Ben, cinching his waist strap, checked to make sure that the air hose was connected to his dry suit. “I’m okay,” he said. “I just wish we could have used the real boat instead of this bathtub toy.”

Angela bit her lip, hiding her amusement by spitting into her mask, then turning and rinsing it in the water. She knew Ben preferred the other boat and that he was mad at himself for not requisitioning it as he was supposed to. Instead, one of the other teams had gotten to it first, leaving them with the Zodiac. She didn’t mind it so much. She seldom, if ever, got seasick. But Ben was cursed with a sensitive stomach. Already he’d thrown up once during the ride over. And sitting on a rocking boat was the worst thing for someone who was prone to motion sickness.

“I’m just about ready,” Ben said, attaching the clip on his underwater light to one of the D-rings on his BC. He picked up the camera resting on the boat’s bottom and handed it to Angela. She took it and held it on her lap as Ben, placing his regulator in his mouth and adjusting his mask, rolled backward into the water. When he bobbed back up, he placed one fist on top of his head, the universal sign that everything was okay.

Leaning over, Angela handed him his camera. When Ben had it securely in hand, she handed him a second one, hers, and then repeated his roll into the water. She came up beside him, and he handed her camera over.

“We’ll go down and circle the pinnacle coming back up,” Ben said. “Nice and easy. Photograph whatever you see. It’s good practice.”

Angela nodded. Ben gave her the thumbs-down sign indicating that he was ready to descend. She mirrored him, and they both released air from their BCs, gently submerging. As the water closed over their heads and the weight in their BC pockets helped them sink, they leveled out and floated horizontally.

Ben fidgeted with his camera. It was a temperamental thing, and every time he used it he swore he was going to replace it. There was even a newer one sitting in a box on his office floor back at the station. But he knew how to use this one, and the thought of having to start all over again was unappealing. So he put up with its quirks and hoped each time that it would reward him with a good picture or two.