travel blog - the titanic... not quite

one of highlights of diving at fantasy island
occurred the third night there
first of all,
a little bit of background
there was a small craft captain
by the name of hector
age 50, and local on the island
who had captained boats all over the carribean
he was the one in charge of taking us out to the shore dive starting point
the gazebo
in the skiff ´little martha´
on this fateful night
12 of us set out on a night dive
everything went off smoothly
and we all arrived back at the gazebo
and waited for hector to come pick us up
with us at the gazebo
was another group of 12 americans who had also finished their night dive
as they had exited before us,
they had dibs on the skiff
so hector pulls up
and the americans board and load the skiff with their gear
then hector motioned for a few more of us to hop on board
all in all,
8 from our group managed to fit aboard little martha
before hector ran out of room
the 20 of us, plus hector
set off for the short ride back to the docks and scuba shop
while rounding the second point
just out of sight of the docks
someone at the front of the skiff yelled out
that we were taking water in over the bow
someone else yelled out
that we should all shift to the back
i was already in the back
right beside mikayla who was beside hector
as the mass group of people shifted to the back
the balance of the boat shifted... back ... of course
bringing with it a wave of people
as well as a wave of water
and that action pretty much put the stern under
as people realized what was happening
-ie. the boat was tipping back quite a bit-
they scrambled back to the front
-remember that us canadians were pretty much all in the back
and the americans were in the mid and bow of the skiff -
which promptly put the bow under
there seemed to be a moment of prolonged silence
as we sat there in the boat
in the water in the boat
whose sides were already below the water line
somewhere in there
i had managed to pull my wetsuit back on
and secure my own scuba gear
i spoke to mikayla very urgently
and told her not to lose chris´ light
which she had borrowed for the night dive
i remember shouting out,
secure your gear!
and then there was that silence
with everyone holding their gear
and sinking to the bottom of the ocean
oh yeah,
the engine had quit
when the stern of the boat had gone under
with that first wave of water and americans
so it was very very quiet
then suddenly
hector jumped out of the boat
i had no idea
whether or not he could swim
and i had no idea why he had jumped out into the ocean
he didn´t seem to make much sound
and i yelled out three times to him
hector!!! are you ok?!
before i saw that he was trying to swim and pull the boat in to shore
seeing this
i yelled out, everyone out of the boat!
and that prompted a mass bail out
which was made all the more bizarre and abstract
because it was a dark night
tho the sky was brilliantly clear
and the stars shining as if there were no tomorrow
i switched on my light
after pulling on my fins
and tried to light up the boat
a dozen other lights went on
-the good thing about all of us having been out on a scuba night dive
was that we had all the gear necessary, hehehehe-
and that made the scene even more chaotic
with shadows above and beneath the water
gear fell over board
sinking to the bottom
and i shouted for people to start towing the boat in
while others, like nick, had the presence of mind to strap gear on
and go looking for stuff that had fallen out of the boat
during this time
one of the large fantasy island boats approached us
and i started signalling that there was a problem
it must have looked really really weird to them
to see all those dots of light fanning out in the ocean
as they got nearer,
i called for help
but their boat was too big
and we were too shallow for it to come in
and yet too deep for us to stand
so it cruised on by
heading back to the dock for help
i yelled out asking if they had a bailing can,
but there was no answer
maybe their engine was too loud
we finally managed to tow the boat in to shallow water
where we could stand and stabilize the boat
hector immediately jumped back into the skiff
and started bailing madly with a half milk carton
the americans immediately
got their gear together and left
yeah,
they left
some of them even had the brilliance
to ask us to help them get their gear out of the boat
and after they had all their stuff accounted for
they just walked off without a word
i am proud to say
that all 8 people in my group
canadians true and blue
stayed with hector and the ship
i noticed what hector was doing
and told mikayla to help him out
there were no other ¨bailing¨ cans
ie. milk cartons
so i told her to grab a fin
a few people had stayed in the boat
to keep the empty aluminum tanks from floating away
and secure other miscellaneous gear like weightbelts and what not
-these also belonged to the americans,
as i said,
they took their gear,
but left the tanks
and aluminum tanks when breathed down very low
...float
it was quite a sight to see-
so mikayla grabbed a fin
and started bailing with the foot pocket
with hector
while the rest of us held and stabilized the boat
a half an hour later or so
the water had gone down miracuously
the two bail-ors working like machines
it was an amazing night!
so beautiful and so clear
and so exciting too!
what more could one ask for?
a solid group of divers
loyal and caring
a beautiful night
and the spirit of working together to bring the boat and her captain
back to safety
finally
when almost all the water was gone
a person arrived on foot
with two 5 gallon bailing cans
and the last bit of water disappeared quickly
most of it had been taken out
by the half milk carton and fin pocket
amazing eh?
then a little motor boat
came along
to tow us back to the dock
we all scrambled back into the boat
checked our gear
checked our people
and headed back in silent euphoria
sure,
we also made fun of the americans
but then hey,
we´re canadian
what else were we supposed to do?
hehehehe

now i have to say
that i wouldn´t have traded this experience
for anything else in the world
our boat sank
on the way home from a night dive
how cool is that eh?

the canadians that stayed with hector
who i nicknamed, capitano submarino
mikayla, nick, norm 1 and 2, yung, doug, murray and myself
glad to say
that they even got the flooded motor to run again
and little martha was back in service late the next day
so alls well that ends well, eh!
=)