Trinidad Express - THREE days into what turned out to be a week of torrential rainfall across Trinidad and Tobago, the Usine/Ste Madeleine pond filled to capacity.
There was nowhere for the flood water to go except over the concrete levee, and onto the Mahahambre Road, which links Princes Town to San Fernando.
The road became a river.
In the midst of the nationwide misery, a man pulled up next to the pond on his bicycle and with a pair of flippers tied around his next.
He secured his bike to a samaan tree across from the abandoned sugar factory, slapped on his flippers and dove into the pond, and doing the breast stroke back and forth across the reservior which is about a kilometre in circumference.
This is the man that a motorist recorded on a cell phone while driving by the pond last Friday.
The recording was uploaded to social media, and used on the Express' Facebook site. It became one of the most viewed videos this week, with viewers expressing astonishment, concern, bemusement, at what they were witnessing.
Was it Watson Duke? Michael Phelps? A merman?
We found Aquaman.
His name is Simon Nathoosingh. He is about 40 years old, and lives in the nearby former sugar estate village of Golconda. He is a village favourite. His swimming ability is well known.
Nathoosingh, a construction worker was not at home when the Express went looking for him today.
However his mother told us that her son, who is hearing impaired and unable to speak has been a gifted swimmer since childhood and would spend hours out in the Gulf of Paria.
He is able to hold his breath for a long period and dive deep without scuba tanks, she said.
Nathoosingh also has another talent, as a sculptor. He has made murtis and Catholic saints on the walls of the family home.
The men who frequent the pond to fish also know Simon well. They say he visits the pond multiple times a week. They say he is more at home in the water, alone, than on dry land.
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