Tryst with the underwater

by Nitisha Sethia (India)

I didn't expect to find India

To be honest, doing a certification in scuba diving is something I had never considered. I looked at scuba diving as something similar to sky diving. You do it once to experience it and that's good enough. And I did. I dived in Croatia while on a vacation, and was extremely satisfied with the glimpse of the ocean I got. But then, over only a year later I met a cousin who in casual conversation asked me - Do you dive? She could've asked me- Have you done scuba diving? But her question was different. She had done over a 100 dives in her life. When she shared her experience, I finally realised that diving was not a one time sport like sky diving or bungee that you did to tick off a list. Rather, it was almost a way of travelling. She convinced me to get my Open Water certification, a simple 4 day course. She promised me that life wouldn't be the same after. And yes life has not been the same for me since. The course opened up a whole new world for me. A world that I would otherwise simply be gazing at literally and figuratively, only at the surface. Through my Open Water course, I realised the genius of humans for having created a self contained underwater breathing apparatus, that would literally allow us to swim like the fish in the ocean. And that's what the acronym SCUBA stands for. Like the dream of every child, I too wanted to fly like the birds and swim in the ocean like the fish. And here there was something that actually allowed me to do the latter. The theory classes in my course taught me how this compact well designed equipment works, and once I knew, I realised it was the simplest sport there was. Simplest, and yet one of the most powerful I have experienced. It was a little more challenging to practise the theory in the pool, getting used to breathing underwater, practising exchanging regulators with your dive buddy in case you ran out of oxygen, and being prepared for any emergency that could happen underwater. The next day was the big day. I loved the adrenaline I was feeling from the pre dive anxiousness. But once I jumped into the water, I realised it was the most peaceful and serene place to be in. Deep down in the ocean, where I could hear only the sound of my breath, where I could see a hundred fish swimming in a school together, where I could almost float like I was in space, I discovered a whole new world that was right in front of me for so many years, but that I never discovered. And just when I could not contain my awe of the brilliant coloured fish and coral I was seeing deep in the ocean, my instructor pointed to something behind me. I turned around to see the most magical sight of my life. A quiet wise old turtle gliding through the water. I felt like a child in a candy store. The turtle just pulled me to follow it like a magnet, and I swam with the turtle for almost a minute. All thoughts from my mind vanished and I was in a trance as I absorbed the surreal sights I was seeing. The trance continued even after I came back up to the surface. And a little bit of it has been living with me ever since. My 4 day course finished, and I was granted a Diver's Licence, that allowed me to dive anywhere in the world with another dive buddy. This was not the end to my date with diving, rather the start of the most magical journey. Over the past months, I have been lucky enough to dive with the most amazing creatures underwater from whales, to harmless small sharks, to manta rays, octopus, eels, and the list goes on. Each dive is a new experience. I am now 30 dives old, but I still feel it is just the start for me. 70% of the world that is water is waiting for me to go out and explore.