Making like Diver Dan in the South China Sea

When I was a young shaver - a really young shaver, we're talking pre-school, here - my favourite TV program was Diver Dan. My then "girlfriend" Diane introduced me to the kids' show, and we used to play "pretend" where I was the deep-sea diver and she was the mermaid, an ill-fated TV romance that never allowed the lovers to meet.

THIS is Diver Dan (on the left).

That spawned a brief interest in Sea Hunt, a more adult adventure series that involved scuba diving. 

As a kid, it just didn't interest me as much; let's face it, how could an adult series compete with talking fish puppets - especially one named "Baron Barracuda?"

Flash forward about 30 years. I'm in the Caribbean for the first time, and I'm snorkeling. It was an incredible experience, snorkeling around the cays of Belize. 

This is Lloyd Bridges.
NOT Diver Dan.

A year later, I earned my PADI open-water scuba diving certification. It eventually led to adventures like the once I had at the Maui Ocean Center , where I went diving with sharks.

Going deep sea diving never really entered my mind.

At least, not until I visited Malaysia a year after my shark dive.

We were in Kota Kinabalu, a city in Sabah, Borneo's northeastern-most province. Specifically, I was on Sapi Island, a short boat ride from the city harbour across the South China Sea.

Thanks to Borneo Sea Walking I would finally get to make like Diver Dan! 

This is not Diver Dan, either.

"Sea-walking is a really cool experience, especially if you've never done any diving (although some people do experience a bit of claustrophobia). It's very safe and very easy, with a minimum of fuss and equipment.

Essentially, from the diving platform, you put on a pair of weight shoes, don one of their helmets that rest on your shoulders, then walk down a ladder into the ocean to the sea floor.

It's not all that deep, maybe 10 or 12 feet, certainly not one atmosphere (33 feet - the depth at which decompression becomes a factor), but you are completely underwater, while a slew of different fishes swim by.

The air pumped into the helmets from a pump on the surface creates enough pressure to keep the water from filling into the helmet, even though the bottom is open...essentially, it's kind of like wearing a plastic garbage can over your head with a glass portal in the front so you can see. You can even reach under the lip while underwater to adjust your glasses,

DEFINITELY. NOT.
Diver Dan.

scratch your nose, etc.

I would have preferred to actually to walk a little bit along the surface, but I guess the hoses only go so far. Once you get to the bottom, you follow a rope anchored to the bottom so no one wanders off and gets into trouble. 

While there, some scuba divers take pictures and videos to burn on a CD so you have something to help you remember your experience.

After about 20 minutes, it's time to climb back out and rejoin the group on the surface.

Okay, close enough. We'll call this Diver Dan.
Or Diver John in Borneo.

We did this activity in the morning. I actually wanted to go back to the same company in the afternoon and try another experience offered by the company: they have underwater scooters you can ride, with the scooter containing an air pump for your helmet so you can ride off underwater on your own, and pretend you're James Bond fighting Largo in Thunderball (albeit with a much smaller scooter!) 

However, they were concerned about an incoming storm, so they were not letting people go out in the afternoon. So I had to be content with a bit of snorkeling.

Still, it was a neat experience. 

Especially for someone who grew up watching Diver Dan.

"Below in the deep, there's adventure and danger;
That's where you'll find Diver Dan!
The sights that he sees are surprising and stranger
Than ever you'll see on the land!"


You too can be "Diver (fill in your name here)" in Borneo!

Not ALL denizens of the deep are 'river monsters'

I admit it, freely; I kind of like watching River Monsters, that TV program that's part fishing show/part adventure travel show/part biology documentary.


For those unfamiliar with the program, the host, Jeremy Wade, travels the world in search of monstrous river creatures that have killed or at least viciously attacked humans.


The most recent episode I watched involved him trying to track down a giant sting ray that had allegedly killed some people in the Parana River, the largest river in Argentina.


As I'm watching it, I'm thinking to myself (not for the first time, either) how much the writers and producers of these shows over-dramatize everything. I know, I know, it's good TV. Who wants to watch it, if it's boring? This program - essentially another outdoor fishing show - has come up with a unique new hook to lure viewers in (no pun intended, but hey, if it works...). But like other shows before it, (The Crocodile Hunter comes to mind) the actual dangers are often over exaggerated.


A bit gruesome looking? Perhaps.
Deadly dangerous? Not likely.


Now pay attention here, because this is important: I'm not about to say there is no risk involved in dealing with the creatures featured in the show. But life itself is full of risks, with no guarantees.


The fact is, yes, you can be injured, sometimes fatally, by a stingray, or a pirhana or many of the other denizens of the deep, whether they are freshwater or saltwater inhabitants. But there's probably a much better chance of getting killed in a car accident on a freeway in North America than being chewed to death by river monsters.


Think about it: Hundreds of tourists go out to Stingray City off Grand Cayman Island every day to snorkel with stingrays and feed them. I've been there, done that, got the ball cap. You don't very often hear about mishaps there. And if there was a high risk, they probably wouldn't do it.


There are other examples; I've enjoyed many experiences with wildife both in the water and on the land that prove the point further.


Another example of something I've done in the water that some people might consider dangerous: I've gone diving with sharks. (Got a hat and a T-shirt for that, too!)

That took place in a closed aquarium in the Maui Ocean Center in Hawaii. We were diving in about 25 feet of water, swimming around with several black tipped and white tipped reef sharks, a couple of hammerheads, and a baby tiger shark (only about six feet long). There were also a couple of large stingrays as well as a smaller spotted eagle ray that we actually took turns feeding. I didn't feel frightened or intimidated at all.

The biggest annoyance were the little fish that kept nipping my fingers every time I got some "chum" from the dive master to feed the ray, "Hihimanu." My fingers were covered with tiny cuts by the time we were done.

Now mind you, these are well-fed sharks, used to seeing divers; still, they are wild animals essentially, and not always predictable. And this particular dive took place about a week after Steve Irwin was killed by a bull ray while he was diving. (I should point out, he was always showboating a bit, taking what I often felt were some unnecessary risks just to get good footage for the TV program, so it's not surprising that's how he bought it). Besides, the ray that killed him in a freak accident was not among the species of rays that live in the Maui tank.


Where's that bat-spray?



Again, though, when all is said and done, it's all about risk management. The aquarium in Maui would not run programs like this if too many visitors were being eaten.

The next day, while diving in the ocean, I saw a gigantic sting ray about 20 feet away. Again, all I felt was a sense of awe and wonder. I never felt threatened or in danger.

So, enjoy the dramatic shows like River Monsters, shudder at the thought of blood and guts and gore and unseen monsters lurking in the waters below; but remember life is rarely as risky or dramatic as TV shows make it out to be - so don't let it stop you from enjoying adventures in the water, whether you're diving or snorkelling under the surface or paddling on top of it. For that matter, don't let fear stop you on land, either.

Just make sure that if you do dive in shark-infested waters, carry your shark-repellent bat-spray with you at all times ...


(Just kidding!)