Stealing Asia (8 page)

The majority of
the fish were below us. On occasion, a straggler would swim up until it was
almost within touching distance. I reached out to them, but as if repelled by
an invisible magnetic force, they always seemed to move just beyond my grasp.
It was frustrating not to see anything larger, but I guessed that was the price
I had to pay for being a beginner. I felt a bit guilty for keeping Asia from
exploring more of the reef, so I let her and Esteban go off on their own for a
while. It was not fair that they should miss out because of my inexperience.

Manu led me back
up to the surface after just fifteen minutes. He did not want me to stay under
for too long on my first dive, but the others remained submerged for longer. He
promised that once everyone was back onboard he would move the boat to another
dive sight and take me down again to somewhere that I would hopefully see a bit
more. Manu then went back into the water to check on the rest of the group. I
took off my fins and BCD while I waited for them all to return. Asia was the
first to surface, followed closely by Esteban and she was giddy with
excitement.

‘You will not
believe what I have just seen,’ she said.

‘And what is
that?’ I asked, but before she could answer she was distracted by the next
couple to surface.

‘Did you see it?
Did you see it?’ she repeated, frantically.

‘Of course,’
answered Dee, as she clambered back onto the vessel. ‘I thought it was going to
give Izzie a heart attack. I’ve never seen her so afraid.’

Her dive buddy
was climbing back onto the boat at the same time, but did so with much more
urgency.

‘See what?’ I
asked, impatiently. ‘What has gotten you all so excited?’

‘A shark!’ Asia
exclaimed with glee.

‘A really big
shark,’ added Dee, as she put her arm around Izzie to comfort her.

‘A shark,’ I
repeated sceptically. ‘It wasn’t dangerous, was it?’

‘Who cares?’
Asia replied. ‘A shark is a shark and that was just awesome.’

There were times
when Asia could be a bit too American. Whilst she proceeded to gush about her
“awesome” encounter, the final pair returned to the boat and surprisingly, they
were a bit more reserved about what they had seen. I guessed they were just
trying to play it cool. Asia, however, could not have been more excited. She
went straight to Manu with a barrage of questions.

‘It was a tiger
shark,’ he confirmed.

‘A tiger shark,’
she repeated. ‘That sounds dangerous – please tell me it was dangerous.’

‘They can be
man-eaters,’ confirmed Manu. ‘The question as to whether they are dangerous is
relative.’

Being new to
diving, I did not take the news that I had been sharing the water with a potential
killer quite so calmly as the others. My reaction had more in common with that
of Izzie who was now vowing never to go back in the water.

‘What do you
mean - relative?’ I asked. ‘Either they eat you or they don’t.’

Manu laughed off
my concern.

‘Sharks rarely
attack humans,’ he said. ‘They are nocturnal feeders and coming across one at
this time is like stumbling upon a human sleep walking. The odds of one
attacking a diver without provocation are pretty much non-existent.’

I glanced over
the side of the boat, but could see nothing. The shark could have been directly
under our hull or a hundred metres away; there was simply no way of telling.

‘For argument’s
sake, what are the options if one did attack?’ I asked.

‘I can answer
that,’ interrupted Barrett.

The American
reached down to his shin and unclipped a six inch blade that he had previously
kept concealed from us all. I knew it had to be part of his own personal kit as
there was no way Manu would have given it to him. He turned the blade over in his
hand for us all to see.

‘All you gotta
do is to take your knife,’ he began and whilst thrusting the knife outwards in
a stabbing motion, continued; ‘then cut your dive buddy. Whilst the shark feeds
on him you can make a quick swim to safety.’

‘Fuck you,’ said
Clay.

Being Barrett’s
dive buddy, he was obviously not amused. He went on to initiate a short mock
boxing bout where the two of them punched one another in the arm. It was cringe
worthy stuff and more akin to schoolboy behaviour than that of two full grown
men. The rest of us tried our best to ignore it.

‘Like I told
you,’ said Manu. ‘Sharks do not attack divers, so nobody needs to go stabbing
their buddy. If you ever do feel threatened by a shark the best course of
action is to hit their gills. This will be sufficient to deter them from
getting too close.’

The debate about
the shark continued as we moved onto the next dive sight. It was not far away
from the first and given the direction of the current, Manu thought there was a
good chance we would spot the shark again. Despite Asia enthusing about how
great the encounter had been, I thought I could live without experiencing it
myself. Fortunately, we had to allow a half hour interval between the two dives
to give the nitrogen in our systems time to dissipate, so we all chilled below
deck for a while. Manu had biscuits and hot chocolate to restore our energy
levels and it worked a treat. Esteban remained on the deck and I went up to see
what kept him.

‘What’s up?’ I
asked. ‘We have hot chocolate downstairs, you know.’

He was gazing
out to sea and did not reply. In the distance, maybe about one and a half to
two miles away there was a small frigate.

‘You thinking
that we need a bigger boat too,’ I said.

He glanced over
at me, but still seemed distracted.

‘What?’ he
asked.

‘That boat,’ I
said, nodding to the vessel that skirted the horizon. ‘You look transfixed.’

‘It’s nothing,’
he replied. ‘It’s just that I could swear I saw that same boat in exactly the
same spot yesterday.’

‘What’s unusual
about that?’

‘It’s not a
fishing boat and it’s too small to be a cargo ship. Why would it stay moored so
close to the island like that?’

I shook my head.

‘Like I said;
it’s probably nothing,’ he told me. ‘Let’s go and get some of that hot
chocolate.’

On the way down
we passed Barrett, who told us he was going up for some fresh air. I thought he
was deliberately avoiding Izzie, which was particularly cold as after seeing
the shark she needed comforting more than anyone. Both she and Dee decided to
sit out the second dive. I would have liked to have stayed on the boat as well,
but Asia would never have forgiven me if I had backed out too.

After arriving
at the second reef, Manu and I were the first to get suited up and enter the
water, but I immediately had problems. The valve on my BCD jammed, meaning that
I could not let the air out and was therefore not able to descend. Manu took a
look at it, but was unable to fix the problem.

‘What’s up?’
asked Esteban from the boat

‘His BCD’s
busted,’ replied Manu. ‘We haven’t got any replacement gear on board so I’ll
have to try and fix it, which could take time.’

‘What about the
girl’s vests?’ asked Esteban.

‘Too small,’
replied Manu.

Esteban could
see the disappointment in my face and offered up a different solution.

‘Why doesn’t he
take mine,’ he suggested. ‘He can use the secondary regulator if that’s okay
with you. I’ll see if I can fix his and join you when it’s ready.’

I had no
objections and Manu seemed okay with the idea. It was actually Barrett who
complained. As usual, the American was itching for a confrontation.

‘No swapsies
allowed,’ he said. ‘If he’s broken his kit; it’s tough luck on him. Let him sit
it out with the other girls.’

I could tell
that Esteban was biting down on his lip to keep from saying anything back. Barrett
had annoyed every one of us on this trip and patience for him had worn thin.

‘It’s not a
problem,’ Manu assured the American.

‘What about
Asia?’ asked Barrett. ‘Has she got to miss out too, because these two girls
want to share a dummy?’

‘She can still
come with Ben and I,’ replied Manu. ‘A group of three is not a problem at all.’

I climbed back
onboard the boat where I quickly switched over to Esteban’s BCD and tank before
returning to the water. Barrett and Clay were shaking their heads and I failed
to see what their problem was. Contrary to the latter’s jibes, we would not be
“sharing a dummy”. Each set of kit had two regulators attached so I would not
be using the same one that Esteban had.

Asia joined me
in the water and then Manu led us down to depth by a guide rope. Visibility was
a lot clearer than on the previous dive and straight away I could see more
vibrant colours among the coral and a much greater variety of aquatic life.

Although it was
Manu who was supposed to be leading the dive, Asia was the one who mostly
dictated the underwater route that we took. I followed her as closely as my
limited ability would allow. The more I swum, the more regular my breathing
became and the less resistance I felt from the water. As my confidence grew, I
was able to summon the courage to try some of the spins and rolls that Asia was
so fond of. I looked for her reaction. She responded in kind; setting me
increasingly difficult challenges. Before long we were engaging in a
zero-gravity, mock kung-fu fight. We performed flying kicks, double back flips
and even Matrix style spins; anything was possible.

A flurry of
bubbles escaped from Asia’s regulator as she giggled at my antics, but then the
sound of her breathing abruptly stopped. Her mood changed in an instant and I
realised something was wrong. She was clearly afraid.

I felt a strong
push from behind that knocked the regulator out of my mouth. Escaping bubbles
clouded my vision and I flailed my arms wildly, completely forgetting the
training I had been given just a short while earlier. A second blow sent me
crashing into the sharp coral, which I felt tear through the fabric of my
wetsuit. As my lungs drained of air, instinct told me to reach out for the
regulator. My hand found it and I placed it into my mouth, but could taste
nothing through it but the bitterness of saltwater. The cable connecting it to
the tank had been severed midway.

The primary
regulator that Esteban had used was still fastened to the BCD and I quickly
unclipped it and put it in my mouth. As the bubbles cleared on my inward
breaths I could see Manu swimming towards me with a knife in his hand. I
realised that he must have cut the cable. Why he wanted to drown me was a mystery,
but I had to get away.

I kicked my fins
off the coral to give me a propelled start away from him. Asia was not far from
me and I waved my hands frantically to get her to turn around. If Manu was
trying to kill me, he might have the same planned for her. She ignored my
pleading and instead swam directly into me before violently twisting me to one
side as we met. At that moment, I realised Manu was not the aggressor after
all.

The side of the
animal brushed against my arm and the roughness of its skin completely belied
its smooth appearance. My wetsuit had started to fray in places, but I did not
think the skin was broken. Asia continued to pull on my other arm, urging me to
swim away, but after seeing what we were up against, I had no desire to let the
beast out of my sight.

I watched the
shark swim away for about ten metres before it turned around in order to make
another pass. By this time Asia had taken to trying to push me through the
water to get away. This left her exposed and as the shark came in for the kill,
I grabbed hold of her and reversed our positions. Just like I had done when
facing down the mugger, I made sure that I was the one in the firing line.

This time the
impact caught me squarely in the back. Rather than feel the teeth of the animal
tearing into my flesh; the only sensation I had was of the BCD tightening
around my chest. I then began to flail wildly. It was now apparent that the
shark had bitten down on my air tank. It tossed me from side to side as if
trying to shake me loose of the cylinder, refusing to let go. Manu attempted to
fend it off with the knife, but it used me like a wrecking ball. The shark
swung my helpless weight into my instructor and in doing so, knocked the knife
from his hands.

I attempted to
free myself of the vest, but the pressure of the animal’s jaws was too great,
leaving me with no room for manoeuvre. I tried to twist my arm around to see if
I could attack its gills, but the angle was too great. It had me helplessly
trapped in its vice-like bite. There was no way that I could envisage escaping
from this. I closed my eyes and hoped only that it would be over as quickly and
as painlessly as possible.

The wild
flailing carried on for an eternity and then it stopped as abruptly as it had
begun. Was this how death felt? The regulator was no longer in my mouth and my
lips had turned cold. I opened my eyes to see Asia staring directly at me. She
was as beautiful as ever. She was also still in her SCUBA gear. I looked down
and saw the knife in her hands; she had cut me free of the vest.

After placing
her secondary regulator into my mouth, I breathed deeply. It calmed me and I no
longer felt that I was in any danger. Manu swam alongside Asia and I, and he
tapped me on the shoulder. The Frenchman then directed his hand down toward the
seabed. The shark still had my air tank in its mouth as it tossed and rolled
wildly like a feline tearing into a catnip mouse. It no longer seemed
threatening; just a confused animal unable to meld instinct with manmade
technology. All it had wanted was my air tank. Why, was a mystery, but not one
that intrigued enough to make me want to stick around any longer than was
necessary. With great relief on everybody’s part, Manu led us back to the
surface.