"No dramas mate" is a favourite saying of Dave Wilkie, a 30ish adventure guide in Townsville. Dave is an accomplished adventurer having guided clients on safari in Africa, climbed mountains in Greenland, sailed the Arctic in incredible storms, and taken the wealthy on exotic diving trips around the world. He is an experienced deep diver having cut his teeth on the Blue Hole in the Red Sea, having gone to incredible depths and unfortunately witnessing the death of two of his friends there and assisting in their recovery.
I met Dave at the back yard BBQ of my advanced diving instructor Adrian in Townsville, Australia and after way too many beers, talking politics and life in general I made the statement that "Gee the reef is nice, the Yongala wreck was great, but I would really like to dive something exciting". After some silence both Dave and Adrian smiled that Aussie smile that I should be wary of and said the best adrenalin dive in Australia wasn't in salt water but into a crystal clear volcanic lake located near Cairns called Lake Eacham. Why so good? Because this dive was a deep dive to the bottom of the volcano and resembled the free fall depicted in the movie the "Abyss". Just a sky dive type free fall into the depths of this very deep hole.
Hmm! Crystal clear water and a deep free fall into a volcano? This sounded good to me, and Dave was free for a two day adventure. Arrangements and gear were gathered and we set off on the four hour drive to the Atherton Tablelands, arriving at midday to get a view of the dive site. My nerves from the days prior to the dive were starting to get on edge. I was worried about Narcosis or Rapture of the deep, about equipment failures and just about my competence since my previous deep diving had only been to 155ft in warm clear tropical water, where the bottom was visible from the surface some 15 years earlier. The excitement of this dive was that the lake is reported to be 200ft deep and the lake is at 770 metres above sea level, thus complicating decompression and the threat of the bends. Finally what makes this an exciting dive is the pure thrill of a free fall without any references, or even lights into a black hole.
Well, we arrived at Lake Eacham and my heart went into my throat. This was not a crystal clear lake but resembled the dark mud holes of Washington State back home, with visibility of 15 feet at most. Dave then mentioned that the last time he was here he watched one of Australia's more dangerous snakes, a Brown, swimming. After hearing that, I started reading about the Water Dragons that inhabit the shores and also swim here. This was to be more of a challenge than I had planned for.
We spent the night at the beautiful Eacham Hotel, an old-time resort hotel from the turn of the century, but I couldn't sleep. My heart was pounding with excitement for the coming dive and an absolute fear of the next day. What on earth was I doing?
Dive day was clear and warm. We planned to make two dives as close to midday as possible to give us the best light. We suited up next to the "Danger No Diving" sign and entered the water in full wet suits to guard us against the cold at depth. We didn't take any artificial lights and slowly swam to the middle of the lake to conserve energy. On the surface the major impression is one of just how black it looked down there. The rays of light only seemed to go down a few feet. My heart pounded in my throat and I was scared of what was to come. We stopped at the centre. Dave gave the signal. We went negative, head first hurtling at an incredible rate, constantly equalizing our ears as we fell. Some light stayed with us the first 30 feet then as we passed the thermal cline into colder water everything went black. Dave ahead of me was only visible because of his Yellow tank and because he was within 5 feet of me. I wasn't about to lose sight of Dave. As we zoomed past 60ft our speed increased and I started dry heaving from fear, exhilaration and the cold darkness. I also started taking water through my mouth piece from some minor regulator malfunction. At 120ft all sense left because of the darkness, cold and fear. There was no light. I could barely make out my partner. I was hurtling into the total unknown. All I knew was somewhere down there was a bed of soft silt that I would crash into at some time. Dave came to a sudden halt. In the blackness he had crashed into something just above the silt. Fortunately, he had hit head first, but the mystery was that in the pitch dark we could make out this was a man made structure at 160ft (50 metres). To avoid the bends we didn't stay long which was OK with me anyway, and we started our slow ascent up the side of the volcano back to light, warmth, safety, and to prepare for dive two.
Two hours later we were prepared for dive two in the hopes to hit a deeper portion of the lake. One hundred and sixty feet was a disappointment as the lake is supposed to be 200 feet deep (60 metres). To this day, no divers have found that point and the best anyone of the few crazy enough to try have only hit 177ft. We swam to a different location in hopes of hitting a deeper area. Several minutes on the surface didn't dampen my fear at all. I was more apprehensive of this dive than the last and my heart pounded even harder. I new what was in store. The signal given, we hurtled toward the abyss. Again water came in with every breath. This dive was darker and we hurtled faster to the ink below. Light went at 30 feet, the blackest black I've ever seen at 6ft and I couldn't read my gauges past 100ft. I lost the sight of Dave. "My God", I thought, "I have to abort. There he is, shit, what am I doing this for". Dave stopped, I hurtled past him into the deep silt. I placed my gauges to my mask, nothing. Where's my partner I couldn't see a thing, but I could hear his screaming. Then, when I saw a white hand thrust in front of my mask, I gratefully grabbed it and we both worked to extract me for the crater I'd made in the crater silt. Looking toward the surface, I could barely make out the outlines of a huge ghostly tree that we had just missed being impaled on. It seemed like forever as we tried to work our way up the crater wall back to the world of light and warmth. Slowly the light returned enough to read my gauges and I new what Dave's excitement was about. Sixty metres, or 180 feet - it was a new record for Lake Eacham. What an adrenalin rush, what a thrill, what a great partner. I'd done it!
"No Dramas Mate". Like hell - it was the best drama of all and I'm more alive for the thrill of diving the best dive in Oz! Let the tourists have the reef, and wrecks. Give me the thrill of a fantastic adventure with Water Dragons and Brown Snakes thrown in for fun. Best, let me have a great Partner. Thanks Dave.
Richard Swanson is in his mid 50's, is retired and is travelling the world solo, seeking unique adventures. He has been diving for nearly 50 years with thousands of dives to his credit. He lives on San Juan Island, Washington USA and can be reached at swanson_dick@yahoo.com. Davie Wilkie, in his 30's, is a unique and talented adventure guide living in Townsville, Australia. He may be reached at anitasimwilkie@bigpond.com |
