Narapela dai mi bai kam klostu dai pinis

The day started off like any other. Just read yesterday's story for how I got moving from Arawa back to Buka and I was safely back at the Kuri Resort in downtown Buka. I grabbed a bite to eat and then set out to download some photos, write a few reports and send a few emails.

After some time, I felt the need to get out and stretch my legs after being cooped up in a car and behind the desk for so long. I had heard that at the end of the Airport, at one end of the runway one could find a Japanese Zero Fighter Plane submerged in only 2 metres of water, I also heard that someone had floated it and taken it away. I thought that would be a great way to break up the day, so I grabbed a guide, and we jumped into a Van and scooted across town. We asked the Van driver to drop us off here, at this reef.

I took a photo.

Now guides in Papua New Guinea have a couple of jobs, one is to keep you as safe as possible from raskols and the other is to keep you from getting lost. I kept forgetting that PNGeans are traditionally not great swimmers and I assumed that water sports would be pretty safe with my fit looking athletic young friend. I mean, he was the local poster boy for Digicel Mobile Phones, I even took a photo of him standing in front of his larger than life billboard in the main street of town.

I mean, what could possibly go wrong? Its only water. It is only a 2 metre drop off. The second strongest ocean current is only 500 metres off to the right.

We walked across this very shallow reef, trying to avoid the coral and walking on the sandy bits. It was just over ankle deep, by the time we got to the edge, a small wave splashed onto the top of the reef and I thought "cool, the tide is coming in".

The ocean looked peaceful enough, off to the left some 500 metres was a sandy beach and off to the right was Buka Passage. I could see the current was moving in that direction. I handed my bilum, and my reef sandals to my Guide, and put on my flippers and snorkel and hopped on in.

The first thing I noticed was it was not a 2 metre drop off, more akin to 60 metres, and the second thing I noticed was the current. Ok, stay close to the reef. I could feel the current swelling upwards towards the reef and then pulling back down the drop off, up towards and then back down. This was the incoming tide. And it was pulling a little towards Buka Passage.

I kept a hold of the reef and looked below, no sign of any plane down there in the depths, and no sign nearby of any shallower water. My heart rate was increasing as I was starting to get moved around by the tide. I looked up. My guide was wandering around looking at the reef, but he was already 100 metres away or so.

I was drifting.

My heart rate increased.

Then a small swell picked me up and using my flippers as a rudder, the swell lifted me up and onto the reef. The swell lost its energy, plonked me on top of the reef, and then the water rushed back out to the deeper water, dragging me (using my flippers again as a rudder) back out into the current.

The swell came again, and once more put me on top of the reef, and then dragged me once again out into the deeper water. Each time, I was being cheese-grated across the top of the reef. I was losing skin from my knees, my hands and my elbows as I desperately tried to keep my head above water. My heart was racing.

I needed to stop this cycle and I needed to get my flippers off.

The wave came again, onto the reef and off the reef, back deeper into the depths. And again, onto the reef and off the reef. I could see my blood in the water. I was desperate, I tried to grab onto the reef, but my bloodied hands were getting weak, I was getting exhausted, I was not breathing properly. My mask and my snorkel had been torn off my face and I was swallowing salt water. I opened my eyes, my guide was miles away. Another wave came, and this time, I rolled over the reef and tried to sit up so I could remove my evil flippers. The outgoing wave dragged me across the reef, my shoulder blades, my buttocks, my legs all losing skin. There was blood everywhere. I held onto the reef with one hand and ripped my flippers off. The tide was coming in now.

Another wave tossed me around, but at least I was not going back out to sea each time. I knelt on the reef, weakly I got to my feet, I was crushing the reef with each stumble, each step. Sea Urchins were breaking off inside my flesh. I was a mess.

My guide came to me with a sorry look. I put on my t-shirt, and used my towel to clean up the blood. Everything was bleeding. I started to stagger back towards the road.

I no longer cared.

The road hurt my feet so we chose to walk back along the edge of the beach, in the sand, my feet were bleeding, my legs were bleeding, my knees were bleeding, my buttocks was bleeding, my shoulder blades were bleeding, my elbows were bleeding. My hands were a mess.

The first village we came to is right on the edge of Buka Town, kids came running out to see the white guy and then stopped, their smiles disappearing from their faces as they saw the bloodied mess stumbling towards them.

I rested under a coconut tree, near an old busted banana boat. My heart was slowing down now, but the adrenalin was still racing. I needed medical attention, or at least a Pharmacy.

We continued our march back to Buka and the stares from the children continued. We made it back into town and on the mainstreet I stumbled into a Pharmacy. The gorgeous staff with their bright white uniforms looked horrified as I walked into their store. They quickly assembled some gauze, some tape, some antiseptic all together and I paid for my items. As I walked out, I noticed my bloody footsteps on their tiles and I apologised. One young girl already had a mop.

I walked out onto the street again and across town. The stares continued as the bloodied white guy with the long hair and bilum staggered slowly through their streets. Eventually I made it back to the Kuri Resort. I showered, poured antiseptic on everything, bandaged a few things together, laid down on the bed and passed out.

To be continued.

Photo taken 8 August 2008. Title reads: Another day I nearly died.

13th August 2012 13th Aug 12