“Drive-thru? As in, I’ll take a lava burger, easy on the ketchup, and throw in some fire and brimstone with it?” Skeeter asked. “Which reminds me, isn’t it time for lunch? I’m getting hungry.”
“You really are a Super-Goof, aren’t you, Skeeter?” his mother said. “No, it’s as in, the only volcano in the world that you can actually drive into! I don’t think it’s scary, girls, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see what it’s like when we get there.”
They didn’t have long to wait. The volcano was only a few minutes outside of the town. The crater had collapsed in upon itself thousands of years before, so that now they were able to actually drive into it along the rim. They saw pools of thick black bubbling lava and streams of hissing green and yellow steam coming up out of the ground.
The smell was overwhelming. “Pee-yoo! What stinks?” Skeeter complained loudly. “It smells like someone just—”
“Skeeter!” his mother and Kristi said at the same moment.
“Well, it does, big-time!” he insisted. “Kristi, did you—?” he asked suspiciously.
“NO!”
“That’s sulfur from the volcano we’re smelling,” Rachel said. “I read up on this before we came. All those colors in the ground—the red, blue and green—are from the minerals being deposited there. The water in the cracks in the ground can get very hot, sometimes even boiling. There are mineral baths nearby where some people come to soak in order to heal different ailments they have.”
“No thanks!” Kristi said. “The smell is enough to kill you if they don’t heal you! Phew!”
“Not quite!” Rachel laughed. “But I did read that the native Indians used the volcano as a place for human sacrifices hundreds of years ago.”
“How horrible!” Kristi exclaimed. They watched as several goats scampered across the crusty surface.
“Can we walk around?” Dan asked.
“Yes, but only with a guide. They used to let people go on their own until a tour guide fell through a weak spot into scalding water.”
“Ouch!” the teens exclaimed.
“What if the volcano erupts?” Robyn asked.
“I’m sure there would be plenty of warning these days if that were about to happen. Besides, you don’t need to worry—the last major eruption of this volcano happened thousands of years ago, and the last minor one was in 1780.”
“Sounds like it’s overdue to me,” Skeeter muttered.
They could feel the heat radiating up through the ground. They skirted around some hot rocks, and carefully watched their steps. Skeeter and the girls were walking around holding their noses against the strong smell until finally Rachel said, “Okay—you guys are embarrassing me! Let’s go. I can see you don’t have the proper respect for the world’s only drive-in volcano!”
“I’d like to see the Diamond Estate,” Rachel said when they got back to the van. “There are some beautiful botanical gardens, the Diamond waterfall and hot mineral baths there.”
“Eww—that doesn’t sound too great,” Skeeter protested.
“If your mom wants to see it, we’ll see it,” his dad said firmly, but behind Rachel’s back he made a funny face and stuck out his tongue. The teenagers laughed, but no one said another word against it.
Actually they were glad once they got there. The gardens were gorgeous with every kind of bright colorful tropical plant, tree and flower imaginable. Even the guys were impressed. Bushes bursting with brilliant flowers grew beneath massive trees and lined the paths that led to a natural gorge. Streams of water bubbled from the ground and became the Diamond Waterfall. Even the waterfall was colorful. For hundreds of years the rocks over which the water fell had become encrusted with minerals and tinted purple, green and yellow.
“This is the place I was telling you about,” Rachel said, “where King Louis XVI of France and the future Empress of France, Josephine, were so impressed. Right over here are the hot mineral baths. Why don’t we take a dip in the baths? They’re supposed to be very healing. They’d probably help your ribs, Skeeter!”
“What! A bath? Another bath? I just had a shower this morning, Mom! I don’t need a bath! And I’d rather let my ribs heal on their own than bathe in that stinky water! Yuck! I—”
“Okay, okay! I got the message, Skeeter! No bath for you! But how about lunch? I’m sure you’re—”
“Yeah! I’m starved, Mom! Let’s eat!” he interrupted. Skeeter was out of there and waiting by the van before the rest of them could even say another word. He knew where his priorities were!
__________
CHAPTER FIVE
__________
The Thing
“We’ve got something special planned for this afternoon,” Steve said as they were finishing their meal at a small restaurant in Soufrière. “Although, after our scare yesterday, we’ve been having second thoughts…”
“What? What is it, Dad?” Skeeter asked. “Aww, yesterday was nothing! I’m perfectly fine! Besides, what are the chances of something happening two days in a row?”
“Pretty good when you’re around, Skeeter,” his mother said. She added doubtfully, “I don’t know… We’ll have to see about it when we get there.”
Just up the coast from Soufrière was Anse Chastanet. The beach there was coarse, black volcanic sand. It was dramatic-looking with its tall coconut palms and the deep blue of the sea. Bright colorful sails of boats and windsurfers dotted the bay.
“St. Lucia is known around the world for its diving and snorkeling,” Steve said as he parked the van, “and Anse Chastanet is the most beautiful spot on St. Lucia to dive. It’s one of the reasons we chose St. Lucia when we were planning this vacation.”
“Cool!” the guys said, and high-fived one another. They had taken diving lessons just last summer, so they were thrilled. Even the girls were excited. They couldn’t dive, but snorkeling or swimming, or simply lying on the beach would be fun.
“Hold on a minute!” Rachel said. “I’m just not sure about this. After seeing Skeeter almost drown yesterday—it just seems too dangerous!”
“Mom, what happened yesterday was an accident! Diving is something we’ve been trained to do. We know the rules, and we’ll have a guide. It’ll be safe, I promise you!”
“You can’t know that for sure, Skeeter.”
“No, nothing in life is for sure, but we’re in God’s hands and that is for sure.”
Rachel looked at her young son in defeat. “You can’t argue with that, Honey,” her husband said.
“Please, Mom!”
“Please! This would probably be the best dive of our lives, and our only chance to do it!” Dan added.
She looked at the three teenage guys. They were all looking at her with pleading eyes. She looked at Steve. Even he was turning those big puppy-dog eyes on her. “Alright, alright! I can’t fight you all! Go ahead, but be careful!”
“Yippee!” Skeeter flung off his sandals and began to run across the beach toward the dive shop. Suddenly he stopped and started hopping around yelling, “Ow! Ow! Ow!”
“What?” Rachel cried. “You’re hurt already? That’s it—you’re not—”
“No, no, Mom! I’m not hurt! It’s just the sand is hot! It’s burning my feet!” Skeeter raced back for his sandals and put them back on his feet.
“It’s the black sand,” Pete said. “It heats up much faster and hotter than white sand.”
“The sooner we get in the water, then, the better,” Steve said. “Come on guys, let’s go rent some gear.” They left quickly before Rachel could say another word.
The girls followed them over to the dive shop. A large hand-painted map of the reefs and diving areas was nailed to the outside wall of the shop. “Look!” Kristi said pointing up at the map. “One of the reefs is called Fairy Land! I’d like to see that! I’ll bet it’s beautiful!”
“Hey, and there’s a sunken ship not far out from the shore! It’s too deep for snorkeling, but I’ll bet the guys would like to dive there,” Robyn said.
<
br /> “Ooh, look at this,” Anna said with her eyes opened wide. “This note at the bottom of the map says there’s something called The Thing out there. The mysterious Thing has been spotted by divers from time to time in the waters of Anse Chastanet.” she read. “It’s supposed to be a cousin or something to Scotland’s Loch Ness Monster!”
“Oh, we’ve got to show this to Skeeter! It’ll freak him out!” Robyn said with a grin. The girls giggled at the thought.
Steve, Skeeter and the others came out of the shop twenty minutes later. They were wearing short wet suits and loaded down with their scuba gear—flippers, masks and air tanks. They didn’t even notice the girls standing there until Robyn called out, “Do you know where you’re going?”
“We looked at a map in the shop,” Dan said, “but we’ve got a dive guide going with us, too. He’ll be out here in a minute.”
“Did he tell you about—The Thing?” Kristi asked in a quavering voice.
“The Thing? What are you talking about, Kristi?” Skeeter asked.
“Look!” Robyn said, and pointed to the note on the map behind them. The three boys gathered around and read the short paragraph.
“Aww, there’s no such thing as The Thing! That’s just a local legend,” Skeeter scoffed.
“Are you sure, Skeeter?” Robyn asked. “I mean, it might be dangerous down there! What if it came after you?” She looked frightened, but Dan and Pete saw her wink at the other girls, and grinned.
“Don’t start that ‘dangerous’ stuff again or Mom won’t let us go!” He sounded tough, but now he had a worried look on his face. He paused a moment, with his brow wrinkled, and then said, “Hey, Dad, remember that cool dive knife I was looking at in the shop a few minutes ago? Do you think I could go back in and get it? You know, just for a souvenir, that’s all.”
Steve grinned, wise to his son, and told him to go ahead. Skeeter was back outside a few minutes later, showing off the new dive knife.
“Wow, Skeeter, that’s nice,” Dan said seriously. “Now youcan protect us from—The Thing!” he said in a loud scary voice, poking his younger brother and making him jump. The others burst out laughing.
“Alright you guys, quit teasing Skeeter and let’s get going,” Steve said. “See you girls later.” Their dive guide had joined them and they followed him now out into the water. The dive areas at Anse Chastanet could be entered directly from the beach, rather than having to boat out to deeper waters.
The girls watched them go. “Well, should we go snorkeling?” Kristi asked.
“You girls go ahead,” Rachel said. “I’m going to take a dip in that beautiful warm water, and then relax in the shade of a coconut palm with a nice cool tropical drink and my book!”
Kristi, Robyn and Anna went into the dive shop to rent some snorkeling equipment and get some advice on where to go. “I’d like to see Fairy Land,” Kristi told the man at the counter.
He was British and spoke with an accent, “It’s a bit deep there for snorkeling if you want to get a close-up view, but the water is clear and it will still be quite lovely looking down on it. Here are some other areas you might want to try.” He pointed out a couple spots on a map and wished them a good day.
It was Anna’s first time snorkeling, so Kristi and Robyn gave her a quick lesson. After making sure her mask and fins were a good fit, they showed her how to hold the mouthpiece and breathe through the snorkel. They showed her how to defog her mask, as well, and purge, or blow out any water that got into her snorkeling tube. “The important thing, once you’ve learned how to use the equipment,” Kristi said, “is just to relax and swim gently. Flutter kick your fins, keep your arms close to your side as you swim, and just have fun! Let’s go out in the water and practice a bit, and then when we go a little deeper, just stay close to Robyn and me.”
Anna was a bit nervous at first, but it didn’t take long for her to learn the techniques, and soon they were snorkeling in the shallows. The water in the bay was warm and gentle, and Anna discovered that snorkeling really was fun. They came up for a moment and Robyn said, “Do you feel like going a bit deeper now?” Anna nodded eagerly.
A short while later they were snorkeling over Fairy Land. The reds, yellows and oranges of the coral were brilliant, and the angelfish, parrotfish, tangs and other fish swimming around the reef added to the rainbow of underwater color. They saw a golden spotted eel and dozens of seahorses. Sponges in all shapes and sizes nestled on the sandy floor among gently swaying anemone and lace coral. The water was crystal clear as they looked down upon the scene. It was a whole new world and they were delighted to be a part of it, if only for a little while.
Not far away, but deeper down, the guys were a part of a bigger, more perilous world. Nurse sharks and stingrays floated past huge gorgonians, black coral trees and gigantic barrel sponges. They watched schools of fish of many varieties and colors swim by, and reached out to touch sea turtles on their leathery backs. Diving in one of the most beautiful bays in the world was a far cry from the high school swimming pool where they had learned!
Finally their dive guide led them to an old shipwreck near the mouth of the bay. Skeeter was disappointed to see it wasn’t an old pirate ship, as he had hoped, but one of more modern days. Sea creatures had taken over the ship, turning it into an artificial reef, and their home. Steve and the boys explored one side of the old ship, trying to see through the portholes, and scraping away the barnacles and weeds encrusted over the ship’s name. They saw the letters EAK before they gave up and finally moved on.
Skeeter skimmed over one of the decks. He followed a squid around a couple corners and found himself in a dark corridor. The squid had disappeared and Skeeter suddenly realized he was alone. His dad and the other guys were nowhere in sight, and Skeeter wasn’t sure exactly where he was, for that matter. He turned around to follow the corridor back. He made the turns he thought he had made earlier, but all of a sudden an uneasy thought hit him. He really wasn’t sure which way he had come, or how to get back to the others.
Skeeter hovered above the deck, unwilling to go any further until he had his bearings back. It seemed to be getting darker. He flipped on the light above his mask and looked to the left, and then to the right. A doorway on the right seemed to beckon him, but he did not remember going through a door before. He started toward it, but then hesitated.
Maybe he ought to wait for them to come find him, instead of swimming aimlessly around. But what if he ran out of air? He checked the gauge and was relieved to see that he still had another thirty minutes of air in the tank.
Skeeter was disgusted with himself. He had assured his mother that diving would be safe since he had been trained and knew the rules, but he had broken the very first rule and that was always to stay with your diving buddy. Now he was lost. She was going to be so mad at him!
He looked at the doorway once more. Maybe he’d just go through it, and if that wasn’t the right way he would wait right where he was. He had just started forward again when suddenly a huge shadow loomed up before him on the other side of the passage.
Skeeter’s heart leaped into his throat and he stopped quickly. The shadow moved past. It was at least twenty or thirty feet long with several humps along its top side. Skeeter was motionless, holding his breath so no bubbles from his tank would give him away. Suddenly he remembered his light was on, and he reached up to carefully flip the switch.
Before he could turn off the light, though, the dark shape paused. It turned toward the doorway as if pondering whether to come through. Skeeter was filled with fear. What was it? A huge shark? He tried to remember if any great white sharks roamed the waters around St. Lucia. He didn’t think so, and besides—there were too many humps on the thing’s back to be fins. The thing—
That was it! It had to be! The Thing! He was about to come face to face with the monster of St. Lucia—The Thing! The shadow seemed to fill his vision as it drew nearer. Skeeter peered through his mask with horror as the creature glided slo
wly toward the door!
_________
CHAPTER SIX
_________
Hike, Bike and Glide
Skeeter forgot about the light and reached for his new dive knife where it was strapped to his leg. His breath came out in a flood of bubbles as he gasped for air. The dark shape dove now for the door and straight toward Skeeter!
Skeeter shot backwards, holding his knife out in front of him. “Aargh!” he screamed in his brain.
The shape stopped in front of him, just out of reach of the knife. It wasn’t a great white shark, it wasn’t The Thing—it was his dad, and the dive guide, with Dan and Pete right behind them! Skeeter could see through his dad’s mask that he didn’t look happy. His father motioned for him to follow them. He breathed a sigh of relief and obeyed.
Now that his fright was over, Skeeter could understand what he had seen. Swimming in a straight line, one behind the other, his father and the others had cast a long shadow, with their heads and air tanks making the ‘humps’ of the creature. His own imagination had blown it all out of proportion. Skeeter felt like a dork now as he swam between the guide and his dad. Not since he had gotten separated from his mom at the mall when he was a little kid had he ever felt so lost and afraid. They were going to all think he was a little kid now, too, and never let him go on any more adventures!
They swam back toward the beach and surfaced as the water got more shallow. Skeeter pulled off his mask and saw his mother right away, up on the beach and sitting under a palm tree. She waved merrily at them. Kristi and the other girls were not far away, snorkeling in the shallow water.
Skeeter glanced at his father. Steve gave him the ‘look’ that dads give their kids when they’re in trouble, but didn’t say anything. The dive guide gave him a look, also, but simply said, “Nice dive, guys! Come back anytime! Just leave your gear outside the shop over there and I’ll take care of it.”
Dan and Pete were clapping each other on the back and high-fiving one another. “Wow! That was so awesome! Thanks! That was great!” they were saying. They didn’t seem to have noticed anything was wrong. They probably didn’t see me all freaked out with my knife in my hand, Skeeter thought glumly to himself. If they did, they’d never let me live it down!
The Secret of Buccaneer Bay (Kristi Cameron Book 5) Page 5
