President Gets in the Swim--for $11

President Bush took a dive for $11.

Answering a dare from one of his sons, the President on Saturday dove into the icy waters of the North Atlantic just after his boat passed a safety inspection by the U.S. Coast Guard.

“It’s wonderful,” Bush said as he surfaced and paddled about for half a minute. “Got to be over 60 (degrees). Good signal for the bluefish coming in.”

The presidential dip came about when George W. Bush, the eldest of the President’s four sons, dared his father to dive into the water. Bush asked several grandchildren gathered about him what it was worth to see their 65-year-old grandfather demonstrate his diving skill.

They apparently hit a magic number, because when they offered $11, Bush stripped off his white sweater and yellow polo shirt, slipped off his deck shoes, walked out to the end of a stone jetty where his boat was tied and dove head first into the ocean.

The grandchildren paid up promptly. First Lady Barbara Bush told a group of reporters who witnessed the acrobatics, however, that “it was George W.’s $11.”

The President solicited bids for a repeat performance, and when a photographer offered $20, Bush jokingly began to unzip the jacket he had just put on, but he did not dive again.

During the 15-minute inspection of the cigarette-class Fidelity, tied up at the dock behind the President’s house, Bush videotaped a public service message on boating safety, saying several times for a camera: “Life jackets save lives. It’s best to know before you go.”

When he was about to make his celebrated dive, a member of the Coast Guard Auxiliary offered him a life jacket.

“Oh, no, I don’t need a life jacket,” he said.