A Wellington diver who was lost at sea for almost four hours says he felt like he was in a washing machine as the powerful currents tossed him about.
Todd Russell was diving for kina around Red Rocks on Sunday when he became separated and dragged from the boat he was with.
Barefoot and in police overalls he spent three-and-a-half hours alone in the Cook Strait.
"It was like a washing machine in the ocean," he says.
He was a part of a group of divers that launched from Owhiro Bay yesterday afternoon to gather seafood for Christmas.
But while he was in the water he was separated from the group and swept out to sea.
"I was going that way really fast, I'm talking maybe 10 or 12 knots fast," he says.
Rob Hewitt was the skipper of the dive boat. Hewitt himself knows all too well what it's like to be stuck at sea after surviving 75 hours in water off the coast of Kapiti in 2006.
"Deep down I'm thinking two things, one he's under the water, caught in a ledge and there's no hope or two he's on the surface," Hewitt says.
Russell was dragged almost 10 kilometres away from where police finally located him.
And it was only a chance sighting from one of the crews on the police boat that led to his rescue.
"It was great work by our crew who managed to spot a glint of orange, basically, which was his dive sausage," says incident controller Sergeant Richard Kennedy. "Without that, we most likely may well have missed him."
Russell was picked up uninjured and even had time for a quick selfie with his rescuers. He credits his survival to his dive training to remain calm and wait for help.
"Every natural instinct that you have would've resulted in me drowning yesterday. I'm 100 percent certain of that," he says.
But despite his experience, it hasn't put him off diving.
"It's going to be a bit of a push telling my wife I want to go diving tomorrow," he says.
Just as long as he makes it home safely for Christmas.
