SCUBADIVING

Scuba diving is perhaps the most amusing water sports of all time, offering us a way to explore the under water life of species, with its breathtakingly colourful and diverse inhabitants.Floating below the azure waters, you are in an ethereal – sometimes hostile – environment, with a limited supply of air on your back and with only your fellow divers as your lifelines. Over the years and the decades, scuba diving has evolved into a non-competitive but a very exciting adventure sport.

SCUBA is the short form of ‘Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus’. It was developed in the mid-1940s by the world famous underwater explorer and conservationist, Jacques-Yves Cousteau (with more than a little help from ÉmileGagnan), for the French Navy during the Second World War. After the war, however, diving turned into a recreational sport, which has since been taken up by millions worldwide.

India offers unlimited possibilities for scuba-diving enthusiasts. Its extensive coastline is dotted with sandy beaches; its two major groups of islands – boasting some of the most unexplored and exotic diving locations in the world – are enough to whet the appetite of the most demanding diving buff.

The Andamans and Lakshadweep offer a quality of scuba diving unmatched in the world, and both now figure prominently in the itinerary of a fair number of domestic as well as foreign tourists.Unchartered waters, exotic underwater terrain, steep wall dives and exciting drift dives are what make the Andamans one of Asia’s most sought-after diving destinations.

The coral in the waters around the Lakshadweep Islands is shaped like a ring and encircles a staggeringly beautiful emerald-blue lagoon. In 1998, most of the corals died due to the El Nino effect (global warming). But, of late, thanks to the water temperature being around 28C-30C, the corals have gradually been able to revive.

Netrani Island (or Pigeon Island), off Mangalore, is virgin territory but it does offer some superb diving, in stunningly clear-blue waters with an abundant variety of marine life and coral reef formations. In fact, conditions off the coast of Karnataka are almost perfect for scuba diving – this could be India’s next scuba-diving destination.

Gear for modern scuba diving is made up of one (or more) gas cylinder secured to the diver’s back. This gas tank is joined to an air hose and the demand (or diving) regulator – this latter device controls the flow of air, so that the air pressure in the diver’s lungs is the same as the pressure of the water. Among other gear/equipment used in diving is the buoyancy control device (BCD), basically an inflatable jacket that controls your buoyancy by adding or releasing air.

Scuba diving at Andaman and Nikobar Islands

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