good question," Smiled Hazel, "And all will be revealed
very soon!"

   "Hey," Sherri asked, "Didn't I hear about this herd of man-eating crocs
living around here?"

   "Do not even think about it!" Brenda poked her.

   "No, no!" Hazel laughed, "Nothing as nasty.  We are just waiting for the
sun to reach us over the rocks!"

   "Then what will happen?"

   "Nope, these lips are sealed!" Hazel laughed.

   "But honey!" Amanda slipped behind her, "After last night...  Remember
this..." Her arms slithered along her sides and around the front.

   "D-don't...  Amanda...  You promised!"

   "You made her promise?"

   "Y-yes..." Hazel stammered, "I knew this was going to happen...  So I
asked her..."

   "She bribed me!" Amanda grinned.  "You were SO amazing, honey!"

   "So, I bribed her..." Hazel continued redly, "Not to do...  Not to do
exactly what she is doing now!"

   "I'm such a bad person, after you worked so hard too..." Amanda
admitted, "I won't be surprised if you force me to pay back your bribe...
Right now!"

   "No...  no!" Hazel cried, "I-I forgive you!  You don't have to do
anything!"

   "So...  I don't have to keep my promise?"

   "Er..." Hazel looked around wildly, "Help...?"

   "Oh darn, I'll let you off this time" Amanda sighed, "It's no good when
you have such a low tolerance to immodesty!"

   "Damn," Sherri laughed, "I wanted to see whether Hazel wanted to bribe
me too!"

   "I don't seem to have much left by way of bribes anyway." Hazel
lamented.

   "Yeah, right..." Amanda laughed, "Especially after your dawn miracle
goes pffft!  Lord, I'm SO looking forward to getting..."

   "Shhh...  Hush...  They're coming!" Hazel reached into the bucket we
brought along and threw a handful of squid on to the water.  "Watch..." She
pointed to one end of the pool, where jet black shapes, almost six feet
wide and just as long were gliding towards us.

   "Man Oh man!  This is freaking wild!" Amanda breathed.

   "Whatever they are, they don't bite, do they?" Brenda asked.

   "No..." Hazel spoke quietly, excitement in her voice too, "In fact they
have no teeth...  Just don't stand in their way!"

   "I can promise you that!  Even without bribes!  So...  what are we
looking at?"

   Hazel paused to throw another handful of squid in, "They're Manta rays,
the gentle giants of the ocean.  These are the young ones - they stay near
shore for two years before going off on their own.  They love squid, so
grab a handful of them and follow me..." She stepped slowly into the group
of a dozen fish circling in front of us, picking up the squid from the
sandy bottom.  "Hold one in your palm..." She did, and lowered it into the
water.  A smaller ray, about a yard across, floated over and kissed her
hand, taking the food with it.

   "See!" She grinned widely, "It just tickles!  And that's a newborn! 
They get to be seven feet across by the time they're a year old.  Spread
out a bit so you don't spook them.  And make sure you don't touch their
bellies - they can sometimes pick up human bacteria from your touch!"

   Close up, the mantas showed white markings on a midnight-blue
diamond-shaped body and their long wing-like fins provided propulsion. 
Loose floppy lips guide water into thin fibrous membranes in their mouths
to filter out the pieces of food which they swallow.  Most of them had long
tails with a tiny sail fin at the tip.

   "Oh my god..." Amanda could barely contain her joy when she had a large
manta take a squid from her hand, then do an inside roll with wings tucked
to veer away.  "I can't believe this...  They are so very lovely!"

   "Yeah," Sherri said slowly, "They are so beautiful I want to cry."

   Soon the rays were swirling around us taking food as fast as we can hold
them out.

   "Okay, you have to stop now." Hazel said, "They should not stay here
much longer - sharks may scent them and attack them on the way out..."

   Slowly we retreated back to the beach and, without food to entice them,
the rays followed each other out through the lip of the cove.  In ten
minutes we were all alone again.

   "I want to come back tomorrow." Amanda said.

   "I want to live here forever!"

   "Yeah, how come with such a spectacular sight, no one's tried to
capitalize on it?"

   "Donnie came upon it quite by chance.  And it only happens every three
or four weeks, at no other time but sunrise." Hazel said, "Come, I will
show you the secret of Devilfish Cay." She led the way towards where the
rays had come from.  She looked at Brenda, "That should also answer why
there's no vegetation or fish here: The mantas clean everything up in their
path, they breathe and eat at the same time..."

   "Sounds like somebody we know, doesn't it?" Sherri said to Brenda.

   "You mean like this?" I wagged my tongue suggestively at her.

   "Something like that!" She laughed, then clutched me, "Oooh deeper
honey...  Yeah, yeah, that's the spot...  Ohh, ohhh, ohhh..." She wrapped
her leg on mine and shook quite convincingly, including leaving teeth marks
on my arm.

   "Damn, girl, I almost got off just watching you!" Amanda laughed.

   Hazel sighed, "I wish I could laugh and joke like you can!"

   "Of course you can!"

   "Maybe a part of me thinks I can, but part of me is telling me that
behavior like this is not appropriate in public!"

   "Baby, there's no one else here!  This is as private as you can get!"

   "Ah...  that's true isn't it..." Hazel thought about it, "So the part of
me that's saying its wrong is not really me...?"

   "No, it's not.  It's an artificial personality your culture, and your
environment has impressed on you..." Brenda said, "Think about it...  Until
you were three or four, it's quite okay to prance around naked.  But after
that, your parents start telling you that it's 'wrong' to do that.  They
did not try to explain the reasoning behind it, so gradually you just
accept it..." Brenda smiled sadly, "And the list just keeps growing: how
you dress, talk, and behave; all controlled by this list of 'wrongs.' "

   "Yeah..."

   "So you just have to learn to separate what's on the list, and what's
not!"

   "Yeah...  I have to work on that..." Hazel mulled.  "Ah...  here we
are..."

   The large bay had ended at a small rocky island.  Here the channel had
narrowed and deepened to twenty feet and, from underground, a stream of
water was bubbling up.

   "The rays came from here...  about fifteen feet down, there is a 'blue
hole' - see it?"

   We peered into the water and sure enough, deep in the pool was a faint
light, almost as if the rocks were glowing a pale blue.

   "What would have caused it?"

   "Come with me, but walk carefully!" Hazel led us up a small hill,
covered with spiky vines and tiny purple flowers.  Fifty feet later, we
came to an overhanging bluff over the pounding waves.

   "The waves made a cave under here!" She had to shout to be heard over
the thunder of the water, and, laying with our heads over the precipice, we
could see below us a jagged 30-feet opening in the dark rocks into which
the waves would surge and crash, sending spray over our heads.

   "Over a few hundred years, the waves have worn the cave through to the
other side.  And the light you saw is just light reflected from this side!"

   She took us back to the sand cove and continued, "Inside, the cave is
about 20-feet deep, with the opening on this side fifteen feet deeper than
the outside.  The juvenile rays swim into the cave to hide from predators
at night, and swim back out at daybreak.  But once or twice a month, peak
low tide happens just before daybreak, so they cannot get out the other
side and are forced to swim through the shallows on this side." She grinned
at us, "Isn't it amazing?"

   "Just...  breathtaking," Brenda said with awe.

   "Thank you for letting us see it!" I added.

   "I have never seen anything quite so spectacular," Sherri sighed.

   "So my bribe worked?" Hazel asked.

   "Fantastic, definitely a 10..." Amanda grinned, "As good as what I was
treated to last night!"

   "Oh!" Hazel said, a wide smile lighting up her face, "You really mean
it? Last night was good for you too?"

   "BETTER!  honey." Amanda answered, "Last night both of us were naked!"

   "And you weren't feeding dead squid raw to each other - I hope!" Sherri
added.

   "There was quite a bit of nibbling though!" Amanda confirmed.

   Hazel giggled then covered her mouth, turning bright red.  "You guys are
nasty!"

   "But...?"

   "But...  it's exciting!" Hazel admitted.  "Exciting in a nasty way!"

   "That's what I'm thinking baby!" Amanda hugged her, "You and me... 
doing the nasty!" They kissed, "Heh, your nipples are sticking into me!"

   "Y-your...  yours too!"

   "My what?"

   "Y-your...  your..." Hazel stopped, looking shocked, "Wow, I can't say
it!  I know I can say 'nipples', but only when I think about it
clinically...  But when it's sexual...  I can't!"

   "Now you see it!" Laughed Sherri, she pointed at Hazel's head, "The
LIST," then aimed her fingers at Hazel's breasts, "Nipples!" She repeated
it, "List...  Nipples...  List...  Nipples!"

   "I get it...  I think...  Nipples...  Nipples..." She rolled the word
around, "These are your nipples!  These are m-my-my nipples!  My nipples
are standing up!" Hazel burst out giggling, practicing her new word all the
way down to the boat.

   By the time we got there she was asking the girls to 'touch my nipples'
and collapsing in laughter when they made a move.

   "Wait...  Stop..." She waved her hands, "I need a rest...  Me and my
nipples need a rest!" She roared out her laughter and fell in a gurgling,
hiccuping heap on deck.

   She rolled on her back and wheezed, occasionally breaking out with a
weak giggle.

   Amanda straddled her and leaned down for a kiss, "Feeling okay?"

   "Yeah, more than okay...  You look like an angel...  My angel..." She
raised her arms and held them in a lazy kiss.

   "Well," I sighed, "This seems like a good time to get some breakfast!"
When they boarded, Hazel had also re-provisioned us with food and drinks. I
started sausages and bacon on the BBQ while the girls worked on coffee and
eggs in the galley.

   By the time we had the small table set up, the pair had done a quick
wash up and joined us.

   "I'm sorry..." Hazel started, "For my...  my behavior before..."

   "Honey, it's quite alright." Brenda smiled, "Nothing we haven't seen
before."

   "And remember rule One!" Mandie said, "You were having fun, and no one
was unhappy..."

   "Yeah..." Hazel sipped her milk, "I guess I was apologizing to the
List..."

   "It will take a little time," I said, "You cannot unlearn everything
overnight, even if you wanted to!"

   "I WANT to!" She said.  "I can see now how damaging unreasoning rules of
Do's and Don'ts are!"

   "Just remember that some are useful - like 'look before you leap,' which
may save you from getting into trouble which you may not get out of!"

   "But don't you SEE?  Without the knowledge of the KIND of trouble you
can get into, it's useless information!" Hazel insisted.

   "True...  So what we need are general guidelines, with explanations as
needed."

   "Yeah.." Hazel nodded, "Guidance with explanations and adjustments as
the experience grows.  I can see you need very perceptive parents to get
that kind of guidance!"

   "That, and supportive friends!" Amanda nodded.

   "Yeah...  That's exactly what I need!" Hazel looked around, "Will you be
that for me?"

   "Of course!"

   "And me?  Do you only want support from me?" Amanda asked.

   "I want whatever you want...  Baby!" Hazel smiled, "I look at you and my
entire being, list and everything, is certain you are pure, sweet and
innocent.  And GOOD!" Hazel took her hand, "When I'm with you, everything
is just FUN!  I have no conflicts holding you and touching you!" A sigh,
"Except when you do it in front of too many people!"

   "Present company included?"

   "Well, I think I can get around that...  If you give me some time..."

   "And Amanda will give you that time...  Right?"

   "Er, yes boss, Master, I mean!"

   "You don't have to tell her," Hazel hugged her, "I'm sure she will be
understanding!"

   "Damn, Hazel, this is added responsibility!  I'm not good at it!"

   "You will, baby, I'll stay with you and we will both learn together,
OK?" She stopped short and covered her mouth.  "Wow, I can't believe I said
that!  I was suggesting that Amanda do something she clearly dislikes so
that she can be somebody she's not!  And...  and it all SEEMED the right
thing for her to do!"

   "Nah, I wouldn't have been able to stick with it anyways!" Amanda
grinned.

   Hazel took Amanda's hands, "I'm sorry...  This List is making things
very weird..." She smiled, "I'll make it up to you...  Something pretty
amazing!"

   "I don't suppose you're gonna strip for us?" Amanda asked.  "Hey you
didn't flinch at all that time!"

   "I'm learning honey!  So you think there's hope for me yet?" Hazel
laughed, adding a kiss, "Ask me later?  No, this morning I thought we can
go visit the tarpons."

   "Really?"

   "Yeah, but instead of catching them, which, by the way, you'll have to
release because they're in the No-Take zone; we can go visit them at their
home!"

   Amanda's wide grin said she had no problem with that.

   Hazel sat us down and explained the dive, "This is usually reserved for
a more advanced open-water excursion, but conditions now are perfect; so
just be careful and remember your lessons and you'll be fine.  What I have
in mind are two 'E' level dives; we will go to about 35-feet, loiter 30
minutes and return to the boat.  If you want to explore more, we can repeat
after a short surface rest.  Or we can try another site about 200-feet
away." She opened up the Sea-life catalog and continued, "We will be
exploring a coral structure, and you will see both fan and cluster
formations; we will come across most of these life-forms, so familiarize
yourself with them." She looked at Brenda, "If we see any sharks, they will
be Reef or Nurse sharks, which are not aggressive and will not attack us.
But under no circumstances should you panic and rush to the surface, OK?"

   "Yeah," Brenda nodded, "I think I can handle it better now - I was quite
OK with the Manta rays just now."

   "That's good to know.  We have 10 or 15 minutes to get our gear on, I
suggest full body wet suits - the water has not begun to warm up yet.  And
booties and gloves for all reef dives."

   I inputted the coordinates Hazel gave me in ePilot and we suited up,
helping each other go through the pre-dive prep and check-list.

   "See the large white buoy?  Cruise by and hook the pickup line, now
cinch your bow-line to it.  They are chained to pitons driven into solid
bedrock...  Always use them if they're available.  Reef Relief surveys all
the reefs here and put them around coral growths to avoid anchor drag
harming them.  The Outer Islands has the world's third largest barrier reef
system and is considered one of the few pristine sites left.  Now help each
other with your tanks and follow me."

   With one last check of the regulators and air supply, Hazel went in the
water first, set up the "Divers down" flag, then signaled 'OK'.  One by one
we followed, easing ourselves face first off the edge of the transom.

   We tracked Hazel down by pulling ourselves along the anchor line.  The
sun was still sharply angled and made dancing mosaics in the water and the
rippled sand bottom far below us.  We hit a thermocline around 22 feet and
suddenly the already cool water dropped another 10 degrees.  The pressure,
and the palpable immenseness closed in and once again, we were reminded how
alone we were in a totally inhospitable environment.

   A dark shape loomed to the left and Hazel pointed us to it, reminding us
to dial in our new direction before releasing the rope and swimming in the
new course.  To prevent getting disoriented and to avoid diving sickness,
we had to remember the 3D's: Depth, Direction and Distance for each leg of
our trek, with Distance measured by the number of 'kicks' of our flippers.
Simple computers on our BCDs record that against time and can give us an
instant vector to return to our origin, subject to current adjustments.

   We had to change course again as we realized that the dark mass was a
moving body, composed of thousands of striped fish; Sergeant-Majors, whose
brilliant yellow body and stark black stripes resemble the sleeve
decoration on army uniforms.  Each was about 6-inches long and would dart
out to attack our fingers and hair as they swim past.  Just as quickly they
would jink away from our grasping hands.  Brenda hugged me, grinning past
her mouthpiece, eyes glittering with joy.

   We followed Hazel's signal and descended to almost 40-feet, where the
bottom showed dark clumps of algae and some longer grasses, barely lit by
the sun overhead.  The temperature dropped to 45-degrees as we passed
another temperature layer.

   The vegetation grew more abundant and we were thrilled upon finding our
first ocean coral, a fast-growing elk-horn, about 2-feet tall, but showing
little buds of new growth already.  Hiding behind that was a clump of
yellow and bluish sea anemone, with a parrot fish, a hermit-crab and some
shrimps using it for home.

   We followed a vein of old coral, half buried in the sand, dark with age
and decay, but with growths of vibrant branches all around it.  This was
the red coral which gives the sand of the Bahamas its unique pink hue. 
Tufts of grass and anemone with attending schools of fingerlings were
colorful fixtures to the dark rocks.

   Hazel stopped us and pointed.  In a clump of ancient reef, a teeth-lined
mouth peeked out; a large Moray, Tobie's uncle, was resting in its cave,
waiting for its next meal.  We gave it a wide berth.

   We swam through a swarm of inch-long Yellow Tangs and stopped in front
of an immense spray of spiny growth commonly called Fan coral, whose thin
branches reached ten or more feet above us.  Wrasse, the classic denizens
of the reef, were more in evidence, weaving in and out of the coral; they
were joined by big-eyed red Soldier fish and I thought I saw a Cow fish,
but it quickly darted away.

   Hazel skirted around a cluster of coral, like a miniature castle
surrounded by a grassy moat.  Then she pointed up: growing out of a forest
of kelp and colorful grasses and anemone in front of us and reaching
thirty-feet up to the surface, was an immense coral-rock formation.  The
base was probably fifty-feet across and the structure reminded me of the
Empire State building.  Every few 'floors', plants bloomed, and each
supported its own population of colorful fish.

   Three-quarter of the way up the reef was perforated by large ragged
holes and as we watched, a school of massive silver fish swam out from
them. They were four or five feet long, some over six feet, each easily
twelve inches wide at the gills.  We slowly rose for a closer view and
Amanda hung on my arm shaking in glee: They were tarpons, two dozen of
them, using the holes for cover and to raise their young.

   A few huge members were obviously in charge of security: they would
charge forward while shaking their massive square jaws, only to veer away
at the last moment.  We circled at a healthy twenty feet and watched as
they used the same tactics to chase off barracudas and groupers, including
a rare Nassau Grouper.  They were joined by more and more of their numbers
as the colony returned from their night feeding.

   Hazel signaled us and pointed to her watch, time was almost up; but she
signed a question, 'Up?  Or ten minutes more?' We all wanted to stay and
she led the way to a stretch of silt with large and small rocks, almost
fifty feet down.  She motioned us to stay and handed us a large mesh net
from a pocket in her vest.

   Slowly she swam to a small rock, and, with a lunge, closed her glove on
it; it flexed and churned furiously in the sand.  And when she swam back,
we could see she had a large clawless lobster in her hand; a langoustine,
as Gary calls it.  She dropped it into the net and went back - each small
'rock' was a lobster, curled up and half-buried in the sand to wait for
dark.  When we had three in the bag, she signaled for us to return, but
took a detour for Sherri to snag two large sea urchins from the reef to add
in the net.  We stayed along the bottom and had eight of the spiny urchins
by the time we reached the anchor chain.

   The sun was out, and for a change, we did not complain about the heat.
Our bodies, chilled by the cold water, needed the warmth and we luxuriated
in it.  And three feet away, hanging off the boat in a wriggling mesh net,
was lunch.

   "I thought you said this is a No-Take Zone?" Amanda asked, "Aren't we
breaking the law?"

   "No," Smiled Hazel, "We just cannot TAKE anything out of it.  It's no
problem if we eat what we catch here." She passed out water bottles, "Drink
- with the dive, and the sun, you need to drink a bottle right now!"

   "We only used up 50-minutes of air, can we go back later?" Sherri asked.

   "No, it's a little too close to the minimum for a dive like this.  Also,
I have some things to do in town this afternoon."

   "Come with?" Asked Amanda.

   "What?"

   "She means 'Can she come with you?' " Laughed Sherri.

   "If you want...  I'm going with Eva and Donnie to pick up food for
Thursday."

   "Isn't the Reef Relief office in town?  I want to get some information
about these reefs from them." I said.

   "Yes, I can show you around too!"

   "Notice how she gets all smiley and sweet when he's saying something?"
Amanda snickered.

   "I'd do that, and more with you," Smiled Hazel, "But I didn't want to
shock you with my forwardness..."

   "I wished you would..." Sighed Amanda, "I need some warming up..." She
opened her arms and welcomed Hazel between them.

   "Well, I'm for a quick shower," Sherri stood, holding her hands out to
Brenda and me, "Come with?"

   = = = = =

   (C) Copyright 2001-2009.  MikeC. All Rights Reserved. All Reproduction
for fee or profit forbidden.

   Copies of this and other stories can be downloaded from:
<http://www.asstr.org/files/Authors/MikeC/JAMES/Sun&Sea/>
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