The Andaman Chronicles - Day 6 Finale
Last day of the expedition. We were returning back to Koh Bon island and then diverting to the open ocean to dive in a wreck. Late in the day we would arrive in main land after 6 days living in a boat.
The first dive was in Manta Point. My buddy was Suzette. We did a buddy check and prepared to jump in the water, all divers in line. The boat approached the cape in a slow pace and run a bell when passing over the reef. We jumped. My first sensation when I entered the water was of cold water in the face. Then I opened my eyes and could not see that much underwater. I touched my face and found nothing where my mask was supposed to be. I surfaced quickly and made the distress signal to the boat. The crew saw my signal and I replied back with a mask signal. Then I shouted to Elsa, the guide, who was still on surface. We waited on surface, together with Suzette who joined us when she realised I was not underwater, until the boat was able to manoeuvre back. Then the crew threw my mask at us. The rest of the dive went well and we were gifted with a manta ray passing by us in the end of the dive.
The second dive was also in Koh Bon island. Darius was diving with Niko. The procedure was the same, when the bell rang we all jumped in the water. As soon as we jumped we listened a blast. Then we saw Niko struggling in the water with air flowing around. The first stage of the breathing cylinder had blasted. Niko and Darius aborted the dive and returned to the boat.
We resumed our journey and headed to the middle of the ocean. The dive spot was a wreck sunk off shore on our way to main land. The wreck has been destroyed by the tsunami which affected Thailand years ago and is currently broken in five separated parts. It lays on a sandy bed and offers refuge to all kinds of fish in the area as an artificial reef. While our boat run at full speed we had a briefing. Our objective was clear. We would descend on a buoy which marks the location of the wreck and would explore the eastern side. Darius and Niko were diving together again. Somehow they misunderstood the instructions. After the descend all groups headed east, all except Darius and Niko who went on the opposite direction. No one realised that, and since they are photographers they are normally slow and we did not bothered waiting for them. The marine life around and inside the wreck was marvellous. A great spot for underwater photography. I spent most of the dive appreciating mantis shrimps making holes in the sand where they would live with gobies in perfect symbiosis. The shrimps make the house, the gobies protect the shrimps. When the time had come we surfaced and were collected by the boat. There was no sign of Darius and Niko. We waited and looked for their buoy which would mark their position. But there was no buoy to be seen. Not until someone looked at the other side of the boat and saw a buoy in the west. We learned later that Darius and Niko kept going west and they surfaced when they realised they were wrong. They had surfaced more than half an hour ago and have been making signals to the boat, but no one was actually looking at their direction.
At the end of the day we entered the harbour after six days living in a boat under extreme and limited conditions. Six days of adventures and fun. Six days of stories and episodes to tell for the rest of our lives. But everybody is happy when all ends well.
