Monday, September 08, 2008

Last Day at Markle Pool


The Flop

The kid regretted it. A belly flop from the 8'3" board. And he jumped, too, so it was even higher than that, probably. The seen-it-all lifeguard and the swimmers waiting in line up on the cliff all heard the smack and we all winced in unison.

But that's part of the greatness of the Markle pool: that element of danger. The diving boards are tall, the 30' slide has almost no sides to it, and the lifeguards have this way of tacit encouragement to anyone willing to take a risk.




Click on this shot to get a better look and notice the guy going off the same board--he's in the middle of a weird kind of flipping dive he seemed to have patented. He landed feet first, but in this picture you can see him caught in an upside-down Christ figure pose right before he flipped back over and hit the water.

Me, I just jumped. Pointed my toes a little and it always feels like such a long fall. Then it feels like you are so deep, like 20, thirty feet, but it's probably only 8 or so. I held my breath and tried to swim as far as I could underwater and I couldn't see (or wouldn't look at--I don't remember) the bottom. It's so nice and I wish I were there right now, but it's closed for the year.
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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I always feel that conflict when swimming in lakes and such. You want to see what's underwater, but you don't want to see.

Mark Alan said...

I always remembered the fish at Markle Pool so I didn't like going too deep into the water as a kid. I don't know...just kinda creeps me out.

Mr. Hill said...

Oh yeah, fish--they'll getcha alright.