A sea urchin diver who survived a four-hour swim in the frigid Atlantic and a night in the woods coolly assessed his remarkable feat of survival Tuesday. "Things happen," Todd Tudball of Shelburne told a television reporter. "People come through it and some people don't. It's unfortunate for the people that don't, and I'm very fortunate and happy that I did make it through." The underwater fisherman was swept away from his dive boat, Day's Edge, at about 2:15 p.m. and pulled along at a speed of about 12 kilometres per hour Monday through Petit Passage, which separates Digby Neck from Long Island. The 38-year-old diver had apparently been caught in the strong tidal currents of Petit Passage. Mr. Tudball's diving companions didn't notice right away that he was missing, and he spent about four hours in the cold water before making it to land. He came ashore at an isolated rocky beach on Long Island after drifting about two kilometres down the passage. He was headed for the open expanses of St. Marys Bay as darkness fell, when a dead spot in the current allowed him a chance to swim for safety. "I swam hard to get to shore," Mr. Tudball said. "There was a fishing boat that went by and I tried to get his attention but (the water) was just too rough, they couldn't see me at all."

A Hercules aircraft from 14 Wing Greenwood dropped flares in the area Monday night and a number of vessels combed the waters. After reaching shore, Mr. Tudball crawled through dense forest for six hours until he found a logging road, emerging just after 7 a.m. Tuesday. Urchin divers all wear dry suits. A dry suit traps air between the diver's body and the outer shell and allows no water to enter, as a wetsuit does. Divers in wetsuits would not be able to stay alive in December ocean temperatures for more than a couple of hours, industry sources say. Tuesday morning, as the tired urchin diver trudged inland from the beach he had washed up on, he walked up to a volunteer ground search and rescue team member walking in his direction. "We found the missing diver alive and well," said a coast guard staffer at the rescue co-ordination centre in Halifax a short time after the man was reported to be safe at 7:49 a.m. That was about 14 hours after the search was launched. "They took him to the Tiverton Fire Department to get him warmed up. He didn't need any medical attention," said the source from the Halifax rescue centre. Mr. Tudball's family and friends were more emotional than he was about his ordeal. "It was hard," said his wife, Heidi. "I was always hopeful, he's a very strong man and I knew if anybody could do it, he could." David Brennan knew he had nearly lost his friend. "I did some soul-searching last night and some praying," he said. "It was quite an eye-opener to realize how fast life can pass you by."

On Tuesday, an urchin-diving colleague from Shelburne County said the urchin industry is worried about diving on Digby Neck. "Personally I don't think they should be diving there," said Ray Garland, who holds an urchin harvesting licence and also dives for the spiny shellfish. "I think they should be dragging for sea urchins the same as they do in Grand Manan." Mr. Garland said Digby Neck is very rugged and a hard place to dive. "As an industry we're very concerned about this because . . . that's the second accident that's happened in Digby." On March 23, 2003, RCMP divers found the body of Steven Allan Moore, 40, of North Range, Digby County. He had been missing for three days. Mr. Garland said the tides are very high around Digby Neck. "If (dragging) could be done in Digby, I think that's the way to go, but you're looking at different types of fisheries objecting to that . . . mainly the lobster fishery," he said. Urchins are harvested from late September through mid-March. About 50 urchin divers are working from Halifax down along the South Shore and around to Digby, Mr. Garland said. Usually at least two people are on a dive boat - one to watch the divers and one to handle the urchins as they are hoisted aboard.

The provincial urchin fishery was worth $5 million annually until it died off a bit about four years ago. It's slowly rebounding and will take another five years to rebuild, he said. It's now a $2-million industry. Mr. Tudball plans to be back in the water on Thursday.