Hooray! I have snorkeled & I am alive!

S Balakrishnan *

'NO, NO! No chance at all, I am not diving in for snorkeling.' I firmly held the speedboat that was already dancing on the deep waters off Havelock Island (later renamed Swaraj). There was not a soul around for nautical miles together and the shore was a thin line far off.

And, all four of us did not know how to swim. As if this lack of skill was not scary enough, I suddenly remembered an astrologer's warning that I had danger (ghantam) in water (thanni). And the depth was really scary, adding to my ingrained fear of deep water – thalassophobia or whatever you call it.

But my wife insisted that snorkeling was a once in a lifetime chance and I should not miss it at all. At that moment I realized the true meaning of the phrase 'between the devil and the deep sea'! What was her motive, I wondered. I had not even insured my life.

To her credit, she was the first to snorkel successfully. I said, like a true gentleman, 'Ladies First!' She believed my words and jumped in. Believe me, I had no ulterior motive! As the guide led her, we three sat in the boat like dolls, without any movement, lest the boat tilt. Horrific scenes from the movie Titanic rolled before me.

While my wife got into the boat after snorkeling it tilted to one side and I called all the gods for help. I wondered what would happen when our hefty son got in and when I got in, if at all I jumped out. Our son and daughter bravely went for snorkeling and enjoyed it thoroughly. I had to beg them to return. They enticed me that a mermaid was waiting for me.

'Sorry, not interested, I can't live with her in deep waters', I declined the invite. By the by, why only mermaids, why don't we hear much about merman? I told the boatman that I would pay him extra bucks if he would very kindly permit me to sit in the dinghy itself, dip out only my head into the waters and snorkel!

He wondered what a novel way of snorkeling! He assured me that it was 'only' ten feet deep. Yet the view was so clear and appeared so near! Thus my very first snorkeling experience turned out to be dramatically scary and, therefore, ever etched in my memory since 2009. Hooray! I have snorkeled and I am also alive!

We reached Havelock Island on the 9th day of our holiday in Andamans. Oh, don't be surprised by our long stay; in fact, we stayed for a full 15 days! I was visiting the Islands after 30 years and my family members were on their first trip. The truth is we were not satisfied even with the 15-day stay. So enchanting are the Andaman Islands; unfortunately, we could not visit the Nicobars!

Though Havelock has been renamed 'Swaraj', somehow I prefer the old name as I am used to it since 1978; old habits die hard, right? We landed on Havelock shore at 4.30 PM the previous evening from Neil Island (oops, it has now been renamed 'Shaheed' but never mind). The bunk class fare was Rs.195/per head. But attracted by its quaint village atmosphere I wished we had stayed overnight in Neil Island itself.

The open jeep ride straight to Radha Nagar beach was so exotic; I would even say it was the highlight of our Havelock trip. The young driver had switched on the music system that played out the remix of the Bollywood song Nazaara Hai from the movie 'Tasveer', most aptly suiting our adventurous and happy mood. Till sunset we enjoyed the serene, waist-deep waters and then went to the seaside resort.

The rent for a double-bedded room was Rs. 800. We ate our supper at the resort itself as there was no other go. It was June when we visited, so there wasn't the mad & irritating rush of tourists as the schools had reopened. Oh, what a relief! We felt lucky as if we owned Havelock Island and its pristine beaches.

We woke up with much expectation of our snorkeling trip and rushed out after breakfast to board the speedboat. As we had to check out at 8 AM, we dumped our luggage at the reception counter. While snorkeling I felt the lack of tourists. There was no one else around to help in case of emergency, and our snorkeling guide-cum-boatman was just a lanky boy.

Meanwhile, dark clouds had gathered, giving an ominous touch to my negative thoughts. It started drizzling also, so we returned to the resort's shore by 10.15 AM. As the boat neared the shore, I flouted the rule 'Ladies First' to jump out first and heaved a great sigh of relief when I stood on terra firma.

Well, we all enjoyed the 1000 rupee snorkeling trip according to our own emotions. We then frolicked in the waist-deep waters for more than an hour like lazy crocodiles, clutching to some broken tree trunk. Talking of crocodiles, I am reminded of a sad incident in Havelock waters after our trip. A foreign lady tourist was dragged by a croc here even as her boyfriend was filming her. She was never traced.

If this had only happened before our arrival, I would not have touched the waters at all. After lunch, we left for jetty by 1PM paying a hefty Rs. 500 for a jeep ride. The inter-island ferry MV Bambooka sailed off from Havelock for Port Blair at 2 PM on her Voyage No. 189.

Luckily the air conditioning worked smoothly on this trip. The tickets had PNR numbers along with marked seating! I thought what a sea of change since 1978. Well, we also successfully snorkeled at Red Skin Island and at North Bay but they were not really deep sea, so not as scary and 'memorable' as the snorkeling experience off-Havelock.

Courtesy- 'Go Explore Andaman' monthly magazine, Dec. 2021 issue