That Wonderland called A&N - Ramble 2: Dive!

Havelock Island was destination no 2 on my trip. It was definitely the most awaited part of my trip - my diving courses. Havelock island is just a small piece of paradise. Coconut trees everywhere, the salty air, beautiful beaches - all the marks of a great vacation already. I had signed up to dive with Dive India and I highly recommend them to anyone who wants to try diving at the Andamans in the future.

Now I think I am a water baby and it is beach over mountains any day for me. But being a water baby in a pool and being one in the ocean - very different things. The ocean is a completely different ball game. Day 0 in training has you filling out forms, watching a few videos and undergoing a snorkelling session to learn basic breathing etc. I easily drank a litre of sea water in that lesson itself. The first and most important lesson they teach and keep repeating is stay calm and breathe continuously. Trust me, it's not the easiest to do. Consciously breathing through the mouth takes time to master because the nose just flies into action all the time, even if it takes in sea water. Day 1 into training and at above shoulder level water, as we learned basic skills, I struggled to stay underwater as the fear of not being able to breathe was constantly playing on my mind. It took some time and a lot of patience from my instructor but it happened finally and we slowly moved towards our first dive spot. Now skills and lessons aside, it was an experience like no other. The ocean is another world in itself and you are a visitor which means you don't do anything to disrupt the life there. People say watching an aquarium calms you down, so imagine this. Schools of fishes swimming along, taking notice of you and then swimming away. A few curious ones come close and the even more curious ones leave a few bites on your legs (harmless though). I saw a whole bunch of fish whose names I never knew. Among the ones I knew, there were clownfish (Nemo), blue tangs (Dory), sting rays, Angel fish, lion fish, crabs, lobsters, eels, star fish and crazy types of coral from fan coral to stag horn coral to anemone (Nemo's home). I was lucky to see a turtle swim by, swim alongside a school of barracuda and spot two white tipped reef sharks. My deepest dive was 26 meters i.e. about 85 feet.

Descending into Dixon's Pinnacle, Havelock Island

Picture Courtesy - Dive India

On top of the reef at Dixon's Pinnacle (20 m below the surface)

Picture courtesy - Dive India

The happy bunch heading back to shore

Picture Courtesy - Dive India

One of the requisites for me to complete my Advanced Open Water certification was the dive I was dreading the most - a night dive. Now a night dive in the Andamans begins at 6 pm. I know you will wonder what's night about that but the sun goes done by 5:15 pm so 6 pm there is like 9 pm in Mumbai. I am not a big fan of darkness, in fact I am a highly claustrophobic so I need to see, feel and know space around me. I don't know how I convinced myself to not chicken out of it but I did. Per my course, I had to be in the water at a depth exceeding 6 meters for at least 20 minutes. As I put on my gear and entered the water, my instructor kept reminding - the ocean is a different playground at night so be careful and aware. With my gear on and hand held torch, I stepped into the water to discover a different set of species that emerge and active at nightfall. Sea urchins out of their holes, snakes slithering around and most fish happily tucked in their lairs. Now coz of my hand held torch my vision was only limited to as far as the torch went and mostly straight ahead of me. However, I was very well aware of the fact that there were more swimming behind and alongside me than in front and that fact was proven when I saw the long tail fin of a sting ray pass by me just about a foot away from the corner of my eye. Little panic build up and I proceed further. A few more poisonous fish were spotted and something inside me says you need to head back. Then suddenly came a school of fish that we couldn't identify immediately (but did later as a type of Indian Threadfin). While most fish keep safe distance from you, these guys seemed to be very attracted to the torch light and started getting too close for comfort. In seconds, we were surrounded by these fishes, each one being about 20 - 25 cm long. I could feel them swimming up close and brushing against my arms and feet and two of them got super up close to my face. Not wanting to attract any larger predators because of this school, we turned back and started heading towards our start point. The nasty buggers tried following us for a while before they headed back. The last part of our dive and the last straw for me was to sit of the ocean bed, torches turned off and to move our arms around to see the bio luminescent plankton. If you have seen Life of Pi and remember the scene where he watches the water glow (picture below), I got to witness something similar on a smaller scale of course but equally magnificent. But once seen, the darkness began to bother me a lot more and m torch was back on and I signalled my instructor that I was ready to head out. Never again a night dive, I told her - I plan to keep my word.

Scene showing bio luminescence from Life of Pi. 

Picture courtesy - indeepwaterblog.wordpress.com

The physical act of diving is extremely strenuous by itself and you need to know how to swim decently well. Don't believe your dive school if they say things like you can dive if you can swim comfortably for 10 ft and float for 10 mins. All this is easier done in the pool than the ocean. The ocean tests your stamina all the time and believe me you get so drained swimming a lap which could very well just be 15 ft in the ocean. My first dive was scary and fun. Scary coz we were taught so much and there is so much to take care of under water  besides just having the fear of being under water - your breathing, keeping your buoyancy at neutral, not using your hands to swim, correct posture for your legs, ensuring your ears pop are among the many many things one needs to constantly remember.  My later dives also introduced me to ocean currents and also taught me to stay steady while moving against them. I did well sometimes, failed miserably a few other times and kept getting dragged away. I got hit on the leg by my buddy's scuba tank, on the head by the fins of my buddy and scrapped my knees dozen of times through my dives. Rough, choppy water is a scary idea and takes one back to Hollywood movies of being stranded at sea. Try moving in one direction and the ocean throws a crazy wave at you and you end up paces away from where you even begin. My heart was constantly racing through each of my dives. I knew I was getting enough air and yet had the feeling of going breathless. I was very aware of the fact that I had water all around me with no shoreline visible and no railing to swim and hold on to. You need to constantly tell yourself that you are fine. Of course, I did have some Hollywood moments (again) as well wondering when the shark would come out of nowhere  and grab my leg. Thank god that didn't happen. The deep blue and extremely gorgeous ocean has a surprise for you with every dive. 

I had some severe struggles with the breathing, mask filling with water, extreme ear pain, few too many scraps and many others but the experience of each dive was worth it all. I am going to say it again the experience under water is like no other, though an hour in the ocean through each dive would feel like and go by like minutes. But don't take only my word for it - try it for yourself, dive!

That Wonderland called A&N - Ramble 1: That some place new

My last few vacations have been about doing something interesting or going some place interesting - I am glad I got to do both with this year's vacation. 

I chose to come to the Andaman and Nicobar islands located to the south east of the Indian mainland (for the geographically challenged). Most people I know asked me why this place. I have two answers to that - one, that I had heard it is extremely pretty and mostly untouched by modern civilization and two, I had registered to learn to dive here with a local SCUBA school. Now Andaman and Nicobar islands for me was as much a mystery as it probably is for many of you. I learned about it in school geography, marked it on a map for my exams, knew the capital was Port Blair etc. 

My little of reading in the last few months got me a little more up to speed with the place. For one, Andaman and Nicobar islands consist of 500+ islands of which just about 20 are open to tourists/ civilians. Some of the remaining are inhabited by tribes completely untouched by the 21st century and live a traditional way of life. Some tribes have also shown extreme aggression when approached by urban man and thereby it was decided to keep the islands only to them. Some of the islands form the Indian military's tri command centre - army, navy and air force due to its location and the remaining some are covered by dense forests and are supposedly uninhabited. 

I got a detailed history lesson when I was there but let me give you some highlights:
- There is evidence of some occupation by Indian rulers from different dynasties in the early 16th & 17th century and possibly prior
- The Andamanese people are among the many tribes who make the original inhabitants of this cluster of island
- The mid to late 18th century saw the colonization of the island by the Danish East India company who later sold rights to the islands to the British towards the end of the 18th century. 
- Merchant ships from Europe that passed through these waters making their way up to Calcutta faced a lot of difficulties around these parts; One being the tribe here which was extremely aggressive so if any ship stopped here to load fresh water or got caught here due to unpredictable weather, these tribes more often than not killed the crew. Two, there was also a danger from Malay pirates (very similar to the Somalian pirates of our times) who roamed these waters and plundered passing ships. The merchants congregation then wrote to the Queen seeking British help and security as they believed this was also part of the British colony.
- Around 1789, the British conducted a survey to seek the best place to set up a base in these islands ultimately choosing Chatham island, now Port Blair. It is believed that they soon abandoned that settlement as they could not adjust to the unpredictable weather and new types of diseases that arose.
- Some 60 years later, they relooked at the islands to build a now more permanent settlement and soon after also began work on the infamous Cellular Jail in Port Blair.
- Viper island, a few kms off the Port Blair coast served as the first prison for convicts in the Andaman islands. The Cellular jail was built after this.
- Interesting fact: All British jails which were put in place in remote locations to hold prisoners of war, convicts etc was always headed by a Doctor so he could look after the medical well being of prisoners and staff there. His second in command would be an engineer who would look after the upkeep of the place.
- Port Blair (earlier called Port Cornwallis, after Admiral Cornwallis of the British Navy) is named after Lt. Archibald Blair, one of the member of the two person commission sent here by the British to survey the place and choose a suitable site to build a base.
- In 1942, the islands were briefly taken over by the Japanese. This invasion was at first welcomed by the Indians living and working for the British troops there but later proved to be a mistake as the Japanese turned out to be far more cruel than the British.

Leaving all the facts aside, it makes for a gorgeous tourist destination. The flight from Mumbai is about 4 hours. As one lands into Port Blair, it is one of the few airports I have seen that has jungles on either side as the flight slowly descends out of the clouds. Make sure you grab a window seat and admire the spectacle of distinct color palettes as the flight is getting ready to land. The aqua blue sea, shimmering white beach and dark green tree cover is one of the most beautiful sights I had seen in a very long time and in India - such a happy feeling. As you get closer to the runway, the surroundings change to include a few buildings and homes - the markings of a city. However, Port Blair is not a city; at least not like the Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai we are used to. One can at best call it a small town with an airport. Small hotels for tourists to stay at before they head off to the islands which serve decent food and offer a comfortable stay. You know what impressed me the most about the place - cleanliness. My god, how spic and span it was. The only "trash" I saw were fallen leaves, flowers and fruit and possibly bird droppings. People here like to keep the city clean, my driver says to me; it is a matter of pride for us. Well, send some of them to teach the rest of us I say; we badly need it. 

Cellular Jail courtyard, Port Blair. PC - Priya Pillai

Cellular Jail, Port Blair. PC - Priya Pillai

Port Blair has a fair bit to see and also serves as a stop for tourists who want to head out to the islands. However, if you do have a day, there is Ross Island which is a boat ride across and shows remains of the time the Japanese took over this island during WWII. There is also the North Bay island which has the lighthouse which features on the 20 rupee note. Also there is the very famous/ infamous Cellular Jail. Many of us know it as Kala Paani jail. History has seen a big chunk of our freedom fighters being sent here. No, you wouldn't know most of them but they were here; living in abysmal conditions, made to work in inhuman conditions, beaten and tortured daily and mainly trying to get their spirit broken. The most famous inmate here (at least that I knew of) was Vinayak Damodar Savarkar or Swatantra Veer Savarkar as our history books would call him. The place is no longer how it used to be with several wings been destroyed over time. Let me tell you this though, it is eerie as ever. Even with a few hundred tourists around the spot, when you step into one of the open prison cells; you will get chills down your spine. Imagine if those doors were closed and locked you inside with that little window. Scary! Many would compare it to Alcatraz in SF and in many ways it was. This gigantic fortress with water surrounding it on most sides - it was rumoured to be one of those "can't break out off" jails. There are a few museums around that dole out details of the history of the place and its place in the history of India. My personal recommendation is the newly opened Kala Paani museum on the outskirts of the city. It has only opened a month ago and it is generally unknown to most people so much so that Trip Advisor does not feature it. It is a treasure house of information about the islands, its people and its place in history. Extremely informative and if you are lucky, the owner himself gives you a tour detailing out the research he conducted.

 Kala Paani Museum. PC - Priya Pillai

Japanese printed Indian currency during invasion. PC - Priya Pillai

Port Blair is fairly cosmopolitan with a high no of immigrants from West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Hindi is the most commonly spoken language here followed by Bengali, Tamil and then local dialects. The Nicobar islands, I am told have more pronounced dialects. People are generally quite friendly with tourists as tourism seems to be the popular industry here. We landed on a Sunday and as luck would have it apart from the Sunday bazaar, all shops remain closed. Tourist spots too shut by 4:30 pm everyday. Not surprising though as the sun rises here by 5 am and sets by 5 pm. The island people begin their day by 6:30 am and wrap up by 4:30 pm. I was left wondering what to do when it is pitch dark at 5:30 pm. 

My next stop from here was the beautiful (and much awaited) Havelock island. My plan was to spend the next 8 days there and complete my Open Water as well as Advanced Diving course. Excited much!