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We had decided to go diving. We all had saved up enough money to rent a condo on Big Island in Hawaii. We chose it because of the caves. We didn’t know which cave we were gonna go dive into but we were just excited to go cave diving. We had been through all the legal mumbo jumbo and completed the advanced open water course to be able to do it. We had all of the equipment and hand signs memorized. We just weren’t prepared for what we were getting into.
“That’s just a rumor” Sam’s mouth spat as he choked down his protein bar. “Eating before swimming is fine, it’s just a rumor so people spend more time at pools.” “Just watching you eat made me lose my appetite” I had said, deciding to save my bar. We found a private spot on the beach and were getting ready to dive into the water, just some shallow diving. “Guys shouldn’t we invest in some actual tanks, I don’t want to die or anything.” Adam had always worried about diving without proper equipment but we always assured him that everything would be fine. “You’re supposed to use actual blends of air, not just stuff that we always breathe,” he concerned. “It’s not like we’re going into Samaesan Hole” Sam said, still chewing his bar. “Well, we should still be careful, maybe we should ditch the camera and take another tank instead,” Adam responded. “He has a point,” I said.
“No, I spent like 150 on this camera, I’m gonna use that 150”
“I’m pretty sure our LIVES are more expensive than a camera, Sam”
“Fine, I’ll leave the camera” Sam said as he dramatically put the camera back in the bag. We all were ready to dive, we just needed to double check our gear and note down the time. 3:47 pm. Then we got in the water and the descent started.It was like traversing another world. All of the weird looking sea life and physics of the water made it seem similar to a dream. There were turtles, fish, the coral. I remember that my favorite thing we saw was the Night Manta Ray. It seemed like we were exploring the mindscape of Stephen King. It felt like we were down there for hours when I checked the time again. 3:58 pm. That 11 minute timeframe pulled me back into reality. I looked back up from my dive watch and saw that Sam was speeding across the floor and getting deeper into the water. Adam was right behind him, attempting to catch up with him. I started speeding up to match their speed. I managed to catch up with them rather quickly. Adam moved in front of Sam and signaled him to slow down. He listened but you could tell that he was rather annoyed. Sam moved past Adam, moving slower than what he was before. We kept going deeper. Sam seemed to be fascinated by something in the ground and stopped at it. He started digging. After about a minute of him peeling away at the sand he pulled up a crab. This crab was light green all over with an offcentered black spot on its back. Sam played with the crab a little bit before Adam tore the crab out of his hands and put it back in the sand, burying it a little bit. Sam and Adam kept moving forward after that, but with different movements. Sam looked like he was drunk and kept progressively looking worse and worse as we got deeper.His movements were lazy and you could tell that his head had become as empty as a deflated balloon. Adam was looking slightly better but you could tell that was on edge a little. I looked down at my diving watch. 4:07 pm. A small shadow was then cast over me by a school of fish. A few came down to investigate Sam, Adam, and myself. “How’s your dive going Josh?” the fish asked. “Pretty well, but Sam and Adam seem to be fighting a bit” I responded. “You should check on them,” the fish said back, “they don’t seem to be doing too well.”
I looked back at them and they were gone. “Where’d they go?” I asked the fish. “Well they seem to not be where they were, you should go look for them.” I immediately started going forward. I felt like my chest was heavier than normal but I pressed on. I checked my diving watch again hoping that they hadn’t gone too far since the last time I checked the watch. I couldn’t read it. Everything was a little blurry, to the point of unreadability. I looked back up and saw one of Adam's fins flopping back and forth, seemingly to disappear into the ground. I rushed forward and saw a hole in the ground. I knew that I should’ve turned back knowing that they knew what to do, especially with Adam there and them having the extra tank, but I went in anyway. I knew that I was putting my own life in danger for no reason, but I also didn’t. It was like I couldn’t make the decision but my brain made it for me.
As I descended into the hole all light faded away, along with my hope that I would bump into them on the way out. I moved forward, or was it downward, or up? I didn’t know and couldn’t tell, but I kept going deeper. It got so dark that I couldn’t see anything, but sediment in the water. I tried to turn on my flashlight but it wasn’t there. I must’ve left it with the camera.I started to follow the walls but they just led me deeper into the cave. Everything was dark. Everything was clouded. The environment around me, the walls, my mind. I kept following that wall. Then I saw a light. I pushed off the wall towards the light. I didn’t even know where it would lead but I hoped it was Adam or Sam. I got closer and closer to the light. Closer. Closer.
I shot out of the cave into the open water. I ascended to the surface with haste and hit it like a bullet.
I had one of the most painful headaches I’ve ever had but I pressed on. I looked around when I got to the surface and saw the beach we launched on.I started swimming as fast as possible hoping that they may have possibly got out of the cave and made it to the island.
I got to the shore and immediately started to strip off all of my gear. I got to where we had left our stuff. They weren’t there. I checked my watch again. It was 4:38 pm. I had been in that cave for a while. I only made it out because of how turned around I got. I decided to wait for them.
BY the time I called the authorities to get help it was 4:53. They took a while to get here but when they did they immediately started asking questions. I told them all I knew. They told me that we were most likely suffering from Nitrogen Narcosis. If we had listened to Adam and got the proper blend then we wouldn’t have gone into the cave. They sent rescue divers to find the cave. They asked me how much air they had and I told them about the extra tank they had and how they had left the camera to bring it. I started to dig through the bag to get the camera and didn’t find it. I did find a tank. A tank that was supposed to be with Sam. Sam had lied to us. He had taken the camera instead. He left the tank. They told me that since they had left the tank then the chances of their survival were low. They may have found an air pocket or maybe they made it to the surface, but through a different part of the cave but that was unlikely. If Sam had brought the tank and left that camera then he might still be alive.
They found them in the cave, and they weren’t in good shape. They got all scratched up by the rocks and ran out of air really quickly due to it. The only picture on the camera was of a sea turtle. Stupid camera.