the.proposal/by tommy evans

In August of 1998, a group of us went on a diving trip to Cozumel, Mexico. This was my fifth trip to Cozumel, and my 13th year of SCUBA diving. I had gotten Cindy SCUBA lessons for her birthday in May, anticipating our trip to Cozumel. We were all pretty excited about going - you just can't beat diving in Cozumel. Our group consisted of myself and Cindy, Korby, Shawn, Dan, Scott, and Julie. This was Cindy and Scott's first ocean diving trip.

Well, unbeknownst to her, I had planned to propose to her on this trip. I knew she was the "one", and I had the ring, but I just had to figure out when and where to do it. I decided to wait until the latter part of the trip. I thought it would be really awkward if she said no and I had to spend three more days with her!

I decided that August 19, 1998 - the eleven month anniversary of our first date, we set out for our three-tank dive for that day, with our friends, the crew and divemasters from Aqua Safari (the dive shop), and a photographer and videographer. I had scheduled the videographer to go that day, but the photographer just happened to be on board. So, with a complet accompaniment of dive buddies, diving gear, a ring, and enough "media", I set out to change my life forever.

We began our third dive of the day at Cedar Pass - it was to be a 40 minute dive with a maximum depth of 60 feet. I had notified the photographer and videographer of my plans, so there were only three people aboard who knew what was about to happen. (I didn't tell Korby - he has a habit of letting things slip!).

As the dive master rapped on his tank to notify us that the dive was ending, I stopped Cindy and wrote "I Love You" on my dive slate (a kind of underwater chalkboard). She just smiled and wrote "I Love You, Too!". With nothing more than 1/2" of room left on the slate from the dive notes I had taken, I shakily wrote "Marry me!". She took a look at the slate, then at me, then back at the slate, and back at me, and began to very vigorously shake her head and make some low, whale-like noises. The funny thing is that she shook her head so hard that her mask loosened and flooded with water.

Finally, I reached into by BC pocket and withdrew the ring I had gotten her. (It wasn't easy getting it out - I had securely fastened it so it wouldn't get lost). Cindy was really amazed that I brought it on the dive with me. I almost didn't - I had these images of a giant grouper swimming up and deciding it would make a nice meal.

From that point on, our introductions changed from "boyfriend" and "girlfriend" to fiancee! The video turned out really well, and a couple of the photographs did, too. We didn't say a word to our family (mine actually knew beforehand) until we got home and showed them the video. Cindy, her mom and sister all started crying (girls!). It was definitely a SCUBA trip that I'll never forget!