Logbook: Boat Dive in Murky Weather

Boat Dive in Murky Weather

18 June, 2023/ Carreg y Trai, Wales

‘Get us back to shore!’

I surface to a sea of molten pewter and misty skies. Two hands grab my equipment, then grab me, and I crash onto the floor of the rib. Fins yanked off my feet, I scramble upright. Cylinders get attached to solid posts. Masks and torches are thrown into bags. The engine starts.

‘Setting off!’

Gloved hands reach for anything fixed and the rib accelerates into crashing waves. Salt water spits and the rain pelts sharp needles onto my face. Our cox pulls down her mask so she can steer us to land, and the rest of us turn towards the engine with heads down. The rain gets heavier. Whole buckets of needles must be dropping on us now. I’d forgotten that rain could hurt. Wind echoes between the neoprene of my hood and into my ear, creating a whistling sound louder than a choir of wailing seals. Any visibility from our morning dive has been replaced with monochrome surroundings and limited visibility. All I know is that we’re blindly heading in the right direction. We make an emergency stop so our cox can re-clear her mask and set off again. We should arrive back in twenty minutes.

A charcoal shoreline breaks through ash clouds, identifying the harbour. We slow and

intercom our arrival.