|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This page is a collection of underwater pictures, mainly taken around the Brother Islands. Click on a small picture to see a larger version.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
EXPED:SALTY KUKRI (COCKNEY)
-----------------------------------------------
Today, I'm diving with Odie Evans.
On the dive before breakfast we were the only ones to see the Grey, White Tip Reef, and Oceanic White Tips. They had been whirling around us in the current at the northern tip of Little Brother a remote island in The Red Sea. One of the bigger sharks had chased off one of the others with a threatening and frightening run. We hovered quietly close up against the coral wall watching and pointing and wondering. It was spectacular, scary and truly awesome.
Now nine hours later we've nearly finished our afternoon dive and the boat is just in sight 40 yards off the reef where we are hanging at 6 metres. I'm nearly down to our agreed 50 Bar reserve and Odie has a little more. All we have to do is fin over to the two ladders at the stern. The first problem is that there are two 6-foot sharks circling around them. As we start our swim the second problem hits us head on, the current. So here we are, in open water, finning hard and making no progress. The current seems to be pushing us down as well as back. I can't get above 5 metres. Odie is the same about 10 yards to my right. I work harder and I get to 20 yards from the boat. That's 15 yards from the circling sharks. The computer still shows 5.2 metres. I don't want to be on the surface because I hate being there with sharks below me. But I must get above 5 metres to reach one of the two ladders. I work even harder and make a few yards but I drop to 5.6 metres. I must be using a lot of air working this hard. Will I be regarded as a struggling target?
Then out of the corner of my left eye I see the emergency cylinder hanging below the stern. That's nearer than the ladders and I go for it. But I lose height. I fin as hard as I can and reach up and grab one of the dangling second stages. Not that I need the air. I need something to hang on to whilst my breathing recovers. Something I can use to pull myself up on to get closer to the ladders. Some fixed point of reference.
Where are the sharks? Still circling. I hang onto the second stage with my left hand and swing out as far right as I can offering my right hand to Odie. He grabs it gratefully. We are both panting. We climb the line to get nearer to the ladders where for the first time we notice Pete waiting to get his fins off. I go for the second ladder and one of the silkies glides up to my fin tips. Shit that was close. Next time he comes straight at me. It's simple I tell myself, I just follow the advice in all the books and punch him on the snout. He swerves away and I don't have to test the theory. I reach the ladder. Odie is still on the line. The sharks disappear. Pete gets his fins off and as he climbs the ladder it bounces in the chop and clatters against the stern of the boat. The sharks come back so fast right at us and in a line so straight you cannot imagine. Pete climbs out of sight and I lift my feet onto the second step.with my fins still on.
I can't climb this ladder with my fins on. I'd give anything for a ladder with a central spine. But as I often say, "We are where we are". Here there is no choice. I have to drop down into the water and take my fins off. I do it in record time. Odie swims across from the line with a shark underneath his legs. I reach out and he grabs my left hand. Off come his fins and we scramble up the ladder.
The Records Marshall asks "Time, depth and air out please?"
Odie gasps "Awesome".
I claim 49.6 Bar which the Records Marshall rounds up to 50 Bar.
Odie and I descend the ladder without fins for more. When we are ordered out because other divers are heading for the stern we drop our cylinders and get back in with snorkels and hang on the ladders. The silkies go round and round and then up to you -watching with a steady black eye. So smooth, so efficient. Eventually it gets too crowded with snorkelers on the ladders and I climb out. Odie is in for over an hour claiming that he can't get out because it's given him such an incredible hard.
Or was it all in the mind?
Most fear is.
People often ask "Where's the best place to dive?" and I say "There's no easy answer because they're wild animals and it also depends on the time of year, the current, the weather, the light etc but of the places I've been I would say:
Ras Mohammed,
The Blue Hole
Shaab Shagara (The Elphinstone)
Feeding Bull sharks in the Bahamas
Heron Island on the Great Barrier Reef
The Socorro Islands in the Pacific off the West Coast of Mexico
Sting Ray City in Grand Cayman"
And now I add "And there was this day in June 1999 when I dived off The Little Brother
with Odie Evans."
Chris Prichard
