"What do you think the odds are of us finding it?" Rone asked as we walked past the pool bar, with its Jamaican Reggae music blasting out and slightly tipsy lilly-white tourists crowding around in their skimpy bikinis. "Jeepers I dunno, maybe a million to one" I answered.
Those were the odds we faced as we headed toward the swimming enclosure where I had managed to loose our hotel room key. Armed with only our mask and snorkels, we were about to attempt to find the lost key in a bouyed off area in the sea roughly 100 meters by 40 meters, and up to 4 meters deep! Earlier that morning I had absently put our room key in the back pocket of my swimming shorts. A pocket which was very shallow and very open! The key was attached to a small circular twisty plastic band, a bit like a telephone cable. The additional unlucky bit was that this plastic was a pale beige colour, almost bang on matching the colour of sand. After lying on the sun chairs for a while we then headed into the water for a swim.
Because we were on an All Inclusive package, and because the resort had the most delicious food selections, we were eating a tad more than we usually would. This meant that it was imperitive for us to work up an appetite ready for our next delectable meal. And so after idly snorkling around for a bit, I then started doing some laps across the enclosure. I paddled around a bit more and then we climbed up onto the big floating trampoline and bounced around a bit, ending with a big jump into the water off the trampoline. Eventually after being in the water for about 45 minutes and having swam over almost every square meter, we got out and headed for lunch.
It was only after lunch that I realised I had lost the key. We checked the obvious spots - the spot by the sun chairs, the bathroom, the pool bar, everywhere I may have walked, but deep down we both knew it lay somewhere on the ocean floor. Why such an effort to find it? The hotel charges US$50 for lost key, so although we were resigned to having to pay this fee, we figured we might as well give it a try in finding it.
We started by focusing around the ladder where you get into the water (this particular swimming area is the 'deep water' area so you enter off the decking). The sea bed around the ladder and moving out 20 meters in all directions was very rocky, covered with coral and seaweed and spiky things. Slowly I moved further and further away from the ladder, constantly ducking down to get up close to the floor to make sure I didn't miss anything. I kept thinking, if only I knew for certain it was around there then at least I would know it was just a matter of being thorough. But the darn key could really be anywhere in this 4000 square meter enclosure!
After about 20 minutes I decided to scrap the systematic approach and just go with random luck. The enclosure was so big there was no way we'd be able to properly cover it all anyways. So I started just swimming around, randomly ducking down and scouring the ocean floor, eyes eagerly searching for any sign of non-natural.
And then there it was! Lying inertly on a patch of sand, attempting to blend in but just recognisable as not belonging. I ducked down and as I came up closer to it I could see the number 43 etched into the top of the key. Our room number! I grabbed the key and swooped up for air. I pulled my mask off my face and sought out Rone. When she turned and was looking at me I jubilantly waved the key in the air, grinning from ear to ear :)
So what were the odds? Was it a million to one? Or more, or less? I guess we'll never know, unless someone is good with statistics and wants to work it out. But whatever the odds, we figured ourselves extremely lucky and immediately went to the bar for a Piña Colada cocktail to celebrate :)
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