We’d made the decision to go ahead with the dive, knowing our exit was going to be tough, but manageable. What we hadn’t accounted for was that conditions would worsen while we were diving…….
Charco del Palo is a fabulous dive site, with plenty of options, caves, deep reefs and life. We dive there a lot. Entry is a giant stride from some rocks, and exit is via one of two stainless steel bathing ladders, which drop right down to the sea bed. The technique is to hold the bottom of the ladder, remove your fins, secure them, and climb back to the surface.
On this particular day, we enjoyed a reasonable dive, although visibility wasn’t great due to the rough weather. As we returned to the bay, we could see how rough it now was at the surface. I tried to make my usual 3 meter safety stop, but I was being churned all over the place.
The danger here was in being swept off the ladder by a wave. The first problem would be that the wave could crash you into the rocks at the back of the bay, and the second (assuming you avoided that) was in getting back to the steps without fins. So it really is essential to hang on as tight as possible.
There were three of us in the group – Brian, Nick and myself. Brian elected to go first, with me last. We’d put a rope down next to the ladder, just in case we wanted to tie our fins onto it, but in the event that would have been impossible.
Brian managed to get his fins off and then wrapped his arm around the rope as added security. He was almost at the surface when the wave hit him and he was immediately off the ladder. As the rope paid out, he grabbed it as hard as he could and managed to pull himself back to the ladder, before scampering to the surface.
It was Nick’s turn. He didn’t take the rope, and exactly the same thing happened to him halfway up. A huge wave swept him off the ladder. By some miracle, his outstretched hand caught the second ladder as he flew past it towards the rocks. He held tight and then almost ran up to the platform.
My turn. Just holding on to the bottom rung at three meters was hard enough while I took my fins off. I was spiralling all over the place, with my arms almost coming out of their sockets. I think I used 20 bar just de finning – I remember being grateful that we’d allowed plenty of margin with our air. Having seen what happened to the others, I started my climb. I was watching the swell, and I could see the big one coming in. I wrapped both arms and both legs around the ladder and gripped like I’ve never gripped before. The wave took my breath away with it’s sheer power, pulling my mask to one side and almost ripping my reg out of my mouth – teeth and all! But I held on, and then made it to the top!
When I got there, I saw that Brian had de kitted in case we needed help. We were laughing slightly hysterically when another huge wave burst over the wall, and we all dived to save his kit. Fortunately, the only thing he lost was his mask.
Discussing it afterwards, over some much needed beers, we realised how lucky we had been. Brian was lucky in that he for some reason taken hold of the rope. Nick was lucky to have just ended up in the right place, and I was lucky to somehow find enough power in my muscles to stay on the ladder. We were aided by some decent pre planning, both in having the rope and making sure we came back with plenty of air. But the lesson learned was not to dive again in such marginal conditions. And the lesson for everyone is that even when you know a dive site like the back of your hand, the ocean can always surprise you.
We did all agree that if they hadn’t managed to get back on to the ladders, the only option would have been to dump their kit and try to swim back towards them.
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