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

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We arrived at Portsoy harbour and launched a battered old grey Zodiac inflatable. I watched, as if a spectator, as the old hands readied the boat for sea. Everyone except me seemed to know what had to be done. It was like a ritualistic occult practice. No one seemed to be giving any orders – they all just seemed to know somehow what to do, as if following some secret code unknown to me.

There were 6 divers diving off the boat that day and all the divers’ tanks, weight belts, fins and other gear had to be loaded in the boat as it was tied up alongside the pier. The engine, an old Johnston 35 hp was on tilt, its propeller out of the water.

Once all the kit was in, all of us jumped aboard and the engine was taken off tilt and the propeller and shaft was lowered down into the water. A few pumps of the fuel bulb and several pulls on the ‘pull’ start and the engine roared into life in a cloud of blue smoke.

The painter, the bow mooring line, was untied and the Zodiac moved ahead. We motored towards the harbour entrance and as we did, a gnawing apprehension start to work on me subliminally. I had no idea whether I should be scared - I didn’t know what there was to be scared off - but apprehension there definitely was. I suppose it was really just a fear of the unknown that was getting to me. I was about to go offshore and dive into deep water - where there was no prospect of swimming back to shore if things went wrong.