No Safety Sausage? Toss Water!

The famous Australian diver, Valerie Taylor, now in her 80s, was asked by the Australian Financial Review what her best travel tale was. She answered:

"After surfacing in the Banda Sea in Indonesia, I saw the mother ship disappear over the horizon. I saved myself by building a small island out of dead coral plates and making an anchor using my hair ribbons and weight belt so the current wouldn't take me away."

"They didn't miss me on the boat. Four hours later, a couple of crew came back to fish at the point during their lunch break. When I saw them coming, I thought 'thank goodness, help is on the way.' I was wrong. The Zodiac sped to the northern point of the reef and stopped."

"I stood on my island throwing water in the air and screaming (Indonesians throw water to attract attention on the ocean). I tossed water until I was exhausted. Fortunately, it was a calm day, and eventually one of the men stood up. He couldn't see me, but the water attracted his attention."

"They rescued me and drove me back to the boat, where I still wasn't missed. The problem was, I had been the one in charge of checking the divers into and out of the water. There was one square not crossed off -- mine. My husband and two nephews on board were not popular with me for a couple of days."