One of the items on my bucket list is (“is” has now become “was”!) scuba diving. And it has been there for a long long time. I have done a lot of adventure sports but diving has somehow never happened. Probably because I am not very fond of water, a little afraid too of swimming in the vast ocean. In fact I barely manage to swim 20 meters. But this year I was determined to check off this long pending adventure. So I picked this along with 2 other items from my bucket list for the year 2022.
I planned to go to Andaman with a friend in April but unfortunately she was unable to make it. So then I pestered Ruchi to go on a diving holiday with me. We decided on Bali, but there was a 3 day mandatory quarantine in Indonesia due to covid. We circled on Philippines but the tickets were very expensive. Then we thought let’s skip diving, and go visit Bhutan but the country was in lockdown. Next option was Burma but Burma was completely closed to international travelers, and Vietnam had 2lakh daily infections so that was out too. And I was so very disappointed. Travel is the most important thing in my life and not having traveled out of India in the last two years of the pandemic, I was really looking forward to it. But it was not to be and we finally decided to not venture out of India and settled on Andaman islands. Ruchi had dived with Lacadives in the past and recommended we go to Chidiya Tapu. I was all game. I could go anywhere in the world to fulfill my bucket list item and readily agreed.
We landed in Port Blair on 18th April and the heat and humidity hit us hard. But the drive to the Big Tree resort in Chidiya Tapu was lovely with the taxi skirting the ocean on the left and a green jungle on the right. The resort was quaint and lovely with log cabins in a huge organic farm amidst a reserve forest, fringed by the ocean. It was literally a slice of paradise. The next day was my first dive. Since I don’t swim, I could only do the Discover Scuba dive where someone dives along and controls everything. Basically a sightseeing trip for me! I had to do nothing but see the sights! I wore a wet suit, flippers and a mask over my eyes and nose so basically one cannot breathe through the nose, can breathe only through the mouth. We went in a boat to a bigger boat a little further away as the big boat cannot come to the shore. Then in the big boat we went to the dive site called Fish Point. I got into the water climbing down a ladder on the side of the boat. My buddy Satish kit me up i.e. helped me wear a jacket with the oxygen tank behind. A mouthpiece from the oxygen tank went into my mouth. So basically I had to breathe through my mouth. Satish managed my buoyancy and down we went!
And it was a colorful beautiful world out there below the surface of the water. I was swimming past hundreds of colorful fishes with many fan shaped corals around. There were fishes of all shapes and sizes with so many brilliant colors and patterns on them – brilliant blue, shiny purple, lemon yellow, pitch black, rust red, green, white, silver, all colors you can imagine and many I had not seen on land. A big red one was right next to me looking me in the eye! I saw clams, big fat lazy sea cucumbers that stirred ever so lightly. Then there were Humbug damsels, Clarke’s anemone fish, Emperor angelfish, Regal angelfish, Moorish Idol, Parrotfish, Coral rock cod, slugs, and many more whose names I have forgotten. It was so peaceful in there, you can only hear your own breathing. It was so meditative. Like a little girl I was so excited turning and looking all around all at once. There were so many rocks, caves and crevices on the ocean bed and the fishes went in and out, some were shy and hiding and some hunting for food. The fishes all glide so smoothly, wagging their tails and suddenly turn direction with an abrupt movement. It’s a very different world out there with movement all around you, never a still moment. A student diver had come along and was taking pictures and videos of me. And suddenly I saw Nemo! I found Nemo, the orange and white clownfish playing around at the edge of a tube coral! I was so overjoyed at finding Nemo as though I had found some long lost treasure! An hour went by in the blink of an eye and it was time to come up. I didn’t really want to go back but had to. Once I surfaced, I removed my kit and climbed up the boat. My mouth was very dry as I was breathing from the mouth for an hour. I enjoyed the dive so much that I decided to do another one the next day!
The next day I went snorkeling in the morning at a site called Lighthouse. I had done snorkeling in the red sea in Egypt and at Koh Sa Mui in Thailand so while I enjoyed it here it was not as exciting as the first time I did it. But it was fun nevertheless. I took off my swimming ring and tried swimming in the ocean and it was so easy to float! Then from there we went to another site called Chhe Nala where I went diving again. This time they kit me up on the boat itself and I had to jump backwards into the water! It was a bit scary but I jumped nevertheless as my buddy Satish was very careful and always around and I felt safe. This time there were some ruins, 3 long iron poles and several large tyres in the ocean floor. I also touched the ocean floor and picked up some sand. It was great to swim around the wreckage, glide in between the poles and touch the tyres and wooden planks. And while I was swimming around, Satish pointed in the front. There hidden in the sand like a spy was a blue spotted sting ray! I went close to it and saw the sand stir. The stingray recognizing an alien, disappeared in a split second! It was so swift and it glided so smoothly in the water, it was a wonder to see it! And then we saw another one slowly gliding and we kept swimming along with it for a while before it disappeared. We saw a few more of the stingrays, it was such a delight! Diving is so meditative, I could go on and on enjoying the beauty and wonder of nature.
Back from the dives, we used to be tired and laze around the resort. There was a lovely pond a hammock and couple of lounge chairs on the edge of the pond. We spent the next few days lazing on the hammock, reading books we had picked up from the airport. I had picked up Isabel Allende’s In the midst of winter – a beautiful tale about three very different people who are brought together in a mesmerizing story that journeys from present-day Brooklyn to Guatemala in the recent past to 1970s Chile and Brazil. It was so relaxing and peaceful. It was such a contrast to city life where we are rushing to work, attending many meetings and zoom calls, giving status updates to stakeholders, stressing about a program gone wrong etc. Time went by at a slow pace here. It felt like we were living in a time warp. The evenings were so very still with no breeze and without a single leaf moving. The deafening sound of cicadas drowning out conversations. Island life is so idyllic. It gave us time to think and ponder. Ruchi and I had so many interesting intimate conversations, reflecting on many things from our lives, creating bucket lists and figuring out our happiness quotient and how to get it to a full 10! There was a general feeling of contentment and bliss.
Ruchi and I both loved the vibe of the dive center and the resort. Rajendra and Diya who run the resort chat up with all the guests, They join us on our tables, ask how the day was. It was very informal and friendly. They encourage all guests to talk to each other. The dining area is a lovely place open on all sides with great décor. The guests were a motley group of people, all divers as Big Tree is a dive resort run by Lacadives, so usually people who want to dive with them, stay here. There were several young women doing various diving courses. One of them from West Bengal was there since a month and had done 60 dives! One was from Delhi working at an NGO a sister concern of the dive center called Reef watch where they do reef conservation, marine life study etc. So they dive down every day for work. What fun! One from Bangalore and one from Hyderabad were also doing their course but were staying elsewhere. There was a Britisher who had studied medical science in Britain. He was learning diving and also studying Ayurveda. He also planned to go to China and learn acupuncture and other Chinese traditional treatments. His idea was to learn indigenous medicine from all parts of the world, and then use all these sciences to provide a holistic healing approach. Very fascinating! Mitali Kakkar one of the co-owners of Lacadives and the resort was also there. She and her husband ad-man Prahlad Kakkar were the ones who brought scuba diving to India by starting Lacadives couple of decades ago. She was such a lovely, graceful and down to earth person, joining all tables and having conversations with the guests. It was one of the Reef watch staff’s birthday on one of the days and her parents were staying at the resort. On her birthday she invited all the guests of the resort, and staff of both the dive center and the NGO for her party. This was the first time I was on a holiday and got invited to a birthday party by someone I had just met! We had a great time. There was food, alcohol, cake, music and dancing. And what was most wonderful was that everyone from the owner of the place to the help at the dive center the lowest in the rung in the hierarchy, were all treated equally and with respect. There was so much camaraderie amongst everyone, and it was such a happy, cheerful fun atmosphere. I totally recommend Lacadives to everyone especially first timers as the crew is fun, helpful and most importantly, very safe.
Shaktivel took us bird watching one early morning along with his tripod and telescope. We spotted close to 35 species of birds like sand piper, brown shrike, common warbler, plume toed swiftlet, magpie robin, Andaman coucal, Andaman serpent eagle ( a beautiful and majestic bird), vernal hanging parrot, racquet tailed drongo, freckle breasted woodpecker, Alexandrian parakeet, oriental dwarf kingfisher (which is very rare and serious birders also don’t get to spot it!), minivets, chestnut headed bee eater and so many more. Another day we went to a biological park with Joelson who was a 3rd generation Burmese living in the Andamans and knew all the trees and animals and was a delight to have as a guide. On the last but one day, we were about to go on an inter-tidal walk (explore the sea life in small pools that get formed when the high tide goes out and the tide is low). But just as Ruchi started walking from the lawn to go down the steps to the beach, she tripped and sprained her ankle. It hurt her a lot and we had to cancel our walk. Back in the hotel, everyone was so helpful. Mitali came to our cottage with medicines for Ruchi. Sheelu came with her ointment which Mitali applied for Ruchi and everyone pitched in to carry Ruchi to the dining area and back and made sure she was comfortable. Next day I went to see the cellular jail or kala paani on my own as Ruchi was resting. The architecture of the jail was very innovative to ensure prisoners do not see each other and cannot escape. But it was shocking to realize how our freedom fighters were made to suffer by the British before we got independence from them. Also happened to see the cell in which Veer Savarkar spent 10 years of his life. I then went to Ross island where the British officers lived. It was a small but an extremely beautiful tropical island with coconut trees, sand and the brilliant blue water of the Bay of Bengal. I also managed to do para sailing there and came back to the hotel happy and feeling triumphant!
Next day we were back to civilization. It was one of my most memorable, fun and relaxing holidays at the same time! I think all of us should reduce the pace of life a little more often than we do. Since I was back from my holiday, I have checked off my second bucket list item for the year. I am hoping I can check off the third one also which is planned in October, which I will definitely write about. So until then, so long, farewell.
poorvismusings 