Page 45 of Obsession Under the Southern Stars

“Like a million dollars.” It’s only a small lie. I’m a bit achy from all the swimming yesterday, but I promise myself that I’ll tell him if I start to feel tired.

“Hmm,” he says. “I’m keeping an eye on you.”

I eat a spoonful of muesli with a slice of kiwi fruit and wink at him. “So, what are we up to today?”

“More of the same. Uncovering the last part of the hold.”

“You know the chest is going to be in the last bit we excavate.”

“Always is,” he says cheerfully. He gets up to rinse his bowl, then goes over to the window to look out at the weather. “It’s likely to rain later. You need to make sure you stay warm in between dives.”

“Okay.”

“You’ve got your waterproof gear, right?”

“Yes.”

“Emma will bring some umbrellas from the Bay of Islands office, and she’s going to make up some flasks of tea and coffee. If the weather gets too bad, though, we’ll call it a day.”

“Aw. That would be a shame.”

“We’re always at the mercy of the weather.” He gestures at my bowl. “Eat up. The sooner we’re there, the more time we’ll have before the weather turns.”

I shovel the muesli down and almost burn my throat slurping on the hot coffee. This is such a rare opportunity to be involved in a dig that I want to make the most of every minute.

We’re on the road by eight thirty. When we arrive, I’m pleased to see that everyone is already there. Unfortunately, though, we discover that both Manu and Hori have developed quite heavy colds overnight. After some discussion, it’s decided that they will stay on the boat today, and Clive and Emma will take their place on the dive. It’s a shame for the two guys, but Joel is quite firm that nobody dives with a cold, and Manu and Hori don’t argue.

By nine we’ve loaded all the gear onto the boat and we’re heading out to the Black Rocks.

We change into our wetsuits, and by the time we reach the dive site and Clive has fixed the anchor to the wreck, we’re ready to go. Hori helps us on with our scuba gear, and beforelong we’re in the water and descending to around thirty meters, where the bottom half of the Relentless rests on the reef.

Twenty minutes isn’t long at all to work, so we make our way straight to the wreck, search for the marker we put down yesterday, and immediately begin to clear away the silt.

We use a water dredge to remove the sediment and keep the visibility as clear as possible. It’s painstaking work to make sure the pipe doesn’t suck up any important artifacts. Even so, I love every minute of it, and I feel a thrill when just minutes into the dive I uncover—of all things—a pair of spectacles with the glass still intact. I gesture excitedly to Joel, and after the obligatory recording and photographing of the area, he lets me lift them and place them carefully in a bag.

Soon the four of us are heading for the surface, swimming slowly up and taking a safety stop at around five meters below the surface for three minutes before we finally go up to the boat. It’s raining lightly, and once we’re on board, we strip off our scuba gear and wetsuits, dress in warm clothing, with me in Joel’s hoodie, accept a cup of hot coffee from Emma’s flask and a few biscuits, and then huddle together under an umbrella to look at the spectacles. Joel takes them carefully out of the bag and cleans them gently with water, and we all examine them, wondering who they belonged to. Maybe it was the captain himself! I like to think so.

By the time of our second dive, the rain is a little heavier. Joel starts talking about whether we should head back, but I beg him for one more dive. In the end, he says yes, but we all agree that if it’s still raining after the end of the next dive, we’re going to head back.

We suit up again, put on our scuba equipment, lower ourselves back into the sea, and soon we’re heading down to the Relentless.

We’re right at the end of the hold now. We clean quickly, removing the sediment, and it’s only once the wood is exposed that all four of us stop what we’re doing and stare at the ship. We shine our flashlights on the scene before us, and I’m sure their hearts are sinking slowly along with mine.

There’s a big hole in the hull that wasn’t visible until now. The ship must have grazed along the reef before it came to a stop, the sharp rocks peeling back the wooden planks like the lid on a sardine tin. Whatever was in this part of the hold must have fallen through the hole, because all that remains here are broken planks and fish.

If the chest was here, it isn’t any longer. It must have descended through the gloom to the seabed, far too deep for us to dive to find it.

I look at Joel, and his brows draw together. He writes on his waterproof paper and holds it up. It’s just one word:Fuck.

I give a short laugh and give him the okay symbol back. It is what it is. We won’t be finding any chest of opals or priceless necklace today. But I’ve still had an amazing time.

He checks his dive computer, taps it, and gestures that we have five minutes left. Clive nods and motions to Emma to join him in clearing the remaining silt. Joel shines his light on the corner of the hold, and I join him there to investigate one of the last crates. It’s broken open, and there’s almost certainly nothing inside it, but we start clearing it methodically anyway.

A scuba regulator is connected to the gas cylinder, where oxygen is compressed inside the cylinder tanks. The purpose of the regulator is to help normalize the air pressure to a safe level when a diver inhales through the mouthpiece.

We’re close to finishing when my regulator starts free flowing.

Air is only supposed to flow when the diver breathes in, but bubbles stream out of the mouthpiece, indicating that dirt hasgot in, or maybe ice has frozen it, as it’s so cold in the water today this far down.

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