Who Needs Oxygen
03/03/2020 10:30pm Balbulol Island, Misool, Raja Ampat, Indonesia
It’s 10:30pm and Chris and I just got back from a 7 mile dinghy trip looking for oxygen. It all started about 3 hours ago when I was on Family Circus having a chat when we heard Georg yelling out for Chris to come over. He ran over, and I followed. Irene was in the cockpit in ZigZag seemingly out of it. She looked like a rag doll and Georg was talking to her in German clearly distressed, it was very confronting. Chris was explaining what decompression sickness could be like and that he thought this is what could be causing her to be moving like this.
We then discussed the diving we have done over the last few days and it became clear what could’ve caused this to happen. Back in Penemu, the night before we arrived, they all went for a night dive. It was a very shallow dive, but it went for over 75 minutes. Near the end of the dive when they came up to around 8m Irene said that she couldn’t stay down due to being underweight and popped up to the surface rather quickly. She then ended her dive and got out of the water. The next day when we arrived, I remember Irene saying she felt really weird and had cramping legs and back pain. She said at the time it was because of all the swimming she did when we swam with the manta rays and we didn’t think anything of it. But clearly, now looking back she was probably having symptoms of decompression sickness.
She also doesn’t have a dive computer (only Chris and I do), so her desaturation is only vaguely accurate, and unless she always stays above Chris, her saturation levels may be higher than his.
So compounding all that, fast forward to today, she did two deep dives both down to below 35m. On the second dive Chris’ computer actually went into ‘Deco mode’ meaning his computer said he needed to do a decompression stop. This means that she was clearly going to be very saturated. So what we think happened is that her saturation levels never recovered after the night dive and todays diving just made it worse, and now she is over saturated.
Chris took our satellite phone and called the DAN hotline, which he is a member of, and managed to speak to someone over a very bad line. We did hear one sentence very clearly though - ‘it is a very serious case’. The doctor recommended giving her oxygen and then getting her to a hyperbaric chamber for treatment ASAP. Well, no one has oxygen on board, or a hyperbaric chamber for that matter, so we had to do some thinking. We knew there were dive charter boats around who would definitely have oxygen on board for this reason, the problem was that we were anchored in a sheltered crevasse making it hard to radio anyone.
As it happens Chris was chatting with one of the dive boats earlier that day as his Dad needs to get back to Sorong for his flight home and needs a lift. The one boat he spoke to, Calico Jack, said yeah no worries. They seemed like a good bet, so we jumped in the dinghy and headed out to where they were anchored, about 10km away to the West. We decided to go all the way over and ask in person, thinking we’d have a better chance of them letting us take the equipment. They were super nice about it and didn’t hesitate after we told them her symptoms. We rushed back to the boats and Irene started on the oxygen. Hopefully this does her some good and we can re-evaluate in the morning.
04/03/2020 Balbulol Island, Misool, Raja Ampat, Indonesia
After the excitement of yesterday I slept for almost 12 hrs last night. I have to say that is one thing I really like about overnight passage making, the catch up sleep. Seems crazy, but waking up after 12 hrs of sleep is so nice. Like being reborn.
Dye from the dive charter boat rocked up at 10:30 to pick up his oxygen gear, and also to collect Big Chris as he is hitching a ride back to Sorong with them. He had a chat to Irene, who appears to be doing much better this morning. She is up and about walking around and eating/drinking normally. Thank goodness for that. I guess the oxygen helped.
Anyway, after a nice relaxing morning Chris, Vanja, Georg and I went for a dive at a site about 2 miles away. There was supposed to be some cool swim through tunnel that started at 5m down the wall and came out at 25m further along the wall. Unfortunately we never found the opening, but the wall was spectacular anyway with the usual array of amazing coral and fish.
I don’t really know where the day went, but when we got back from the dive and rinsed all the gear it was 4pm! It was a really nice night so we all decided to take the dinghies and do a sunset tour of the islands. We were treated with spectacular scenery and sunset views again. You’d think we would be sick of it by now, but every sunset is unique, especially when cast over these incredible islands. When we got back the kids all went for a night swim in the bioluminescence. Their squeals of amazement echoed through the islands forever.
05/03/2020 En route to some waterfall anchorage, West Papua, Indonesian
Irene is still not doing well. She still has tingling in her extremities as well as a foggy head and a bit of chest pain/uneasiness thrown in for good measure. From what we have all been reading, getting help sooner rather than later is critical with this condition. The problem is that no one is 100% sure where to go to get the help she needs. There is no internet where we are and the guys from the charter boat didn’t even know where the best place to go would be. There are reports of a hyperbaric chamber back in Waisai as well as one in Ambon. Waisai is a 24 hr sail back the way we had just come, and Ambon is a 46 hr sail away to the Southwest. There is a risk that they could rock up there and find the chamber is no longer in service, or that there is no staff there to run it. Why don’t they just call up their insurance company and get evacuated? Well they would if they had insurance for this, but they don’t.
We all decided to hightail it to Wayil, an island 18 miles South reported to have internet so we could get more information. There is only so much relatives can do for you over crappy satellite communications. We arrived around 5pm after 4.5 hrs of straight motoring only to find that the internet was anything but good. After cursing the internet gods we managed to contact the dive master from the dive shop in Waisai where we bought our gear. She gave us the contact for the Waisai hospital where the hyperbaric chamber is located. We managed to get confirmation from one of the doctors that there is a chamber and it is working and available 24/7. With this confirmed, ZigZag packed up and took off straight for Waisai. We said a sad goodbye with them promising to meet us in Triton Bay or Banda.
After the commotion of all that died down we chatted with FC and discussed our plans for the next couple of days and decided that we may as well leave tonight for some cool waterfall anchorage back on the West Papuan mainland over 170 miles away. It is on the way to Triton Bay where there is reported to be a place where you can swim with whale sharks. How cool will that be!
Of course it’s never easy. When I went to start the starboard engine I got nothing. No problem I thought, I’ll just go fiddle with the gear stick again and it should be fine. Nope. Fiddle again. Nothing. I call Chris over to see what he thinks. He laughs out load when he sees the corroded negative terminal, but he doesn’t think that’s it. He says the solenoid is clicking, but it’s not the normal clicking he would expect. Ha! Who would’ve thought there was more than one type of click sound for a solenoid. Anyway, he asks if I have a mallet. I don’t, so he hands me one of my massive screw drivers and says ‘give it a little tap while I turn the key’. Voila! The thing roars to life. He then tells me a story about how Big Chris (his Dad) worked for Air Canada as a mechanic and that I’d be shocked at how many times Big Chris would have to hit some part of the massive jet engines with a mallet to get them going. Yikes!
The water is so calm at the moment the stars are reflecting off the water. This type of sailing never gets old. Yes the engine is loud and annoying, but it is so calm and peaceful I can’t help but smile.
06/03/2020 En route to some waterfall anchorage, West Papua, Indonesian
Not much to report for today. We motored all night and day until around 4pm when the wind decided to pick up to around 12-15 kts from about 120° off the bow. We put up the genoa and switched off the engine. It was really nice to sail for a few minutes, but unfortunately with the current the way it is we were only doing 3.5kts which means we won’t get there until tomorrow afternoon. With the engine on we get there in the morning. So we put the engine back on.
It’s a beautiful starry night again with an almost full moon lighting the way. Let’s hope these conditions keep up through the night.