From its first appearance in Scotland, the game of golf as a pastime has fascinated, confounded and challenged all ages. It became a prestigious pastime in the Middle Ages. Not surprising, few golfers are gifted and many well-meaning golf balls fall into what is normally called an ‘irretrievable circumstances’. This is why irretrievable means that it’s impossible to find the right item for everyone, except a few. It’s a lucrative venture for many entrepreneurs, and they have found that recovering these items can bring them both profit and adventure.
The sixty-footer
My company had advised me to be cautious as the lake pools on the course are darker than others. This was due to the fact that they were created from sand dug during construction of the nearby retirement community. Since I have never swum in deep waters, I was a bit nervous when I arrived at the course. My first lake was about 15 feet deep. It was dark, as I had been warned. It was full of sharp, jagged rocks so I needed to slow down. I would rate the course as a 9. It was very inhospitable. It’s okay, I have been to black obstacles ponds before. After my first dive, I realized that it wasn’t going be so scary.
Par three is the next lake I find. This par three shot across should contain plenty of balls, due to how large the water is between the flags. They will always hit the water no matter what direction they go. To my delight, the visibility in the lake was excellent when I reached it. It was a great place to play golf. The edge was steep and very steep with large boulders, rocks and other debris. It was clear that this lake isn’t very bad. The top edge was the first thing I did. Climbing among the boulders proved to be a good way to get the ball. In a matter of ten minutes, I was able to fill a bag with eight hundred balls from the top edge. The top edge was so good, I thought the bottom must also be amazing. It looked blacker as I walked down the edge. At this point, the water had already reached twenty feet deep. It was strange! As I got closer, the area became blacker because it dropped vertically. To find out how deep it was, I tried to climb as high as possible without falling. It fell after I dropped it. This was not fun. I looked into the pit of hell and it started to get boring. I tried crawling along the edges of the dropoff to determine if it was there, if not. It was straight down all the way! Because of how many balls there would be, I was certain that I wouldn’t lose so much money if I didn’t drop this thing. The edge was too deep for me so I leapt off it. It’s a golf course! To avoid hitting the wall, I kept pushing hard off the edge. It was first I saw it getting darker, then more black. Then it became pitch black. As I plunged into the deep abyss I felt as though I was falling for thirty seconds. After falling into the water, I was unable to stop myself from slipping onto the wet bottom. A quick look revealed that I was surrounded by thousands upon thousands of golf ball. The next step was to locate the wall so that I could see the edges and not get lost. I was aware that the water in this hell pool would quickly fill my lungs and it would become dangerous to attempt an emergency ascent. It was possible to bend or embolise the lungs. It was not fun to live in this place. I was feeling all around me and not moving, so I decided to look for the wall. Turns out, I was only a few feet away from the wall when it happened. It was good that I kept one hand on the wall so it didn’t get lost. Also, I moved slowly. My apron was quickly full so I started to pile golf balls in it. I suddenly felt my head touch something. I felt over me and stopped. I discovered that I was under an overhang. It’s now clear that there are tons and tons of rock around my entire body. The overhang was 3 feet away from me. I wouldn’t let it fall or break. This was the end of it! It was not worth spending money to play in such a dangerous pond. So I settled down in one place and reached out to fill my apron. After being at the bottom of the pool for about fifteen minutes, I realized that my air was getting very thin at this point. How do I make it to the top? My gear and nine hundred balls are all on my back. The plan was to hike down and climb the wall. It was a very vertical wall, so this would be difficult! As I stood next to it, I pulled myself up onto the wall with my other hand. The rock that I was holding broke in my hand as I fell to the ground. This is now making me nervous. The next time I try again, it is too late. I am now sitting on the ground and pondering the best method to climb the wall. Or should I inflate my balloons and pray for the best? What do I do? Because my air is already becoming thin, I don’t have the time or resources to do it. This is evident when your air leaves the second stage. After thinking about it for some time, I finally come up with something that would work. The wall could be used to slow down my rise, but not too high that it makes me dangerous. After I had inflated enough to slowly start to rise, I grabbed hold of the wall to slow myself down. Keep moving along the wall, I changed my grips to keep myself slowly inflating. I finally saw the middle edge after about six minutes. After feeling relieved, I was able to climb up the middle edge. After I had reached the top of the edge, I released my BCD and let it go so that I would not rise again. The edge was reached at about fifteen feet. In accordance with my diving training, I stopped the climb and simply sat there for about five minutes to relax. You do this in order to avoid getting bent. You can either gas off your vehicle or let the nitrogen buildup in your body dissipate by stopping within fifteen feet of water. This was because I didn’t know how deep I was, so I decided it was safest to do. When I emerged from the water, I checked my gauge to see that there was only 200 pounds of air remaining. I only had a couple of minutes to breathe.
It was about sixty feet deep, and I discovered this when I went back to the cart barn. It was a course that most divers would skip. This was too close to my heart! That day I learned that it was not worth the risk. That was the worst dive I have ever done!
The saltwater course
It was the first time I’d been to a saltwater course. It was connected directly to the ocean via large 12 by 12-foot pipes. All the marine life could be found there. It was fun to watch all of the interesting things swim past while collecting golf balls. Each pond on the course has a nickname.
The Fish Bowl
It was the closest thing to the ocean, and it was said that was just overflowing with fish life. It was crystal clear and I could see fish swimming around, as well as seagrass to my right that contained small crabs and conchs. It was amazing. As I descended to the edge I saw balls all around, from top to middle. Many of the balls contained barnacles, and some were only one large barnacle. The barnacles contained tiny creatures. That was amazing! I thought my apron which usually holds nine hundred balls, would be much smaller. This would mean that I would need to empty the apron into rice bags a lot more than I normally do. My ball apron was also being punctured by sharp barnacles. I was able to reach the bottom at twenty-five feet because of how long the edge was. The bottom edge was covered in hundreds of balls. There were many fresh ones, but also some with coral and barnacles attached. While doing the side to sides sweep, my hands got stung. So I made the decision to try the see-be method of collecting in places you won’t feel and just grab what I see. You had to wear gloves when you were doing this course. The dust cloud that I had made was making the water pitch black. I glanced behind me. I was just a little further ahead than the pair of horseshoe crabs that were following me. This is a great sight in a pond on a golf course. A stingray was visible a bit ahead of me. Although it was covered in sand, its movements were camouflaged. I became blinded for about a minute as the stingray flew off. This was a bad feeling, knowing that so much of the dangerous marine life lived in these ponds. Three bags of ninety-one balls were already on the bank, and I was only a short distance away. This lake was full. A log was submerged under the lake’s surface, and underneath it was a nurse shark of five to six feet. It also fled as I approached. As I was continuing my journey, I noticed giant blue-purplish jellyfish floating in the water. The water was moving slowly according to the currents. It was covered with giant jellyfish the size of bread saucers. The underside looked almost like weeds. The jelly fish sat down upside-down on the ground. Your hands made contact with them and they then began to sting you. It was amazing to see the ocean from this position. It would have been an enjoyable dive, if gloves were available. My bottom edge was slowly moving and I got a strange feeling that something was watching me, darting away whenever I turned towards its direction. After a moment, I looked around to see a six-foot barracuda a few feet to my right and above me. These fish are curious and will follow you wherever you go. He followed my lead for most of the dive, sometimes darting between the bubbles made by the regulator.
Sherwood Forest
As my golf car pulls up to the lake, several iguanas leap off the trees and bolt into the water. They are almost as fast as fish. Because it’s so black and deep, this is the bottom of the long lake. This is the other end of the lake, and I’m about to jump. It should have plenty of ball catchers. It is named Sherwood forest because it allows you to get into the water. It was as clear as a fish bowl. On my left, bushes were hanging into the water where dozens upon dozens of snappers rested in their hiding places. A couple of feet further down, the water became murkier. This is where I discovered why the area was named Sherwood forest. There were many trees around the center of 20 feet of water. When they created the lake, this was a tiny valley. They didn’t remove the trees, they cut them down mid-way. It was great, I was climbing in a forest under water. However, my dust cloud eventually caught me up and now I’m climbing through an entire obstacle course. Crashed into tree trunks and getting caught on branches as I climb beneath half-uprooted trees. After about 15 minutes, a branch is caught underneath my mask. As I go forward, it tears the strap off my mask. My eyes shut, I look around for my mask before deciding to abandon Sherwood Forest to Robin and his friends.
Saltwater crocodile
Once I have tied my mask strap into a knot, I can continue diving. The Croc Shot is a par-3 shoot. This is a deep lake with an edifice that has a steep edge. The water is clear and dark. Because this lake is so far from the ocean it is brackisher than salt. This lake is home to very little wild life. The steep slope was very steep so I was able to slide down the other side. There were hundreds of balls lined up on each other as I climbed towards the bottom. It was amazing. I had already accumulated a lot of balls by the time i reached the bottom edge. My dust cloud was gone and I continued climbing, picking up more renegade golf balls as the journey went. As I was placing my catch in a rice bag, right in front my green mask, a golfball struck the water. The water sprayed into my face like needles. I glanced up to see other golfers out there teeing off. My mask was quickly removed and I got underneath the water to avoid being hit. I can tell that the water dropped hard on me and it would have hurt me to hit it. After several minutes, I woke up to find the other golfers on the fairway next to me. One of the golfers said it was very close. I laughed and then threw his ball back to him. As I was tying up my rice sack I saw an alligator just a few feet away. This alligator was a bit different from your normal alligator. He was different, but I was not able to pinpoint what. At seven feet, he was sitting under trees on the bank. It was a good idea to crawl back after my dive. A maintenance man commented to me as i was climbing out of the lake, “I can’t believe that you dived with this thing.” I laughed and replied that we do dive with them every day, so they aren’t bothering you. Crocodiles, he said. That was when I noticed my eyes widen. Crocodiles can be extremely dangerous, and they are more aggressive than other alligators. It turns out that this is a part of an ecological preserve, and it’s one of few Florida locations where you can actually see crocodiles. It was a lake that I had never been to before, so it made me think twice about diving in there again.
Tarpon Alley
The Croc Shot was also found in this lake at the back. This is brackish, deep water. Just to be sure, I didn’t share water with man eating Crocodiles. The amount of wildlife in the lake was incredible. There were snappers whizzing by and crabs all around. It’s a perfect spot to fish, I thought. The edge was steep and I heard a huge whoosh. Was that really what it was? I looked up and saw twenty-six shiny, four- to six-foot long fish swimming past. Wow, this is amazing. I reached the middle and discovered they were all Tarpon. These fish can reach up to 6 feet in length. They were so calm and peaceful, not one of them seemed to be bothered at all by me. They allowed me to get very close, so I just stood there and watched these fish move by. Thinking, “Stuff the golf balls! Where’s my fishing line?”Is that you?
Jellyfish lane
The shoot was nestled among mangrove swamps. At best, the water was about waist deep. The bottom was covered in sea grass and hundreds upon thousands of jellyfish shaped saucers all around the lake. The ocean was linked to it via a eight-foot pipe. It was almost like an ocean diving experience. The jelly fish were everywhere and I felt a little scared. I knew I would get stung. Only bees I thought. Golf balls were everywhere I looked. The ocean pipe was creating a strong current. From high tide, the tide started to rise for about half an hour. It was quite shallow and I found myself propelled along by my tank, which poked out from the water. It smashed through hundreds jelly fish, irritating my skin and hands. You could see the balls under jelly fish, and the jelly fish were right above them. It was hard work, it was difficult to get around with the tank sticking out from the water. It was impossible to crawl on the bottom as the tide rose. My gear was left on the bank so I removed it and began walking along the swamp, picking up the golf balls. I was dragging the ball apron from my right hand behind me. I kept my eyes open for any golfers that were passing me. The feeling was that I was always avoiding the balls. It was high tide that I learned to be the best time for this lake.
This day I discovered that a saltwater course is more dangerous to dive in but it can also be very exciting to dive. There were many things to see, and it was all a great day.