Searching for a Good Camera

"Just throw it! I'll take a picture of you." Julia is swimming deep offshore in Laguna Atitlan. I'm diving off something or other.

"It'll sink if we miss it," I've been here before. This camera has history. There has been more than one rescue from the bowels of a water body.

"Don't miss." She has come in closer now. Egg beater with both hands ready to receive.

I draw back my arm. Take a step forward and swing the camera in a gentle arch. I even remember adjusting for the wind. The camera sails through the air. Short! It's a terrible toss. Two feet short of the target. Kerglunkah.

Julia chases the flickering reflection of the camera screen as it sinks but thick weeds halt her pursuit after a little over a meter. We exchange glances and some laughter at the most unfortunate of "Told ya so"s.  Some naked children see the blunder and come to lend a hand with the rescue. They rely on vision - but it's too dark to see down there.

We begin a grid search using only touch on the bottom of the lake. Lots of weeds and a beer can. Hopeless. I excavate a 3m x 3m square over a period of about an hour. It's more than 200 lbs of water soaked vegetation. Then start to search in the dark using touch.

Search

All of the photos from the trip are lost! I'm kicking myself. Stupid. At least I have my cellphone camera.

Twenty minutes pass. The lake is landlocked stagnant water with no rivers out. The ground is covered in cans and  there is a small recess in the middle of the search zone where the garbage gets really deep. Gross.

But it's here somewhere!

The sun departs behind thick clouds and soon it's raining. I'm out of breath and shivering in the cold. I've been over this grid so many times. Despair.

An hour in this garbage and Julia arrives with a diving mask, a snorkel, and rejuvenated hope.
Another half hour and we have given up. But you can see almost a foot with the mask - which is a great help. Just one more search.

I came up out of the water shooting with a happy Julia!

Mask and some of the weeds.

One cold rescuer.