The thrills and spills of diving

There are always some new trends hitting the city, be it in food, fashion, fitness or entertainment.  Gone are the days when people just preferred a walk or a dance class over the weekend. Adventure sports like skateboarding and rock climbing have become largely popular.

Scuba diving is another sport that has caught the fancy of many in the city. In the last few years, some groups are providing the experience of learning the sport and people are taking to it with much enthusiasm.

Abeshek Baskaran, an instructor at ‘Barefoot Scuba’ started a few years back, says, “From our experiences in the Andaman Islands, we noticed that many people were from Bengaluru. However, they were busy with their careers and so we thought of bringing the training to their doorstep. We were happy to provide the same facilities here.”

 Another scuba diving institute is ‘Shark Tale Scuba’, a two-and-a-half year old centre in the city. Samuel Pinto, the managing director, says, “There has definitely been an increased awareness for scuba diving in recent times and people are willing to come and learn. Children have also become very interested in the sport and that is a good thing as they learn to embrace the ocean at a very young age.”

  There is also ‘Aquanaut’, owned by Abhishek Sukumaran and Karthik Natarajan, started sometime ago. Karthik says, “We have been getting several enquiries and a lot many people have started joining us, especially professionals, who have a time constraint due to less holidays in their calendar.” In addition to teaching scuba diving, they also plan dive trips to holiday destinations.

Institutes like these are making their mark here with the hope of bringing the ocean, which is far away, to a land-locked place like Bengaluru. It also brings trainers and trainees together in their love for scuba diving.

With hectic daily schedules, one always looks forward to the next vacation. Exotic destinations, with scuba diving opportunities, are on the top of many people’s bucket list.

However, when one finds out that it takes four days of their holidays to complete the course, people’s enthusiasm dies down. That’s how the idea of these inland training centres came up. A two-day training process involving familiarisation with the equipment, dive briefing and confined water training takes place in the city where one receives a certification for the same. The remaining, which is the underwater training, is taught at a holiday destination of one’s choice which doesn’t take too much time. The pre-course helps one become confident and enjoy scuba diving without any fear or apprehension.

 Shreya Krishnamurthy, a recent learner, says, “The experience of learning scuba diving makes you realise what you have been missing all your life and that makes you love the ocean and its inhabitants in ways you could never imagine. Also a good teacher makes a world of difference to one’s learning.”

Pranshu Bhutra, a corporate lawyer, who learnt scuba diving in the city, says, “The underwater world fascinates me and exploring the sport in Bengaluru gave me the opportunity to enjoy my holidays even more. I have travelled to a few holiday destinations and have thoroughly enjoyed the experience of scuba diving there.”

A weekend of theory along with basic practice in a nearby swimming pool prepares you for a dive into the ocean. With so many different sites to be explored, scuba diving can be one amazing experience. So get your gear ready, learn the safety tips and you are ready for an experience of a lifetime!