[LOW ON AIR! - Egypt]

Together with my Dutch traveling friend, Garrick, we completed the advanced dive course, diving on some amazing vertical reef walls to a depth of 30m (4 atmospheres). The crystal visibility, the deep blue colours of the water and the teaming aquatic life makes the Red Sea one of the best dives sites in the world.

To complete our fabulous experiences we singed up for a days dive on the Thistlegorn wreck. A WW2 allied cargo ship conveniently sunk in shallow water (around 30m) by the German Luftwaffe, enabling thousands of paying Germans to revisit each year...

Our first dive was an orientation dive and we swam around the ship, viewing the collapsed middle section of the hull where it took a direct bomb hit. On our 2nd dive we ventured into the cargo rooms, dimly lit passage ways where I could see military issued boots, not looking more than a day old, motor cycles in crate , trucks and even an old aircraft engine. Its hard work to 'squeeze' through the passages, avoiding contacting the wreck, in case of steel splinters and for its preservation. We ascended a level and entered a small cabin like room, I looked at my buddy (Garrick) and together we realized we lost the experienced dive guide. Being cooped up in a small, murky room and 'lost' sent a waive of claustrophobic fear shooting into body and I had to fight the urge to "get out now!". After some confusion the guide reappeared and led us further on the tour. I checked my air and saw that I was low, 35% left (70 psi out of 200)

To put things in perspective, for a normal safety ascent I would need 6 minutes of air, and by now I didnt have enough to cover this. At 30m depth, the laws of physics dictate that one breathes the air in the tank 4 times faster then at the surface, thus each extra minute at this depth is crucial.

I swam to the head of the group and as we left the covered deck area of the ship I signaled to my guide that I had now 25% of my air. He signaled for me to relax and then he disappeared under the ships deck like a rabbit down a fox hole! This wasn't the reaction I was expecting!! This stressed me and thus the vicious cycle in diving. If one is not relaxed than one consumes the air faster. How faster and lower my air was becoming, how more stressed I was becoming...

I didn't dare follow my guide into the wreck, the last thing I wanted was to be trapped under a steal roof in a cramped spot with no air...I had no idea how long he was going to be under the wreck either. I waited for my dive buddy and signaled I was now 20%, he was also low on air and wouldnt be able to share his tank with me for long...

This was one of my most frightening moments in my life, to face the real possibility that within minutes I would suffocate. To see the events unfold before my eyes, like a nightmare that I couldnt awake myself from. Together we made a bee line for the nearest anchor line, aiming to ascend; luckily along the way Garrick spotted the guide popping up out of the wreck. He signaled the situation and on <10% of air and at 28m depth the guide shared his tank with me...

The guide and I made the required slow ascent together and for the last 5m I completed the dive on my own air, surfacing with just 5% of my air...A normal and safe tank volume is 5 times that amount! That was just too close for the level of my experience and totally outside the realms of dive safety. My dive buddy and I agree the dive guide was too much of a wild cowboy...but the wreck was cool! ;-)

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