In 1998, as part of a trip to Australia that also, with tragic inevitability, took in the Sydney Mardi Gras, we did a couple of live-aboard dive trips to the Outer Barrier Reef out of Cairns. The first of these was occupied with getting our PADI Advanced O/W certification, taught by the lovely Birgit, on the right of this picture. The hunk on the left was our dive master, Mark. Mark was an Englishman living in Australia, and was both very charming and (you may already have noticed) gorgeous. Straight, of course.

Now, I wouldn't want you to get the impression that Ian and I spent the whole 3 day trip perving at Mark, because that certainly isn't the case. Ian and I spent the whole 3 day trip diving, and reading, and lying around on the deck in the sun, and eating, and sleeping, and all the usual stuff. But on the other hand, I'm not going to pretend we were unaware of the constant presence of this buff, tanned, sociable cutie in only a well-worn pair shorts.

Quite a few photos were taken on this trip, and every now and then one of us would surreptitiously try to catch Mark in the background. As, you know, decoration. But discretion always proved the better part of valour, and although he does make a couple of fleeting appearances in the pics we took, there's nothing you could properly call a likeness.

Imagine the pleasant surprise, then, of getting the films processed on our return to London only to find this on one of them.

I imagine it's a pretty common gag on board these boats to take random photos with your passengers' cameras while they're out diving -- though I must say this is the only time it's happened to us -- but let's face it, with crew like this, who's going to complain? Thanks guys!
Posted by matt at August 27, 2003 01:16 AM