Into The Deepest And Darkest

by Joseph Emmanuel

  Why you might ask, was all this looking for a deep spot necessary? Could we not just aim the boat out to sea and go for five km’s? From his experience of the very difficult ocean conditions the previous year, Nuno wanted to try to find at least 350 metres as close to land as possible.

  Eventually, after what felt like a long time, Sean was able to confirm a depth deeper than 300 metres. This was good news, now we could deploy the shot line. Theo and some of the crew duly threw the weighted line into the water and played out the line from its enormous yellow bag on the deck. Imagine our surprise and disappointment when after almost 100 metres was in the water, the line went slack. We’d hit the bottom. More to the point, we’d hit the bottom much, much shallower than expected. We’d have to pull the line out and move the boat again.

  The shot-line being hauled back in the boat

  (photo courtesy of a team member-Fig 47)

  Eventually we figured out what must have happened. We’d found a small deep hole in the reef. Something like the Blue Hole of Dahab, not too far north from where we were. Had there been no wind and only mild currents the spot could have been fine. As it was the boat had simply drifted off the spot in a matter of minutes. The deep hole was only about 100 metres across, probably less. If Nuno attempted his dive here he’d face a number of problems. Firstly the shot line itself would most probably not be long enough as I just described. Secondly if he actually got to 320 metres but the line was moving faster on the surface than the bottom, what would happen is it would move from vertical to a sloping gradient. This could have deadly consequences because it would make all the measured tags wrong, and therefore all the gas Nuno was expecting would be farther away than he expected. Not to mention the fact that he would have to leave the line to keep to his decompression schedule.

  Can you imagine the added complication of trying to find Nuno? Given the vastness of the ocean, a single diver is a very, very small needle in a very, very big haystack. If he could not deploy his marker buoy he’d be virtually impossible to find before he ran out of gas to breathe. Even if we found him we’d have to move the shot line, by now loaded with tanks back to him or we’d need to rely on the support divers taking his gas to him, not just taking emergency gas, but the actual life sustaining stuff. A few minutes late could mean Nuno running out of something to breath and either surfacing to almost inevitable serious DCI or drowning. A scenario no one wanted to even think about. Eventually we moved the boat back out to Nuno-Two and put the shot in. This was a place we knew was deep enough and clear of the bottom to allow Nuno and the line to drift for twelve hours.

  Once the line was in place Nuno, Pieter, Chris, Gareth and I think a cameraman got kitted up and were dropped off the back of the boat into the swell. The simple act of getting into one’s set of cylinders and clipping on a stage was quite a process. The boat, spacious as it was, was not big enough for us all to kit up and deploy from the dive platform at once. To manage this, divers were scheduled to go into the water in a specific order. Generally we’d put on our main back mounted twin sets further up the deck and away from the stern. Then we’d wait for our turn to get into the water. Then, two at a time, we’d get onto the diving platform at the stern of the vessel.

  Gareth (on the right) and Chris wait to get on the dive platform (Fig 48)

  At this point we’d have willing hands to help us clip on any stage-cylinders we were taking and then we could finally drop into the water. Each time a pair of divers was deployed the skipper had to bring the boat around in an arc and stop engines so the next two could get in the water relatively close to the shot line. Occasionally someone would struggle with a stage or some other item of equipment and miss his turn to get into the water. Whenever this happened our trusty skipper would have to go around again and reposition the boat close to the shot line. Then it was time to dive. Seeing how crowded the dive platform was, I elected not to dive and rather to observe the procedure for getting in and out of the water. The guys did a relatively short dive to about 80 metres. Everyone surfaced feeling in a better mood for finally having dived off the boat.

  With the trial dives successfully completed and a day at sea under our belts we chugged back to port looking forward to the start of the really deep stuff. Before that could happen we had to unload all the tanks and equipment from the NABQ Explorer, load it back onto the trucks and ourselves back into the jeeps and then travel back to Planet Divers. Thanks to our hard working Egyptian team members we were able to get this down to about an hour and a half to be back at the hotel. Well in time for a quick shower and a quiet stroll up the waterfront to Adam’s bar, one of the few places in Dahab that would sell alcohol that became quite a favourite among some team members. Not that they were drinking like there was no tomorrow; just a beer or two to relax, and if anyone was doing a mixed gas dive the next day they would not drink at all. This is just a simple rule to make sure we all stayed safe.

  Nuno preparing for his 150 meter dive assisted by Zibi and Andrzej, note Valentina and Dave ready to go from the other side of the platform (photo by a member of the team)

  The Blue Hole of Dahab

  The boat dives progressed well and by the 4th of June Nuno and Pieter had both done their 100 metres build-up dives from the boat. Naturally this had been a Trimix dive for both men, and so, as is our normal practice following a Trimix dive, the next day was a rest day. This was good news for the rest of the team because it meant we would get a chance to dive the famous ‘Blue Hole of Dahab’.

  I believe the Blue Holes got their names from Dr George Benjamin during his explorations in the 1960s and 70s of the Reefs of Andros islands in the Bahamas. Basically they are so called because they are deep vertical holes in otherwise shallow reefs that go from light blue (shallow) to deep purple and black (deep). Generally Blue Holes are very deep and the one in Dahab is reported to be around 120 metres. The Blue Hole is about ten kilometres north of Dahab proper.

  As usual we loaded all our equipment onto a pickup truck and got into the jeeps for the short trip. The road very quickly became desert and we saw why a 4x4 was necessary. There is a road, but it’s still very rough, clearly cut out of the raw desert. I’m told that until recently the only way to dive the Blue Hole was to ride up on camels. So in a way we were lucky to have the jeeps.

  The first thing I noticed about the Blue Hole was the contrast between the desert and the ocean. Quite literally the stark Sinai desert ends where the road begins. Just across the narrow road was the azure sea. Here and there we saw people (who I assume were Bedouin) collecting mussels and other delicacies from the shallow areas of the reef. Then we came to the Blue Hole itself. It’s was not really peak tourist season but already we had to look for parking and queue to get our gear off the trucks and onto large mats of woven palm leaves. From the mix of languages I heard around me I reckoned we had people from Germany, Holland, Poland, America and maybe even England there on the day. I could see divers of every shape, size and qualification. On this day we were the only ones to have twin sets.

  Coming as I do from a land where most deep/technical diving involves carrying one’s equipment over rough, rocky landscapes, the Blue Hole was a very pleasant change. Here you just get into your twin set, walk the few steps to the water, clip on your stage and you have the possibility of diving to 120 metres should you so wish. It’s little wonder so many people have died here. It’s so easy to get into, well, deep water. I hear anything from twenty to 50 people have died over the years in this beautiful place. Anyway, we had a special goal for this dive. We wanted to dive through the almost fabled arch that goes through the reef from the Blue Hole all the way to the seaward side of the reef. With a depth of 55 metres and a distance of about twenty five metres, it’s easy to see how the miscalculation of this distance led to more than one of the deaths here. Needless to say we all had enough experience, planning and above all air, to safely do this dive.

  Our dive lasted over an hour, after a slow descent to 55 metres and a check t
o see we were all present and accounted for. We moved in under the archway. I was near the back of the group and it struck me as somewhat ironic that even though each of us was carrying an assortment of about forty kilograms of life-sustaining equipment, we were weightless and neutrally buoyant as we hung under the arch. We swept our powerful torches across the coral roof, revealing incredible blues, reds, and purples in the coral above and around us. All too soon the brightening sunlight announced we were through the arch on the seaward side of the Blue Hole. We now faced a choice: we could proceed to the surface and swim back over the top of the arch during our decompression, or we could swim back through the arch and do our decompression in the shelter of the Blue Hole. Nuno indicated that we should move back through the arch. But first he motioned that we drop slowly down to 60 metres, thus enabling Lenne´ to realize a personal goal and her deepest dive yet. I was careful to keep in close proximity to Nuno and Lenne´ - they were after all my designated buddies for the dive. As we ascended we did a slow, clockwise tour of the Blue Hole. Following Nuno’s lead we levelled off at about 40 metres then 30 metres. At twenty five metres my computer showed me a stop for the first time. After that I had to stop at 20, 18, 12, 9, 6 and 3 metres. At six metres we all switched to pure oxygen. This built in an additional level of safety since my computers were set for air. I spent the last ten minutes of decompression watching two large clown fish gently wrapped in the anemone they call home.

  150 metres into the Gulf of Aqaba

  On the 6th July we were back on the boat for Nuno to do his final deep dive prior to attempting to reach down over 300 metres. We set off early and were over the site by eight am. This dive was effectively a dry run for the deep push, and accordingly everyone was set to do the same job, as close as we could come, to the actual record dive plan. The shot line was deployed to its full 350 metres, all the support divers were present and would dive today. Zibi and Andrzej’ brought along the aquazepp scooter to

  tow Nuno once he transferred to the oxygen tree. This ‘tree’ was different from the simple two regulator hose we were used to back in Boesmansgat. This one was a ladder like structure with rungs at nine, six, and three metres. It was made of PVC plastic pipe and rope with two large red buoys attached to provide Nuno with a more stable decompression platform for the more than five hours he would need to decompress on oxygen. Given the propensity of the wind to cause big swells, it was felt that if Nuno could be moved into more sheltered waters while he decompressed he would have a safer and more comfortable dive. Like everything else we needed to test it as near as we could to live conditions.

  Given the rough conditions I was glad to go in early with Pieter and we hung just below the surface at three metres. After a while Pieter signalled it was time for him to go and I acknowledged with the ubiquitous ‘okay’ sign by making an O with my thumb and forefinger. I watched as Pieter shrunk slowly as he followed the shot-line down into the endless blue universe below me. Then I was alone. I knew Valentina was around filming us, but I couldn’t see her. I concentrated on my watch, the minutes ticked by till I began my descent proper. The white depth markers slipped by, twenty, thirty, forty. Then at 50 metres I glided to a controlled stop, and waited. I saw Nuno’s lights first, then a few minutes later Pieter rose out of the blue into view. From now on my job was to watch over Pieter. This was pretty easy, since Pieter is a very experienced diver and I knew from experience of diving with him before that he will have left nothing to chance.

  Nuno on his way back up after his 150 meter build-up (Courtesy Sean French)

  Even so I carried a twelve litre stage of oxygen for him which I’d hand over at about nine metres, just before he’s was due to change to pure oxygen at six metres. In the meantime he’d breathe Trimix and air as we moved up through his stops. I kept a wary eye on my own computers that showed me a mandatory stop at about twenty five metres (the deepest stop it can give). Gareth and Chris arrived to support Nuno and deliver a video camera to Pieter. We all took a turn filming as we made our steady way to the surface more or less as a group. The rest of the support divers came down in relays, some elected to stay longer since they were not very deep. By the end of this dive the sea was pretty crowded around that yellow shot-line. Eventually I saw the oxygen tree drop into the water above us and the Zibi and Andrzej unroll the rungs so it hung vertically in the water. To test the technique, Nuno transferred to the tree for a short time and Andrzej and Zibi towed him with the scooters for a short time. The technique seemed to work very well.

  After some three hours in the water Nuno was ready to surface. As a group Nuno, Pieter, Gareth, Chris, Zibi, Andrzej and myself all surfaced with the oxygen tree between Zibi & Andrzej. The boat was nice and close and Nuno was thrown a rope and towed across to the diving platform. In the chaos of the next few minutes, everyone but Gareth and myself were helped back on board. All the equipment, including the shot-line and oxygen tree was also on board. As I said earlier, if you missed your pick up or drop window, the Nabq Explorer had to go around in a big arc to come around again, the only problem was that without a buoy in the water Gareth and I were pretty small targets. I can tell you that bobbing about in the ocean watching the boat going the other way is not a very comforting feeling, even when you’re more or less certain that the crew knows exactly where you are. Fortunately we only had to bob for a few more minutes until the skipper brought the boat around and we were helped aboard. Just a slightly more anxious end to a very nice dive than I would have liked.

  318.25 Meters – a new world record

  7 June 2005, slowly but surely we moved towards that day in history when, while most people would be going about their daily business of trying to make a living and still keep all the balls that modern life throws us in their respective air, one man at least would be doing something truly extraordinary.

  Nuno would be going deeper into the ocean than anyone else in history. His goal was to be the first person to dive in excess of 313 metres (outside of a submarine that is). He would be completely unassisted by diving bells or motorised devices of any kind. He’d have no communication with the surface for at least thirty minutes. He’d have to face the potentially fatal effects of High Pressure Nervous Syndrome, combined with a nitrogen Narcosis level equivalent to a dive in excess of 90 metres on air. In pitch darkness for the lower half of his dive his only light would come from the torches he took with him attached to his helmet. Even so he had no guarantee they would not implode under the incredible thirty times normal atmospheric pressure (ata), leaving him in darkness and the risk of possibly concussive effects on him. He would be totally reliant on the equipment he carried to keep himself alive until his first support diver, Pieter Venter, met him. He had to try to anticipate every possible scenario and plan for it.

  To spite of a generally jovial feeling among the team members, the team briefing had a tense feel to it. Camera crews from two countries were filming everything we say. The project coordinator opened the meeting by thanking everyone for coming. It struck me as a little bit too formal for the place and time. Still, I guess she needed to set a professional tone for the meeting. But that’s one of the things that caused a degree of background or underlying stress this trip. The impression I got was that as the project coordinator, felt that the rest of the team some-how needed to be reminded of the seriousness of the dive. She felt compelled to remind everyone to be very focused on their assigned tasks. Some other members of the team felt positively insulted, and told me so during the trip. Still, almost to prove that her assessment of us was incorrect, they ignored any personal feelings and did just that.

  After the introduction, we went through the issues of boat management, crew limits on each boat, emergency planning including evacuation of injured divers or crew members other than Nuno and of course a plan for getting Nuno to a chamber should it be necessary. In the event of an injury we had three specialist diving doctors and one specially qualified paramedic on site. Dr’s Adel Taher and Ehab from Egypt. Dr Zdzi
zlow Sicko from Poland, and Sean French from South Africa. Each of us confirmed their responsibility and role in the dive. Finally we came to the dive schedule and Nuno stepped in to take us through stage by stage, stop for stop, minute by minute of the run time.

  The shot-line would have tanks attached at 180 metres, 140 metres, 120 metres, 100 metres, 90 metres, 80 metres, 70 metres and 55 metres. In addition, each support diver would carry a stage bottle of a gas that Nuno could breath at his or her assigned depth should all his other gas supplies fail. Generally support divers are assigned in pairs, so that in the event of a problem, one can go back to the surface for help and one can stay with Nuno. At the start of his dive Nuno would carry four eighteen litre cylinders on his back, two fourteen litre side slung stages and one twelve litre of air. The twelve litre would take him down to 60 metres where he’d clip it off on the line. He would retrieve it himself on his way back up. In total Nuno would use 90 000 liters of gas, made up of the following nine different gases: three Nitrox, four Trimix, air and oxygen.

  Eventually we came to the end of the list and any debate around the dive. We all knew what we had to do and, by our silence believed that Nuno would be successful in once more expanding the boundary of human exploration and physical endurance. If any of us had any doubt in Nuno’s ability to do this dive, now was the time to speak up. Personally I like to believe that if I had any doubts I would not have come so far around the world in the first place. We now had a window of three days to do the dive, depending on the weather. If the winds were too strong we would not be able to put to sea. As things turned out we had to wait till the 10th of June for Nuno to make his attempt on the record.