Mucho Mambo (Sway) — Playa del Carmen, Mexico | July 2000
“Sharks!”
With the engines roaring, the speedboat of the Abyss Dive Center flies over the rough sea, making its way to the Los Arcos reef, about 20 minutes away. There was a storm this morning, but the dive master has assured us that all is well under the ocean’s bumpy surface.
This will be my first deep water dive after completing an SSI Open Water Diver course here at the Riviera Maya on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. I’m feeling a little anxious as yesterday’s final training dive was a nerve-wracking experience.
We were sitting on the seabed, about ten metres below the surface, doing a buddy-breathing exercise. The exercise was quite simple. Two of us had two share an air tank and take turns with the air regulator mouthpiece. At first this went well, I’d inhale deep and hand the regulator to my buddy, a Flemish man. He’d then do the same and hand the regulator back to me.
However, after doing this a couple of times, my “buddy” didn’t return the regulator. Oxygen starved, my mind started spinning, I really just wanted to open my mouth and take a deep breath, but under water that wouldn’t be a very good idea. Making my way back to the surface also wasn’t an option as ten metres is already too deep to do so.
I looked at the instructor feeling like I was going to choke, but he just looked back at me serenely and gave me the OK-symbol. Then, finally, my buddy gave me the mouthpiece. Sucking in the air, I calmed down. When we got back to the surface I confronted the instructor, demanding to know why he hadn’t done anything. His response was surprising:
“I’ve been a diving instructor for over 15 years,” he said, “I saw you were struggling, but I didn’t see any panic in your eyes. Because you weren’t panicking, it was useful for you to struggle a bit. Now you know that you don’t panic in this kind of situation, it’s an invaluable life lesson.”
That wasn’t quite how I had experienced almost drowning, but now that he pointed it out, I could see the value: I hadn’t panicked, I hadn’t done anything stupid and it had ended well. It had been a life lesson!
We’re approaching the reef. The boat slows down and the dive master signals us to get ready. I put on my gear and, after a quick buddy check of the equipment, sit down on the starboard bow of the boat, my back facing the ocean. On the dive master’s count, I let myself roll backwards into the water. Once under the surface, I’ve got some trouble with my buoyancy control. I keep forgetting there’s a responsive delay when adding or releasing air to the vest, causing me to bounce up and down, creating havoc to my ears. The dive master signals me to calm down.
Once I’ve got the buoyancy under control, I get a chance to take in my surroundings. There are a lot of colourful fish around here. In one swipe, I see green, orange, pink and blue ones in a great variety of shapes and sizes. Below me, an angry looking eel retracts into a small cave and a large crab dances sideways along the ocean floor. Then, as I turn around, I’m face-to-face with a SHARK! In a kind of shock reaction, I breath out heavily, causing a strong stream of air bubbles to be released around me. This in turn startles the shark which turns and swims away. Trying to compose myself I turn again and see three more sharks. I search for the dive master. He sees me, surrounded by sharks, but just gives me an OK-signal. I decide to trust him and ignore the sharks.
When we surface, he explains to me that the sharks which surrounded me were nurse sharks. They look quite fierce, but are timid and basically harmless as long as they are not irritated. Could be, but I still feel the adrenaline racing through my body, I was surrounded by sharks!
After a short break, we roll into the water for a second dive. Again I see many multi-coloured fish and a turtle whizzes by. Then I hear the clanging sound of a knife against an air tank, the dive master is trying to get our attention. I scan the water until I see him. He signals we should get out of the water and points to the distance. Following his finger, I see another SHARK! It’s not a nurse shark.
Back on the boat, a white-faced dive master says, “that was a bull shark, he’s not supposed to be here!”
Shaft. Mucho Mambo (Sway) single [CD]. Brighton, United Kingdom: Wonderboy Records (1999)
This autobiographical sketch comes from my bundle In the Moment: A Disjointed Audiobiography which is available at Amazon.com. (USD 9.50 for a paperback or USD 4.50 for the Kindle version)
