John III getting dinner about 40+ years ago

John II giving instructions to his class about 30+ years ago

Always give complete instructions.

I went to the Gulf of California, we called it, “the Sea of Cortez”, four different summers in my boats. Twice in my 32 foot Luhrs, and twice in my 60 foot Coast Guard buoy tender, which had been retired and converted into a private boat. Then I went one more time in my kayak, (see the book, We Survived Yesterday). On the kayak trip we only went as far as Cabo San Lucas, a distance of over 1000 miles. We figured that was far enough in a kayak.

One of the trips. I had my son John III, and his step brother Greg, with me. We were anchored at Isla Cerralvo, which is between Cabo San Lucas, and La Paz. This area is famous for having hammerhead sharks. We had seen schools of them, 7 to 12 feet long, from the boat before we anchored, the water was very clear. We decided to go snorkeling. My son, Johnny, and I were sitting on the swim step putting on our gear, when my son asked, “What do I do if I see a big shark?”

I told him not to panic or swim fast, because that would get the shark’s attention and excite it. Just swim slowly to the closest place to get out of the water. We slipped into the water off the swim step. Johnny was young, I think 12 years old at the time, and I was keeping a close watch on him.

He was doing very well and was relaxed, and having a good time in the clear water, seeing the wonders of the subsurface environment below him. I glanced over to where I had last seen him, about 50 feet to my right, and he wasn’t there. I looked all around, 360° underwater and he wasn’t anywhere to be seen within the visibility range at that time. I lifted my head up and looked for him on the surface. There he was, perched on top of a sharp pinnacle rock that was just sticking out of the water a few feet, about 100 yards away. I swam over to him and asked what happened, I thought he might have said, “I have a cramp” or,” I got cold.”

He said, “I saw a huge shark, and did what you told me to do.” I realized then that my instructions had not been complete. They should have included, tell me if you see a big shark so I get out of the water, too.

Another Inadequate Instruction
On the same trip above, we were anchored further up into the Gulf of California at a different island, and Johnny and I were in the water together again. It was several weeks after the shark incident, and Johnny was getting to be quite good in the water. I was still keeping an eye on him when we were diving, but he was doing very well and diving on his own to depths of around 20 feet. He was using a spear gun now that I gave him to spear our dinner fish. It was a single rubber gun that he could load himself. The water was not very clear where we were diving and visibility was only about 20 feet. I was proudly watching my son dive down looking for fish for our dinner. He was becoming a good diver very rapidly.
I happen to be behind him, when he didn’t tuck-over and make a dive. As he was disappearing in the cloudy water. I saw him raise his gun, but the water wasn’t clear enough for me to see what he was going to shoot. I dove down above him and to look at what he was about to shoot. When I saw it, it was a Volkswagen with fins. One of the biggest fish I have ever seen. A huge big grouper that must have weighed 400 pounds. His gun had 15 feet of line on it, and the water was 30 feet deep. I saw him take aim and I shouted through my snorkel, don’t shoot, John, which, of course, no one could hear. He fired, and the shaft was well-placed, just behind the gigantic head, and it only penetrated, thank God, just enough to hold it there for a few seconds, then the shaft fell dropped down and fell out.

The fish never even flinched. He just lazily swam along. We both swam back to the surface and Johnny was jazzed. He told me the whole story from his viewpoint and how he stocked it, but it got away. When he was through, I asked him how he planned to land it. Didn’t you think it was a little too big? His answer knocked me for a loop. He said, “You always told me, no fish is too big to spear.” It was then that I realized that I was an arrogant diver, and had to learn to give more detailed instructions