In May I went alone to Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt to do some diving. I only had 11 dives under my belt (and was only Padi OW certified), and wanted to do a few easy dives first, then try to go for my Advanced OW course (deep, navigation, drift, night and peak performance buoyancy). The first dives went OK, but the drift dive at Jackson Reef was a bit scary, strong currents, also up and down currents, and part of the dive the instructor had to hold me not to float off.
The days after my diving improved considerably and a few days later we were back at Jackson Reef. This time it was my instructor, a Danish couple and me. The dive went absolutely perfect, still strong currents but I had no problem at all. This problems started when we came up. We had started at the dive site at the south end of Jackson reef, and had drifter too far up north along the east side of the reef.
Turned out that the tide was coming in fast, and the sea was extremely choppy. The boat tried to throw us a rope, but the pull of that burnt into our hands and left 2 of my fellow divers with bleeding hands. And the pull was very scary as it pulled us under and it felt like it would pull my mask off. By that time I was did not have much air left at all, something like 100 psi. We tried to get onto the boat a second time, got really exhausted from pulling towards the boat, then realized the boat was tilting far too dangerously to get on it, and at a third effort the pull was just too strong, and we had to let go.
The boat left us. So we were just left alone with reasonably high waves, no SMB, and the waves were crashing over us, so we often needed to used our regulator for air. We also dropped our weights to get higher on the water. I'm still overcoming my fear of water (which is at it's worst above water in waves, but seems to disappear under water, especially when there's loads of stuff to see), and in the back of my mind the idea of 2 of my fellow divers seriously bleeding in waters known for sharks didn't help. The first was in a state of shock, and the guy was quite panicked too, and kept telling me not to let him go.
We drifted for what seemed like an hour, but was probably half that, until we saw a reef, Kormoran Reef (about one mile away from where we came up). The reef was still quite far away, but as we swam backwards as we could see the waves coming at us, I lied to the girl about the distance just to calm her down. We split into two groups to try to swim towards the reef, me and the guy and the instructor and the girl. Then when we got close the guy an I split as well to make the swimming earlier. Scared the hell out of me to be alone in the sea, and you could not see the reef, just a little light on top of it.
As soon as I got near the reef the waves started to get choppier and break, and crashed me onto the coral reef several times. I was wearing a long suit, but the girl didn't and was left with loads of bleeding scratches. I managed to swim down a bit further where the waves were manageable, and I could finally just stand up for a few minutes to catch my breath. I must have broke a few bit of coral, but I think it was ok in that situation. At the reef we saw a little boat that finally picked up and brought us back to the boat. All my fellow passengers had minor injuries, and only I was left mostly unharmed apart from a few tiny scratches.
Afterwards I wondered. Was this a mistake from the instructor who should have known the currents better? Were we actually in serious danger, or were we ok with our BCDs? Should the boat have had a different option to pick us out of the waves (a small boat would have worked)? And how can I get in touch with my fellow divers? Our trip was organized as an all in package, and I found my instructor on FaceBook but his settings are such that I can't contact him. I'd really like to chat to the Danish could as a way to put this behind me, but in all the panic we forgot to exchange names and contact details properly.
The dive left some emotional marks, but it also made me stronger, as I didn't panic much in the open sea, while 2 years ago I was even to afraid to cross a pool. And the Danish thanked me for staying calm and looking after them. I didn't dive the same day anymore (couldn't as all the other divers hand bandages on and stuff), but was back in the water the next day, and even did my first cave dive. Have booked another trip too (Sipadan/Mabul and Similan Islands!) so it hasn't stopped me from diving. What does't kill you makes you stringer they say. And I'll definitely buy and SMB.
The days after my diving improved considerably and a few days later we were back at Jackson Reef. This time it was my instructor, a Danish couple and me. The dive went absolutely perfect, still strong currents but I had no problem at all. This problems started when we came up. We had started at the dive site at the south end of Jackson reef, and had drifter too far up north along the east side of the reef.
Turned out that the tide was coming in fast, and the sea was extremely choppy. The boat tried to throw us a rope, but the pull of that burnt into our hands and left 2 of my fellow divers with bleeding hands. And the pull was very scary as it pulled us under and it felt like it would pull my mask off. By that time I was did not have much air left at all, something like 100 psi. We tried to get onto the boat a second time, got really exhausted from pulling towards the boat, then realized the boat was tilting far too dangerously to get on it, and at a third effort the pull was just too strong, and we had to let go.
The boat left us. So we were just left alone with reasonably high waves, no SMB, and the waves were crashing over us, so we often needed to used our regulator for air. We also dropped our weights to get higher on the water. I'm still overcoming my fear of water (which is at it's worst above water in waves, but seems to disappear under water, especially when there's loads of stuff to see), and in the back of my mind the idea of 2 of my fellow divers seriously bleeding in waters known for sharks didn't help. The first was in a state of shock, and the guy was quite panicked too, and kept telling me not to let him go.
We drifted for what seemed like an hour, but was probably half that, until we saw a reef, Kormoran Reef (about one mile away from where we came up). The reef was still quite far away, but as we swam backwards as we could see the waves coming at us, I lied to the girl about the distance just to calm her down. We split into two groups to try to swim towards the reef, me and the guy and the instructor and the girl. Then when we got close the guy an I split as well to make the swimming earlier. Scared the hell out of me to be alone in the sea, and you could not see the reef, just a little light on top of it.
As soon as I got near the reef the waves started to get choppier and break, and crashed me onto the coral reef several times. I was wearing a long suit, but the girl didn't and was left with loads of bleeding scratches. I managed to swim down a bit further where the waves were manageable, and I could finally just stand up for a few minutes to catch my breath. I must have broke a few bit of coral, but I think it was ok in that situation. At the reef we saw a little boat that finally picked up and brought us back to the boat. All my fellow passengers had minor injuries, and only I was left mostly unharmed apart from a few tiny scratches.
Afterwards I wondered. Was this a mistake from the instructor who should have known the currents better? Were we actually in serious danger, or were we ok with our BCDs? Should the boat have had a different option to pick us out of the waves (a small boat would have worked)? And how can I get in touch with my fellow divers? Our trip was organized as an all in package, and I found my instructor on FaceBook but his settings are such that I can't contact him. I'd really like to chat to the Danish could as a way to put this behind me, but in all the panic we forgot to exchange names and contact details properly.
The dive left some emotional marks, but it also made me stronger, as I didn't panic much in the open sea, while 2 years ago I was even to afraid to cross a pool. And the Danish thanked me for staying calm and looking after them. I didn't dive the same day anymore (couldn't as all the other divers hand bandages on and stuff), but was back in the water the next day, and even did my first cave dive. Have booked another trip too (Sipadan/Mabul and Similan Islands!) so it hasn't stopped me from diving. What does't kill you makes you stringer they say. And I'll definitely buy and SMB.
