Johnny Coconut

The late John Caldwell.


John and friend planting a coconut on Palm Island


To continue with your christmas season reading,here is a great book writen by John Caldwell,named Desperate Voyage,I once threw my own copy across the room in utter disbelief but soon picked it up again to find out what came next?
Roy

December 1998

Farewell, Johnny Coconut

by Richard Dey
John Caldwell died in early November on Palm Island in the Grenadines, of an apparent heart attack. He was 80. Caldwell, the author of the classic sea adventure, Desperate Voyage, enjoyed a fame that reached beyond the boating world and helped to sustain his hotel on Palm Island when others in the region sometimes failed, especially in the middle 1970s. Readers of the narrative came from all over the world and from all walks of life to meet the man and stay at his palmy resort.
Little in Caldwell's life came easy. Born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1919, he suffered from tuberculosis until he was 14. His father was an alcoholic and itinerant bank-debt collector who left the family when John was 15; his mother, who was part Cherokee, was a nurse. They moved to Los Angeles when John was 10, and he worked at odd jobs to help support his mother and five younger siblings.

Despite a lack of formal education beyond eighth grade, he enrolled in what is now the University of California at Santa Barbara and had finished two years when the Second World War broke out.

In the war he served in the American merchant marine. While in Australia in 1944, he met Mary, who quickly became his wife. It was the desire to get back to Mary following the war which led to the adventure that made him famous.

Having no other way to get from California to Australia, he took a steamer to Panama and finding no next steamer westbound, he bought the 29-foot wooden sloop Pagan. Not knowing how to sail didn't stop him. As the book recounts, he set sail anyway, with two cats and a text book on navigation, and soon found himself in a hurricane. The hurricane devastated the boat, all but sinking it. After 49 days adrift without food, he was washed up on Tuvutha in the Fiji islands. Nourished back to health by the islanders, he reached Australia on commercial transportation several months later.

Back in California he wrote Desperate Voyage (Little Brown, 1948) and finished college, graduating with a major in sociology in 1949. The book has been criticized for being outlandish ("John, you didn't really eat shoe leather fried in engine oil?") but its appeal lies in its strong narrative voice and its Odyssean story line. It has been continuously in print since then, one of the few maritime titles to achieve that status, and translated into many languages.

In 1954, he and Mary and two sons set forth in a 36-foot double-ended ketch designed by John Hanna, to sail to Australia. This voyage is recounted in Family at Sea, his second and only other book. (Little Brown, 1956). It was an easy, idyllic voyage, singular only for the astonishing fact that their second son, 8-month-old Stevie, was retarded and had an immune deficiency. They had been planning the voyage for years and wondered whether to go or stay. Actor and author Sterling Hayden recommended a physician who advised them to take the child offshore, where he could breathe clean air and live free of the threat of contamination. In their voyage through the remote islands and atolls they seldom took the boy ashore, fearing infection. But on reaching Australia, they had to and he soon died. He was three and a half years old. The voyage was an unprecedented act of love. In Australia they had another son, and built a new boat, the 46-foot ketch Outward Bound. In 1958, they set sail with the intention of sailing around the world, writing articles as they went. But when they reached Antigua in 1960, they were low on money and the charter world of Commander Desmond Nicholson offered employment. Chartering up and down the Eastern Caribbean, John would carry sprouting coconuts aboard and often go ashore and plant them, which earned him the nickname "Johnny Coconut." It was while doing this that he first went ashore on Prune Island, just east of Union Island in the middle Grenadines, then little more than a swamp. But one day in 1966 he began discussions with the St. Vincent & the Grenadines government that led to him leasing the island for 99 years. He had had a kind of vision, and that was a hotel.

At that time the government was leasing barren islands to enterprising foreigners who applied with hotel designs and promises of employment: Mustique, Petit St. Vincent and Young Island, along with plantations such as Spring on Bequia, were all developed in this way. After arranging the lease with Chief Minister E. T. Joshua, Caldwell drained the swamp and began building. He didn't know anything more about building or running hotels than he once had about sailing.

These were the days when a man with a will and a vision could do anything. The hotel, with ten rooms and under the more appropriate name Palm Island Beach Club, opened in December 1967. His sailing days were over. For the next 30 years, John and Mary and their children and later their grandchildren ran the hotel and its adjacent properties. His legend includes the ongoing rumor that the hotel was "just about" to be sold (Donald Trump was but one who visited and inquired) but somehow John always held on to it. "He is one of a kind," a hotel guest once remarked to me. "In a region of colorful expatriate characters, there is none more so than John Caldwell."

He leaves his wife Mary, his companion Agatha Roberts, sons John Jr. and Roger, and several grandchildren. Richard Dey is the author of In the Way of Adventure: The Story of John Caldwell and Palm Island, ©1989, Offshore Press; available at local bookshops. A special edition signed by both John Caldwell and the author is available from Richard Dey at rdbequia@aol.com
Home
Copyright© 1998 Compass Publishing

A lifetimes journey,a story by Barry Cram

Hello Roy,
Thank you for placing the blog on the CKD website, advertising 'A Lifetime's Journey - Old Man of the Tyne' - it's much appreciated, and I'm glad you enjoyed the story.

Regards,
Barry.

Barry Cram of Hebburn

To continue with a bit of spare time reading over the holidays,I have a really facinating tale writen by Hebburn on Tynes,Barry Cram,he sent it to me in a Word format,its far to large to post on this blog but if you fancy a good story to read,please contact me and I will send you an email copy.

use this address kits@comlumber.com

A message from Barry:

Hello Roy,

Please find attached the story 'A Lifetime's Journey'.
You're obviously very busy - though, if you get the time to read it, I hope you enjoy it.

Bye for now,
Barry.
Introduction


This story contains the adventures of a wealthy Geordie shipowner and his family, who, unbeknown to them, are about to set off from Newcastle Upon Tyne on an extraordinary journey of a lifetime - especially the shipowner’s grandson, Geordie Rigger, a very intelligent and upright young lad who has the greatest journey of all.

You will meet many lovely characters in this warm and passionate story, filled with happiness, sadness, humour, love and romance. Some of the banter between them, especially Peter and Thomas is very funny, and not to be missed.

Mysterious and unexplainable events occur, which bring out the most in the characters. A deep camaraderie is shown by all on board – a spirit of familiarity and trust found only between friends in such close proximity.

What makes a Geordie? For anyone who would like to find out, and get familiar with the well-known Geordie friendship, compassion and psyche, then this is the story for you – a great story for all ages to read. You might be surprised!

CHAPTER I

THE DISCOVERY


This story begins in the wide Pacific Ocean, on board a luxury American cruise ship - the S.S. Albatross - on its return voyage from Australia.

“Look-look!” The English passenger cried to his American friend.
“Gosh-darn it! What is it now?” The American replied, slowly fanning his white Stetson across his fat round face.
“Put your eye to the lens. Look man, look!” He ordered, as his monocle dropped from his thinly set face. “Tell me, what do you see?”
“Nothin’, darn it! Nothin’ but the wide blue sea?”
“To the left a bit old boy.” Said the Englishman, as he manoeuvred the ship’s telescope.
“I can’t see a darn...wait a minute...oh boy...it... it can’t be!”
“Exactly old chap;” said the Englishman, replacing his monocle; “an inhabited island, dear boy; I distinctly saw a person on the beach.”
“But that’s not possible; the ship’s brochure specifically states that there ain’t no inhabited islands on this part of the route!”
“Steward!” Cried the Englishman.
“G’day Sir, what’s your bid?”
“Be so kind steward, as to look through this telescope and tell us if you see anything of interest.”
The steward scanned the calm, wide ocean, and then breathed out a sigh of disbelief.
“Fair dinkum I do Sir; I’d better report this to the Cap’n.”
Holding his hat in one hand, while scratching his bemused head with the other, off he rushed towards the bridge - the last place he had seen the Captain.
The Captain put his binoculars to his eyes. “Impossible, steward! I’ve bin in this game long enough to know that there ain’t no inhabited islands in these parts.” He searched the horizon through the bridge window. “I’m sorry, steward, the heat’s probably playing tricks on you; there ain’t nothing out there.”
“But Cap ‘n, I’m not the only one; those two cobbers down there saw just as much as I did; we definitely saw something out there…out there…on the beach.”
“Don’t waste my time, steward.” Said the Captain, thumping his binoculars down on the table.
The Steward gently grabbed the elbow of the Captain’s jacket. “But Cap’n Wiseman, we can’t sail on if there’s a chance of someone being stranded out there.”
The Captain abruptly pushed away the pleading arm.
“Look, I’ve told you once too many, I’m the captain here; don’t ever forget it. It was probably a monkey or a goat. Now get out of here!” He added, punching his desk and busting a knuckle.
“Please Cap’n, have one more look!”
“You’re dismissed, steward; one more word, and I’ll have you for insubordination!”
Just as the steward was about to leave the bridge, he noticed an inquisitive crowd had gathered about the telescope, chattering much louder than the holidaymakers elsewhere.
“Look Cap’n’”
“What have you stirred up here, steward?”

Gunner Robert McBride

With a christmas season upon us,it may be a good time to release a true story that my late father wrote,dad never really discussed the war but he did write a true story about it,the opening pages are below but if you want to read the full text,go to the link that follows,some of us and I include myself,are lucky not to have been involved in a world war,lets keep it that way.

Roy.

http://www.pegasusarchive.org/pow/rob_mcbride.htm

Robert McBride is in the center.


Rob (bob) McBride is to the left.

Gunner Robert McBride

Unit : Royal Artillery
Served : North Africa (captured)
Army No. : 1500264
POW No. : 140378
Camps : PG 78, Stalag XIA


My Days in the British Army

by Gunner Rob McBride 1500264. Royal Artillery. From July 1939 to April 1945

I am not an advocate for war. Any kind of war causes death, suffering and untold misery. Out of war sometimes will come frustrations and laughter. This is the story of my war, or the very small part I was permitted to play in it. After all these years, I often think was it all really worth it. Why countries of this world cannot live in peace remains to be seen. The wars which have occurred since 1945 are still a reminder, are countries better off afterwards?



July 1939 on the eve of the greatest war in history, aged 20 I was called up in what was then called the first militia. Living then in Birkenhead in Cheshire I didn't have any great distance to travel to my first camp which was at Arrowe Park, Birkenhead. I thought it was great, a soldier in the British Army. I think even then we were half soldier and half civilian, for we were issued with the regulation uniform, and for walking out, were given grey flannel slacks and blue blazer. Once I was asked by a passer by which army did I belong. The blue beret which went with the walking out dress didn't help matters either! But, true to tradition we were given a hard time on how to be a soldier, we were drilled by regular soldiers who really knew their job, and after a few months of Physical Training we were really fit and raring to go. It was hard work but fun. Six months of this and back to civvy street. Little did we know in just a few short months what lay in store for us.

Wharram Tiki 38 timber works

We can make these parts to order if you think its a little complicated,masts and booms also.

The various laminations required are often made simpler by the use of long length timbers,CKD Boats specialises in good quality timber and in decent long lengths.

Interthane white top coat paints

This has been a fine tender to our boats,it is sized at 2.62mtrs long and 1.25mtrs wide (8' 7" x 4'1 1/2") which places it in between our Dix Design Dixi Dinghy which is 8'0" long and the Argie 10 which is 10' 0" long but this GRP tender of ours outweighs both of those plywood/epoxy tenders!



Mersey Mac,our family dinghy,we bought it second hand and must have owned it twenty five years,we took this dinghy to Brasil,French Guyana,Trinidad and Tobago,Venezuela,all the time on the deck of our yacht.


We have used and supplied International Paints products for a long time now,fourteen years or so? Having experianced top class results we can recomend their products,primers,top coats and antifoul.This Duckling class GRP dinghy has just had a hull sand down with 220 grit wet and dry paper,then an application of 990 Interthane polyurethane twin pack white top coat,the gloss is good,right off the spray gun,we can supply the right gun for you too,its a high volume low pressure type,so works with most air compressors.

Building a Tiki 38 catamaran by James Wharram

This started out with a request from Dan for plywoods,when it was known we can supply clear oregon pine and specialist epoxys,we were then asked to machine all the boats timbers to the designers lists and supply the epoxy.The build has gone really well,it was speeded up by the CNC works on the bulkheads and hull panels,we now have this as a Wharram Tiki 38 cut file and can easily supply others withn this well known design as a kit,providing proof of a set of plans being purchased is given.

Sadler 32 build fit out progress

We continue the Sadler 32 new boat build with blog 1001,some words are below under the pictures.





When Andre started his fit out,it was from scratch,the only things in his hull and deck unit was some stringers,he came to us for materials like epoxies and biaxial glass cloth and exterior grade plywoods,that seems not so long ago,so his progress is good.

Blog one thousand and counting

While we had been cutting CNC kits some while the boat below was the first yacht build we undertook,we had done dinghies before but what about a real ocean capable Didi Mini Transat kit.As it turned out the build was easy,we had the first hull built in just twelve days,we did a second boat after this one,it was the same again,twelve days.The boat that followed was a Didi 26,longer but narrower,that took 14 days to build the hull.
Note,our Didi Mini Transat kit includes the boats interior materials and all CNC cutting,this saves any builder at least one weeks labour for the price of the materials.

Druma our dog sails too

Druma first went to sea on Hout Bays charter boat Drumbeat 2,he was a very small puppy then and thats where his name came from,seen here checking out the marine life,seals,sunfish,dolpins and birds,they all abound in Hout Bays waters,whales in season too,thats The Sentinel in the distance,a landmark for any sailer arriving in our bay. www.drumbeatcharters.co.za

Nandi,Nicks Didi 34 kit build

One of those great moments in time when we see our ideas go to fruition,only those who do things themselves can know the feeling of such success,you also save money big time too!Nick used our CNC cut kit,materials and paints we supplied him.

How to turn your boat hull over?

Andrew and his scale model of yacht hull Tididi,well worth the effort!

Andrews scale model of his whole set up,while this took a lot of work,it allowed a pin point indication as to where to attatch his turning points.

The picture below shows how well Andrew has his hull balanced,he is tying a control strop on the build stocks underneath,as you can see,the hull is quite happy in the position its in,as it was for the whole 180 degree turn.



As the blog prior to this one shows how Andrew turned his Hartley 37 hull over, I will explain below how I did a larger hull myself,Andrews situtaion was quite similar to my own,excepting he had sand below his hull,while we had concrete! I suggested my own turn method and Andrew did the rest,on the day he could have turned his hull quite easily on his own.

When you do finally reach the time when your new hull is ready to turn,the options on which method to use starts to cross your mind,I have done this a number of times,normally with block and tackle,one to lift and one to control decent,if the boat still has its building stocks in place,its very easy to fit long side rails to that and use those as cross beams for the roll,this way the hull never touches anything.

When I came to roll a 43ft wood epoxy hull I had built (six weeks build time) I had a new problem,the space was far tighter than I thought,in fact so tight I had guys digging the concrete floor out to make enough space,the other option being to remove the roof of the outside shed I was building in,that was not going to suit me,so I took the concrete,big hammer and pick axe route.

Even then I was in a tight squeeze,so how to keep full control with the four chain blocks I had thought to use,I was certain some hull damage would be the result? Then I had an idea,what about a spit turn,just like a rotisserie,make up a turning spindle for the transom and the bow and then turn with an up haul and control with a down haul.

This requires a bit of engineering,welding of steel tubes and foot plates,this done I called on friends Tom and Peter one saturday to help with the turn,we nearly made it but more concrete was required to be moved,so we had another go the following saturday.This time Peter and my wife,Jean, came to work the blocks,all was secure,the turning spits on each end were bolted to the concrete slab they stood on (very important) I had Peter controling the up haul chain block and Jean up a ladder with the down haul chain block.The trick and the unknown bit is whats going to happen when your hull reaches its point of no return and moves from an upside down postition to a right side up position,balance is everthing,if your spit attatchment points are in the right place,its balanced and the hull will be quite happy in any position.

We had a few inches to go,Peter took his Chain block up higher,Jeans chain block was by now at the point where instead of taking up the slack,she now had tension on it,this was our point of no return,how good was our balance point was now on our minds,as it was we were fine and Jean lowered the hull untill it was right side up all on her own.

Andrews Hartley 37 hull turn

Andrew after his hull was turned had a great reason to smile,thats his dad just to the left of the picture.For these pictures I used a Canon G11 digital camera set to auto.Left click the first click to see the depth of his smile!






We have known Andrew just a year,he called in November 2008 and asked for pricing on WBP plys,we discussed the end use,which was his Hartley 37 hull skin,(two layers of 6mm plys with epoxy) an important part of any boat,I asked him to call at our factory so we could discuss using a better grade Ockume veneer marine plys,I showed him how easy it is to work with,plus the fact that WBP 6mm ply is just a three ply construction while 6mm Okcume marine is a five ply constuction and why the price is higher,Andrew bought the better ply,plus epoxies and Internationals twin pack paints,the quality shows in these pictures of a really (very) succesfull hull turn,well done Andrew!

From Andrews blog at:http://ankro-andrewrogers.blogspot.com/

That is how Saturday was. The turning went better than I could have hoped for and a great time was had by all who attended the Turning and the after party. Thanks to all those who came and made it such a great day. It is sometimes unwise to thank people individually in case you leave someone out who might feel hurt, but there are a few people who need special mention. First and foremost my Father who taught me all I know and Maureen for support and encouragement along the way. The diggers, Theo, Brendon and Skatie who pitched in and dug out the ground as she was turning. Patrick for steadying the ship as she went over and all those who assisted in turning. All the ladies who assisted with food and salad preperations and Skatie (once again) who took it upon himself to organise the fires and braai the meat. Christine and Roy for taking pictures to capture the moment (attached pictures by Roy).

Lost and Found,the power of communication.

A mail as sent to Richard Crocket,editor and publisher of Sailing magazine in Durban,South Africa.

Lost . . . and Found !

Sir
This is a great thank you to you and your magazine.
After talking to you and writing a "Letter to the Editor" to try and find my brother after a fruitless search of around 15 years I got mail yesterday!!!!
Roy McBride, who knew Noel, sent me mail and gave me the number of Tom Maben, who restores boats and cars, as a possible contact to get hold of Noel. After a short call I had the landline, cell number, and e-mail address.
Well, what a surprise! I spoke to him yesterday; first time since 1982.
This is a big thank you to the SAILING magazine, Roy McBride and Tom Maben.
Charley Jacobs

LDV Truck Canopy Kits in plywood

This is the type of canopy we would aim to produce,this is not one of our kits but a sample idea of what we can make.

We are talking about producing a new line,its a Canopy Kit to fit a range of light delivery vans,CNC produced it will have a roof and tail gate made from moulded light weight plys,epoxy coated,painted with twin pack paints,it will have normal glass fixed or slide windows,gas struts,over center fastener clips,all the materials you need to make your own canopy at a huge saving over a GRP one.We can look at brands like Ford,Mazda,Nissan,Isuzu,Tata,Kia,Hyundai,Toyota,Opal,Mitsubishi,Fiat, etc,
Contact kits@comlumber.com or phone on Cape Town 021-510-7206

Vulcan Rock,Hout Bay

Sunday 6th of December 2009,we went out for a motor sail,the wind was very light and the swell was the same,it was close to low tide and that was about 1.5 mtrs? so you can imagine that as a high tide,it was 1.7 mtrs this morning and given the same conditions and this rock just will vanish?

Many years back an advertising company were doing a film shoot for Nissan,they used a helicopter to place a new Nissan car on this rock but before they got any pictures,a swell washed it away!

Both pictures below were taken with a Canon G11 digital camera (roy mc bride)left click the top one to see the sea gulls standing on the top of the rock!

The picture below,left click and see more details.
The black thing to the left in the water was a local Seal that just happened to pop up its head.Local sailor,Justin informed me yesterday that a ledge exists at a depth of 2mtrs just to the left of the rock as we see it,so never cut that corner,we saw a wave or two form right there as we went past.



This is a very dangerous rock,its not marked,so be aware it exists,in many ways when its calm its could be more dangerous,as when any kind of sea is running,its very easy to see due to the white water and waves,some info:

Vulcan Rock (Reef)

Vulcan Rock is a large pinnacle rising to 5m below the surface. It is covered in colourful marine growth - Hard and soft coral, box stars, nudibranches, deep water cowries and crayfish. Many playful seals are present and fish such as hottentot, galjoen and other species are plentiful. There is a large tunnel running through the rock at the bottom.

Navigation tip,from my late brother in law,Kenny Paarman,who lived his life as a local fisherman.

When entering Chapmans Back on a return from Cape Town at night,if your unsure of where Vulacan Rock is,head for the easier to see Slangkop Light House,then when the road lights over to port and in Vishoek in False Bay line up,you can make a safe turn to port and enter Hout Bay safely.

Position
S34°03.967’ E018°18.582’

This site is in a Marine Protected Area (2009). A permit is required.

The rock marking the site is shown on charts of the area as "Vulcan Rock."

Maximum depth is over 30m but this is some way to the north of the rock.

Vulcan rock is the top of a very big granite tor. It is made up of large corestones on top of more of the same, down to at least 25m . There are lots of crevices, overhangs and fairly narrow gaps. Boulders are often several metres high. There is usually a knocking sound as loose boulders are rocked by the swell.

There is a swim through cave directly under Vulcan rock. The bottom is at 18m, roof about 2m higher. There are 4 seperate entrances, none of them easy to see from outside unless at the same depth. The cave is probably between 20 and 30 m max extent, and maybe 20m wide at the widest. Two of the entries are at the edges of the relatively flat floored part, and the other two are across boulder strewn bottom and irregularly shaped. There is also an air cave overhang on the north east side of the main boulder at about 13m depth with a number of small domed pockets in the ceiling which are bare of all growth, showing that there is often air in the overhang.

There are big bolders or pinnacles to both sides of one entrance. The next entrance anticlockwise is at the bottom of a little gully, and has a small cave to the right of the entrance to the main cave.

To the north of the rock is a fairly shallow pinnacle.

Geology: Granite of the late Pre-Cambrian Peninsula pluton

[edit] Conditions
LOCATION: A blinder off the Karbonkelberg, to the south-west of Hout Bay.
ACCESS: The blinder breaks at all except the highest spring tide and can be seen from the sea. It is a short boat trip from Hout Bay harbour (20min boat ride). Most of the dive shops and charter boats run trips to this spot in the summer months.
CONDITIONS: It can be very clear but icy cold after a good up welling. There can be a strong surge if there is a swell running. You should always check conditions carefully before exiting the boat as there is sometime a 4-5 knot current, either on the surface or at a depth. Even if there appears to be no current, a drift line of a few hundred metres is strongly recommended.
AVERAGE DEPTH: 25m
MAXIMUM DEPTH: 40m
BUBBLE BLOWERS RATING: 4 Bubbles

The position is shown on chart SAN 120 and BA 2083. ... Vulcan Rock complex, 34º04'S; 18º19'E. Foul ground, Duiker Point, 34º02.5'S; 18º18'E ...
www.cruisingconnections.co.za
Note,please do your own position check,we are not responsable for any errors in the above positions as found on various web sites.

Warning!

Near Miss at Vulcan - Graham Lambert
I'm lucky to be alive, and I hope my story may prevent you from getting into the same trouble as I did.

It was a hot windy Cape Town Wednesday afternoon and the invitation to slip off work and go looking for a lost anchor on Tafelberg Reef (near Vulcan Rock) was irresistible. I'm a seasoned Cape Diver (300+ dives) and not easily put off by less than perfect conditions, but as we rounded the bend in the road into Hout Bay and saw the sea for the first time, my first reaction was to start thinking of any excuse to give this up as a bad idea. The swell was fairly big with the tops of the waves whipped white by the strong South-Easter and starting to break. If I had been on my own, I would have turned around and gone home right there and then. We pulled into the parking lot at the slipway where my animated and highly enthusiastic buddies soon dispelled any hope I had of talking them out of it.

I'm not a nervous diver, but having personally found a dead woman diver underwater, and listened to several first-hand accounts of divers being lost by their boats then being miraculously picked up at sea by other fortuitously passing boats, I have a personal rule that I always carry a reel and surface marker buoy (SMB) when diving from a boat. In my experience, there are 3 scenarios where this very important:

The obvious one - you intend to penetrate a part of a wreck or cave and you need to find your way back out again. NEVER penetrate a wreck or cave without a reel - disturbed sediments, a dead torch or general narcosis/panic may render you unable to find your way out. Someone tends to die like this every year, don't let the next one be you.

The boat anchors on a wreck or reef which you intend to explore, you run a line from the anchor as you explore, then find you way back to the anchor line at the end of the dive. Besides leading you to the boat, this will allow you to do your compulsory deco stop on the anchor line if you incur a deco penalty (don't tell me your dive plan won't go into deco time) - problems happen, buddies get stuck or lost and you may easily find yourself facing a compulsory 5 to 10 minute stop. If this is in say a 2 knot current, and you don't have the anchor line to hold on to, you will drift 60m per minute, so after 5 minutes you will eventually break surface 300m away from the boat. In a 2m swell you will no longer be visible from the boat - bye bye! In any case, if you're over 40 like me, you will always want to be doing a 5 minute safety stop after every dive.

You dive on a reef or blinder and the boat does not anchor because the reef wave breaks. You explore the reef and by the end of your dive you will not know where the boat is. (Natal divers may find this odd, as they always use a DM towing a buoy, but Cape charters seldom use DM's and often dive in this manner). After your dive, you attach your SMB to the reel and after partially inflating it, send it to the surface where the boat operator can clearly see you position and any other buddy pairs. He can then track your position as you do your 5 minute safety stop at 5m, comfortably hanging on your reel under the SMB.

As you can see, I'm sold on the reel/buoy idea, so back to my story:

As we started to kit up I discovered that one of the buddies had lost my reel on a previous dive that week as well as his own and we now had no reel between the three of us. If only I had had the 'balls' to be a wet blanket, and refuse to go, but they were all so keen and off we set with our top-man, a young inexperienced chap who would stay with the boat while the 3 of us searched for the missing anchor. After a very bumpy ride we reached the GPS target and cast anchor. Skipper watched the GPS for a bit to make sure the anchor was fast and we rapidly kitted up. As I watched the waves spraying over the deck, I wondered if it would be possible to use any cell phones or radios if we had to.

Our dive plan was to meet at the bottom of the 30m deep anchor line and then remain in sight of the line at all times, while searching for the previously lost anchor. The boat was pitching and pulling at the anchor-line like a wild horse and as I didn't want to hang about and get sick, I dropped over the side into the froth and went to the bottom to wait there for the others. The visibility was about 10m and the water was remarkably warm for Vulcan. I checked the anchor. It looked well hooked onto the reef and so I turned my back on it, and while remaining in one place waiting for the others to get down, I began to look around. When I looked round to where the anchor-line was supposed to be - it was gone. I was alone in a big ocean with no route back to the safety of the boat. In my rising panic, the first thought that crossed my mind was that I must have blacked out or swum about in a narked daze for a bit - why was I not still next to the anchor, it was there a minute ago? As it transpired the anchor must have been ripped off the reef by the pitching boat which was now moving off at a few knots. Skipper and our buddy had not met at the bottom of the line as planned, neither had they checked the integrity of the anchor. After a few minutes I saw their bubbles and joined them with some relief - but why was there no anchor line rising comfortingly up to the boat?

Skipper seemed happy, and I followed behind him and our buddy as they swam around looking for the previously lost anchor. I tried to signal to him "Where is OUR anchor?" When he appeared to have no idea, I forced both of them to begin an immediate slow ascent with me. I could feel the current and we held hands to stay together as we ascended.

A grim scene waited for us on the surface: The boat was almost out of sight and the swell had reached the point where the waves were breaking over us. My first thought was that it was after 5 in the afternoon and that by the time anyone missed us it would be dark. By morning in this wind and current we would be well out to sea. The only thing to do was put our heads down and swim - and pray.

If the boat had been over sand or drifted into any deeper water there would have not have been a happy ending to this story, but thankfully, the dragging anchor snagged onto something which arrested the drift. We were being carried from upwind with the strong surface current and carefully steered ourselves towards the boat and to stunned safety where we were greeted by the (now white-faced) top man. I doubt he would have been able to get the strained anchor line up on his own and come back find us one he realized he was drifting. We sat in a silence for a while reliving the dreadful moments

Please learn from my story: don't be afraid to say NO when you are not comfortable with the diving conditions; and get yourself a reel and buoy and learn how to use them - ALWAYS!



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