New Zealanders need little reminding of the fickle nature of
the ocean. But as Bev Bradford discovered, this knowledge
should go with you when you travel.
"IF my husband survives this, I'm gonna kill him!" shrieked
the American woman sitting opposite me on the glass-bottomed
boat - a boat that bobbed skipperless in the middle of the
Badung Strait off Bali.
I wasn't sure if I was more alarmed that her husband,
drifting out of sight in the stormy seas, couldn't swim; or
whether he would in fact meet his demise at the hands of his
distraught wife.
My immediate concern, however, was that my family and four
fellow snorkellers were abandoned by the skipper on a small,
ill-equipped boat in the face of a fast-approaching storm.
The day had started with a leisurely cruise, setting off from
the sleepy Balinese port of Sanur to the nearby island of
Nusa Lembongan.
Then there were dark swirling waters.
They concealed a history of calamity.
It was the site of the battle of Badung Strait, fought on the
night of February 19, 1942, when an invading flotilla of
Japanese destroyers overwhelmed an Allied force of American,
British, Dutch and Australian command.
We motored through ominous whirlpools.
Once on the island, our pre-snorkel safety "brief" was
exactly that.
An inadequate assortment of ill-fitting life jackets,
snorkels and flippers was distributed, and we were ushered to
the glass-bottomed boat.
At this stage we should have considered one skipper to 10
snorkellers was skimping a little, but no-one seemed
bothered.
As we made our way through the reef to the calmer snorkelling
area, a rain-charged front loomed ahead of us.
Eager to get some time in the water before the weather hit
us, I led the way, floundering flipper-first into the deep.
The sea pulled at me as soon as I surfaced.
"Make sure the kids have their life jackets on firmly," I
gurgled to my husband through my snorkel.
Kate and Matt plopped into the water beside me, followed by
my husband and four others.
Distracted by the luminous variety of fish flashing below us,
we didn't immediately notice the speed and strength of the
current pulling us away from the boat.
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