"The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever."
- Jacques-Yves Cousteau -
That's just the way Jesus/God wired my brain.
I can't help myself. I am constantly thinking of new ways to do things.
As a teen growing up in the Virgin Islands in the 1960's, I was largely cut off from the flow of scientific knowledge that I craved. There was one exception, however; National Geographic Magazine.
I was always particularly thrilled when NatGeo featured one of my heroes,
Cousteau's projects were often "cover material." Whenever one of those issues arrived, I would devour it. I would be lost in my imagination for days, contemplating sharing in the adventure.
Together with engineer Émile Gagnan, Cousteau in the early 1940's developed and produced a tool that has been used world-wide ever since to enable exploration of the oceans.
I had abundant opportunity to snorkel.
The "tools of the trade" were simple, and my dad made sure we always had several sets available. I became quite expert at the skill. But though I could never afford it, I always wished that I had SCUBA gear.
You see, when snorkeling, if you wish to explore beneath the surface of the water, you must take a deep breath and then dive while holding it in. You can only remain submerged for as long as you can bear to not breathe.
What I really wanted was a Jacques Cousteau AquaLung, a.k.a. SCUBA, a Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus.
Alan was the smartest kid in 7th grade back in The States. He once told us how he had built a UBA (Underwater Breathing Apparatus) and tried it out in his bathtub. I decided to try and assemble something like it.
I got my hands on a discarded plastic jug. After thoroughly rinsing it out, I cut out the bottom. Then I taped a heavy duty plastic bag securely around the now open end.
The result was a flexible air chamber of about two gallons capacity, inflated.
Next, I cut the mouthpiece off of an old snorkel tube and taped it to the mouth of the jug.
Inflating the "lung" with fresh air was a simple matter of pushing the plastic bag diaphram all the way into the jug. This forced out any stale air. Then pulling the bag completly out, drawing in two gallons of fresh air.
The finishing touch was to strap a cement-block counterweight to the side of the jug. Without the added ballast, I'd never be able to submerge.
I tested the rig at one of my favorite snorkel beaches just south of Frederiksted. I don't recall now whether I had to tinker with the ballast arrangement, but once I was submerged, my dreams of SCUBA diving were finally fulfilled. (To a limited extent.)
For the first time in my life, I actually experienced the thrill of breathing underwater. Of course, my time submerged was limited. My rig contained two gallons of "extra air," only about one third of a cubic foot. Compare that to the 80 cubic feet in a standard SCUBA tank.
With each breath, the percentage of carbon dioxide in my air supply increased. Eventually, that increase in CO2 would drive me to the surface for fresh air. Within two or three minutes, my lungs were telling me it was time to come up for more air.
I was actually doing it. I was breathing underwater. All the mysteries of brightly colored tropical fish, coral reef, and sea fans were mine.
I was living the adventure.
Thanks for your time and attention.
You are why I'm here on Steemit!
I have very eclectic interests and hope, over time, to write about them all.
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