The Reef Roamer (The Roamer Series Book 1) by Deborah D. Moore Page B

likely you are to brush against the corals. We protect the coral at all costs. Marge, what is the atmospheric pressure at sixty-six feet?”
    “Two,” she replied quickly.
    “Good. And at thirty-three feet?”
    “One. It increases one atmosphere every thirty-three feet.” Marge beamed with pleasure at her newfound information.
    “Alright, we’re going to practice breathing with the regulators…”
    The lessons continued over the next hour, with the four of them sitting in the water at various depths. Every now and then, Jayme would drift ten or fifteen feet out from them, switch on her camera, and swim back to them, always eliciting joyous waves of hello for the camera.
    At one thirty in the afternoon, Daniel and Jayme were ready to take the Thomases on their first shore dive. Jayme had explained that while she would be Marge’s buddy for the dive, most of the time she would stay ten to thirty feet away so she could video what they were doing. Daniel didn’t argue with Jayme’s plan, as the dive would be in relatively shallow water, and the surface easily reached in the event of a problem. Besides, the elderly couple had proved to be apt students.
    “Okay, Marge, let me see you prepare your mask. Good,” Daniel commented when she smeared the inside of the face plate with de-fogger and rinsed it off lightly with fresh water. “Now the two of you check each other’s equipment.”
    “You two look like old pros at this,” Jayme said. Her commentary from the water was encouraging to the pair. “Super, now swim toward me some, let the air out of your BC and begin your descent with Daniel.”
    While the duo did as instructed, Jayme guided her camera to water level, following them below as they descended. The effect would be phenomenal, water splashing against the lens, then clearing as it reached full submersion.
    Jayme stayed fairly close until the pair relaxed. Soon they began to show the normal curiosity about what was on the ocean floor, and Jayme drifted away to get a better angle. Having planned many underwater videos, Jayme knew the Thomases would want to see on film the same things they were seeing up close. She panned away from the trio and focused on the honey damsel fish off to her left. Soon a yellowtail snapper became curious and joined the four eye butterfly fish that had wandered into view. A school of blue chromis was dodging in and out the tube corals, and Jayme deftly captured them on the digital film.
    When she spotted a tiger grouper approaching the group, Jayme remembered the treats in her pocket. She swam over to Marge and tapped her on the arm to get her attention. Jayme held up her hand, palm to Marge, to indicate ‘wait’, then she unzipped one of her many BC pockets and pulled out a plastic baggie filled with strips of ham from the morning breakfast table. She gave Marge and Jim each several strips, giving the rest, including the baggie, to Daniel, who pocketed it and nodded, knowing immediately what she had in mind. The trio was soon surrounded by a spectacular feeding frenzy involving many varieties of colorful fish. Blue-headed wrasse, stoplight parrotfish, indigo hamlets, and the ever-present yellow jacks joined together to form a curtain between Jayme and the others. The surprised and delighted look on Marge’s face filled Jayme with a warm glow.
    The dive was quickly coming to an end. Daniel had allowed the Thomases to stay down much longer than Jayme had anticipated. Nearly forty-five minutes. She took her place by Marge as they made their leisurely way toward the shore. Near the surface, Jayme pulled the camera up barely below surface level and switched it on. She slowly brought it up and out of the water, like a surfacing submarine. Holding the camera steady while bobbing in the water was not easy, but she did capture the couple climbing out of the water and sprawling on the beach in satisfied exhaustion.
    “Good dive, people!” Daniel grinned. “I’m really proud of you,