It was a crisp morning as I made my way to Dive India, the diving school where I had blocked a slot to go for a fun dive. With its coral fringed teal waters and rich biodiversity, Havelock has scores of stunning diving sites which can be accessed based on one’s experience and certification. Despite having done scuba diving in Havelock once before, I opted for the fun dive which is a tad bit commercial. I arrived with my fear of large water bodies neatly tucked away behind a calm face hoping this would give me enough courage to go through with it. It took every muscle in my body to keep going till I got to the school where I was met by Sharmila, the chirpy host at the registration desk, who explained to me the formalities to be completed amidst the informal chattering of “where are you from”, “what do you do?” etc. I was then handed a form which asked questions related to my state of fitness to do the fun dive. It’s not an exhaustive list but it surely is important to take time and fill in the right details to ensure your own safety. It was clearly explained to me that if in case I did have certain health restrictions, a possible solution could be found to work around it for an enjoyable experience.
After filling in the form, I was asked to put on the shorties (Knee length wet suit) handed over to me, the changing rooms a couple of steps away from the registration desk. There is the option of leaving your belongings at the dive school and it is perfectly safe, footwear also has to be removed before heading to the dive spot. I then waited patiently for my dive instructor. I was extremely lucky to have been assigned to Vikas, a Bangalore Lad, who has been diving for more than 8 years and also the most experienced diver in the dive school. After being introduced to him, we made our way to the main road to get into the tuk-tuk which would take us to the dive site. Vikas is a pleasant person with a quirky sense of humour and he put me to ease instantly. On this short 5 minute ride to the dive site, we had a quick session on the various safety measures, sign language and techniques which are important to memorize prior to the dive. Having done this before, I was somewhat familiar with the protocols. We arrived at the entry point to the path that led to the dive site which is used by almost all the dive schools in the vicinity for the fun dive. The 2 minute walk through a narrow paved path amidst some trees opens to the shallow end of the sea with rocks which one has to navigate through, I just followed Vikas. We reached the anchored boat which contains all the diving equipment. I suited up, wearing the buoyancy compensator with the tank attached, the weights belts and fins; we were ready to go. We started with the exercises that we had talked about on the tuk-tuk ride and it took a while for me to get accustomed to the breathing technique. Slowly after a few panic attacks and heading up to the surface without warning a few times, I got my act together with sufficient assurances from Vikas and we slowly made our way in.
The sand is very beach like at the shallow depths and I got to see a couple of fishes through the descent. I was asked by Vikas not to swim and just hold onto his arm as he made his way through the waters. We reached a point where the sea just opens up into a vast kingdom unto itself with scattered corals teeming with life till wherever the eye can see. The number of fishes that swim past unfazed by your presence is just spellbinding. Vikas asked me to kneel on the sea bed and headed to a plastic cover which he very carefully held and brought to me to look at. It had tiny black specs on it, he explained to me through sign language that these were eggs laid by a fish! I was wide eyed and couldn’t believe that even pollutants like plastic can be a harbour for life. We moved ahead and saw many a fish feeding on the corals (again explained by Vikas through Sign language), one picking the dead corals off the sea bed and one dead grouper fish which had other tiny fishes swimming in and out of. It was all so fascinating and colourful, I had forgotten all about my fear and was completely immersed (literally) in this world that was simply captivating. We could have gone further below but the water temperature was dropping making me breathe faster and tiring me out. I signalled to Vikas and we slowly made our way up to the surface where Vikas carefully took off all the equipment.
After this exhilarating experience which I thanked Vikas for, I made my way back to the main road to hop on to the tuk-tuk and get back to the dive school to collect my belongings and dig into a filling breakfast. As I hadn’t carried a USB or a memory card, I had to come back a day later to collect the pictures, video clips and the certificate. Scuba diving here has left me awe struck and I will surely be back again for this surreal experience that is forever etched in my memory.
