[Lush]

My dad was in the navy and he and a buddy of his were training on the sea at night - the object of the exercise was to dive down deep to a certain object and retrieve... something. I think it might have been a small beacon, or something along the same lines - an object that proved they had completed the exercise.

Well, while they were down there, they had quite a fright. They both saw something enormous and snake-like, but also odd in the sense that at least one of its ends looked tapered. There are other details as well, I just don't want to repeat them here in case I'm getting them wrong (it's been a while since I heard the story - understandably, my dad doesn't talk about it too much).

They had to come up pretty quickly and I think they're actually lucky that they're alive today (since it can be pretty dangerous if you panic under water). And they sort of bobbed on the surface screaming "DID YOU SEE THAT?" back and forth to each other, until they were able to make their way back to their ship.

Their CO first laughed at them, then accused them of being lazy and not completing the assignment, then eventually said he would also accuse them of getting into the water drunk if they didn't stop nattering about a giant beast from the sea. So they stopped nattering.

My dad didn't tell anyone for a long time, he doesn't like being treated like an idiot or like someone who makes up stories for attention's sake - but he did end up telling my mom after they met, and me, when I was older.

I guess it's just one of those things that we will never be able to explain.