Day: September 7, 2007

Life Aquatic
Sept. 7, 2007
by Chris Parthemos

Howdy-hey there ladies and gentlefolk! To that unfortunate majority of you who didn’t huddle together in the shadows of mighty Burruss at seven on the button this past Friday, I offer you my condolences. To that privileged group of nine souls who ventured into the blackness of Aqua along with me, hey how you doin’? Oh and to those who are about to rock I salute you.

As a first time caver, I’ll admit the approach was a bit daunting. After miles of driving through backroads smelling of a smorgasbord of animals, and a quick but deadly walk down a rockslide, we were face to face with an almost invisible cave opening. Thankfully the absence of snow and rain recently meant that none of us got particularly soaked coming in. The water was still freezing, but I at least managed to keep my heart above it.

After drying off and suiting up, the adventure commenced. Aqua was non-threatening enough for a first-timer, but still put up enough a fight to make it interesting. There was enough crawling, shimmying, wedging, scrambling, and other shenanigans to assure that I will be coming back for more. Of course the trio of bats spiraling around near the end (and da widdle bitty baby bat near the beginning) as well as the salamander we found hanging out between some leaves made things that much more exciting.

Sure there was more full-frontal nudity than I had accounted for. Sure the water was freezing and I think my lungs might have stopped functioning for a few seconds. Sure it took a long time, and when we got back I slept all Saturday long (except for when I was watching Pokemon). Sure we almost killed an adorable kitten on the drive home, but god dammit it was worth it. Salve, Aqua!