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Sounds From the Depth: diving without sight It was a hot bright summer morning. I was trying to enjoy my
breakfast at the pleasant seaside hotel where I was staying with a
good friend. Excitement and adrenalin were making it difficult
though. Today would be my first diving experience. Organizing the
dive itself was a whole project. How often do they get a blind
woman wanting to dive? After many reassuring promises they agreed
to assign an instructor for me.
She was Anne, a young woman from South Africa, who came to work in
Israel and have fallen in love with it or maybe with the Israeli
guy, she later married. We met by the reception counter of the
diving-club. Anne, took me and my friend, who was adamant not to
join us for the dive, to a bench in the shade.
We sat with our backs to the sun and the water and she explained the different signs divers use. "While sighted people use hand-signals and gestures, We will keep contact all the time and use hand presses. I am going to be holding your hand all during the dive and we will use these hand presses to check if you are alright or not. If something is wrong you press my hand and show me what you think the problem is. The other signs, you can use by sticking your thumb up, to show me you want to go up, or down and so on, just like the sighted divers." She helped fit me with the right suit and showed me all the other pieces of equipment. Into the water we went. We put the heavy oxygen tank on my back, strapped on the pressure gauge and the weights, put on the fins, on which I wobbled until I took the regulator in my mouth, stretched my arms out in front of me and dove headlong into the cold water of the bay. My left hand was held fast and reassuringly in Anne's right. My other hand and finned feet were gently cleaving through the water. We swam just under the surface, to give me time to adjust to the new sensation of breathing through the mouth and balance the pressure in my ears. Once we had to break above surface, so that I could wet my dry throat and then we dove again, this time going deeper. First about two meters, then three, then we settled into a moderate swimming pace and began to explore. The sounds I heard were our breathing, the water undulating around us and yet, there was the deepest silence I have ever heard. We floated for a while, I was feeling more peaceful than I had in a long time. The water was calm and felt clean. Anne lowered us both to the sea sand. It was course and grainy, mud-like and pebbled. Then, she took my hand and made me touch something smooth and silky, but slimy all the same. I trailed my hand along the mass of stringy things. Are these animals or plants, I thought. We lay for a minute on the soft bottom. Then, onwards, to new discoveries. More of those string-like things, which later, Anne told me they were soft corals. The next thing I touch did not need any explanation or definition. It was a sea cucumber, pure and simple and so wonderful to touch, such a thing I would not have believed possible before. There is no better way to experience things, than to touch and explore them in real life and not rely on inanimate models or descriptions. We rose a bit higher only to go deeper still, and the silence was even deeper, if that was at all possible. No noise from the surface could penetrate these depths. My breathing became shallower and calmer and my movements became lighter and more flowing. Then I heard a deep rat-ta-tat sound. It seemed to be coming from right above my forehead. Was it Anne's equipment? Is she using something I don't know about that makes this sound? I asked myself. Then I heard a high pitched call, just like small song birds. I knew that was not possible. What was it? We picked up speed. Then my foot touched a rock, or was it something else? We swam on, faster, something moved right beside me. Then Anne took my other hand and pulled it upwards very quickly. I realized I was touching the under side of a huge dolphin. It swam away very fast. I did not need any descriptions to know what it was. I have touched enough models, dolls, jewelry and what not made in the shape of a dolphin. We kept chasing it but were too slow for it. We slowed down and continued floating in the water, which was growing colder by the second. I did not care. Another surge of water, another excited grasp of my right hand by Anne, and I was touching a second dolphin. This time, I could run my hands along its fin and feel part of its smooth back. It was almost as if I was hugging it. It too put up with my advances for a brief moment and was gone in a flash. If it was possible to smile or shout for joy under water, I would have done it. I wanted to convey somehow to Anne how wonderful it was, how I was grateful for that unexpected Biology, or rather Marine Zoology lesson under water. I guessed we were nearing the end of the dive. By now, I knew what was making the sounds. I was hearing the ticking sonar sounds of the adult dolphins and the high pitched calls of the young ones. We were rising slowly, adjusting and balancing pressure. In our exploration we have reached about seven meters deep. We broke the surface and I was grinning. "You've touched a dolphin, we did it!" said Anne. I could hear she was thrilled, maybe even as much as I was. "Two of them" I said, throat dry, not only because of the salty water and air nozzle. Last goodbyes, washing off the suit, returning the equipment and I was off with my friend for a good lunch and loads of cold beer. It was my birthday that day and what a wonderful present the sea had given me. For more information on the diving company visit Dolphin Reef - Eilat Imbar Golt is a writer and public speaker based in Israel. Her articles have appeared in Hebrew magazines related to people with special interests and needs. Contact her at imbar@netvision.net.il |
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