Snorkeling
Amongst the tons of adventures that one can experience on a Maldivian island, I was keenly looking forward to encounter the thrill which goes by the name 'Snorkeling' and trust me when I say this - It was far far more exciting then I have ever dreamed off!!
For starters, Snorkeling is not Scuba diving as all of us imagine. Infact, there is a zameen aasman ka difference between the two. Snorkeling is the art of simply floating on the surface of water, without too much of hand or feet movement, and enjoying the corals and the little fish, that swim around it, in their natural habitat. For snorkeling, you need a little mask or 'snorkel' as they refer to it, which is similar to large swimming goggles that cover not only your eyes, but extend down to cover your nose as well. This apparatus is tied to a small plastic tube about a feet long. One end of the tube is to be held in the swimmers mouth and the other end has to be held above the surface of water, which is only possible if you float on the surface. Also, in order to float successfully without much movement, we have to wear fins on our feet that, I believe, provides the buoyancy that is needed to keep a person afloat.
Now, with this above description, there is no need for me to mention that for snorkeling, one has to breathe through his or her mouth and this needs a little bit of training and at the Kurumba Resort, where we were staying, this was provided free of charge. The training was given at the pool next to the sports centre and we were asked to be present over there at exactly 10:30 am, with the snorkeling gear. So, post breakfast, I collected the Snorkeling gear for Prachi and myself, which was also complimentary, and reached the destined spot to see the trainer already inside the pool with a few British ladies and two elderly Japanese gentlemen.
The trainer was a guy with a large, bulky build and dark complexion whom everyone referred to simply as 'The Coach'. He asked us to enter the water , which we did, and told us that he would join us as soon as he was done taking a round with one of the Japanese gentlemen.
Here, I must mention that I was especially excited about this whole thing because Prachi, who had never done any swimming before, had shown some real daring and fearless spirit by entering the water the evening before, without a life jacket, and even tried her hand at swimming in the shallow end of the pool. I am certain that I wouldn't have enjoyed the snorkeling ordeal if I had done it on my own, but Prachi standing next to me in that pool gave me that additional boost to simply enjoy what we were about to learn.
A few minutes later, The Coach started our snorkeling lesson and the first task was to wear the mask and learn to breathe only through our mouths. It was like doing some sort of yoga. It sounds easy, but it was a real struggle for a few minutes to ensure that you don't exhale through your nose for an extended period of time. Soon, Prachi and me got the hang of it and our next task was to breathe while we kept our faces under water. This was not as difficult as our next task, which was to wear the fins and float. Initially, we both struggled, but I got the hang of it a little faster than Prachi (mainly because I knew swimming). The most difficult part was that with the fins on, you could not simply put your feet down and had to actually make a whole 360 degree turn before you could place you feet on the pool surface. Surprisingly, Prachi too got the hang of it in a few minutes and was all set to snorkel in the empty pool. At one point of time, I asked her to stay in the shallow end while I took a round to the deep end and back, but as I reached the deep end and turned around, I saw that she was already snorkeling and had reached the middle portion of the pool near the edge, which showed me how determined she was to learn and proved that she was truly enjoying this whole adventure.
We practiced for an hour or so glancing at the clean tiles that made up the surface of the pool. Soon, this started to get boring and I was hoping to get hold of the real thing. Now, snorkeling in the pool and snorkeling in the ocean are two very different prospects and we were advised to stay in the shallow part of the beach, close to our room for our own safety. We were also told not to touch the corals or the fish, because they could never tell which one is poisonous. Another thing we were told was to snorkel in the ocean with some sun protection. This did not mean that we could go in with a good sunscreen, as it dissolves in the water and could harm the corals. Instead, we were advised to snorkel in some sort of light jersey like material on our skin.
All this was too much of an ask for Prachi, who was just about getting a hold on the floating process and hence, she decided to stay away as I took to the ocean all by myself. I wore my grey Liverpool 'Gerrard' jersey and shorts and entered the sea from the side of the aquatic centre as I was told. At a short distance, a few metres away, I could actually see the faint reflection of the corals on the surface of the water. These were the artificial corals that had been developed there by the resort. They had also built a sort of barrier a few yards away to prevent large fish from entering and had advised all of us to swim or snorkel well within the barrier.
I waded in the water till the water reached my thighs and then decided to cover the rest of the distance by snorkeling. I put on my mask and fins and started my slow movement towards the corals that I had seen. A few seconds later I found myself hovering over the first of the corals and just behind them I saw a few tiny fish. Now, I am infamous amongst my friends for being a avid consumer of all sort of fish and animals, but to be honest the first thought that ran through my mind when I saw those corals and fish was that of Fear!!
Yes, I have no shame in admitting that I was shit scared at first. Maybe it was the sight of the corals, which I believe are actually not just stones or rocks, but living organism - plants I think. The first one I saw was like a large brownish rock with weird looking circles all around it. Sort of reminded me of being face to face with an alien. A little ahead, I saw one more with tentacles coming out of all the possible places. But soon I realized that the whole lot of them put together actually painted a very beautiful picture in front of my eyes. Add to that the dozen or more varieties of fishes that were swimming close by and the whole encounter was actually becoming more and more enjoyable.
I had seen multiple videos on Discovery channel, but experiencing all this with my own eyes provided a totally different perspective about how life survives under water. I happened to see small fish of various shapes and sizes, not to mention of different colours. The smallest ones I saw were tiny black ones that stayed close to the corals, while the largest one was a multicoloured one, about a feet long, that continued to maintain a certain distance. The most interesting one, however, was an almost translucent and thin looking fish, about 12 - 15 cms long that kept zipping past me and appeared to follow me as I snorkeled. I decided to play around with this fish for 15 minutes or so until I spotted this jet black, thick and long snake like thing lying on the floor near a small coral, which brought back my initial fear of being scared. I swerved away from that spot and a few minutes later swam back to shore.
There was a question I heard sometime back on TV - "When was the last time, you did something for the first time?", and as I sat there in the shallow water, looking back at the corals, I knew that I had just answered that question in the affirmative.
Now I don't own an underwater camera and hence, have no pics to show how much I enjoyed myself, but sit with me and talk about snorkeling and I can probably talk about it for over an hour. Also, would I recommend snorkeling to you all......you bet I would!!
For starters, Snorkeling is not Scuba diving as all of us imagine. Infact, there is a zameen aasman ka difference between the two. Snorkeling is the art of simply floating on the surface of water, without too much of hand or feet movement, and enjoying the corals and the little fish, that swim around it, in their natural habitat. For snorkeling, you need a little mask or 'snorkel' as they refer to it, which is similar to large swimming goggles that cover not only your eyes, but extend down to cover your nose as well. This apparatus is tied to a small plastic tube about a feet long. One end of the tube is to be held in the swimmers mouth and the other end has to be held above the surface of water, which is only possible if you float on the surface. Also, in order to float successfully without much movement, we have to wear fins on our feet that, I believe, provides the buoyancy that is needed to keep a person afloat.
Now, with this above description, there is no need for me to mention that for snorkeling, one has to breathe through his or her mouth and this needs a little bit of training and at the Kurumba Resort, where we were staying, this was provided free of charge. The training was given at the pool next to the sports centre and we were asked to be present over there at exactly 10:30 am, with the snorkeling gear. So, post breakfast, I collected the Snorkeling gear for Prachi and myself, which was also complimentary, and reached the destined spot to see the trainer already inside the pool with a few British ladies and two elderly Japanese gentlemen.
The trainer was a guy with a large, bulky build and dark complexion whom everyone referred to simply as 'The Coach'. He asked us to enter the water , which we did, and told us that he would join us as soon as he was done taking a round with one of the Japanese gentlemen.
Here, I must mention that I was especially excited about this whole thing because Prachi, who had never done any swimming before, had shown some real daring and fearless spirit by entering the water the evening before, without a life jacket, and even tried her hand at swimming in the shallow end of the pool. I am certain that I wouldn't have enjoyed the snorkeling ordeal if I had done it on my own, but Prachi standing next to me in that pool gave me that additional boost to simply enjoy what we were about to learn.
A few minutes later, The Coach started our snorkeling lesson and the first task was to wear the mask and learn to breathe only through our mouths. It was like doing some sort of yoga. It sounds easy, but it was a real struggle for a few minutes to ensure that you don't exhale through your nose for an extended period of time. Soon, Prachi and me got the hang of it and our next task was to breathe while we kept our faces under water. This was not as difficult as our next task, which was to wear the fins and float. Initially, we both struggled, but I got the hang of it a little faster than Prachi (mainly because I knew swimming). The most difficult part was that with the fins on, you could not simply put your feet down and had to actually make a whole 360 degree turn before you could place you feet on the pool surface. Surprisingly, Prachi too got the hang of it in a few minutes and was all set to snorkel in the empty pool. At one point of time, I asked her to stay in the shallow end while I took a round to the deep end and back, but as I reached the deep end and turned around, I saw that she was already snorkeling and had reached the middle portion of the pool near the edge, which showed me how determined she was to learn and proved that she was truly enjoying this whole adventure.
We practiced for an hour or so glancing at the clean tiles that made up the surface of the pool. Soon, this started to get boring and I was hoping to get hold of the real thing. Now, snorkeling in the pool and snorkeling in the ocean are two very different prospects and we were advised to stay in the shallow part of the beach, close to our room for our own safety. We were also told not to touch the corals or the fish, because they could never tell which one is poisonous. Another thing we were told was to snorkel in the ocean with some sun protection. This did not mean that we could go in with a good sunscreen, as it dissolves in the water and could harm the corals. Instead, we were advised to snorkel in some sort of light jersey like material on our skin.
All this was too much of an ask for Prachi, who was just about getting a hold on the floating process and hence, she decided to stay away as I took to the ocean all by myself. I wore my grey Liverpool 'Gerrard' jersey and shorts and entered the sea from the side of the aquatic centre as I was told. At a short distance, a few metres away, I could actually see the faint reflection of the corals on the surface of the water. These were the artificial corals that had been developed there by the resort. They had also built a sort of barrier a few yards away to prevent large fish from entering and had advised all of us to swim or snorkel well within the barrier.
I waded in the water till the water reached my thighs and then decided to cover the rest of the distance by snorkeling. I put on my mask and fins and started my slow movement towards the corals that I had seen. A few seconds later I found myself hovering over the first of the corals and just behind them I saw a few tiny fish. Now, I am infamous amongst my friends for being a avid consumer of all sort of fish and animals, but to be honest the first thought that ran through my mind when I saw those corals and fish was that of Fear!!
Yes, I have no shame in admitting that I was shit scared at first. Maybe it was the sight of the corals, which I believe are actually not just stones or rocks, but living organism - plants I think. The first one I saw was like a large brownish rock with weird looking circles all around it. Sort of reminded me of being face to face with an alien. A little ahead, I saw one more with tentacles coming out of all the possible places. But soon I realized that the whole lot of them put together actually painted a very beautiful picture in front of my eyes. Add to that the dozen or more varieties of fishes that were swimming close by and the whole encounter was actually becoming more and more enjoyable.
I had seen multiple videos on Discovery channel, but experiencing all this with my own eyes provided a totally different perspective about how life survives under water. I happened to see small fish of various shapes and sizes, not to mention of different colours. The smallest ones I saw were tiny black ones that stayed close to the corals, while the largest one was a multicoloured one, about a feet long, that continued to maintain a certain distance. The most interesting one, however, was an almost translucent and thin looking fish, about 12 - 15 cms long that kept zipping past me and appeared to follow me as I snorkeled. I decided to play around with this fish for 15 minutes or so until I spotted this jet black, thick and long snake like thing lying on the floor near a small coral, which brought back my initial fear of being scared. I swerved away from that spot and a few minutes later swam back to shore.
There was a question I heard sometime back on TV - "When was the last time, you did something for the first time?", and as I sat there in the shallow water, looking back at the corals, I knew that I had just answered that question in the affirmative.
Now I don't own an underwater camera and hence, have no pics to show how much I enjoyed myself, but sit with me and talk about snorkeling and I can probably talk about it for over an hour. Also, would I recommend snorkeling to you all......you bet I would!!
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