Like a fish in the water

In September I decided to take diving lessons. My brother and sister in law always tell enthusiastic stories about diving. Now Marco, my colleague also tried to convince me that diving is a great experience. Some years ago I met a young disabled woman who was telling me she was a diver herself. She has the same muscular disease I have, maybe even a little worse. Since early age my muscles are weak and I can not walk or stand at all. Because of this I am dependant on the help from other people and my wheelchair to get around. I was amazed that it was possible that she was diving, but the idea was exciting.

Last summer I looked for information about the possibilities of diving with a disability.  I found the IAHD and I contacted Klaas Brouwer. When I told him I planned a holiday to Bali he said that he was going to train a Balinese instructor to become a IAHD instructor. My fantasy got wild. Maybe I could dive at Bali. Would that be possible? First I had to find out if it was possible to dive anyway.

A new course would start in two weeks. My first swimming-pool dive was cold and I did not like the tumbling in the water. The only thing that was not a problem was breathing under water. The next lesson was in a warmer pool and we worked out my balance. I started to relax and enjoy. Slowly I realised that I should learn my skills, but it was so good just to be in the water.

Meanwhile I contacted BIDP, the dive centre in Bali and corresponded with Luci about the possibilities of diving in Bali. She answered my thousand questions and gave me a very safe feeling about Avandy who would dive with me.

It took a long time before I could dive in Bali, but finally the minibus of the BIDP picked us up. My mother and Gung accompanied me. They were always near me as long as I was above the water. My mother assisted me with clothing and Gung took care of the wheelchair and myself when I was carried. His hand protected my head from banging into door-frames and other hard objects lots of times.

Finally we met Avandy and his team at the office of BIDP. After only three minutes there was an understanding between Avandy and me. We agreed to be partners and work together. A jacket was customised and a wetsuit chosen. But how to put on a wetsuit to someone else? Avandy had his training just finished and he remembered that there was a trick, but what was it? One of the staff members, Sangut, was called. The suit was turned inside out and wriggled over his feet. They pulled up the trousers and the suit turned out to fit backwards. So the trick had to be different in some way. It took some calm and concentrated thinking and a lot of laughs.

When everything that had to be said was said and all the signs were explained we went to Avandy’s backyard swimming-pool to practise and get to know each other. It was weeks ago since my last dive in the Netherlands. When I went under the water my head said: “Stop! This is impossible. You can’t breath there”, but my lungs calmly kept breathing. They knew better and after a few minutes I felt like fish in the water again. Soon Avandy and I understood each other very well and we were ready for the ocean.

The next morning at 7:30 the minibus picked us up and we drove for three and a half hours to the other side of the island. It was a beautiful journey, but a long one. What could be so special to take the trouble to go so far? The wreck of the Liberty at Tulamben. A little shaken from the trip we found the divespot. Everybody started to put together their stuff and I had the time to look around me.

While Avandy was waiting in the ocean with my equipment Sangut and Yudi carried me across the pebble beach hurting their feet on the hot stones. They let me float on the water and adjusted my jacket. “What will happen when I am under water? What will I see?,” I was thinking with my eyes closed for the shining sun right above me.

Then when we all were ready Avandy turned me over and the blue sky with the burning sun became a cool blue shimmering. I saw black pebbles and little fluorescent blue fish swimming just above the bottom. This was beautiful.

Five minutes later I found out that these damsellfish were nothing in compare to the next sight. And the next and the next.... I forgot everything except breathing. At that moment I became hooked to diving. Life will never be the same again.

Avandy pulled me on my second stage further down and in the direction of the open sea. The pebbles turned into back sand and I saw more fish. Butterflyfish like in my father’s aquarium. But these fish were majestic, much bigger and brightly coloured. Then we saw the first signs of the wreck in the clear water. If I had expected a dull grey old warship my hopes were deceived. A total new world opened in front of my eyes. The ship was grown with all kinds of corals and anemones. Best way to describe this is to compare it with a fairy garden full of flowers. Large and small fish in all colours of the rainbow were swimming in the garden. Floating in the space I tried to see as much as possible of what happened in front of me, beside me, above and under me. Shoals of little purple fish were dancing between the coral branches. Larger parrotfish lingered in small groups. Some of them had an incredible turquoise colour with green spots. Two bright yellow butterfly fish were playing together just behind a hole in the hull of the ship. Radiant bundles of light somehow made it to shine inside the ships hull and played together with the fish. The panorama changed continually.

New to me was that below me there was a lot to see too. Especially when we swam over a ridge and suddenly I saw a great depth below me. Sometimes you could see other divers deep down there. Their bubbles whirled upwards. It feels funny to swim through those bubbles.

After twenty minutes I became cold and had to give the sign for ‘cold’. Immediately Avandy started to swim back and I felt sorry that I had given the sign. But there was another dive on the program today when I would be warm again.

Maybe the second dive was even more beautiful then the first. Avandy lead me around the ship. He firmly held my second stage so I was save all the time. Sangut and Yudi swam in the direct neighbourhood with us.

Afterwards the way back seemed much shorter than the way there. We stopped at Avandy’s office and debriefed. The first stamps were put in my logbook. Both, Avandy and I were content with this day. No awkward things had happened and all the solutions Avandy had carefully thought of to make me as comfortable as possible appeared more then adequate. If I wanted to he had another dive adventure in mind. I liked the idea very much and we made an appointment to go to Penida Island with the speedboat.

Until now everything had gone quit easy. From the boat this would be different. No bottom to stand on and no beach with a slope to go into the water. There would only be a small ladder to go in and out of the water. How would Avandy solve this? Did I finally want something that proved to be impossible? The night before the dive I was worried. I knew it would be possible to get into the water, but I was afraid I could never come up on the ship again. Luckily I had a lot of confidence in Avandy and his team and I could leave this problem to them. I did sleep very well after all.

The next morning we met the BIDP team at Sanur Bay Beach. The bright yellow speedboat was waiting for us. We left the wheelchair in the car and I was carried in a wooden chair to the beach. From there I was carried through the water in the arms of Sangut and Yudi and lots of arms pulled me on the deck of the boat. I found a comfortable place at the backside of the boat. I like to be able to see around me and I love to feel the wind in my face.

The island of Bali became smaller and smaller and the island of Lembongan was growing.. After a while we approached the moorage. Avandy was lost in thoughts. Suddenly his face cleared up and he smiled. Now he knew, he said. He called for his team and Sangut was asked to put on a life jacket. Using the jacket to get grip they lowered Sangut into the ocean and pulled him out again.

The equipment was put together, the last things were said and we were ready for the dive. With the life jacket I was lowered in to the water. Soon we could go down. The bottom was of sand and coral pillars. Plan was to swim in the direction of the open sea, because the coral would be more beautiful there. We never made it there. Avandy decided that the current was too strong and did not take the risk. So we stayed in the bay.

After swimming in circles for a while I became cold and gave the sign for ‘going back’. Clothed with the life jacket I was raised into the boat. Before I was aware of it I was on my little spot at the deck of the boat again.

We had some lunch and went on to Penida Island. Going there we saw the eddy’s that marked the current and we were happy Avandy had decided not to dive there. It took sometime to find a suitable anchorage at Penida. There was some current here too.

All the gear was checked and put right again. It happened that I lost some of my lead during the last dive. We did not bring spare lead so we needed to arrange things differently and I went down with less lead. My buoyancy was still OK but my balance was gone. Avandy had to do a tougher job to prevent me from tumbling all the time. But the dive was worth the trouble!

The current took us along the coral. A diversity of different corals and other marine-plants and animals passed by. This time I spotted thick blue starfish. I also remember a gigantic coral urn or sponge and beautiful thick rose shaped corals. Very  beautiful were the fernlike creatures. Some black and others green. Especially when they were growing together the effect was great.

Suddenly Sangut came into my sight. He had something in his hands. When he came closer I saw it was a dark blue pufferfish. Round and gleaming of anger the fish tried to get his freedom back. Sangut held him firm until I had seen him. Before I ever dived I thought these creatures belonged in fairy tales. Now I know that they exist in real life in all its diversity and colours.

Unfortunately this last dive came to an end too. After more that 40 minutes my jaws began to hurt of suppressing the cold. Time to quit and ascent to the surface. We swam to the open sea and the boat picked us up soon. I nestled myself comfortable on the deck and allowed the sun to warm me.

At the cosy office of BIDP all the stuff was cleaned and put away. Again I got new stamps in my logbook and got a compliment for calculating my pressure groups right. We had to say ‘good buy’ but we tried to delay as long as possible. We watched video, asked the last questions, talked and lingered, but one time we had to go home.

And yet I am sitting behind my PC trying to put my adventures on paper. But I can not find the words to describe what I have gone through. I feel homesick. I want to go back to this beautiful underwater world, but also I miss the wordless working together with the BIDP team. When will I have the opportunity again to dive in the ocean? In any case now I have the time to train my skills and study for my open water licence. I want to become more independent and be allowed to dive deeper.

It is clear I will not quit diving easy. Since I started to dive a new dimension has come in to my live: the underwater dimension. It feels great to be weightless and be able to move my arms and legs without the limitations of gravity.  I can not imagine life without being part of the incredible world below sea-level again. Diving has become a passion to me.

Simone Poortman

3 januari 2002