Durban - The two French tourists who were rescued by an NSRI rescue boat on Monday returned to the Umkomaas reef on Tuesday to dive among tiger sharks.
Bryan Viviers, a diving instructor, was diving with the tourists when they were separated from the Umkomaas Dive Supply-owned boat. He said their lives were never at risk.
He said that yesterday they dived at about 10m among tiger sharks and nothing happened.
Asked if he was not fearful the previous day, he said: “I’ve been diving here for 28 years, so when we realised that the boat was nowhere near I told the tourists to calm down and follow my instructions, and they did so.”
“I don’t think we were ever in danger, I knew the conditions well and had the rescue boat not picked us up, I’m sure we would have safely walked off on to the shore in one piece.”
Viviers said he and the two tourists were diving at a depth of about 4m when the boat disappeared. He said when they returned to the surface, it took about an hour to be rescued.
Viviers said the strong winds combined with the south-to-north current caused the skipper to signal for help from the sea rescue team.
He felt it was the appropriate decision to make.
The tourists, he said, would be leaving for Cape Town for the second leg of their SA visit. - Daily News