(Title) Follow the Sound (Sections) The Music, The Way I Play, Home Where the Highway Has No End
For background info about "Follow the Sound," see "1st Instalment, March 25, 2026 - How to Watch 'Follow the Sound'"
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In this instalment -
About song #15 from the "ALAICMI" collection, "Night Dive"
*****Scroll down to below the Transcript to find the link to the song video "Night Dive"*****
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(Transcript)
About "Night Dive"
From the middle of 1975 to the middle of 1976 I lived on the island of Maui in a town called Kihei and I was working as a landscaper.
We - my roommate, some co-workers and I - were talking together about going out lobster hunting. They said that lobsters come out at night.
One of the guys had a little boat. And one night we all went out to go lobster hunting. I don't remember exactly but I think two of them had scuba gear. The other three of us were only equipped with snorkeling gear. The other guys had sling spears. We all brought bags that we called "goody bags" that we pulled behind us with ropes.
Plus we all had underwater flashlights. And we agreed on a system: If one of us got into trouble he would start shaking his flashlight rapidly so that the others we see it and come to help.
What an eerie thing, out there off the coast in the dark. We stopped over some reefs and off we went.
The reefs were like channels with gaps. You could swim through these channels between the reefs - a very strange thing indeed, in the dark with the only light coming from our flashlights.
While the other guys were swimming around, collecting lobsters and spearing fish, I remained mostly on the surface, being the least equipped for diving. In fact, even snorkeling was a new thing to me. I would dive down 3 or 4 feet and look at the reefs and watched the lights of the others going here and there to and fro.
Suddenly I saw that one of them was shaking his light very rapidly! I immediately swam over to where he was. He had gone down between the reefs and his goody bag rope had gotten caught on the coral and he couldn't quite make it up to the surface!
I got under him and pushed him up. He was able to get just high enough for the end of his snorkel to break the surface. In this way, he was able to get another breath and go back down and free himself!
Well, we finished our trip and went back to the little cabin where I was staying, the Nona Lani Cottages on Kihei Road. It had been a fine night's catch - several kinds of fish and - of course - lobsters!
Then I made up this song, Night Dive. I think it captures all of the elements of that night - the eeriness, the underwater mystery, the excitement of the dangerous predicament of my friend and finally, a very happy ending!
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(To watch the song video, click the link below)
Collection number 4, "ALAICMI,"
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