I'm an expert swimmer and I can stay afloat almost indefinitely. But scuba diving creeps the hell out of me. Never could do it. I would rather sit in a dark cave for four months than to strap on a diving suit and navigate underwater passages, knowing that if I had a problem, I could not surface.
Or a box of survival suits and face hugging air supply.
I must not understand the situation, because them staying until October seems like giving up.