We float down to the shelf, a piece of corrugated metal, luminous yellow to stand out in the dark. ‘That’s the ten metres point’ I think as I look up. Nothing to see, not even a glimmer of the sunlight from up there. We go through some buoyancy skills, just holding myself above the shelf, not touching it, not even moving, regulating my breathing, now with skill. We went through our buddies test, checking our apparatus, tanks still quite full so my instructor indicated it was time to descend lower down into the blackness, feeling good about myself I signalled ok and winked, and then followed his lead.

As we left the shelf, then with nothing below us, just a dark deep void my stomach turned. We kept close by to the rocks which looked unreal, almost made of paper-mâché in the deep. A eel caught my eye as it darted out of a hole and right past my mask, making me breath faster and put my hands out, almost as if I was looking for something to hold on to in the dark. But there was nothing there, as I felt myself go over. Strangest feeling ever, falling over but not hitting the ground. I was still tumbling, trying to regain my buoyancy, all in slow motion through the water, so my buddy pulled me up straight, by my tank.

My heart beating faster than ever, as my buddy checks my pressure gauge and checks our level. Sixteen metres in how many seconds. He takes out his mini white board and pen and writes. Do you want to see the woman? And he points down with his thumb and holds two fingers up. Two more metres.

Hhmm I m not sure on that one, I think counting my breathing down, repeating the process until I my breathing returns to normal.

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