A water baby’s day out

Beach bumming, deep sea diving, snorkelling, seafood and lots of sunshine might be just some of the things to strike off from your checklist when you’re holidaying in the amazing archipelago of Andaman & Nicobar. These beautiful sun-kissed islands are nestled in nature’s bounty of turquoise blue and green water shimmering like emeralds in the Bay of Bengal.

There are many direct flights from India making the journey quite easy. Our flight landed in Port Blair and after a night’s rest at Noble Homestay, we took the morning Makruzz ferry to Havelock, a beautiful laid-back tropical island to the northeast of Port Blair.

I put my feet up, let my hair down and relaxed with a book in one hand and a lime juice in the other, on a hammock on the first day (yes, I wasn’t sipping on my favourite long island ice tea, as I was here for a reason — to do something that’s far from everyday experience). I was in Havelock to complete my Professional Association of Diving Instructors (Padi) Open Water Certification course. If you’re going to be diving the next day, it’s best you refrain from any alcohol.

Taking the plunge We set our alarm clocks for 6 am and after a wholesome breakfast of bananas, chocolate pancakes, eggs and multi-grain bread at the Full Moon Café we walked down for our fittings; we first tried the scuba wet suit, then fins and mask for the sizing. A trip to Andaman is never complete without scuba diving. We had scanned through our knowledge manual, watched many diving videos that are required to complete the course and cleared our theory and pool tests. After being briefed at the dive site, we boarded the boats that took us to our first dive site — Nemo Reef, Havelock which is a few minutes away from beach threes. Dive India and Barefoot Scuba are the two best Padi dive resorts at Havelock. These resorts also offer recreational diving in small groups for all levels of divers, with opportunities to learn how to dive through a complete range of courses from introductory level to professional divemaster and instructor levels. Certified divers usually take you to explore a depth of 12 metres or 40 feet and sometimes even up to 18 metres.

How deep is your dive Hopping on to a speedboat with our persistent yet patient guide Vikas Nairi, we embarked upon our journey to rendezvous with the supremely gorgeous blue-green sea. As we take the giant stride into the reef with our mask and fins on, we begin our first underwater breath. In no time, we’re surrounded by jelly fish, clown fish, Hambug damsel, Napoleon moray wrasse, snapper, parrot fish, hawk fish, moorish idol, threadfin butterfly and more. And as we begin to ogle at sea urchins, large incandescent blue, green, black, orange and yellow fish, smaller schools of fish in multiple hues and sun mushroom and other coral brighten up our surroundings. We’re embedded in a peaceful vista with the blue sky above and the serene and calm sound of the ocean encompassing us.

Navigating the abyss Seeing the breathtaking marine life and coral while swimming underwater with large schools of fish is an exhilarating experience. There’s nothing better than this to take a peek into a life that’s seldom explored. After our first two dives of the day — which lasted an hour each — we returned with satisfied smiles to our spacious and comfortable tented cottages. Post a quick shower we exchanged our dive notes over a hearty seafood luncheon. The next day we took our third and fourth certified dives at Peel Lighthouse and The Wall in Havelock and by the end of the fourth and final dive to be certified divers and completing all the underwater skills, we no longer felt like amateurs.

Other activities for island-hoppers include snorkeling and kayaking. Tinaz Noble offers kayakers a memorable experience to prowl lush green mangroves, coves and sea arches with her on these islands. You can also drive down to the Radhanagar beach and get a view of the Gauguin-inspired sunset. The decision to explore an untouched locale turned out to be life-changing for me. Mastering a dive is worth every penny spent and today, I’m in awe of the underwater world.