For a few seconds Andrew hesitated. By a deliberate act of will he put his hands up to the top of his mask and went to break the seal. Fear then froze him and his breathing became uneven and he felt the bile rise into his throat, gagging him. ‘Stay calm!’ he told himself. ‘It’s only water! You can swim underwater in the pool without any face mask at all. You do that all the time!’
Still he could not bring himself to do it. ‘Come on, you coward!’ he chided, hotly aware that the others were all watching. ‘Muriel is watching. You don’t want her to think you are gutless!’
Taking a deep breath he pulled at the top of his face mask. Salt water squirted in and he had to struggle not to panic. With an effort he kept the seal broken until he felt sure the mask was fully flooded. To check he forced his eyes open to look. Yes, the mask was full. Through a blur he could see Sub Lt Sheldon waiting. ‘Breathe normally,’ he warned himself, very aware he was gasping and almost choking. With an effort of will he slowed his breathing. Then he placed his finger tips onto the top of the mask, tilted his head back and blew through his nose.
It worked, but not completely. Annoyed and scared he blew several more times until he could see properly. Another two snorts left only an irritating residue in the bottom of the mask. Blinking and panting with relief Andrew faced Sub Lt Sheldon, who swam over to him and then shook his hand and clapped. As he had not done that for the others Andrew became anxious lest the others realized he was scared of the mask clearing.
‘I did it!’ he thought. ‘Only once more and it is over.’ During the fourth and final Open Water dive they had to completely remove the mask and then replace it. That now loomed as a real test. While Shona and Blake were tested Andrew knelt on the bottom and watched, deliberately calming his breathing. He even remembered to check air pressure with Muriel. As he did he tried to act calm and as though nothing had happened.
He was surprised to note that his remaining air had fallen to only 80 and he signalled that to Sub Lt Sheldon. Most of the others signalled 100, telling Andrew that he was breathing too often and too deeply. Once again he tried to steady himself. It was with genuine relief that he saw the signal to surface. That was a pleasure to do and he allowed himself to float slowly up, keeping with the others in a steady ascent.
Once on the surface Sub Lt Sheldon had each in turn take off their BCD and tank, then sit on it before putting it back on, all while bobbing in the small waves. Andrew had no problems with that. Nor did he encounter difficulty with the test of removing his weight belt (without dropping it - or any of the lead weights) and putting it back on again while out in the water. He was just glad to be up on the surface in God’s good air. His main impression, apart from feeling relieved, was the taste of the salt in the seawater.
Then it was back to the beach. Andrew wanted to get away from that deep water as quickly as he could but found he was both tired and puffed. The swim back was something of a test on its own. Wading in the shallows and lugging the gear up the beach was a real effort, which surprised him. ‘I’m not as fit as I thought,’ he mused.
While they took their gear off Andrew looked happily around, blinking with pleasure in the bright sunshine. Feeling quite elated he sniffed at the sea air and licked salt from his lips. ‘I did it!’ he told himself. He grinned at the others and went on de-suiting. Fins, face mask and weight belt were placed in a carry box. Then he took his air tank and placed it with the others lying on the tarpaulin. He then helped Muriel and Carmen with theirs. Next he unzipped and tugged off his wet suit. As he did the breeze chilled him and he shivered. The urgent need to go to the toilet distracted him.
So did Shona’s bikini top. It had small cups which seemed to barely hold her breasts in. As she bent forward to do things to her diving gear it looked to Andrew that they would fall right out and several times he glimpsed part of her nipples. It got his heart beating faster and he licked his lips with guilty lust, before making himself look away.
By then Andrew was both very thirsty and hungry but Sub Lt Sheldon would not let them go. “First you must work out your Dive Tables,” he insisted. This was part of the test so they sat and set to work with pencil and paper on prepared work sheets. For ten minutes Andrew struggled with the mathematics of Residual Nitrogen, Actual Bottom Times and Total Bottom Times. He found reading the double-sided dive tables easy but still felt he did not fully understand. To his satisfaction Sub Lt Sheldon marked his answer correct.
They then had to fill out their dive logs and both Sub Lt Sheldon and PO Walker signed these. Sub Lt Sheldon then said, “You need a break before you do another dive. Next time we are going down to eighteen metres. So, to allow your residual nitrogen to dissipate to a safe level we will have an hour and a half break. Have lunch now and then walk around the island. Be back here by two O’clock.”
Andrew shivered. ‘Two hours, then one last test,’ he told himself. He shivered again and wrapped the towel more tightly around his shoulders. Beside him Muriel wrapped her towel around her waist and sat down with a drink of cordial and a sandwich. Andrew thought she looked very pretty, even with her hair all tousled and damp. Seeing him looking at her caused her to smile back. That got his hopes up. ‘I might be able to win her heart,’ he thought.
For twenty minutes the group sat and happily ate and drank. Then they began to disperse. Andrew took himself off to find a toilet. On his return he found only Carmen and Muriel. “Where are the others?” he asked.
“Gone sightseeing,” Muriel replied.
Andrew nodded, then plucked up the courage to ask, “I’m going to walk around the island. Would you like to come?”
Muriel smiled and said yes, sending his hopes even higher. To try to make out it was nothing special Andrew turned to Carmen, who was lying reading a book, and asked, “You coming Sis?”
Carmen looked at them and shook her head. “No thanks. Make sure you are back on time.”
Andrew slipped on a shirt and hat, then waited while Muriel applied some more sun lotion. The smell of that, mingled with the sea smells and aromas from the island all combined to make Andrew feel good. As the pair began walking counter-clockwise around the beach he breathed deeply and looked happily around. To him everything was just about perfect: the sunlight sparkling on the sea, the palm trees waving in the gentle breeze, the gritty feel of the coral sand between his toes. He pretended to study the distant coastal mountains but actually looked at Muriel, admiring her lithe, athletic form with its graceful feminine curves.
In his happiness Andrew felt almost overwhelmed by the sheer ‘tropicalness’ and beauty of the place. The lush green of the palms and other vegetation was balanced by the bright, white coral sand. This shaded into the clear water, which gave way to pale greens and browns as the water grew deeper or gave way to corals. The line of white surf which rimmed the outer edge of the reef then gave a bright contrast to the darker blue of the deep sea. Even the clouds looked bright and clean, as though they had been washed and hung up to dry.
Andrew and Muriel strolled slowly along, picking up sea shells and commenting on the view. There were a few other people lying on the beach or under the trees to begin with but after a few hundred metres they had the place to themselves. ‘Oh! I wish Muriel was my girlfriend,’ Andrew thought. ‘We might hold hands and have a kiss then.’
After walking another couple of hundred paces they were on the far side of the island. This was the windward side and was much cooler. The view was also quite different. Now the grey-green mountains were off to the right and the view ahead was out over a few hundred metres of shallow coral reef to a line of breakers and then to the deep water of the ocean. The deep water was a dark blue and the waves appeared to be much larger than before. In the far distance Andrew noted the upper works of a big ship that was heading north inside the main reef.
For something to say he pointed to this. Muriel replied, “Where?” and leaned over so that her bare upper