Miyako Diaries 9: Deep Diver

Chihaya has been sort of an adventure diver recently. Well, she always has been, but her newly attained focus is how deep you can go rather than how long you can stay down. Today, she has set about to reach the "Phantom Mooring," as it was called, an aged anchor and cables that are said to reside deep at the foot of a ridge off Kurima Islet. Actually, it was fairly easy for her to locate it, because the water there abruptly changed from the emerald of the coral reefs to deepwater azure blue. Aya was waiting on their trusty dinghy, ready to dive in if she saw Chihaya in distress.

Preparing for the dive on the dinghy, Chihaya drew in huge breaths of air and made sure she was full to the rim of her throat. She closed her mouth once and then gulped a few times more, stacking additional packets of air into her lungs. She will surely need them, as she will be going much deeper than usual. The Yaeyama-maru, the duo's favorite dive venue, was no more than 25 or 30 meters deep tops which Chihaya could get to and back in a breeze. Just do a jacknife, do a couple of butterfly kicks, and she would be down there. But this time, she will be diving 50 or 60 meters - and multiply that by two when you consider your way back up.

Chihaya thought she was now sufficiently air-packed. She smiled, waved a discreet goodbye to her best friend (need to save air, of course), and plunged into the clear water below. Kick, kick - once past 10 meters or so she was gliding down like a slate of rock. She put her thighs and calves together and placed the back of her hands against her buttocks, just shooting down through the water. It was getting cooler, she could feel with her cheeks - and all she needed to do was sniff her nose and equalize every now and then. It had taken her a lot of effort be able to "glide down" like this, because your fat works as your counterweight. So she needed to keep slim but have enough muscles to quickly manuever under the water. Aya didn't need training at this, as diving came very natural to her. But in the meantime being a city girl and taking up freediving later in her teens made Chihaya watch her weight and stick to her routine workouts. Well, some people are special.

Breatholding was also not much as of Chihaya's problem as it once was. In fact, she was now very good with breath control, and she sometimes had to consciously track her dive time and  urge herself to go up for air. Otherwise she would blackout and this would be a serious issue. And she did less of the cheek puffing nowadays, because when she was at the stage of "involuntary exhalation" (meaning, your lungs convulse involuntarily in a desparate effort to breathe fresh air), her oxygen level would be very low and it was wiser to just let it go. And Aya had always made fun of Chihaya's cheek puffing anyway.

40 meters deep - or was it 50 meters already? And maybe 2 1/2 minutes into the dive? There was no way to tell, it was too dark to use her watch. She touched her breast with her palm to check status. Calm and going as usual. She felt very relaxed, and a bit proud, that she felt no urge for air after this time and at this depth. Gliding down, she closed her eyes and pondered  a while, like a little girl daydreaming of becoming a mermaid.

I'm a happy girl, Chihaya thought. She had the love of her parents, and during her recesses her parents allowed her to come meet Aya, her dearest and best friend. She was doing great at school - well, and to add the boys in her class voted her the Campus Beauty-Athletic Beauty of the Year (double awards!), but that was none of her doing. Maybe she had more things in the world that she could ask for. But now, as she started to fall into her deep underwater thoughts, there was a glitch in her head as thought she was given so much but was giving so few. Why this sudden melancholy - possibly an article she had read several days earlier? While a fraction of the world enjoyed the luxury of no fear nor want, a good rest of the world was living at starving calorie levels, had no safe drinking water, and were subject to epidemics and ailments that were unheard of in her world. What can you do, happy girl, what can you do? Then Chihaya's drifting chain of thoughts struck a new hold - as she remembered about meeting a young physician who was interning at her dad's clinic. He was saying he will be joining the Medicins sans Frontieres in Cambodia. He had such a stern stare....

Chihaya decided. I will be joining. I will become a doctor like my dad, and will join the Medicins sans Frontieres. Once I reach the Phantom Mooring - that will be my pledge. With this newly beset goal, she stroke the last few meters and was surprised that her hands were driven into an unnnoticed gravel of soft white sand. Gosh, it took some effort to kill her speed!

Although her eyesight was nearly lost to the pressure, Chihaya noted it was unexpectedly bright. The sun beamed through the 60 meters of water above like moonlight. Chihaya flipped and rolled her body,  securing a foothold in the sand. And as she looked up, like a mountaineer beholding an unclimbed peak, there was the mooring - an immense set of anchor and cables struck tightly through the rocks. Chihaya tiptoed closer, and let out a gulp of air. The air bubbles were shimmering and flickering - it should take minutes for them to reach the surface. But that was none of Chihaya's concern now. She was now climbing the face of the heap, edging up with her hands and feet. A few more steps, and her hand grabbed something that was apparently man-made. Cold, rough surface of steel. Now, she was touching the Phantom Mooring.

Chihaya let out bursts of air in joy. She was almost laughing. That was fine, she thought, I have a goal now and can continue to laugh as long as my lungs let me.

Chihaya was a happy girl.