The day we certified as Scuba Divers!

It was on April 29^th, 2017, a watsapp group was created with the group name, “Scuba”.  The groundwork was done by Vishal, my friend, who had decided that he wanted to certify as a Scuba Diver and the location, school, everything was decided. All that he was looking for, was a couple of more to join so that it ends up as a fun holiday.

Till then, I had never even thought about getting certified in Scuba Diving owing to the fact that I had never dived before. As soon as he asked if I wished to join, I was extremely excited. I said, YES!  But then came the pre-requisites: Swim for 200mts without a break AND float on water for 10mins. Wow! Never had I entered a swimming pool till then!

Well, I agreed to join him and decided to learn Swimming, something that I wanted to learn from the time I was in high school. Luckily, my office campus has a swimming pool and I registered for the same. Then started my classes and surprisingly, I learnt it pretty soon. In 3 months of time, I learnt the Freestyle, Breaststroke, Backstroke and Underwater. All thanks to the swimming instructor.

We decided that we would get the PADI certification, a world-recognized Scuba certification. In India, the best visibility underwater is at the Andaman Island and the second best is at Netrani Islands, Murdeshwar. And this is a 3-hrs ride from Mangalore. Perfect!

After a lot of discussion with the Scuba instructor, and a lot of changes on the plans, the dates, 29^th Nov - 02^nd Dec, 2017, were finalized, as it is a 4-day program. It was Vishal, Anuja and I, ready to earn the exciting certification.

Stayed at: Shri Vinayaka Residency, it has a veg and a non-veg restaurant.

Day 1: We met Moin, our instructor for the course, at the West Coast Adventures and then our classes began. We were sitting in front of a TV screen which played video tutorials about the science behind diving, Do’s and Don’ts underwater, how body behaves underwater, about the Scuba kit, etc. Luckily, we could munch on the crispy Chaklis to avoid falling asleep, while the tutorials were going on. We had tests after every tutorial. This was a very boring yet informational session.

Day 2: After a boring, long, in-the-room tutorial on Day 1, we were taken to the swimming pool at RNS Residency. Here, we had to pass the swim test (for 200mts, any stroke) and the float test (for 10 mins). After this, we learnt various skills like assembling and de-assembling the Scuba kit, how to breathe underwater, how to remove water from the masks, how to help the scuba buddy in case he runs out of air, how to equalize ears underwater, etc. All possible skillset that a Scuba diver would require, were taught at the pool. It was surely a tiring day as we ate almost nothing during the entire session, which lasted till evening.

Day 3: How excited we all were!! To finally jump into the sea and demonstrate the skills we had learnt at the pool. We reached the beach at sharp 8AM and there was some tension there. There were a couple of guards, the instructors belonging to West Coast Adventures looked tensed. We learnt that there is cyclone Ockhi, coming up from South West and all the fishermen boats were asked to come back to the shore. Oh wow! We hadn't followed NEWS for the last two days and were unaware about what's going on around. 

We thought we would stay back for a day or two and would return only after we finish the course. But then, the weather forecast suggested something else. Cyclone was such a rascal that it washed away around 200 people and around 500 fishermen went missing. We were lucky that we were still at the shore, safe!

We decided to head back to Mangalore with a half done course. The tough part was to co-ordinate dates amongst us, considering the instructor's schedule too.

Well, we started planning right away but couldn't really arrive at any dates where all of us were available.

Finally we stuck on to 24th and 25th of Feb, 2018.

------------- 3 Looooong months of Break in our Scuba Dream-----------------

Yaay!! It was Feb and all that we prayed was for the sea to be calm and peaceful and no weather turmoil.

Feb 24th : Day 3 of our course, we were taken to Netrani Island, 20kms away from the shore. I was afraid while I was seated in that tiny ferry boat, big enough to carry 20 people. I was imagining all the accidents that could happen, like me accidentally slipping outta the boat, boat getting toppled 'cz of bad weather, a big whale hitting our boat with its tail, blah! I was just afraid. I wore a life jacket and sat with my eyes closed, trying to deviate my mind.

Once we reached the island, it was THIS moment, I was hell scared of. Jumping into the sea. I knew that I was equipped with air cylinder and I would float because my scuba kit is inflated. I know! BUT, I was scared.

So yeah, we rolled back from our boats and there we were. I was the last one to get into the water, hoping that if something goes wrong, there are people to save me. I was being mean.. I mean careful!

And once we descended, it was another world down there. A beautiful world without any noise. All that I could hear was my breathing.

Well, as a part of the course, we had to demonstrate a couple of skills and then enjoyed loafing around checking out the cool fishes. Along with colorful Bicolor Parrot fishes, Blue damsels, Banner fish, we even saw a couple of Scorpion fishes and Puffer fishes.

We dived twice, both for around 50 mins each.

Feb 25th : Day 4 of THE course, we were at the shore again, at 8am and we headed to pebble Island this time. The island had big rocks which looked like pebbles from far. What an apt name.

The first dive was to show the skills used during emergency and then we explored the area. The clear water was such an added bonus and this place is just so serene and beautiful.

And yes, we weren't allowed to take any pics for any of our dives earlier as we were all still learners. We were awaiting for the final dive wherein there is no skills but just a fun dive. Moin took the camera and what were we treated with?

Laced Moray Eel, also called as Honeycomb Moray, yes! It has sharp teeth and does bite. They are generally seen protruding from a hole or small cave. 

Honeycomb Moray Eel.

I gasped for my breath because I wasn't aware that something like this existed on earth.

I do not know the names of most of the fishes that we saw. The teeny weeny cuties to the big Parrot fishes, the plain sand underwater to the beautifully patterned corals, everything amazed me.

Here are a couple of pics from the dive.

Vishal trying to be cool and as always, I photobomb!

Anuja and Vishal.

Just chilling around.

Once we ascended, we knew that we were all certified Scuba Divers now. Wohoo!!

Some things just happen outta nowhere. I love going along with what life has to offer.

Had Vishal not asked me to join, I might have never even considered doing this.

Cheers to us! Vishal, Anuja and Moin! Everyone!