The following is a slightly edited version of my travel blog from last year. The original blog was intended to be read by non-divers so if it seems dumbed down that is the reason.
"One of the dives will stick in my memory forever. I'll try and convey it as best I can for the non-divers out there.
The site was called Napantaw Fish Santuary. To describe it briefly, it's like a big cliff underwater. There is a shallow bit on top of the cliff where the water is 5m deep which is the coral reef. The cliff drops down to over 100m and maybe more.
We intending to swim along the wall at 20m. Our guide had said there would be loads of fish and that there might be a bit of a horizontal current which meant we could just drift along without any effort to the end of the wall. The wall was about 140m long. This should take about 40-45 minutes when you account for stopping to look at stuff. Anyway - scene set.
The surface of the water was indicating strong currents. It looked like two rivers were flowing into each other. After a little discussion with the local guide we decided to proceed with the dive. We jumped in and as soon as we descended we realised that the current was a bit stronger than we expected. Not only that, it was pushing horizontally and upwards. This made it awkward to descend. After a bit of hard work we got to a sheltered bit at the start of the wall, 10m down. We looked about at the fish and caught our breath for a few minutes.
The guide then indicated he was going to move out of the sheltered area and into the current. He went with a Siberian girl who was a relatively inexperienced diver. Myself and Dom (my brother) were to follow... The two of them headed out and were caught in the current and went out of sight along the wall. Myself and Dom followed at about 15m depth. At this point the **** hit the fan.
Once in the current we took off like scalded cat. Within seconds we were flying along the wall so fast we couldn't focus on anything. Next thing the current changes from horizontal, to horizontal and DOWN. I went from 15m to 25m in two or three seconds and thought I was in deep **** because I was still going down and fast. 66m equals grim Reaper.... I hit my inflator which stopped the descent at 30m. Dom meanwhile has hit 32m and is inflating his jacket continually and finning like crazy. Normally you just hold the inflator for 2 seconds and you will ascend - to the surface if you want to. Trouble is he's not going up. The current pushing down was unbelievably strong.
Next thing the current changes again and the down bit stops. Since our jackets/BCDs were fully inflated, we started to go up - FAST. In diving this is not good. The nitrogen in your blood fizzes out like a lemonade bottle when it opens. If you go up too fast you could also meet your maker - fizzy blood is not good for you. Now it's time to deflate our jackets stop the ascent....
Anyway this went on for a few more times - up and down - before we reached the end of the wall. Less than a minute had passed!! It should have taken 40-45. Dom and I got separated by about 20m and I pulled in to the wall to wait for him at 15m because the current weakened a little. As he appeared above me (at 10m) it all started again. A really strong current swept down and washed me away from the wall and out into the deep blue. I waved bye to Dom because there was no point in trying to swim against it. Before we separated I indicated that I was going to ascend and he responded with the ascent sign.
The movie Open Water did cross my mind as I drifted along below the surface into the ocean. It's a bit strange having no visual point of reference for distance or depth - it does weird things to the mind. In case anyone is wondering, yes - there are sharks here, and big ones. I'd just read tha book about the Indianapolis. It was off the coast of Leyte that in WWII that the warship Indianapolis was sunk. Sharks allegedly accounted for several hundred of the 900 sailors that entered the water alive as the boat went down. The poor sods floated along for five days waiting to be rescued and endured constant shark attacks.
I had to wait 5 minutes before I could come up to the surface to prevent 'fizzy blood', by which time I'd gone another 500m out into the ocean. I always carry an air horn which attaches to my low pressure inflator. As a result, the boat spotted me after a few minutes and thankfully picked me up. About 5 minutes later we spotted the others half a kilometer away.
I feel exhausted reliving that. It was funny when we talked it over but right in the middle I'll admit to being a bit worried. "
"One of the dives will stick in my memory forever. I'll try and convey it as best I can for the non-divers out there.
The site was called Napantaw Fish Santuary. To describe it briefly, it's like a big cliff underwater. There is a shallow bit on top of the cliff where the water is 5m deep which is the coral reef. The cliff drops down to over 100m and maybe more.
We intending to swim along the wall at 20m. Our guide had said there would be loads of fish and that there might be a bit of a horizontal current which meant we could just drift along without any effort to the end of the wall. The wall was about 140m long. This should take about 40-45 minutes when you account for stopping to look at stuff. Anyway - scene set.
The surface of the water was indicating strong currents. It looked like two rivers were flowing into each other. After a little discussion with the local guide we decided to proceed with the dive. We jumped in and as soon as we descended we realised that the current was a bit stronger than we expected. Not only that, it was pushing horizontally and upwards. This made it awkward to descend. After a bit of hard work we got to a sheltered bit at the start of the wall, 10m down. We looked about at the fish and caught our breath for a few minutes.
The guide then indicated he was going to move out of the sheltered area and into the current. He went with a Siberian girl who was a relatively inexperienced diver. Myself and Dom (my brother) were to follow... The two of them headed out and were caught in the current and went out of sight along the wall. Myself and Dom followed at about 15m depth. At this point the **** hit the fan.
Once in the current we took off like scalded cat. Within seconds we were flying along the wall so fast we couldn't focus on anything. Next thing the current changes from horizontal, to horizontal and DOWN. I went from 15m to 25m in two or three seconds and thought I was in deep **** because I was still going down and fast. 66m equals grim Reaper.... I hit my inflator which stopped the descent at 30m. Dom meanwhile has hit 32m and is inflating his jacket continually and finning like crazy. Normally you just hold the inflator for 2 seconds and you will ascend - to the surface if you want to. Trouble is he's not going up. The current pushing down was unbelievably strong.
Next thing the current changes again and the down bit stops. Since our jackets/BCDs were fully inflated, we started to go up - FAST. In diving this is not good. The nitrogen in your blood fizzes out like a lemonade bottle when it opens. If you go up too fast you could also meet your maker - fizzy blood is not good for you. Now it's time to deflate our jackets stop the ascent....
Anyway this went on for a few more times - up and down - before we reached the end of the wall. Less than a minute had passed!! It should have taken 40-45. Dom and I got separated by about 20m and I pulled in to the wall to wait for him at 15m because the current weakened a little. As he appeared above me (at 10m) it all started again. A really strong current swept down and washed me away from the wall and out into the deep blue. I waved bye to Dom because there was no point in trying to swim against it. Before we separated I indicated that I was going to ascend and he responded with the ascent sign.
The movie Open Water did cross my mind as I drifted along below the surface into the ocean. It's a bit strange having no visual point of reference for distance or depth - it does weird things to the mind. In case anyone is wondering, yes - there are sharks here, and big ones. I'd just read tha book about the Indianapolis. It was off the coast of Leyte that in WWII that the warship Indianapolis was sunk. Sharks allegedly accounted for several hundred of the 900 sailors that entered the water alive as the boat went down. The poor sods floated along for five days waiting to be rescued and endured constant shark attacks.
I had to wait 5 minutes before I could come up to the surface to prevent 'fizzy blood', by which time I'd gone another 500m out into the ocean. I always carry an air horn which attaches to my low pressure inflator. As a result, the boat spotted me after a few minutes and thankfully picked me up. About 5 minutes later we spotted the others half a kilometer away.
I feel exhausted reliving that. It was funny when we talked it over but right in the middle I'll admit to being a bit worried. "