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We rested on sun loungers under shade on the upper stern deck. I checked my dive watch regularly, monitoring our surface interval time. A long rest was necessary because of the depth we’d reached.
“Forty meters is my maximum depth, Victor.”
“Why did we go so deep?”
“As a novice, your buoyancy was all over the place. Anywhere at the midpoint might have confused you. Shooting straight up to the surface might cause decompression sickness. I wanted you to see or touch the bottom.”
“Can you teach me to dive properly?”
“The first lesson is right now, Victor. Let’s go, sweetheart.”
We selected a shallow dive area, no more than ten meters, and everything went perfectly to plan. Victor’s bad experience was put to rest, and we surfaced after forty minutes of exploring colorful nudibranchs and corals.
Rania looked relieved when we surfaced, hauling us on board a spare tender full of security.
As I stowed our tanks on the yacht, Rania approached. I noticed she looked unnerved, so I prepared for a confrontation that I knew was coming. It was evident by her expression my safety concerned her and she was spooked.