Dearest H,
Ever had one of those days when you feel happy to be alive because.... you thought you might not be!
Last night the wind got up and it became quite rough where we are anchored. The bad weather continued this morning and a number of more sensible divers decided not to do the first dive this morning. So only 13 of us (unlucky number) set off in 3 Zodiac inflatables to the dive site. A coral wall some 1000m from the Typhoon. Unknown to us, our crewman dropped us off in a different place to the other two groups.
We dived down the reef wall to 20m and followed it south. It was a pleasant but uninspiring dive I got a few nice pictures of anemone fish a moray and a blue spotted ray.
After a short distance the reef ran out and the sea bed dropped away which I thought was unusual and certainly not in line with the dive brief which had been a little lax that morning. Dives should get shallower not deeper as you progress so this was unusual. After 40 minutes I was down to my safety limit of 50 bars of air and signalled to the others it was time for me to surface. Derek and Mike deployed their Surface marker buoys(SMBs) followed by James. Steve and I did not have one but 3 would be enough! When we surfaced after the obligatory three minute safety stop at 5m we found ourselves in deepwater literally and metaphorically!
Now well away from the reef, the swell had increased and was about 2 metres. We could see no sign of our safety boat. Very quickly we discovered we had other problems too. James was struggling with his equipment and unable to stay afloat. Derek and I quickly went to his aid to find the bigger 15ltr steel tank he was trying for the first time, was too heavy for his BCD jacket to hold. He was taking in water and panicking. Derek with over 2000 dives and me (83) suggested we take him out of his BCD to increase his buoyancy. we were all wearing 5mil wetsuits so would easily float. James BCD was deflating due to a faulty pressure valve and he had to compound things run out of air and was stressed and very unstable. We calmed him down, got his kit off him and attached it me. I then turned off his tank to equalise the pressure and manually inflated his BCD. This gave him a good solid buoyancy aid to hang onto and we settled down to be picked up.
15 minutes past and then 30. We were cold, worried and now very tired as we had been swimming against the current and wind towards the dive boats we could see occasionally on the horizons the swell lifted us. I was towing James and his kit and this was not easy.
At some time during the past half hour James had admitted to being a diabetic. Not something that fits well with diving. He had now come down from the high stress levels and erratic behavour of earlier and had gone very quiet. This was more of a concern. Ensuring we got to safety before his blood sugar levels got dangerously low was a priority. He had told me he had not had anything to eat before the dive (none of us had as it was pre breakfast 0600 dive) being diabetic I would have thought he would have!
An hour on the surface passed and the waves were bigger. We had given up hope of trying to swim to the boats and were now just keeping together trying to keep up morale and keeping James awake and talking. Finally after 2hours and 10 minutes we were spotted and picked up. this was pretty challenging as we were all cold and tired by now. Add to this the movement of the boat which was being thrown around in the swell of deep open water.
It took another 20 minutes to get back to Typhoon and the other dive boats who had all been deployed to search for us using their ribs and zodiacs. It was the crew of another boat who had worked out what might have happened and found us.
Our own dive guides were very pleased and relieved to see us. Staff was almost in tears and thought he had lost us for good. I think it was his first job as a guide/ instructor and was a valuable learning experience for us all.
Whenever something scary happens like this, or a car crash or falling off a horse; it is important not to let it grow out of proportion and immediately do something about your fear. So in this case we were straight back in the water (after Brunch!) in a sheltered spot further up the coast where we dived on a nice little wreck of a barge. It was a lovely dive with a multitude of beautiful fish and coral to see. Just like i told you to get back on your bike when you rode into the nettles outside Bullion Oast, it took some effort but was worth it.
You thought I was tough on you when you fell off your bike when you were learning. You hated me making you get back on when you fell in the nettles. This was why Harri. It is not how many times we fall or fail it is that we keep getting up and carry on that counts.
We are going to do the same dive tonight in the dark. it should be a good dive with lots of photo opportunities.
I did my first Enriched Air 'Nitrox' dive this afternoon. Nitrox allows you to safely do more dives in a day and feel less tired.
I hope one day that we can come diving together and I can show you all the wonders the sea has to offer my little mermaid.
Tonight's dive was again on the barge but conditions had changed and it became a very challenging dive due to the current As soon as we got down to the wreck a surge pushed me onto a sea urchin. It stuck in my left foot ouch! The rest of the dive was interesting but uncomfortable and it was a hard swim back to the boat.
I write this up in bed after a tough but interesting day full of good lessons.. Battered but happy to be alive. After treating all the urchin spines and taping up the toes on both feet. i am ready for sleep. One big lesson i learned is never wear slip on fins for serious diving I lost all the skin off my toes after about 30 minutes on the surface this morning. The feet are a bit of a mess Hey ho I am alive and James has made a full recovery and will be back diving tomorrow.
Night night Little one Sweet dreams wherever you are.
Wednesday 16th April 2008
I have had a hectic time in the last 8 days Harri. I continued the diving which was lovely and free from any other incidents. I now have a bitgger problem with a septic foot and spent Sunday on my return getting antibiotics before travelling to Dubai at first light on Monday to work with Hanno.
I am currently in a desert oasis between Dubai and Abu Dhabi working hard on a Strategy workshop with a bank leadership team. Beautiful isolated place with big skies and no light pollution. Thinking of you my sweet daughter. xxx
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