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"I can't wait to see the sharks," I said trying to get a rise out of Dee.

"Sharks?" Dee said dryly, "Don't mess with me," clearly implied.

"I'm teasing, there are no sharks till you get out past the reef," I said knowledgeably, though I was talking out of my ass. I'd never heard about shark attacks in Negril, but then again you rarely hear of any bad things happening in Negril. I often promise myself I'll do more research, but I'm really not ready to shatter my, probably naïve, view of a shark-less island paradise.

{quotes}Actually, I didn't know what to expect, all these trips to Jamaica and this was my first snorkeling adventure. Dee is a strong swimmer and couldn't wait to get out to the reef, though the idea of those pointy little fish she thought were chasing her earlier still had her concerned.{/quotes}

We made our way down the cliff to the water's edge. Famous Vincent was there waiting for us, his 20-25 ft. boat was old but sturdy, the seating area had flat wooden roof, and the sea bed was clearly visible thru thick Plexiglas panes in the floor.

"You must be Vincent!" I shouted as the smiling Famous Vincent helped us board his boat.

"Yes, yes! Welcome." We shook hands.

"My name is Vincent too, everyone calls me Vinny." I don't know if he heard me, or maybe meeting a fellow Vincent wasn't a big deal.

"I'm Dee, I call him Vince," Dee said separating her self from "everybody," shaking his hand and settling in.

We were pulling away from the cliff face when we heard someone yelling "Wait!" We looked up to see Scott and Deb, our fellow Castle visitors, waving us down. Famous Vincent steered the boat to the swimming platform as Scott and Deb made their way down the steps. Soon we were back underway, chatting loudly over a gunning engine, and the splash of bow cutting through clear blue sea.

Famous Vincent gave us a rundown of what we were getting for $20US a head: a trip across the bay to a section of reef out near Booby Quay; thirty to forty minutes in the water; then back to the Castle. The views were invigorating from the little boat, the sky was clear the water calm, I felt confident my Gilligan's Island fears were for naught, anyway this was only a one hour tour.

"What a view, huh," I said to no one in specific, eloquence lost on the blue sky with perfect puffy happy clouds like an Windows screensaver.

"Are there any sharks?" Dee nervously asked Famous Vincent.

"Not around here, farther out maybe, and some Nurse Sharks out by the Lighthouse." Famous Vincent answered pointing to the tiny lighthouse several miles to the south.

Satisfied by his answer Dee went into her story of the long skinny fish that she felt had assaulted her earlier that day. I was getting a little tired of the story, but she told it well, and she had us all laughing.