For the Choi family, the worst of days began as one of the best.
Sang Choi, three of his children and five of their friends were anchored off Marathon on Thursday in his 36-foot boat.
Jacob and Ginah Choi were on spring break from college. Their 18-year-old brother Josh had taken a few days off from Calvary Christian High to spend time with them.
Josh was an expert spearfisherman with 12 years' experience. At 6 p.m., Jacob saw Josh surface, take another gulp of air and then descend. Josh could dive deeper and hold his breath longer than any of his buddies.
But this time, something was wrong. Josh had been down for too long.
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As a child, peers nicknamed him the Manatee. His own family called him Sham — short for Shamu — for his physique and splash dives in the pool.
Then in the 10th grade, Josh shed 40 pounds in six months, during which time he grew 3 inches. He joined the wrestling and bowling teams, and performed flips on a snowboard on family trips to Lake Tahoe.
Tom Brown, 18, a friend and diving buddy since childhood, said Josh pushed himself in the water. "He was a cowboy, no question about it," Brown said. Once, Josh descended to 105 feet, then surfaced and gave Brown a handful of sand from the bottom. They planned on rooming together in Tampa, where the University of South Florida had accepted Josh into an honors program. They dreamed of spearfishing in Costa Rica and the Bahamas.
In class, Brown said, Josh was the "goofy smart kid." He held a 4.5 grade-point average and planned to become an orthopedic surgeon, like his father.
"He would look like he was completely zoned out but still manage to pull off an 'A' in the class," said friend Amanda Neyer, 18.
In American government, Josh would often take unpopular positions, she said. He once argued that consumers who kept Wal-Mart afloat with their dollars had no right to block the store's expansion.
"He was quite bright," said Mi Sardone, Calvary Christian's assistant principal and Josh's math teacher, who saw Josh complete calculus I as a junior. "I would describe him as a funny kid, a young man whose whole object was to make everyone smile and have a good day."
Josh was also a committed Christian. Photos from a mission trip to Costa Rica, where he was to return later this month, show children wearing surfing T-shirts he had brought them.
But free diving was his passion. Josh got certified to scuba dive at age 12 but soon shed the clumsy air tanks. With practice, he taught his body to go without breathing for more than three minutes.
His father tried to talk him out of it, to no avail.
"He said, 'Dad, I'm not wearing funny stuff, I'm not blowing air bubbles, I don't have to go looking for fish,' " Sang Choi recalled. " 'They come check me out.' "
Numerous family photos show Josh holding grouper, snapper and kingfish. His signature pose was all youthful swagger and confidence: Yeah, I got this.
The day after the disappearance, with Josh's body still not found, Jacob bought a mass of grocery store flowers and wired them into a wreath, along with a heart-shaped balloon on a stick. They released the wreath where they had searched, and watched it drift away.
Four minutes later, an announcement crackled over the radio: Divers from the Monroe County Sheriff's Office had found Josh's body in 77 feet of water.
A dive team leader who found Josh told the Miami Herald that he probably died of shallow-water blackout, which occurs when a free diver is ascending to the surface. The body needs oxygen and takes it from the blood, which can result in fainting underwater.
As divers retrieved the body, the Chois saw the heart-shaped balloon, with a message that said "I Love You," floating back to their boat.
The family has no doubt Josh sent the message to comfort them.
Andrew Meacham can be reached at ameacham@sptimes.com or (813) 661-2431.
>>Biography
Joshua Y. Choi
Born: Sept. 25, 1989
Died: March 13, 2008
Survivors: His parents, Sang and Kelly Choi; brothers Jacob and Jeremy; a sister, Ginah.
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