A diver in New Orleans told me something I still think about

We were on a barge in the Mississippi, waiting for a crane lift. He was an older guy, maybe 60, and he just looked at the brown water and said, 'You know, the river never forgets a thing you drop in it.' He wasn't talking about trash, but about mistakes. He said he'd seen guys get sloppy and the river would give their gear back to them years later, miles downstream. It made me way more careful about checking every shackle and bolt. Has anyone else had a moment like that, where a simple comment from another diver stuck with you?

3 comments

3 Comments

shanegibson12d ago

That story about the wrench is just wild. Ten years, and it turns up stuck in a reef? The idea that gear can travel that far and last that long is hard to wrap your head around. It really does feel like the water is holding onto things, waiting to show you what you lost. Makes every piece of equipment feel like a permanent mark.

nina_harris3925d ago

Old guy on a rig in the Gulf said something similar. Told me the water keeps score. He found a wrench from a buddy who washed overboard ten years prior. Stuck in a reef fifty miles away. Makes you double-check your own gear.

umabailey25d ago

Absolutely, the water never forgets a thing. My uncle worked on a tugboat up the coast, and he swears he found a coffee thermos from a deckhand who slipped off a barge two seasons back. It had washed up in a totally different inlet, lid still on. Stuff like that really does make you tie everything down twice.