Chapter Nineteen
“I can’t believe you expect me to learn how to do this in one easy lesson.” Andrea’s indignation came across loud and clear.
Brian turned thunderous eyes toward her. “This was your suggestion in the first place, remember? Now quit belly aching and get suited up.” He motioned her to follow his lead. He faced Camilla and grinned. He was clearly enjoying the woman’s temper.
Andrea grabbed her wetsuit and began to squiggle one leg into the rubbery fabric. “I’ll never fit in this tight thing. Haven’t you got one that fits?”
Camilla giggled from her seat on a bench along the dock. “You look funny, Mam’selle Andrea. You too, Monsieur Brian.”
“Never mind, smarty pants. If you don’t behave, we’ll make you go to bed before eleven tonight.” Andrea had considered the idea of swimming with forty feet of water over her head for a long time, but now that the moment was soon to be experienced, she doubted she was where she wanted to be. It’s easy for him. He’s already done this before. She turned a murderous look in Brian’s direction.
“Scuba diving is easy to learn, easier than learning how to snorkel in fact.” He lowered his voice. “Andrea, this will be the best way to follow those men without being detected, and you know it. Behave yourself and this afternoon, we’ll rent a boat. Maybe we can check out that island or see if they came around this island to land.”
Andrea struggled to push her arm into the short sleeve. She pulled the suit over her shoulders and then sucked her stomach in so she could close the zipper. “Ugh, this is tight. I must look like a sausage in this thing. Boat ride, huh? Sounds like a good idea but, Brian, there is no way I can learn all this in one day. I’m telling you. Just the thought of putting my head under water for any length of time scares me to death.”
“You’ll be fine. Just breathe slowly.” He finished zippering his suit and then grabbed his flippers, BC, mask and tank. “This buoyancy compensator vest will float you to the surface if you need to get there.”
“Brian, it will be a few days before the Houngan has another ceremony according to the wife of the concierge. I spoke with her this morning while you and Camilla were getting dressed.” Andrea’s eyes pleaded with him to listen to her. “We’d have time to find where they went by boat and then just meet them there. We don’t need to do this.”
“No, now get over this. We’ll have time to practice some more, so …no…we don’t have to do this all in one day. Now be a good girl and listen to what the instructor tells you.” Brian put his gear at his feet and turned his attention to the young man before them. Every now and then he’d glance in Andrea’s direction. She was listening…finally.
The man was evidently experienced in the art of scuba, if art it could be called. He began to demonstrate the correct use of the equipment they had in front of them. “This gear is designed to make swimming underwater as safe as it can be. The buoyancy compensator, or BC as most call it, is attached to your air tanks by this hose and will inflate if you pull this valve. It will bring you to the surface as slowly or as quickly as you want it to, in case of emergency.” The piece of apparatus he was pointing to was a vest with a couple of hoses attached to it.
“In case of emergency. I can’t do this. I just can’t.” Andrea’s whiny voice could be heard over the water sloshing against the wood pilings and the boats moored nearby.
Brian took her for a short walk down the pier. “Andrea, you’ve survived a murder, your house burnt to the ground and threats on your life. Are you telling me this is beyond your capability now?”
“We don’t even know if those disappearances are connected to the Michners!”
“No we don’t. But we will never find out if we don’t go after those men. Just how do you think we could ever follow them in a boat and not be seen?”
“Alright, alright. You win. Let’s get on with this, but you had better be by my side every step … or should I say… stroke of the way.” Andrea stomped back to the instructor.
The instructor went on to tell them how to assemble their gear and how to make sure their tank was attached securely to their BC. He also demonstrated the use of a regulator and how to clear a mask underwater. He showed them how to take off their vest and put it back on underwater.
“What do we have to know that for?” Andrea’s voice gave away her attempts to hide her fear every time she spoke. This is so out of my comfort zone.
“You never know what might occur when you scuba dive, so it is best to know survival techniques. We will practice these things when we are in the water.” The instructor proceeded to explain the method to obtain neutral buoyancy and how to read the gauges telling them how much air they had in their tanks.
After a couple more hours in his pier classroom, the instructor motioned for them to follow him with their gear. They’d learned a lot of stuff…like the calculations needed to assess how long they could be at a certain depth and still have enough air to surface. There was a lot to learn.
They hopped into the instructor’s jeep with Camilla along for the ride. The drive was a short one but easier than carrying all their equipment by foot. They arrived at one of the better hotels in Port Au Prince. The instructor led the way to the back deck, overlooking the ocean. “We are allowed to use their pool.”
They seated Camilla on one of the lounge chairs. “You stay right here. We’ll get some lunch when we’re done, Okay?”
“Okay.” The little girl was already looking with interest at all the new things around her, sights she’d never seen before. Andrea and Brian watched as the instructor taught them how to attach their tank, filled with one hour of air, to their vest, making sure that their regulator and inflation hose for the vest were connected in the right places. They pulled on booties and then swim fins. Next, the mask and snorkel. These were purchased items, not rented. More hygienic.
Once they were outfitted, the trio descended into the pool. Camilla scooted to the side of the pool. She dangled her feet. Andrea knew she’d never been to a pool before, so this was a new experience for her as well. She decided to let the little girl enjoy the experience from her watery vantage point.
Before they went completely under, the couple’s instructor explained several different hand signals and told them to clear their masks. “Now walk to the deep end and we will begin.”
Brian and Andrea began slowly to walk toward the other end of the pool, feeling the water rise higher and higher on their bodies. The water came up to Andrea’s neck first since she was shorter than Brian. Soon she could feel the water flow over her head.
Almost like the rising tide, panic filled her brain. She wanted to breathe through her nose, a function she was accustomed to performing without giving it a second thought. However, her mask blocked any air from entering her nostrils. She had her mouth full of breathing apparatus that made any mouthful of food she’d ever eaten pale in comparison.
All sense of what her instructor told her fled. She did the only thing her instincts told her she could do. She ripped the regulator out of her mouth, but when she tried to swim to the surface, she did not have the strength, even though the surface was only a few inches over her head. With a weight belt, full tank and her BC, she did not have enough strength to swim those few inches. In her panic, she forgot all about the inflatable vest she was wearing.
She wanted to scream for help. She couldn’t. She was underwater. Andrea’s depth of fear was greater than anything she had ever experienced in her life. She knew death was close beside her if … if only … but then her instructor was beside her, inflating her vest, lifting her to the surface. She gasped quick breaths into her air starved lungs.
“What happened? Your eyes are almost the size of your mask. Did something frighten you?” His face had concern written all over it.
She was breathing normally again, something that took quite a few minutes to achieve. “I only know that as soon as the water was over my head, I panicked…forgot everything you
told me.” She sucked in another deep breath.
Brian was beside her by this time, watching her for any sign that she had been injured. She looked into his eyes. “I can’t do this. I really can’t do this,” They now stood in water chest high. “I never knew I was claustrophobic until that water was over my head. What a feeling!”
Brian moved close to her and held her shoulders while she trembled and started to cry. “Brian, I am such a wimp. I can’t even do this in a pool. How am I ever going to do this in the ocean?”
“Now that we know you panic, we can compensate with some breathing exercises.” The instructor told her that she wasn’t the first person to feel this way. “When we go under water the next time, I will be right by your side. We will breathe together, okay. You can even hold my hand.” He wiggled his eyebrows adding a lighter tone to the day.
“Please Andrea, try it again. I know how much you want to help…” He whispered. “…Diane and Trent. We’ll just take it a little slower, that’s all.”
“I feel like such a fool. All those people are watching us, and Camilla is as well. I’m a baby, and I can’t do anything right.” The hotel pool had several patrons lounging beside it soaking up the sun’s rays. Some were in the pool swimming. Everyone was curious about the scuba lesson in progress.
“Andrea, listen to me, not everyone learns to scuba dive as if they were born to it. Some people have to concentrate on breathing slowly so panic doesn’t set in. Know though, panic can be deadly in the water, so it’s important that you overcome it, take control over it. My instructor told us a few stories about divers, good divers, who lost their lives because they forgot the basics of diving during a panic attack. Now with that all considered, will you give it another try … for the Michners…please? I really believe this is the best way to follow that boat.”
“Okay, I’ll try again but that scared the daylights out of me. I may panic even more now.”
The instructor held some rings about the size of a dinner plate in his hands. Each was colorfully decorated and sturdy. “With these, we’ll make a game out of the water and you’ll see how enjoyable it is to be down there.” He threw all six into the deep end.
Still in shallow water, Andrea grabbed the man’s hand. They stood. The water closed over their heads. Brian watched Andrea’s eyes grow as large as saucers inside her mask again. Then she began to take slow, even breaths, inhaling and exhaling through her regulator in unison with their instructor. She focused on the young man’s face. Before long, he saw her look around, her body relaxed. She bent her head back to look up. She gave Brian the all clear sign, a circle made with her thumb and forefinger, as the instructor had told them.
Both men signaled their approval back to her. The instructor signaled for them to roll over on their stomachs. Now Andrea and Brian were horizontal. They had room to move their feet. They kicked their fins, propelling their bodies toward the deeper part of the pool. Every movement was done slowly at first but then they were swimming as if they’d done this many times before. Andrea grabbed one ring, then another, forgetting that she had about twelve feet of water over her head by now.
Their instructor corralled them once more and, with hand signals, told them to remove their vests and put them back on. For Andrea’s benefit, he knelt directly in front of her. He motioned for her to focus on his eyes and they inhaled and exhaled slowly. Then he demonstrated for both how to do this task again. Once his vest was back on, he motioned for his students to do likewise. Andrea looked at him. He nodded his head and she began, slowly, to undo the clasp.
This procedure was completed a couple more times and then the instructor indicated he would time them. Andrea moved through her paces easily now. She lithely slipped out of her vest and then into it again.
The next step of their instruction was buddy breathing. Since every BC comes with a second regulator, Andrea and Brian could assist each other…if one of their tanks ran out of air or if the hose, connecting the air supply to the regulator, was damaged. The novices proved to be apt pupils. They could see their instructor was pleased as he began to teach them how to use a compass. .
The time to surface came all too quickly. The instructor signaled them to check their gauges. Since Andrea had panicked in the beginning, her gauge showed less air in the tank than the men’s.
They rose out of the water like the mythical Neptune and pulled the regulators out of their mouths as they walked to the stairs leading to the pool deck. Their instructor continued to give them vital information. “Each dive will be recorded in a log once you are both certified. In it you will record how deep you went and how long you were at that depth. Remember, each tank only holds one hour of air supply. The dive down and back has to be calculated in that hour. It is never a good idea to leave yourselves short for the return trip to the surface. The deeper the dive, the faster the air supply is used up. That’s what these calculations are all about.”
“Our next lesson will be in the ocean.” They began to remove all gear. “We will meet at the dive shop the same time tomorrow. There’s a very picturesque reef nearby that you’ll enjoy. We will dive a little deeper, see some fish and coral, and learn to get comfortable under the surface of the ocean. This could also be your certification dive. You will need to pass all the tests I’ll give you. We can decide that tomorrow before we dive the second time.”
The stowed their gear in the back of the jeep. “The second time? Are we doing two dives tomorrow? How long will we be on the boat? Should we get someone to look after the little girl?” Andrea’s questions rolled off her tongue staccato fashion.
“Your little one is welcome to come, but she may get bored. We wouldn’t want her to attempt to go into the water alone.” The young man drove the few blocks to the dive shop. “The boat will have a captain and a first mate, but they usually do not like to be considered babysitters.”
“Does the boat crew ever take anyone out to snorkel?” asked Brian.
“But of course.” They parked and exited the jeep. “I’ll take care of the gear.”
As Brian and Andrea prepared to say good-bye, they looked toward the pier. “Do you think they would supervise Camilla if we paid them for a snorkeling trip as well as diving?”
“Maybe. Why don’t you ask them? That’s their boat, docked over there by that catamaran.”
Andrea and Brian, with Camilla skipping along behind, walked quickly down the pier. They noticed that the boat was being outfitted for another trip to sea. Several people, dressed in swim suits and lugging diving gear were standing around waiting for the captain to tell them it was time to board.
In the Haitian dialect, the captain and the first mate considered Brian’s request. The captain shook his head in agreement. Brian knelt beside Camilla. “Would you like to snorkel tomorrow while Andrea and I dive?”
“Snorkel, what is dat?”
“You put on a mask to keep the water out of your eyes, and you breathe through a tube like the one that Andrea and I have attached to our masks. That’s called a snorkel. Here try this one.” Brian held his towards the child’s mouth. She placed her lips and teeth around the nozzle and took a deep breath.
“Oh, that is easy. How you do dat in the water?” Camilla hung her head. “I can’t swim yet?”
“You’ll wear an inflatable vest…you know…one that blows up to keep you floating. The first mate will be right beside you. Okay with you Camilla?” Brian smiled trying to look confident in their arrangements.
“Okay with me,” Camilla’s smile revealed her missing teeth. .
Andrea watched the two smile at each other. I’m actually looking forward to tomorrow.
* * * * *