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A couple days ago, I joined Brian and Edith on a Kenai Fjords cruise. I was just now writing a post about that, and was going to tell an interesting story about something that happened on the trip, but I just did some quick research, and I'm afraid the story isn't so much interesting as really sad and unfortunate. While we were on our way out of the bay, we suddenly slowed down and turned back for no apparent reason. As we came to a stop near a little sand bar by Fox Island, the captain announced that the crew had been told by the Coast Guard to search the area for a diver who had been missing for 20 minutes. We slowly moved around the sand bar, and a couple other boats in the area joined us in the search. The passengers on our boat were subdued, scanning the water and shore. I very much hoped to find the diver safe and sound, and I dreaded the idea of finding his body. Honestly, I didn't know what I would do -- I didn't really believe it could happen. That's one of those things that only happens on TV.

In the end, none of us found anything. After about half an hour, the Coast Guard showed up and released our ship. When we passed by on our way back (about four or five hours later), there was no sign of any boats or activity. We hoped it was because the diver had been rescued, but sadly, as I just learned, that was not the case. Matthew Myers, of Anchorage, had been on a research dive for the SeaLife Center, when he ran out of oxygen; his dive partner lost hold of him while trying to pull him to shore. They found his body a little while after our boat left the area.

Sorry about the depressing post, but it doesn't feel right not to tell the story. My heartfelt condolences to Matthew's family.