Hit 500 dives last month and still almost lost my fins to a curious seal

I hit my 500th commercial dive mark last month while doing harbor inspection work in Portland. The weird part was I didn't even realize it until I checked my logbook later that night. I thought my 500th would be some big milestone dive with a crew celebration or something. Instead it was just me, a rusty piling, and a seal that tried to swim off with my left fin for about 10 minutes. Nobody else on the boat even cared when I mentioned it. Has anyone else had a big number sneak up on them like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

milam481mo ago

Wait, you're telling me you did 500 dives and didn't even know it until you checked your logbook? That's kind of beautiful actually. My 1000th cave dive snuck up on me the same way. I was just doing a standard line recovery job in a spring, hauling out old cave line that some idiot left tangled everywhere. A big ol' grouper kept bumping my light trying to eat the little shiners that were following me around. Didn't feel special at all. But honestly, I think those quiet milestones are way better than forced celebrations. Gives you a chance to realize you've gotten so comfortable with the work that you've stopped counting.

parkerbrown1mo agoMost Upvoted

Had a buddy @milam48, missed his 600th dive completely, realized it later that night when he was logging it and just laughed, said he spent the whole day thinking about what beer he wanted after instead of the dive count. Those are the good ones for sure.