Goa- Scuba Diving

People go to Goa for various reasons. Obvious ones being its beaches, cheap alcohol, foreign tourists, night life and some to get away from the chaotic city life.. Well the list goes on.

However, we went to Goa for one and one reason only- Scuba Diving. 

There are very few deep sea diving sites in India. Andaman & Nicobar islands, Nethrani island (near Murudeshwara- Karnataka), Pondicherry (recently started) and Goa. A&N islands was out of the question as it was far, Murudeshwara has only seasonal scuba diving (as with all other places infact, but this is even more so) and not very popular, we were left with Pondi or Goa. Diving sites and visibility is not very great in Pondi and the prices were expensive too. So that left us with only Goa. 

After a quick search on Google and reading some reviews we finalised on Goa Aquatics. Now I sure am glad we chose Goa Aquatics as they were very professional and I had a wonderful first time diving experience. 

We had called Goa aquatics in advance and had booked the slots. I'd inquired in detail as to the things we need to bring and special precautions to take. I was the only girl among the three of us and did not even know how to swim! We chose the long weekend of October end in 2015 for the trip. And having a driving crazy person in the group meant that we had to go in car and car only and no other mode of transport was acceptable.

So we headed to Goa on a Thursday night

It was around 9 in the morning by the time we reached Casa-Tres-Amigos - our abode while we were in Goa. Our schedule was like this. 

• Go to Goa Aquatics for the pool training on Day 1.
• Do the actual scuba diving in the deep sea on Day 2. 

We went to the place at around 3 in the noon and pool training was already in progress. We waited for sometime and then met Bob and Gautam. Now Bob's your uncle! He is funny, easy going, calm, composed and good at what he does. I guess being a diver all these are very important. 

We quickly donned the wet suits and as usual nothing fit me and I'd to wear a kids wet suit (yes, it was embarrassing). We jumped in to the pool and were quickly taught the basic hand signs to be used under water- danger, all well, let's go down and let's go up etc. We learnt the mechanism of the BCD (Buoyancy Control Device) though the control of which will be with the instructor when your'e diving as a first timer. And man those oxygen tanks are heavy!  I couldn't even stand straight with it. Thank god for the water which makes things light and lets us dive without crushing us. 

We felt quite confident after the training and my initial fears were expelled. We were looking forward for the dive next day. As a rule it is good not to drink alcohol and get good sleep the night before. We were asked to report at 6.30 in the morning and we somehow did make it on time!

All the scuba diving gears were loaded in to the pick up van and we sat squeezed in whatever space was left. 

Bob explaining safety in the boat

Pick up truck with equipments

Boat we took to reach Suzy's wrec

Now I gotta tell you this is where we met some of the most interesting people. A couple who had come with their 10 year old son for the certification because they wanted to go dive in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Another couple who had come after diving in Greece and had tried every adventure sport that there was and a young doctor who takes a couple of months off every year to master an adventure sport- rock climbing, mountaineering and this time scuba diving. We looked like the most boring group of the lot!

Soon we were there at the jetty and all the men in the group formed a line and helped in unloading and reloading the equipment from pick up van to the boat. 

And off we went! Sun was still rising and we had some fruits and juice and listened to the instructions given by Gautam. Soon somebody spotted a dolphin and soon we were looking at all directions to spot the jumping dolphins! It was a good sight. 

After an hour's journey we reached our diving site- Suzy's ship wreck. This is near to Grande Island in the calm shallow bay making it an excellent site for first time divers. They say the ship sank in the year 1943 but then nobody knows for sure so we had to settle for just stories! I've heard there's another wreck nearby which is called Davy Jones Locker!! 

 

Suzy is a 30m long metal wreck under some 40 feet of water. Only two people were alloted to each instructor which meant four people could dive at once and others had to wait till they returned. We sadly- were put in the last batch and we settled down with eatables and clicking pics then took a small dives and swam. We had reached real early and the place was fully empty but soon it started filling up. 

We finally got our chance and I dived. Bobby was very patient and at every feet made sure we had a proper equalization- adjusting the ear pressure with the outside water pressure which increases as we go deeper in the water. Another friend diving with me had a real hard time equalizing and he just couldn't come down another feet and Gautam took him aside to equalize properly. In this confusion I did not realise when we had come down and all of a sudden there it was, looming large infront of us- the Suzy's ship wreck and colorful fishes swimming all around us. 

Me getting ready for the jump

And a pose!

All's well!

Now this is something that can't really be explained in words- the tranquil, a whole new world under water and the swimming. It changes the way you look at things. 

A real 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara' moment. Your'e aware of each breath you take and some views are really breathtaking! I just did not realise when our 45 min was over and without any hiccup we resurfaced. 

But only when I removed the mask did I realise that there was a little blood below my nose and could have been due to initial problem in equalizing. I had a slight ear ache for a few days after that and even showed a doctor but thankfully it turned out to be nothing. 

I slept all through the way on our way back in the boat and dreamt of swimming among the dolphins! This surely was an experience of a lifetime.

Route taken from Bengaluru- NH4- Hubli Dharwad- Kittur- MK Hubli-Khanapur- Mapusa- Assgao

Institute- Goa Aquatics

Trainer- Bob

Price: 5000 per person for a fun dive (which includes half day's training and all the equipment)