Sometime in the middle of the night, the wind began to pick up rather dramatically
until finally it reached a point, sometime around 3:00a.m., where it had vibrated
the door to my little balcony so much that the lock came loose and the door flew
open. Tripping over furniture in a room where I had not yet learned the arrangement
by heart, I managed to reach the door and with all the strength I could muster,
(six stories up) I was finally able to pull it shut and lock it against the onslaught
of wind and driving rain. The rain continued to beat against the windows for the
rest of the night until I finally gave up the idea of sleeping any longer and
decided to sit and sort through some of the hundreds of photographs that I have
taken so far, and to work on a few more of the journals. Although it is a little
difficult to see, you just might be able to make out the whitecaps
on the water outside the window of my hotel room. 
By early afternoon, the cyclone had blown itself out. We headed over to the
Kaharoa at King's Wharf to begin a day that I am sure Clyde will long remember.
If all goes well, today is going to be the day that Clyde is sealed inside Deep
Rover and lowered into the waters of Wellington Harbor for his first training
dive. One of the things that I have really enjoyed so much about working with
Clyde over these past few years has been the ease with with he conveys his sense
of enthusiasm to others. I have seen him answer a stranger's question about
what he is doing down here in New Zealand, and within moments the questioner
is completely enthralled. When Clyde is involved
in something that he really loves, his joy is contagious. Somehow, I just
knew that today was going to be one of those days.
After a few hours, it was finally time for Clyde to begin going through dive
preparations. Once the external pre-dive checklist was completed, Ian and Clyde
ran through the internal pre-dive procedures, bathed in the blue shadows of
the tarp that was placed over Deep Rover to shield it from the heat of the afternoon
sun.
As on every dive, the
emergency supplies were carefully stowed by the pilot so that in the event
he needed anything, he would know exactly where they were. To test the manipulator
arms, Ian stepped outside and pushed against them while Clyde moved the hand
controllers on either side of the pilot's
seat . When all pre-dive checks had been successfully completed, there was
one last thing that Clyde needed to do before the sphere was sealed and Deep
Rover hoisted over the stern. Clyde was handed a pen and a liability release
form. Since the form needed the signature of a witness, and since I happened
to be the closest person at the time, I placed the release form on the manipulator
arm and signed my name in the blank space. Hopefully, I wouldn't soon regret
what I had just done.
In exactly the same way as the yesterday with Scott and Mike, the sphere was
sealed and the lifting hook attached. Once again the winch groaned and Clyde
and the Deep Rover were lifted about fifteen feet above Kaharoa's deck. The
A-frame began to tilt aft and soon Clyde was poised just above the now calm
waters. A signal was given and slowly Deep Rover touched down. Without any hesitation,
Clyde began the check for leaks using the little mirror that was in the seat
beside him and then after giving Ian the all-dry signal, he was lowered until
just a few inches of Deep Rover's sphere was bobbing above the surface.
Everytime the waves exposed a few more inches of the sphere we could make out
Clyde's face and his grin of absolute delight. Just as Deep Rover went over
the stern, the First Mate hoisted the special "submarine operations" flags on
the mast. While all of us on the Kaharoa watched Clyde run the sub through a
series of tests, we could all tell by the sound of his voice coming through
on the radio that he was thoroughly enjoying every single minute of the experience.
I was particularly aware of Clyde's ability to readily grasp the use of the
thrusters as I watched him time thruster bursts to get Deep Rover rocking side
to side just as he wanted. Although he was securly attached to the ship by the
winch cable and the two guide lines, it was quite easy to tell that Clyde was
literally "chafing at the bit." After a while, it was finally time to bring
Deep Rover and Clyde back on deck.
Watching Deep Rover emerge from a dive is a pretty impressive sight since many
of the external housings fill with water that drain as the sub is lifted out
of the sea. Huge cascades of water pour from the bottom of the sub, as if the
sea were reluctant to let it go. But soon, the water stopped and Deep Rover
was hoisted back over the stern and gently lowered to the deck. Once secure,
Ian opened the sphere and Clyde stepped back onto the Kaharoa and into Ingrid's
very happy and very proud embrace.
