As she did she whispered, “Shona and Blake must really like each other.”
“I think they do,” Andrew replied. For a second his eyes met Muriel’s and his mind raced. ‘I wonder if I have a chance?’ he thought.
Feeling puzzled and anxious he turned his attention to the diving. He spat into his face mask and rinsed it, then pulled it on and adjusted the fit. Satisfied, he placed his snorkel in his mouth and slid forward to begin swimming, his mind now dominated by the fears of underwater swimming. The water was only a metre deep at that point so he swam with half his face mask above water and half below. The split picture intrigued him and it was something he enjoyed doing. He liked to check on the sky and on where the safety boat was at the same time as seeing below the surface.
He also kept glancing around to see if there were any triangular fins slicing through the waves towards him. He knew it was most unlikely he would ever spot any shark in time as they mostly swam underwater and he tried to tell himself that shark attacks on divers were very rare. But the rational mind could not completely conquer the fears and he kept glancing around in spite of himself.
Several small, striped fish suddenly flitted into his vision, causing his heart to miss a beat. A moment later they vanished in a flash as Blake came swimming past. His flippers churned up the surface and the silt on the bottom and obscured Andrew's view. He moved aside and found Muriel swimming up alongside on his left. Shona and Carmen were splashing along beyond her.
PO Walker stopped them when the water was too deep to touch bottom. He instructed them to keep swimming but to practice a snorkel/regulator exchange. By this time Andrew’s heart was beating fast with anxiety but he knew he had to try or be shamed so he swapped the snorkel for the regulator. Andrew allowed himself a minute or so to get used to breathing through the regulator. As always he felt anxiety tightening his chest and he had the feeling that he was struggling to breathe, that the valve was not giving him enough air, even though he knew it was a demand valve and would give him as much as he needed, and at the pressure of the surrounding water.
To calm himself he deliberately kept his face in the water looking down at the sandy bottom. He also enjoyed the view. But it could drive out that nagging fear that soon he would have to dive and then would come the ordeal of deliberately flooding that face mask!
PO Walker led them out until they reached the safety boat, which had anchored in water about ten metres deep. Here they hung onto a large, orange polystyrene float with handles on it. A blue and white diver’s flag fluttered above the float. To Andrew, looking fearfully around, they seemed to be a long way from the shore- right out in deep, spooky, dark green waves.
PO Walker detailed what he wanted them to do: “We will dive and wait on the bottom in a line,” he explained. “I will then get you one at a time to do a regulator recovery and clearance. Then you will do a partial mask flood and clear it. When everyone has done that you will do a stationary alternate air source use. Finally we will ascend. All understand? Good. Now, let’s have a practice of recovering your regulator on the surface.”
They did that. Andrew had no problem and was confident he could do it, but the mask flood began to loom ever larger in his mind. Secretly he wished something would happen to delay or prevent the dive. But nothing did and with a sick feeling of near panic he saw PO Walker give the signal to dive. Reluctantly, but on cue, Andrew lifted the release valve and began letting air out of his BCD. In spite of his fear he even managed to return Carmen’s smile before slipping under.
To his annoyance Andrew found he could not seem to go right under. He bobbed about with his face half submerged. Annoyed, he pressed the release valve again and this time went down- too fast. Almost at once he felt the squeeze of pressure and had to quickly blow air into his BCD to stop the descent then pinch his nose and blow to try to equalize the pressure in his ears. This worked and he was able to get his descent under control. Having the anchor line of the raft to cling to helped as well, keeping him from becoming disoriented. Only after he had his breathing and pressure under control did he look around, noting Carmen near the bottom, Muriel sinking steadily below him and Blake and Shona still above him.
Releasing air from his BCD in tiny amounts got Andrew sinking again. The sandy bottom seemed to rise to meet him and he settled on the points of his fins, then tucked them behind him and sank down on his knees beside Muriel. PO Walker swam down in front of them and indicated that they should move sideways to make room for Blake and Shona. Having successfully reached the bottom Andrew felt better. He even looked up and noted with some satisfaction that both Blake and Shona seemed to be having trouble coming down. In Shona’s case it was obviously an equalization thing and Blake appeared to be staying with her. PO Walker rose to help and slowly coaxed Shona down.
Andrew now tried to calm himself even more, telling himself to relax. Despite that his anxiety remained high and he kept glancing around into the green murk and shadows. Even just breathing was a challenge and he had to continually fight down the desire to pull the regulator out of his mouth and swim to the surface.
‘I hope they can’t see I am scared,’ he thought, noting that Shona was looking quite wide-eyed and worried.
Then the testing began. PO Walker moved slowly along the line, kneeling in front of each diver and watching while they carried out the test of skill. Carmen was first in line and Andrew watched her take out her regulator and toss it away from her without any apparent concern. Then she calmly swung her arm back, recovered the regulator and put it back in her mouth. As she vented to clear it Andrew’s eyes followed the rising bubbles.
‘I can easily reach the surface if I have to,’ he told himself, again trying to calm the fluttering nerves while Muriel did the test.
Then it was his turn. As PO Walker signalled Andrew kept telling himself what to do. To his own surprise he did it all quite easily, only being ashamed that PO Walker had to remind him, by signalling, to keep his mouth open and not to hold his breath. Nodding with embarrassment Andrew emitted a gentle flow of bubbles while he recovered the regulator. After that it was easy and he quickly purged the regulator and resumed breathing.
‘Phew! One done,’ he thought. But the anxiety kept rising because that mask flood was next!
Andrew disliked this exercise very much. He had done it several times in the swimming pool and knew it was important for safety, but here in the ocean it all seemed quite different. While he waited he was unable to stop himself glancing to his left to where the seabed sloped away into deeper water; a murky green and purple that could contain anything. He tried to comfort himself by estimating the visibility at about 15 metres.
‘I might just spot a shark before it attacks and be able to fend it off,’ he thought. ‘Besides, there are six of us. It might go for one of the others.’ That reminded him of the sardonic joke that said: swim with a friend, it reduces the chance of shark attack by 50%.
Then the test he dreaded began. With mounting apprehension Andrew watched Carmen partially flood her mask, then blow to clear it. Then it was Muriel’s turn and she did it with apparent ease. ‘Oh no!’ he thought, aware that his heart was racing and that he was gulping breaths much faster than he should. Through a mist of rising apprehension he saw PO Walker give Muriel a congratulatory clap, then move himself sideways to face him. In a state close to panic Andrew saw PO Walker signalling to carry out the partial mask flood.
‘I must do it!’ he told himself. His rational mind told him he could easily swim to the surface if he had to but that wasn’t much help. Knowing that PO Walker was one of his cadet instructors was more helpful. ‘I don’t want him to think I am a coward,’ Andrew told himself. Driven by that thought he took a deep breath and put his hands up to the top of the mask. Even then it took a deliberate act of will power to break the seal and allow water in. He hated it. As the water squirted in he shut his eyes and held his breath. The salt stung his eyes and some water went up his nose, making him splutter and sneeze. On the edge of panic, but trying to appear calm and unruffled, Andrew opened