> Please send the story again!!! I did not get it originally and I am dying > of > curiosity!
Did anyone sent it again? If not, here it is: I just got off the phone with my dad who had the most amazing animal story to tell me. He has been skin diving/ spear fishing all his life (he's 74 now) and still going strong. He doesn't use tanks but free dives. It's lobster season in Florida so he was out diving with a friend. He went down while his friend was still in the boat. He saw a likely lobster hole and checked it out but didn't see any lobster. He went up for a breath and back down to the same hole. Right in front of the hole was a ledge and laid on the ledge were 3 $5 bills neatly stacked on one another. He couldn't believe he had missed it the first time and briefly thought if he missed those on his first dive down, then he would probably not see the lobsters either! He took the $15 up to the boat and handed it over to his friend and went back down. There on the ledge was a $20 in the same exact spot! He couldn't believe it and took it up to the boat. Down he went again. There was another $20 bill laid on the ledge! He took that up to the boat. At this point, his friend asked him what on earth was going on down there and he jumped in and went down with my dad. There was another $20 bill on the ledge! They went up for a breath and back down. Another $20 bill on the ledge! This went on for a few minutes. Every time they went back down, there was another $20 bill. They surfaced again and his friend decided to put his scuba gear on to see what was going on. While his friend was gearing up in the boat, my dad went back down. There was no $20 bill. At a right angle to the hole was a crack in the rock and as my dad was down there, a $20 bill started emerging from the crack as if from an ATM machine! He pulled it out. Another $20 bill started to emerge. He pulled it out. Then another. He took out his diving knife to see if he could wedge the crack open wider but could not. He put his hand in through the large hole and an octopus grabbed both his hand and the knife...and immediately let go as my dad keeps his diving knives very sharp. But my dad being my dad, he put his hand in there without the knife (but gloved) and the octopus bit him but didn't break the skin of the glove so it was more like a warning bite. And that was the end of the money activity for the day. They collected a total of $171! The next day my dad went out in the boat alone (I know, it's crazy, but he's been doing it since he was 13!). Down to the hole and there was a fat wallet laid on the ledge. The bill pocket was empty but it was stuffed with credit cards and a driver's license. My dad called the guy today and it turned out to be a 62 year old jet skier who hit a wave a little too hard and his belongings compartment flew open and there went his wallet. Turned out the man had cashed a $500 check and was just dumbfounded that my dad had found his wallet. They are meeting for breakfast tomorrow. There are still three $100 bills in the octopus hole... Tomorrow is Sunday and all the pleasure boaters are out. But my dad is going back to the hole on Monday with a stack of $1 bills and some shrimp... (to be continued :-) ) Trish
