Scuba Diving

In Dec 2007 I dived in the bay of Bengal very near Havelock island, a small island among the group of islands comprising Andaman and nicobar Islands. It was one of the most amazing experiences of my life! The only reasons I went diving was cause it was listed among ‘activities’ in the resort website and almost anyone I spoke to about my trip to Andaman said ‘Oh, you should try diving’. I hadn’t thought too much about it before getting to Andaman and din’t really know what to expect, other than the seemingly simple act of going under water and seeing some fish and under water life. I had the impression that you just get fitted with some gear that will make everything very simple and you will be lowered into water and will be shown everything. It was only when I put on all the gear and got off the boat did I actually realize what I was getting into and most of the excitement changed into fear and I looked around sheepishly and said ‘Ah ha…this is what it is all about. You guys go ahead…keep the 4.5k that you are charging me for this…just spare me’ :D I was so much reminded of my bungee jump a couple of years back. I let the crane like thing take me all the way up, 60ft high…looked around and thought to myself ‘Wow…Bangalore is so green..has lakes…is so beautiful’ and then told the instructor ‘Thank you very much, very beautiful! You must be crazy to think that I’ll jump! Now will you please lower me down to ground...and please oh please, keep the money I paid…I won’t ask for it just cause I din’t jump!’. The look on the bungee instructor’s face and the PADI certified scuba instructor was very similar. Something which said ‘ya..seen a lot of your kind…we deal with the likes of you everyday…now just jump/dive…’. But after the fact, I am so glad I jumped and dived. I don’t know if I’ll ever do another bungee jump again, but I’ll never miss another opportunity to go scuba diving!

Our instructor was a british man named Jez. He so much loved Havelock and diving there (when he came for a trip to India) that he decided to relocate from London to Havelock and became an instructor there with Barefoot resort. He is very proficient and had a lot of patience. If it wasn’t for him, I would have actually just given up just after trying out the gear and getting a hang of it. He started with a very detailed explanation of what was involved in the whole process. Theoretically he explained what happens to the body when you go under water most of which I remembered studying in Physics in class 6/7. It felt weird….when you learn about these things as a kid….its just something in the book…some logic. Though you understand all the logic, I remember reading about it very indifferently. But here I was neck deep in water, trying to put into my head, that a few meters of water above your head could actually kill me if I wasn’t careful!The fact that all the logic and science could actually happen on your body is so unbelievable.

We dived at elephant beach which is about 40 minutes by boat from Beach no.3 in Havelock. Once you get there, Jez helps you with all the equipment and then lets you try out all the hand signals and tricks and tips that he spoke about. As I did that, I got this totally claustrophobic feeling under water. I thought I would never get used to the weird feeling of breathing in and out through the mouth. The 1st few times, I just couldn't breathe in through the mouth. After a couple of attempts I got ok with that. Then the mask was a problem. It was a little too big for me so water kept entering my mask. ‘What’s the big deal’ you might think. But water right in front of your nose kinda gives you a very scary ‘am drowning’ kinda feel. Well, it probably won’t for people who are really comfortable with water. But I am a little paranoid and tend to over imagine! :D Jez seemed to know just what to do with me. Even as I was struggling to get used with all this, he just started pointing out some lovely shoals of fish near the shore. The sight of these beautiful fish so gracefully swimming about in their territory is so amazing that I don’t even remember when I gave Jez the ‘go-ahead’ of taking me into deeper waters. I ensured he was always in sight and that I was always within his reach. Gradually I just got totally used to breathing through the mouth, probably cause the beauty underwater did leave my mouth wide open! The corals, the Nemos, the colors are something I can just never forget. It was almost like we were in some fantasy world…it just din’t look real out there. We were careful about not touching anything and not disturbing the fish. We watched them eat, nibble and even have their small squabbles. Well I could go on and on….all I wanted to say here was ‘if you get a chance to dive, don’t miss it!'

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