DIVING WITH A PORPOISE
British Divers Marine Life Rescue Medic Course (report by Paul Clunas)
Woolacombe,
North Devon, 4th March 2007
A RIB would have been a more appropriate
way of journeying from Plymouth to North Devon as the roads were completely
water-logged and the rain horizontal! I did consider staying in bed until
at least lunch time and dismissing this whale hugging nonsense as complete folly
but……
The BDLMR captured the publics attention
when a Northern bottlenose whale became stuck in the Thames in January 2006,
although is died it highlighted the work done by the BDMLR and helped with
fundraising. This has helped fund the purchases of RIBS, ambulance trailers and training equipment which are
strategically located around the UK coastline under the auspices of regional
coordinators.
The course was well structured with the
morning being three hours of lectures, only one lady fell asleep but as she had
already qualified and was doing refresher we forgave her! The talks were
illustrated and there was no need to take notes as they issued manuals and
identification guides at the end of the course. The speakers were all real
enthusiasts and as always, it became infectious.
At this point it should have been on
with the dry suits and off to the beach but the organizers decided the weather
was not suitable so it would have to be done indoors – shame! Out came
the pilot whale and dolphin which are normally filled with water to give them
‘real’ weight but in this case they were filled with air, they were then set
upon by groups of would be medics performing triage included rubbing its
blowhole with KY jelly? After assessing the beast as viable it was time to
get it on to the ingenious inflatable pontoons, back into the sea and released
– Bye Bye Flipper!
The came the seal wrestling, they were
variously described as ‘maggots with teeth’ or ‘pit bulls with no legs’
forget the fluffy white coat of a baby grey seal, he will have a chunk of you if
you let him. If you do get bitten by a seal even a graze the resulting
infection will not be treatable with broad spectrum antibiotics. Great fun
fighting a 16kg bag of water shaped like a seal into a cage while keeping your
hand clasped around its jaw!
This is a worthwhile course for those
who have an interest in our larger marine cousins and, as divers we are more
likely to come in contact with these creatures, knowing the basics could assist
in saving their lives.
