What Being Left Out At Sea Taught Me

So that was a shock, a cruisy holiday island-hopping trip in Fiji that turned out to provide a pretty intense life lesson!

I was the only person to sign up for the SCUBA dive on a day-trip to a small island off the coast of Fiji. The fact that my diving credentials or experience weren't questioned should have raised a small alarm but maybe it was the easygoing Fijian holiday vibes that had me think... "meh.. whats the harm in a small dive"?

Haha well...

As my dive partner and I suited up and hopped onto a very small boat to be taken out to the deep underwater world that awaited I asked "so should we check eachothers equipment here?"... to which there was a "na, we can do it on the boat, lets go..." So, we went.

A little while later we were out on the open sea with the only sight breaking the beautiful blue horizon being the island we just left - at a fair distance away. Amazing experience. Then I looked at my partner as he stood up and said "see you down there"... and jumped! The guy jumped without any discussion of where / how far / time below / etc etc... he just left! The one driver of the small boat I was on looked at me with a suggestive look and shoulder shrug as if to say, "hey man theres one way off this boat so pick a side to jump"... I quickly put on my weight belt and was over the side in minutes donning my mask to look under water and see the other guy already making his descent to the reef below. I then looked back at the small boat to see it driving away back to the island! My impression was that he was to stay in the area but seems this got lost in communication... Oh dear. SO, I quickly caught up and we met at approx 12 metres under the surface where we gave the "OK" signal and carried on together....

A short swim later there was a bit of murky water which we had to swim through and the visibility got quite low. Though we were staying close to one another and I was watching his bright orange BCD tubes, we managed to lose one another and before I knew it no matter where I looked all I could see was big, blue ocean! I slowly went to the surface to await the surfacing of my partner but he never came.

This is when things got interesting...

So here I was, floating on my back arms crossed and slowly kicking towards the island to save energy however we were still quite a long way off for a solo-attempt. In remembering this moment a few key learnings arose that I wanted to share from this experience:

1. Do not ever, ever, ever panic. This is a futile reaction that will only serve to make any situation worse. There will be times in life where panic and anxiety will seem like the only course of action however please do all you can to come back to your breath. Just breathe and pay attention to this simple action for a minimum of 10 breaths.. the oxygen and calm that your body will experience during this can make the difference between a good and bad outcome.

2. It is up to you to be educated and aware of your situation. The buck stops with you. I have scuba dived a fair bit in my time so I knew what to do to save energy but I also have read about various on-land and off-land survival scenarios which had me mentally prepared for how to approach the situation. Going forward, ensure that no matter what you're doing that you are clued in as to whats going on, where you are and sometimes... how long would it take you to swim back to an island and would you be prepared to do that? Education can be a life saver.

3. Mindset is everything. Floating around all alone in the open sea off the coast of Fiji... are there things in that water that may be interested in snacking on you.. sure possibly BUT if that became my focus rather than just exhaling and looking around thinking "what an incredible once in a lifetime view"... then I would have been at a loss. Be aware, be concerned, but dont let these thoughts create scenarios that will have you fearful of where you are. At all times, try to be optimistic. Big call I know, but if I can do it while out at sea - Im sure many can do it in their daily life :)

SO... I am typing this from the comfort of dry land so as you can predict, it came out ok. After about 7 +/- minutes (which seemed like an eternity) the waves calmed down and I was able to see the other diver about 30 metres away floating around waiting as well. Once reconnected we were able to make it back to land... where after a little while I was able to appreciate the experience. Though it did take many calming breaths...

Here's me!

With the camera panned out revealing one of my favourite pieces of furniture... my mountain unicycle haha - more on that later :)

Thanks for reading!

Josh