Diveless Dover Disaster
The weather was looking shocking, the ropes-off time had been changed to silly o’clock and the word from Andy the Coastie was the viz would be terrible due to cable-laying in the area…so why did we get up and traipse down to Dover on Saturday? I wish we hadn’t…
The car is packed the night before and we leave the house at 03:15 for the 2 1/2 hour dirve to Dover. When we reach the harbour it is still dark, but there is a stiff breeze…so much for Paul’s comment the previous night that forecast 5mph winds could mean it was “Harry Flatters”.
There are a couple of folk milling about and we meet up with Debs and Gareth. No sin of Paul, or the skipper. The sky starts to lighten slightly and Paul appears weaing shorts and flip-flops…there is optimism on a cold September morning! Our numbers start to increase and Dave turns up and unlocks Neptune so we can start to load.
As we leave the harbour the rising sun behind the lighthouse is a beautiful sight and I almost start to think it was worth getting up for that alone. we then hit the rough seas that apparently are always worse withing a mile of the harbour. The boat bounces and spray rushes over the deck. We all shelter in the wheelhouse or just outsise. After about 20 minutes of battling against the waves the call is made to abandon out offshore target of the liberty ship Henry B Plant and go for a site closer in, the El de Bayo.
On site the sea is still fairly rough and it takes the crew several attempts to get the grapple to lock in. the usual practise for this boat is to anchor into the wreck, but today that isn’t practical as the wind and waves keep pulling the vessel off, so a shot buoy is left and Neptune floats clear. It isn’t quite slack so we don’t kit up immediately, and when we do go I take it slowly, aware of the movement of the boat.
Caroline and I have bench spots on the opposite side to the side door that you leap off from and so once kitted, in twin 12’s, and a 7l ali deco bootle, side slung, we gingerly stand and cautiously make our way to the stern of the boat, holding onto the side rails. I get to the gap between the bench and the transom first and as I cannot progress further due to a pair entering the water ahead of us, I hold n with one hand on the censtre spine of the benches, and one on the transom rail.
Brian, the crew member tells me they will let these two in and then turn around for another run to get Caroline and I in. I acknowledge him and adjust my postion slightly, to better bear the weight of the tanks against the movement of the boat. the buddy pair ahead get in and then….
..the boat moved suddenly and unexpectedly. I don’t know if it was getting into gear or an odd wave, but somehow, in trying to maintain my balance all my weight goes onto my left leg, my foot is rooted to the spot in my jetfins and my knee sort of twists and bends at the same time. I hear a crack, or a popping sound - although I am unsure whether it really was a “hear” or a “feel” - and my kne gives way in pain. I fall backwards, me and 50kg of kit landing, I think, on the mask clean bucket which cushions my fall nicely.
As Brian rushes to help I try and tell him that something has gone in my knee and soon there are hands all around getting me out of my kit. As I stand I think maybe i will be okay and I am keen to rekit and get in - that is what we have come all this way for! Then my knee gives way again. Still, maybe, if I fin gently…and the boat does have a lift….
Finally, tales of injuries precipitating DCI brings me to my senses…along with the knee starting to hurt. I sit down. Dejected. the final pair is now in the water and we have 80 minutes to wait until the planned runtimes are up.
I am helped out of my drysuit and sit in the wheelhouse supporting my knee and sulking. It is starting to hurt alot more now. As divers start to come up they firstly say what a great dive they have and then start saying it more quietly when they hear we didn’t get in.
The journey back to harbour was horrendous. There was no way of supporting my knee and each crash off the top of a wave jolted it and sent a shock of pain up my leg. Getting intot he calm water of the harbour was a real relief. We then had to work out how to get me up the steps. It was decided the best method was to avoid the steps and Dave dropped us off at his berth which was next to a ramp. With the arm of Matt on one side and a handrail on the other I inched up - this was after declining a push in a wire mesh kit trolley!
Everyone then kindly helps Caroline bring our kit off the boat and back to the car - divers are a wonderful bunch! Massive thanks to all… Having learnt my lesson last year after another diving accident we decided to dirve all the way home to our local A&E so that any ongoing treatment would not require inter-hospital communication - not a strongpoint of the NHS in our previous experience.
I hopped into A&E at Stoke Mandeville and after 4 hours, a nurse practioner, an A&E registrar, and a orthopaedic registrar and consultant there was agreement that I had ruptured my anterior cruciate ligament. I was sent home on crutches with an appointment in 10 days to reasses once the pain had died down. This could be bad news. the anterior cruciate ligament is in the actual knee joint itself, pulling together the tibia and femur, and apparently provides most of the stability for the knee joint.
It is now a few days later, and having had the leg up and resting it is feeling ok, although I can bear weight on it I can’t walk on it properly and it feels a little “odd”, but there is very little pain. I am very hopeful that the initial diagnosis was wrong and I have just strained something. That would be excellent as a ruptured ACL sounds like it would kill my hopes of walking the Inca Trail next year on our trip to the Galapagos. I shall find out for sure, I guess, in a few days when I return, but my fingers are well and truly crossed.
Sorry to hear about your knee Lou. I damaged my knee falling off a quadbike at the beginning of August. Similarly, there was a feel of popping, and then my knee swelled up quite badly.
Although I am now able to walk nearly normally and even do weight training OK, it still isn’t quite right and there is still some swelling. Ligament injuries take a long time to heal unfortunately. Hopefully you haven’t damaged it too badly.
Lou, I shuddered when I heard about this. All the best for your recuperation. The light at the end of the tunnel, is a very very pleasant dive trip next October eh!
All our love Mark, Lisa and the family