Can you die this close to home?

That was the question I was starting to ask myself last Sunday. It started out as a normal day – Andy played golf, which he’s getting back into now his plaster is off. He’s also completed his PADI Open water scuba diving course too, so has been diving with Henry
A couple of Fridays ago Andy Crowe – Housing Executive and next door neighbour – hired Anthony (Nails) boat to go snorkelling with the Whale Sharks – Poor Andy C had not been well recently and had missed other opportunities. My Andy and Henry signed up to go with him and a couple of other intrepid divers. Not being a great lover of little boats on deep oceans, I stayed at home. Because the Island is pretty much the top of an underwater volcano, there is no gently sloping of the seabed – a short distance from shore lays the South Atlantic shelf which drops rapidly to many hundreds of feet deep. This also accounts for the strong currents and dangers of swimming in some areas.
The boat spent some time looking for the sharks – Anthony is one of the best local dive instructors and knows the Island and it’s marine life well. A fair distance out into the South Atlantic Ocean, he spotted the Whale Sharks. Commonly they swim in ones or twos, rarely seen in large numbers anywhere in the world. Even Anthony could not believe what he was seeing, somewhere upwards of 35 Whale Sharks in a feeding frenzy were directly ahead. The trippers quickly joined the sharks and spent quite a time snorkelling with them, keeping a good distance and just enjoying the spectacle. Andy Crowe got lifted out of the sea by one – they are huge the largest recorded at over 12 metres in length! It’s hard to describe the emotions of experiencing such a unique thing – Andy and Henry were almost speechless on their return home. Even Anthony had never before witnessed such a sight – Amazing.

Swimming with Whale Sharks

Read more about Whale Sharks here http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/sharks/species/Whaleshark.shtml
So back to Sunday – we were going to have a lazy day following Andy’s return from golf – it was already heating up nicely. Andy Crowe had planned a walk to Diana’s Peak – the highest point on the Island and asked Andy and I to accompany him. So off we trekked at the hottest time of day and headed up the very long and steep path to Dianna’s peak. Machete at the ready to cut our path through the flax! First stop was at Halley’s Mount, where Edmond Halley, the English astronomer visited in 1676 and set up an observatory with a large sextant with telescopic sights to catalogue the stars of the southern hemisphere.
Then followed a relatively pleasant walk through trees and flax - mainly uphill, but not overly steep. Over the following hour the temperature started rising and by the time we arrived at the top of Mount Actaeon the intense heat and lack of air was almost unbearable. It was somewhat of a surprise to be on Mount Actaeon, as we had set out to climb Diana's peak - the highest point on the Island - down to Mr A Crowe's sense of direction! But when I realised in order to get back I was going to have to complete the Three Peak Challenge by climbing down Mount Actaeon, then up Diana's Peak, then up Cuckolds Point in order to get home - I was not overly impressed! There was a moment on the way up to Diana's Peak when I really did think I wouldn't get out alive - it was the lack of air that affected me I think. However, since I am writing this, I did make it back down and was very pleased to make it home for an ice cold drink