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.
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.
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.
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 -
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!
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