KIHEI, Maui (5 Mar 2006) -- Laraine Moore desperately needs comfort, and she finds it in this: Her husband was a swimmer, a surfer, a diver. The ocean was his home. And he died there, in the way he had hoped to go. ``Anthony always said that if he died in the ocean while surfing he wanted the sharks to eat his remains,'' said Laraine Moore, his wife of 16 years. ``He actually said that. So at least he died doing what he loved.'' Anthony Moore, a 45-year-old engineer, was free-diving in the warm blue waters off Maui's southwest shore during the San Jose couple's third vacation trip to the island. Something went horribly wrong. His body was found later, torn apart by sharks. Laraine Moore clings to a coroner's tentative conclusion that Moore probably drowned and was then attacked by sharks, as opposed to bleeding to death while alive. This last week was a blur, punctuated by horrible moments. Calling 911 when Anthony didn't return as planned. Knowing he was gone before the Maui authorities could bring themselves to tell her. Screaming and sobbing and sitting with a police chaplain until 2 a.m. ``I felt it. I knew he was gone,'' she recalls. The couple met 17 years ago, when Laraine was teaching aerobics in the Boston area and Anthony came to one of her classes. At first they were just friends, but kept in touch when he moved to Dublin, Ireland, for a stint with IBM. They got married when he returned. They never had children, instead filling their lives with each other, trips to Italy. He came home for lunch every day. She often made pizza from scratch. His engineering jobs took them to Austin, Texas, and then Silicon Valley, where they moved in 1996. She worked on and off as a technical writer, but her real passion is jewelry design. The vast power of the Pacific Ocean entranced Anthony Moore from the beginning. He loved whales and was intrigued by the haunting songs that different whale species sing. He rose before dawn every day to swim at the Santa Clara Swim Club or surf at ``Four Mile'' in Santa Cruz before heading in to work at Code Green Networks. The Moores were in Maui to celebrate Laraine's 51st birthday, on Feb. 21, two days before he died. ``Happy birthday to Laraine, Queen of Maui and ruler of my heart,'' reads the card he gave her. Moore had just recently begun free-diving, which means diving without oxygen tanks. It is an extremely adventurous sport, with risks that include shallow-water blackout, a sudden loss of consciousness caused by oxygen starvation as a diver ascends vertically to the water's surface. But Moore was determined to master the new sport. Every night before going to bed, Laraine would watch as he practiced holding his breath. | | Anthony and Laraine Moore, taken in Maui on their fourteenth wedding anniversary in November 2004. Like many divers, he kept a dive log, a journal of his underwater experiences. His last entry was Feb. 22, when he wrote about his afternoon at Black Rock, a dive site near the Sheraton Hotel on Ka'anapali Beach. ``A couple of dives at 30+ feet in dear sunny blue water with nothing but white sand underneath. Amazing,'' he wrote. ``At 30 feet the whale song was all around me and very loud. Nothing to do but relax. Deepest dive 33 feet, for 1 minute 24 seconds. Longest dive yet.'' The next day, a Thursday, he headed out to Makena Landing around 3 p.m. ``I kissed him quickly and said I'd see him around 5,'' said Moore, who grew alarmed when he did not return as planned. Her husband always called, even when he would be just a little bit late. She called 911, and the U.S. Coast Guard and Maui police and fire department began a massive search. When they found his rental car, she knew that he was gone. She felt it: a tingling up her spine, a sense that his spirit had left. On Friday morning, a local kayaking guide discovered part of Moore's body, shredded by sharks, diving goggles and fins floating near a popular dive spot known as ``Five Caves.'' ``All that I have are the people who loved him,'' said Laraine Moore, who has been amazed by the outpouring of support from his surfing buddies. There are plans to hold a memorial dive in Anthony's honor, and Laraine wants to send the money that is raised to the Maui police and fire departments. His ashes, once she gets them, will be scattered in numerous spots throughout the Pacific Ocean. Friends created a memorial Web page for Anthony, at www.anthonymoore.org. In an e-mail to the group, Laraine Moore wrote about their close relationship and his love -- of her and of the ocean. She shared the story about the way he had talked about dying. And she said, ``I wish that I had hugged and kissed him more before he left. But he knew how much I love him.'' SOURCE - Mercury NewsSCUBA FORUMDISCUSS THIS TOPIC - Dive in and have your say at Scuba Forum |
