Читать книгу Into the Abyss. Diving to Adventure in the Liquid World онлайн

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It was only when Derek stepped off the Maritime Rescue Institute boat back in the harbour, and I arrived back shortly afterwards alone in my own boat, that the penny dropped. I was interviewed by the ambulance man to make sure I wasn’t suffering any adverse effects from my immersion, such as hypothermia. I was then interviewed by a police officer who took my details for the record. They told me that someone in the small coastal village of Cowie, adjacent to Stonehaven, had spotted our plight and alerted the rescue services.

I also learned later that my predicament had stopped play up on Stonehaven Golf Course, which sits high on the cliffs looking down over Stonehaven Bay. The golfers had a grandstand view of the events as they unfolded from up there.

Needless to say, I made a suitable donation to the RNLI in the weeks following as a thank you token. I had been very impressed by the cool professionalism displayed by Hamish and by the crew from the dredger.

Thankfully no one got hurt but it had been a close thing and I learned a number of invaluable lessons in those short hours on the water. Like everything else in life you learn your hardest lessons from experience. But I would try never again to leave anyone alone in a boat and I would always have a means of attracting attention to myself in the water. For years afterwards I dived carrying a small watertight plastic container that held personal distress flares and a launcher.