 Doug and Julie
I tell people that Julie and I met in the Cayman Islands while on a live aboard scuba diving trip in the summer of 2005. Actually we met several months before that during the pre-trip meeting at 'The Dive Shop' in Fairfax Virginia, but I like the surprised looks I get when I use the Cayman Islands line. People find it hard to believe that while living so close to one another that we would meet so far away from home.
Julie and I both tell the story a little different but I will give you my version for now...
We actually met for the first time in June of 2005 while at The Dive Shop in Fairfax for a pre-trip meeting. We had both signed up at the last minute for a live aboard scuba trip to the Cayman Islands. I had received a call from John Wall, the owner of The Dive Shop, about three weeks before and was asked if I wanted the last slot on this trip. I told him I would have to think about it and I would let him know.
A week went by and I received another call from John telling me "last chance...what do you want to do?" Well, I needed a vacation anyway so I told him to sign me up. About a week later he called again and asked if I minded sharing a room with a female diver. My first question was "is she married?" John told me she was not and that since her and I were the only single people on the trip (and the last two to sign up) that it would make life much easier if we could share a state room.
I didn't see a problem with it and I told John that as long as she didn't have a issue it would be fine. I was planning on spending most of my time in the ocean anyway. On a live aboard dive trip you can do as many as five dives a day...that doesn't leave much time for anything else but eating and sleeping.
Julie had signed up for this trip at the last minute as well. I found out later that she had originally planned on going to Mexico on a dive trip for work, but was denied permission for a medical reason. Since Julie had just purchased a new underwater camera and housing, this was just enough to piss her off and make her start looking for other options. When she stumbled upon the Cayman trip John Wall was running the trip was almost full and she was the second to the last to sign up.
The pre-trip meeting is where divers get a chance to meet one another and information about the trip including travel documents are handed out. I arrived at The Dive Shop around 6 pm on the Friday of the meeting and found John setting up chairs in the front. He and I caught up a little bit as the other divers started to show up. Only about half the people that were going on the trip made it to the meeting.
When Julie showed up the meeting had already started (yes, she was about 20 minutes late) but nothing major had been discussed yet. John gave out the travel document packets and then read off the state room assignments. I thought I saw some relief cross julie's face as my name was called and John pointed in my direction. After the meeting was over Julie and I talked for a while and then agreed to meet at the pool for a check out dive before the trip.
To make a long story a little shorter, we went to the Cayman Islands and had a great time diving together. It helped that we both had a common interest in underwater photography but I thought we got along very well the entire week. The last night we were there, the whole group decided to go out to dinner in Georgetown, Grand Cayman and then retire back to the boat before our trip out the next morning.
Julie and I decided to keep in touch and maybe go on some other dive trips together in the future. I think we actually started dating about three weeks later on August 7th during a dive trip to Topsail Beach, North Carolina. And as they say...the rest is history!! |
