The Life Aquatic with David Browne
Dave Says:
The deep, what mysteries does it hold in it’s really deep depths? Wet, it’s so very wet and salty too but somehow familiarly strange and demanding in it’s unforgiving inability to allow us to breath underwater. I, Captain Dave led team Lukacs Browne on an underwater adventure that can only be described as adventurous and wet.
Without the steady assuredness of our exploring vessel, we were forced to charter a boat from the port of Bang Boa on the island of Ko Chang midst the Gulf of Thailand. First mate Sarah, deciding that the water here to be just too salty for her liking, manned the beach as Captain Dave enrolled in an immersion course on being immersed under the water.
The is the log from that fateful journey:
Day One: The local guides (from Germany, Belgium and Norway) gave a one day briefing on the safety measures required for deep sea exploration and then decided, with my obvious knowledge and experience, I was ready to descend the depths all the way to the ocean floor, six meters below the bow of our fearless research/pleasure vessel.
Day Two: On the sea bed I demonstrated my innate skill for the life aquatic and proceeded through my drills of removing the perfectly functional pieces of equipment necessary for the maintenance of my life underwater, proving I could indeed survive without them, albeit in a one breath squinty eye kind of way. With my drills successfully performed my guide decided to drag me round the local coral reef, I could have swam myself if not for a slight buoyancy issue where staying at one depth was proving temporarily tricky for this salty old sea dog. During the debrief with first mate Lukacs I was ready to call an end to the mission. Could the perils of this deep sea mission plus the perils of my small dose of food poisoning cause this most important of research opportunities to be forsaken?
Day Three: Both the sea bottom and my bottom were wonderful. Obviously the buoyancy issue that hindered me the previous day was caused by excess gas in my insides not inside my buoyancy control device (BCD). Two wonderful dives through thousands of fish of many colors. Stingrays, baracuda, parrot fish – truly the life aquatic.
Day Four: Two more dives and some beer. First Mate Lukacs was there, snorkel gear donned to document for herself the deepness of both marine life and water. Upon successful mission end your fearless captain was awarded the credentials to dive the great oceans of the world and team Lukacs Browne retired to the “debriefing†room for quiet libations and celebrations of another fine day out here on the ocean oh so blue.