|
Palau
The last words of the divemaster, before we left the boat, were
“when you’re in the water and you see that the sharks
are coming over to you, back up against the reef wall and you will
blend in until they leave.”
Entering the water at the Blue Corner/Blue Hole, there were about
8 or so Black Tip sharks drifting in the current about 40 ft. away.
Their staring eyes seemed to watch my every move. I was alone, the
other couple and the divemaster having already swam over the shallow
reef to descend into the Blue Hole. Hurrying to catch up, I soon
swam over this tremendous cavity in the reef. It was about 200 ft.
across and about 120 to 250 ft. deep where it spilled out to the
ocean floor with a sand bottom reaching towards 1500 fathoms!
The other divers descending looked like 2 flies in a gallon jug.
I descended, watching my depth gauge, and when it read 120 ft. I
leveled out and looked upward into this huge vertical tunnel. The
feeling was one of tremendous insignificance.
Still alone, I looked for the divemaster who was supposed to be
my buddy, and there he was, down at about 225 ft. pulling on a piece
of anchor cable. He eventually ascended and we finished the dive
profile with the proper decompression stops for us, but not the
divemaster! One does not have to wonder why so many of the native
divers die early.
<Back to Memories of an Ancient
Diver
|