I just received an e-mail from my scuba club's president about a friend she has in Asia diving during the tsunami that I thought some of you might find interesting...here's part of the e-mail
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I wanted to tell you all that we did have a diver friend that survived the Tsunami and I have enclosed her email to tell you the details -- It is short but so wonderful to know there were some true miracles that happened that day...
tsunami survivor diver
Hello everyone!
Thanks for all your concern! When I sent out my
seasons greetings email, it never crossed my mind that
I would be writing to all of you again so soon!
Communications are all more or less back to normal. I
received so many emails, and I'll try to reply
individually, but here is a short version of what
happened to me when the tsunami hit the Maldives.
It was one of the strangest experiences in my life -
DIVING while the tsunami passed overhead.
We were supposed to go to another site further away
that morning - 2hrs by boat - to check out some
Mantas, but due to lack of enthusiasm (Italians like
to sleep in and didn't want to get up at 7 to dive
thank God! I decided to go to a shark point about 20
minutes away instead. The weather was absolutely
beautiful as usual, but the sea was very rough and the
decision was made not to tie down on the thila, like
we usually do. Another lucky decision - because the
sea is usually calm, the crew ties the rope as tightly
as possible and doesn't leave any extra rope to allow
for water movement/tide changes, like we do in SA.
I had 4 experienced divers with me and we did a
negative entry to avoid the top conditions. The
visibility was not the best, about 20 metres. The
currents were strong and I decided to stay close to
the wall. We were about 25 minutes into the dive, when
everything changed. I was at about 20 m when I had to
equalise like crazy, but I was staying at the same
spot!! The depth had suddenly changed, the visibility
went down to about 2 metres and we had a massive
surge motion. I didn't know what had caused it, all I
could think of was that it was on or near full moon
and that it may be a freak high tide. When the
currents changed again and were throwing us around
like a like a washing machine, I really got worried.
Even the fish were behaving totally erratic, the
sharks came so close I could reach out and touch them.
Thats when I decided to cut the dive short, at about
35 minutes into the dive. We literally crawled,
holding onto the reef to get to the 5 m safety stop.
Like flags in the wind. I don't know what we
wouldve done if the boat wasn't there to pick us up.
Santana, the local dive master, in the meantime was
frantic with worry and came with our other dive boat
to see if we were ok, thinking that we had tied down
to the reef. When we hit the surface and heard what
had happened and we broke ALL records getting divers
back on board! We headed for Halaveli, not knowing
what to expect. Back in Halaveli everyone thought that
they had lost us and it was a welcome to remember! It
was a 'once in a lifetime' experience which I hope
never to repeat! My guardian angel may not be around
next time.
It's amazing how the different nationalities reacted
to this crisis, the Italians wanted to know
immediately how quickly they will be evacuated back to
Italy and were frantic, the Germans wanted to know the
exact reason for the tsunami and more details, whereas
all the English got themselves a beer and a high spot
to watch what was happening!
It's really an unimaginable disaster, which we only
started hearing about as the days passed. Here on
Halaveli, in the Ari Atoll, we were more protected by
other islands around us, so the water damage was
minimal. All the normal water activities have resumed
and we are diving again. We had to wait for the strong
currents to subside, so we will only really start to
see if there is a lot of damage to coral as we visit
the various dive sites.
Well, there you have it - I dived the tsunami and
survived!!
Wishing you all that is beautiful for 2005!!
Take care,
ciao for now
Liz
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I wanted to tell you all that we did have a diver friend that survived the Tsunami and I have enclosed her email to tell you the details -- It is short but so wonderful to know there were some true miracles that happened that day...
tsunami survivor diver
Hello everyone!
Thanks for all your concern! When I sent out my
seasons greetings email, it never crossed my mind that
I would be writing to all of you again so soon!
Communications are all more or less back to normal. I
received so many emails, and I'll try to reply
individually, but here is a short version of what
happened to me when the tsunami hit the Maldives.
It was one of the strangest experiences in my life -
DIVING while the tsunami passed overhead.
We were supposed to go to another site further away
that morning - 2hrs by boat - to check out some
Mantas, but due to lack of enthusiasm (Italians like
to sleep in and didn't want to get up at 7 to dive
thank God! I decided to go to a shark point about 20
minutes away instead. The weather was absolutely
beautiful as usual, but the sea was very rough and the
decision was made not to tie down on the thila, like
we usually do. Another lucky decision - because the
sea is usually calm, the crew ties the rope as tightly
as possible and doesn't leave any extra rope to allow
for water movement/tide changes, like we do in SA.
I had 4 experienced divers with me and we did a
negative entry to avoid the top conditions. The
visibility was not the best, about 20 metres. The
currents were strong and I decided to stay close to
the wall. We were about 25 minutes into the dive, when
everything changed. I was at about 20 m when I had to
equalise like crazy, but I was staying at the same
spot!! The depth had suddenly changed, the visibility
went down to about 2 metres and we had a massive
surge motion. I didn't know what had caused it, all I
could think of was that it was on or near full moon
and that it may be a freak high tide. When the
currents changed again and were throwing us around
like a like a washing machine, I really got worried.
Even the fish were behaving totally erratic, the
sharks came so close I could reach out and touch them.
Thats when I decided to cut the dive short, at about
35 minutes into the dive. We literally crawled,
holding onto the reef to get to the 5 m safety stop.
Like flags in the wind. I don't know what we
wouldve done if the boat wasn't there to pick us up.
Santana, the local dive master, in the meantime was
frantic with worry and came with our other dive boat
to see if we were ok, thinking that we had tied down
to the reef. When we hit the surface and heard what
had happened and we broke ALL records getting divers
back on board! We headed for Halaveli, not knowing
what to expect. Back in Halaveli everyone thought that
they had lost us and it was a welcome to remember! It
was a 'once in a lifetime' experience which I hope
never to repeat! My guardian angel may not be around
next time.
It's amazing how the different nationalities reacted
to this crisis, the Italians wanted to know
immediately how quickly they will be evacuated back to
Italy and were frantic, the Germans wanted to know the
exact reason for the tsunami and more details, whereas
all the English got themselves a beer and a high spot
to watch what was happening!
It's really an unimaginable disaster, which we only
started hearing about as the days passed. Here on
Halaveli, in the Ari Atoll, we were more protected by
other islands around us, so the water damage was
minimal. All the normal water activities have resumed
and we are diving again. We had to wait for the strong
currents to subside, so we will only really start to
see if there is a lot of damage to coral as we visit
the various dive sites.
Well, there you have it - I dived the tsunami and
survived!!
Wishing you all that is beautiful for 2005!!
Take care,
ciao for now
Liz
