A day to celebrate

Cai’s birthday was one of the truly great days of my life. However, no matter how hard I strive to view it as a time of celebration, my heart keens to share it with him in person. It can’t all be about loss though, there has to be a time celebrate the magnificent times we once shared, and what better day than the one that marks his birth. This year I came so close to bailing out of participating in the day at all. I had a restless night, disturbed by awful dreams concerning a nightmare scenario between Cai and myself. None of it was based on reality, but it sure rocked my boat. Since his death I’ve not had a single negative dream involving him. There’s been plenty, but they’ve been a joy to have, of a nature that could easily lull me into eternal sleep. Hardly surprising then that this one hit me so hard! Awake by 4am, I convinced myself to make excuses and refrain from the planned activities for the day. I’m glad that option shamed my inner self, from somewhere I found I had a bit more gumption. (Photo: Dive livaboard – Flores, Indonesia)

OK, it wasn’t quite that simple, my sleepless night was worsened by fretting about the diving on the day’s itinerary. This area is renowned for the current that sweeps through between the islands, and it worried me. My limited experience of snorkeling since my accident had seen me getting cramps all too quick. Using my normal fins in Cuba was murderous, a pair of short fins in Cambodia allowed more time before my hamstrings clamped tight. I used to be a relaxed diver, taking little effort to propel myself where I needed going. There are times though when more forceful finning is required, like in a strong current. I don’t mind admitting I was concerned, the last thing I wanted was to get into difficulties in such circumstances. Again, from some unknown depth (if you’ll pardon the pun) I found a need to face my fears. The worst that could have happened was that I was swept away from the boat, I’m sure it wouldn’t have gone unnoticed. (Photo: Nature’s own fisherman – Amongst the Islands off Flores, Indonesia)

Practicing what you preach isn’t always the easy way through life, but it’s a damned good ethic to follow. So bleary eyed and with slight trepidation I met the gang and away we went. Leaving open the option of one or two dives seemed wise, there was meant to be good snorkeling to be had anyway. So with the usual delays of getting a large group coordinated we set off an hour later than planned, and sailed out into a beautiful sunny day. Everyone was in high spirits, and I kept my worries under my hat. It’d been a joy sharing past diving experiences with the others, I secretly wished I’d played it down a touch, though was honest in admitting I’d not dived for four long years. I buddy-ed up with Michelle, one of the Italian instructors. Who kindly reminded me of many small points, all of which were of little concern to me. It wasn’t that I’d forgotten anything, but I did warn him I tended to get cramp easy. (Photo: There be dragons – Ritu Island, Indonesia)

Our first dive was off Manta Point, and yes, we were expecting to see Manta Rays. The plan was to drift with the current, if we saw Mantas we’d stay put by staying low, thus avoiding the main drag of the current. Sounds easy and generally it was. A few minutes of relaxing into the dive and everything felt cool, finning was largely unnecessary, until we saw our first Manta. Hanging back a bit to keep in touch with my buddy I didn’t get the best of views of it. Not that you could miss it, visibility was fair, simply that I didn’t manage to get as close as some of the others. By then my buddy was fading into the distance, while the main group were getting a fair way ahead. I hung back to play the responsible diver, never lose sight of your buddy. But when I realised he was off exploring with one of his fellow divers from home I left them to it and caught up with the rest. We saw two more Mantas, both of which I had a grandstand view of. I was one of the last group to surface, my sir consumption had been one of the better ones of the whole group. I also got to snorkel around another Manta for a prolonged time at the end of the dive. (Photo: Komodo Dragon in threat mode – Ritu Island, Indonesia)

(Photo: The gangs spells KOMODO - Ritu Island, Indonesia)

The second dive was deeper and much more colourful. Again I was one of the better ones for air consumption, not the best, but far from the worst. We saw turtles and a fantastic array of colourful fish and coral, yet again the snorkeling after was wonderful, spending a protracted time free diving with a turtle. And then it was off the see the Komodo Dragons, unfortunately that was a slight disappointment. Not a waste of time, but not really to best of natural events. A group of fat lazy dragons hung around at the village, we were told to take as many photos of them as we felt like, there’s be little chance of seeing any on our hike. To be honest it felt like a set-up, though the rangers claimed they weren’t fed. I can’t for the life of me imagine any other reason they’d hang around people, or be so placid, they were obviously well fed. But it was worth seeing them, they are an impressive sight, even in sluggish mode. (Photo: Your's truly, Lotty, a 78yr old local, and Greg – Aboard the dive boat, off Flores Indonesia)