Since I started my new job on the 1st of July, I’ve been plagued with breakdowns. So much so in the first few weeks I thought someone might have put a Lulik curse on me! First it was the cars. Prior to East Timor I’d only ever had one flat tyre, then one in the two plus years I’ve been in East Timor. In the first two weeks I got two flat tyres, one on each car! Then it was the batteries on both cars. Of course I was immediately asked if I had left the headlights on, I may be blonde but I’m not that dizzy! So now I’ve learnt all about batteries, alternators and glow rods (well enough to know when they break they are expensive and inconvenient!) Then I got a phone call from my colleague asking if I could send out the other car with a long tow rope as he had sunk the Land Cruiser!
I also went through a spate of accidents that kept me out of the water for a while. I think in five years of teaching I’ve had three days where I couldn’t teach due to illness. That was until a few weeks ago when I was doing a rescue course and whilst exiting the water carrying my own gear plus two others, my foot went down a hole and when a wave came, I went one way and my foot stayed in the same position, ouch! Luckily it was a bad sprain rather than a break. However, me being me, I don’t do ill, so the next weekend I thought I’d be ok to dive if I put my gear on in the water. So when a large wave came and I was dragged back out as I was holding on to my equipment. The sea literally spat me out straight into a rock and I bashed up my elbow.
Normally cuts and bruises wouldn’t be a problem providing you douse them heavily with Betadine, as in the tropics cuts can so easy get infected. However, if you are constantly in salt water it has a cleansing effect, constantly opening and cleaning the wound. So my predive preparations included strapping my elbow up with cling film and sticky tape as you can’t get proper waterproof dressings here!
I was on the mend when Mark, Pedro and Tania had their birthday party. Fuelled by Sangria; silliness ensued including jumping over the bonfire on the beach. Following several successful jumpers I managed to roll on my bad foot and went down heavily on my leg. I nursed a lovely bruise the next day as wet sand is pretty hard.
Finally, to add insult to injury (to coin a phrase), I was doing Open Water skills on the sandy bottom at Dili Rock. I felt a sharp pain in the same foot but couldn’t see what had bitten or stung me. By the time I got out of the water my foot was swelling up and turning a lovely red colour. Driving back to the Dive Centre I was finding it hard to breathe, swallowing was difficult which really started to worry me. For the first time since I started my scuba career I actually used my insurance to call DAN (Divers Alert Network) and spoke to a great doctor. Hence for the next hour I had to sit with my foot in a bucket of extremely hot water, much to the amusement of the staff.
Just when I thought the curse had lifted, the compressor buggered itself! Luckily we have two! So I spent the last few days in Bali getting a simple ‘O’ Ring changed on a filter. I had to go to Bali anyway as my quarterly Marks and Spencer’s shopping run was due. But trying to explain this weird looking mechanical device in your hand luggage to customs officers was slightly trying.
Still for all the lumps, bumps and bruises you get in this profession, it’s still worth it when you get a diver squealing with delight through his regulator after his first dive and telling you that ‘I’ll never forget my first dive, and I’ll never forget you’. Especially when he is from a land locked country such as Nepal.
On a final note, the diving here is great, but the place is quirky. We were kitting up to dive at Tasi Tolu when a Blackhawk started to take off behind us. Of course all dive preparations stopped as we watched the show, those things are impressive.
