[island101]

About – Marie, Nineteen from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Planning to spend the next year as a gap year, working as a dive instructor in Costa Rica.

Story –
Unsure of what I wanted to do with my life, I decided to take a year off before starting college. I had been to Costa Rica a few times with my parents and loved the atmosphere. One of my favorite things was learning how to dive. Since then I have been diving many times and obtained certifications, so when I got to Costa Rica I was able to find work at a dive company. My job is to take divers out and make sure they have a great, safe experience. We work in small teams and one of the perks is that I get to go on the dives with the customers. This is a dream job.

Many divers have a ritual where they dive naked for their 100th dive. The company I work for subscribes to this ritual. When it is an employee’s 100th dive, they dive naked. The company won’t force you, but there is a little bit of peer pressure involved and it’s a very close team. Today was going to be my 100th dive as we had a small bulletin board with the countdown for newer employees. I was not happy about this ritual, but I love the job and the people I work with. I’m also the only female dive instructor on staff and don’t want to seem like I can’t hang with the rest of the dive instructors.

I remember back to my first week on the job when I witnessed my first naked dive. I didn’t know about the ritual at the time and got on the boat with my co-workers and the customers who were going out for a dive. They announced on the boat that it was Kevin’s 100th dive and per the ritual he was diving naked. My first thought was, what kind of lunatics am I working with.

I still have many images of Kevin’s 100th dive that I can’t get out of my head. Like when he stripped down, I noticed he had the smallest penis I’d ever seen. I still think about his tiny penis floating in the water every time I see him. Our co-workers started calling him Thimble because they say you could fit his penis in a thimble. I never call him Thimble, but must admit I laugh when I hear them calling him that. But he doesn’t seem to mind, it’s just friendly banter. These guys I work with are insane.

Now the shoe was going to be on the other foot as Kevin was on the boat today as well as Juan and Rico, two of the local dive instructors. Juan announced to the passengers that today was my 100th dive and that I’d be doing it naked. I wish he didn’t announce it as I was hoping to strip quickly without fanfare. Now it felt like everyone was watching me as we got closer to the dive site.

There were three couples on the boat, but most of the others were single men. I got pared up with a group of guys that included three men from Japan and their interpreter. The interpreter explained in Japanese what was about to happen and the men had surprised looks on their faces.

We finally got to the dive site. Now it was my time to get naked and I was very nervous about it since I’m not the type to get naked in front of people I’m not dating. I wasn’t sure what was going to be more embarrassing, getting naked in front of co-workers, or the strangers.

With everyone cheering me on I took off my bikini top and freed the boobs, feeling the sun on them for the first time. Then before I could think twice, I pulled down my bottoms and finished preparing for my dive.

It wasn’t long before we were in the water, and my group was following behind me. They probably got an interesting view as I kicked my legs to swim. Like Kevin’s dive, they will probably be stuck with images of my boobs floating in the water, or my large, dark bush in the water. I should probably mention that I don’t believe in shaving my privates, so I’m very hairy down below.

When the dive was over I got back on the boat and got dressed. My co-workers gave me pats on the back and told me they were proud that I went through with it. The only downside is that my new nickname is Bushy, but I don’t even care. I guess I’ve become as insane as the rest of them.