Diving I have discovered is a process of which being under water is only a part. It’s a sport with a lot of kit and quite a lot of faffing. If you are not willing to relax and go with the flow, and are impatient to be in the water, then I don’t think it’s the sport for you. We arrived at Back to Basics‘ relaxed shaded camp and there was all sorts to be done (apart from chatting to another group of friends who just happened to also be on our dive). We needed to get all of our kit together, wet-suits, masks (don’t call them goggles or divers get very upset), tanks, regulators, fins (not flippers), weight belts and more. Once we had everything and were happy that our air supply was clean and flowing, most of the kit was loaded into the trailer. We then put on wet suits and gathered our personal belongings. Putting on a wet-suit when the air temperature is about 35 is not that much fun, but the wet-suit is needed to keep us warm once we get under the sea.
There is then a dive briefing with safety, allocation of buddies, chat about the wildlife and the boat trip. Then (but by no means rushing) we headed over to the trailer and climbed on. We were then pulled by a tractor, that had clearly been around for many years, out into the hot African summer sun and along the sand roads towards the beach and the boat launch point.
Diving in Ponta Do Ouro (and probably almost everywhere else in Mozambique) is via a rib. We have to launch from a sandy beach which involves a lot of pushing, shoving and inelegant heaving of people into the boat once it’s deep enough. At this point the skipper always looks slightly worried and then for extra reassurance, life jackets are passed around. Here is where those airline safety talks actually come in handy and you remember to “pass the tape around your waist and tie firmly at the side with a bow”. We were then floating close in to the shore and not much further out are breaking waves. Last weekend they were quite small, but often they can be huge. The waves indicate a sand bank that, especially today as we were near low tide, is too shallow for the boat to make it over. So the skipper has to run parallel to the sand bank navigating the breaking waves and finding the perfect wave. Once he has it the skipper has to time it perfectly and use the extra depth of the wave to get over the sand bank. It’s quite a skill.
Once past the sand bank the life jackets are handed back (apart from Imogen’s as she seemed very reluctant to part from it) and it’s then a ride over the rolling waves to the reef. On Saturday it was only about a five minute boat ride. Upon arrival there is then a flurry of activity as everyone needs to put on all of this gear they have brought with them. When under the water the scuba tanks are hardly noticeable and the fins and mask are pretty useful. But while on a rubber boat it’s all pretty heavy and cumbersome.
So, there we all are, weighed down with steel tanks on our back, boiling in all over wet-suits, and with masks quickly steaming up in the heat. The skipper then does another loop around to get the exact drop site and it’s time to go. The dive master counts down “3, 2, 1” On one everyone (hopefully) drops in backwards off the side of the boat (pretty easy to do when a hefty tank is pulling you over backwards anyway). If someone goes late, their steel tank gives someone else’s head a good clonk.
Anyway everyone was in the water (except Imogen who was dropping on a second pass with a personal instructor she had gained). I checked I was next to Zoe, did a quick glance around and then I deflated my BCD (a vest that holds your air tank and you can fill with air or deflate on demand). It’s then a case of slowly dropping down, keeping an eye that you are staying near everyone else and holding your nose and blowing out regularly to “equalise”, due to increasing water pressure. Our dive on Saturday was about fifteen meters down at the start. Once at the bottom the dive master checked we had everyone (including very soon Imogen) and then we set off in a rough group. Within two minutes we were over the reef and the explosion of life and colours was stunning. The rock is coated with coral of varying types, clams, starfish, anemones and much more extraordinary sea life. I had been diving a few months before and I could also hear the hump back whales singing in the background, but their migration had now finished and so they had gone.
The colour, variety, shapes, sizes and sheer numbers of fish are stunning. Sometimes there are little Nemos in their anemones. Other times there is a huge shoal which we are swimming through. Next there are groups of them hanging around under rocky overhangs. Before long there’s a big ray coming into to view and swimming past. The reef is just a continuous riot of life, colour and movement that we have the privilege to see. On other dives I’ve seen turtles down on the reef. Sometimes swimming and sometimes just resting on the bottom of the sea.
There is much life that is so alien to us. Clams, sea slugs, starfish (that as far as can tell never move), moray eels hiding under rocks, waiting for dark to fall when they’ll come out and hunt. The shapes and sizes are weird and wonderful. And it’s just stunning the whole time we are down. We do have to keep an eye on the group as long distance visibility isn’t stunning and we don’t want to lose them. I also have to make sure I’ve not lost my buddy, and as she likes to dart all over the place or swim directly above me, that’s not always simple. I’m still getting used to navigating the 3D space. While navigating it we have to be very careful not to touch and damage the coral and other structures. Lastly, we need to keep an eye on the level of our tanks. I haven’t done many dives yet and seem to be still getting through air faster than everyone else. I managed to keep my air longer on Sunday, so I’m hoping with a few more dives I can stay down as long as everyone else. But, that meant on Saturday I had to leave the underwater wonderland a little early and follow the buoy line (piece of string connecting the dive master to a floating buoy on the surface) and head up.
The skipper is keeping his eye out, spots me and heads over. Of course all this awkward heavy equipment now needs to come off and be dealt with while floating in a sea with some sizable swell and next to a rib. Luckily on Saturday the conditions were pretty calm (comparatively) – it can be a lot worse. I have to take off my weighted belt and pass it up. Then take off the BCD (vest with the tank attached) and that is hauled up and tied safely up. Lastly I need to get myself up (or get up with help) and into the boat. Once I sit on the edge and retrieve my glasses from the skipper I’m quite happy. But I learnt on the following day to take a hat to avoid getting quite so burnt. It’s peaceful on the top of the water and it was nice in the gentle swell not to have to think about sea sickness, which I normally do.
Over time groups of divers gradually appear and the whole process of getting on board is repeated until the boat is full and it’s time to head back. The whole process is then repeated, getting over the sand bank, landing on the beach and the tractor ride back to the base. As we were diving again the next day we could just leave most things there and head for a relaxing lunch, having thoroughly enjoyed the whole process of diving.
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