Laurel outlook., 1949-09-21
ANGEL FISH.
Helen Lures
New Workers

NEW YORK - where's your
baggage?" asked the clerk behind
the ticket counter at LaGuardia
Fields overseas terminal recently.
He was speaking to four New York
businessmen checking in for Pan
American airway's morning flight
to Bermuda.
Here it is" they chorused, each
waving a pair of bathing trunks in
the chaps face. We're just going
down to see Helen. Well be back
on tonight's Clipper"
Helen must be an extraordinary
woman" thought the clerk. But
he was wrong. Helen is a fish. not
an ordinary fish but a lovely angel
fish Of iridescent blue with extend
ed fins that trail behind her like
gay yellow streamers. Her out
standing attribute is her liking for
people. With her friend, Ruth, and
a host of yellow grunts, Dreams and
gray snappers, she receives callers
nearly every day at her home on a
coral reef Is feet below the ocean
level.
Fascinating Diversion
Visiting these residents of the
briny deep in their submarine
homes is Bermuda's newest and
most fascinating diversion. A young
American, Bronson Hartley, intro
duced the fascinating sport of deep
sea diving to the tourists a year
ago after doing it himself for the
past 10 years. Now the vacationist
who is bored with the ordinary
pleasures of swimming and bicy-
cling can make like a fish at the
bottom of the ocean for a mere SIS
and the trouble of donning a diving
helmet and sneakers-furnished by
Hartley-and a bathing suit.
In the past IL months, more than
1000 persons including a five
year-old boy and an 85-year-old
lady-have taken Hartley's under
water sightseeing tour. It's the
rage with college students, honey
mooners and jokers who like to
write post cards underwater with
ball point pens. More than n party
of high living New Workers have
Clippered the 773 miles down to the
Coral islands for the sole purpose
of viewing them Is feet underwater
and last Christmas, "a persons
begged Hartley in vain to take them
down.
So popular has this unique sport
become that tourists have taken to
phoning Hartley at 600 a. m. in the
morning to make reservations for
the days trips. With good humor,
he added the longest extension cord
he could find to his telephone and
carries it with him from bedroom to
bath to breakfast making appoint
ments all the way.
Two Trips Daily
Twice a day-morning and after
noon-he sets out in his small cabin
cruiser with his faithful assistant,
Roy Darrell, and NJ more than
eight guests. While the boat moves
out through the brilliant green wat
err of Flats, Hartley briefs his pas
sengers on what to do and look for
strolling around the ocean
floor and how to walk ski-crouch
fashion, knees bent and body erect.
One must tread lightly, too, to keep
from blowing up the sand and cloud
ing the water.
In calm weather, Hartley steers
out to the ocean where the passen-
gers descend to one of the coral
reefs that surround Bermuda. But
in rough weather-when the churn-
ing waves of the ocean might make
his passengers seasick - he heads
for a quiet bay in Harrington Sound.
High bluffs fringed with hibiscus
and oleander bushes edge this cove
and so protect it from the wind that
Hartley was able to take a party
lorr, +bara di1rinp fhe last hl1rri-