GEORGE TOWN WEEK 2

Saturday brought with it another day of sunny skies and turquoise waters. I mastered the art of skimming across the water from a standing position inside the dinghy and that evening joined friends for a happy hour and pot-luck dinner on the beach. We went to bed that night looking forward to another happy week filled with the promise of fun and friends. But the next morning tragedy struck our little community and everything suddenly changed.

Just off Volleyball beach lies a little cove favoured by snorkellers. This is also the location of a “blue hole” and underwater cave reputed to run for some distance under the island and come out in the Atlantic Ocean on the other side. On Sunday morning two divers from a Canadian boat went down to explore the cave—but only one came up. Around 11:00 a cry for help was heard over channel 68 and once again the boating community sprang into action. We learned that the 2nd diver had been down alone for almost an hour and his friends were becoming anxious. Were there any “rescue divers” available to go down and find him? Two cruisers volunteered. Another offered tanks and gear. Someone called the police (who said they could do nothing and that they had no boat to come over to the site—completely useless). A doctor was located aboard another vessel. A fast boat was summoned to take the diver to Georgetown. And arrangements were made for a helicopter to come should the need for one arise. All of this was done by the boaters themselves and all within 10 minutes!

About half an hour after the call for help came in, the diver was located and his limp body brought up to the surface. But it was too late, and he was pronounced dead at the scene. Had the cruisers asked for help when the first diver came out of the water, instead of waiting 55 minutes there is a good chance that the outcome would’ve been different. Why were they diving in caves without life lines? And every diver knows NEVER to leave a buddy alone! It was horrible and put a real damper on everyone’s day.

And as if in sympathy for the diver who died, the weather changed. That night the clouds blew in bringing grey skies, strong gusts and squalls that lasted for several days. During this time we were unable to leave the boat due to the rough water. And at night sleep was difficult as gale force winds slammed against the boat causing it to buck in the waves and strain against its anchor rode. At one point, startled by a noise and subtle change in the movement of the boat, Vince leapt out of bed, convinced that something wrong. It was 1:00am and the wind was howling. And when we looked outside we were horrified to see another boat slowly passing by beside us. Of course the other boat wasn’t moving at all but WE were! Our anchor had slipped and we were slowly but surely dragging away!! In pitch black and with our bodies whipped by the wind, we jumped into the cockpit, started the engine, and thankfully were able to regain control of the boat before it crashed into those anchored all around us. The anchor eventually managed to re-set itself but we stayed out in the cockpit for another hour attentive and watchful, just to be sure. Sleep eluded us after that and the next morning after the wind had died down, we pulled up the anchor, motored over to a more favourable position and re-set the hook.