David Ruggles had planned his big moment to perfection.
He and the love of his life, Melissa Gostling, would take the Southern Cross Cruises Save Achi boat ride out to the open ocean.
The moment a whale breached or appeared, he would go down on bended knee, bring the ring out, flip the lid to reveal the gem, declare his love for her and ask her to share the rest of his life with him.
The ring was in his pocket, her family, keen to support the effort, would be there and they filled the row behind the couple, who took the front row on the boat, Emma.
But it was rough out at sea and there was only a brief glimpse of a whale.
He bided his time, waiting, heart beating, for Emma to enter port and there, in the sunny, protected waters of SA’s only river port, he would make his move and change their lives.
He made the call, he dropped to his knee. Melissa looked at him with surprise. He whipped out the ring in its box.
And at that moment, this reporter strode to the front of the boat and loudly asked if he could take a picture of all the folk on the boat.
It was noisy, so the reporter used his outside voice.
There was an odd scene developing down to the left. A big guy with a cowboy hat, now in hand, was on the floor.
“He’s proposing!” shouted one of the senior women in the second row.
Oo-o-o-ops!
Melissa looked up and there was some confusion, but David, being an Englishman with backbone, pushed on and soon the couple were locked in a loving embrace — of course the reporter got the shot!
Later Melissa, a former air hostess who has a home in Gonubie, said she was totally taken by surprise.
Why was he on the ground? Had he hurt his knee? “What’s going on? Are you okay, my babe?” she had asked.
As David started making his proposal, she, still uncertain about what was going on, had told him: “Wait! There’s this reporter saying something up there! He wants to talk about the dog!”
Moments every journalist with any social sensitivity wishes they could be swallowed by Jonah the whale, but the couple and family saw the humour in it. A proposal interruptus but one most memorable.
Good luck to the wonderful couple! Here’s a story for the family scrapbook!
