Scotland, near Oban on the west coast. Easter 2005 with a high Spring tide. I had done 40 dives and only 7 of them in a drysuit. The plan was to take the boat up river, drop in and have a fun drift dive, "bit like being in a washing machine" apparently, and then get picked up the other side of the bridge. Great! Five of us dropped in, a buddy pair and a threesome made up myself, Andrew and Roy, our man in charge.

It was a speedy drift but only for ten minutes or so and then the current dropped off to almost nothing. No problem, there was time to have a little pootle about looking at tiny crabs. I glanced up when I felt the current pick up again and had enough time to swim over to where the boys were reaching out for me when the current became very strong.

Andrew and Roy locked arms with me so I was trapped between them, unable to see my gauges or computer but I had no time to wriggle free because we were suddenly dragged into a mass of bubbles. It was better than the Big Rides at the funfair! We had absolutely no control over where we were going but I was aware from the pressure on my ears that we were heading up. Fast.

The boat was miles away when we surfaced but it soon spotted us and I climbed in first. "Want to go again?" asked the skipper. You bet! I turned around to ask the boys if they were coming in and realised they were both a bit pale. In the melee of bubbles, I hadn't realised just how fast we'd shot up and I had not been able to hear the frantic beeping as three dive computers wigged out at our ascent rate. A second go was unfortunately declined.

Our colleagues in the pair were then spotted, one fin waving in the air. We chugged over to pick them up. Both were pale and shaking and stood there hugging each other on deck. Where the current had shot us to the surface, they had been pushed down and had endured a nightmare trying to reach the surface.

For the more experienced divers, particularly those who had done the dive in the past, it was a scarey reminder of how even a familiar dive can hold dangers. Roy hasn't taken anyone back on that particular dive since. My inexperience at the time paid dividends, though. Blissfully unaware of the dangers, it was one of the most fun dives I've ever done!