“Indonesia
is an Archipelago with around 16000 islands give or take few hundred depending
on whether it is high tide or low tide. Most of them are not inhabited. The
larger ones being Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Papua and Sulawesi. Jakarta is in
Java Island. As this is situated at eh convergence point of South China Sea
Indonesian and Pacific Ocean, it has the highest variety of Marine Life in
compared to any other part of the world. You can say it is the epicentre of
bio-diversity. It is said that there are around 3000 types of fishes in this
region. The multi-coloured coral reefs with scintillating hard and soft corals
are diver’s dream.” Udhi started
“When
did you become an expert on Indonesian Geography” Neel asked.
“I
was there for a month and I decided to get to know the place”
“It
is also one the most economical place to learn diving” Udhi continued
“You
mean scuba diving?” Raghav asked
“Yes
sire. You can’t see coral while sky diving” Udhi replied with a naughty
laughter.
“Ok
my bloomer” Raghav replied with his hands held high
“I
registered for a dive course. It cost me only 300 USD. At this price they there
was one theory class, four equipment trainings in swimming pool and four
supervised dives and the written test. At the end I got Paddy certificate.”
“That
was a good deal” Neel said
“What
do they teach in theory?” Raghav asked
“This
included what equipment to use, what are the best practices to follow, how to
take care of the risks of air embolism, nitrogen narcosis, oxygen narcosis,
decompression sickness, and the discipline and etiquette under the sea. The
trainer explained that we should go down as visitors and not as plunderers and
the colourful artifacts are only to see and not to borrow for our sitting room.”
“Is
there so much funda you need to learn if you are only doing this for fund once
a while and not as a professional?” Neel asked
“Even
if you are diving for fun you need to be aware of many things. For example the
absorption of Nitrogen into blood is much higher when we are in deep waters ie
when we are in a high pressure sorrounding. So when we come back up to normal
atmosphere the nitrogen will suddenly bubble out of the blood. These bubbles
could be quite dangerous and fatal. So if you have spent some time in deep
waters then you should not come up quickly. You should plan your ascent slowly
and spent some few minutes at regular intervals so that the nitrogen is
released back in lung and come out as part of our breathing. Based on the
duration you have spent under, the depth to which you went down, whether you
had dived in the previous days etc there are tables that tells you how long and
deep can be you next dive and how long it would take to clear your system.”
“Then
he took us to a swimming pool and taught us how to handle the equipment and
made us practice various exercises that we are expected to be familiar with to
handle occasional emergencies; what to do if I run out of air, what to do if
the air supply cable (the regulator) comes off, how to handle a cramp, how to
take off and put on the total dive gear in the sea both at the surface and down
under. He made us do this in the pool and told us that we should repeat this in
the sea, for him to be convinced that we were good enough to be let loose in
open water.”
“Wow
sounds scary” Neel commented with an artificial shiver
“After
these four sessions he took us to a nearby island resort called Kul-Kul-Kotok.
It was a one hour journey by boat from Jakarta and is part of a small cluster
of 128 Islands called Pulau Seribi. This litarally means 1000 islands. This is
not the best of the dive spots of Indonesia. But it is the nearest to Jakarta.
The boat ride was quite nice. The sea was calm and weather was refreshing. We
sat on the deck discussing about diving. There were two other girls with us for
the dive training. Devi was a colleague from the Jakarta Office of Insight and
the other was her friend Salomi. We were all excited about the impending
adventure”
“Wherever
there is Udhi there would be girls following” Arjun commented with laughter
“Shut
up you idiot” Udhi replied pretending to be angry.
“We
reached at around noon and checked into the resort. This resort consisted of a
number of cottages near the sea. The cottages we well spread out. The Restaurant was also a cottage which was
extending into the sea. “
“After
dumping our stuff in the room we walked back to the restaurant. Suddenly Devi jumped
up as if she saw a ghost. We looked in the direction she pointed. There were
couple of large Monitor Lizards walking around. We were quite startled. They
were quite large almost as big as a dog. The gardener who working in the vicinity
reassured us. He explained that these are quite harmless and there was no need
to worry”
“We
gathered in the restaurant as the dive was planned only for the next day. We
ordered for some chilled beer. The seafood options available were amazing. We
ordered fried squid rings as starters. It was Amazing. Then we had prawns, fish,
Kalamari and sticky rice for lunch. Man , it was awesome”
“”My
mouth is watering hearing this” Arjun replied
“After
lunch we lazed around in the couches in the restaurant. Then at around 430 in
the evening all of us decided to take a dip in the sea. The water was cool and
pleasant. There was wonderful coral formation even near the beach. We were a
bit worried about the many sea urchins around”
“We
finished by around seven and decided to have an early dinner as we had to get
out early for our diving”
“The
dinner was also outstanding. There was a wonderful spread available as buffet.
There were a variety of dishes from diverse cuisines; Japanese, Thai and
Indonesian style. I hogged on Sushi and Sashimi. I don’t want to describe more.
You guys will dye of jealousy” Udhi teased
“After
dinner Devi returned to her room. Salomi and I stayed back in the restaurant
sipping our beer. She was originally from Malaysia. Completed her MBA from
Wharton couple of years ago. Now she was part of the World Bank team posted at
Jalarta.”
“Smart
Chic” Arjun commented.
“She
is quite smart and quite a sweet girl. We shared our stories laughed at our
follies and discussed Indonesian markets. The banter was pleasing and the
discussion was cerebral”
“The
right combination for Udhi” Arjun said
Later
we went for a stroll in the beach. The night was calm. There was moon light and
we walked along the stretches of sand talking about inconsequential stuff. She
reached her hand around my elbow and I put my hand around her shoulders. It was
cozy. Then we sat at the beach holding each other’s hand. We felt a unexplainable warmth and connection among
each other. Then we got up and walked back to the resort to our respective
rooms”
“RETURNED
to respective rooms?” Neel asked with his eyebrows raised
“Yes
you heard right” Udhi replied
“How
disappointing” Raghav responded
“We
were all tensed in anticipation of the dive the next day”
“Oh
I see”
“As
she opened the door to her room she turned her gaze back. At that point I also
looked in that direction. Both of us laughed knowingly”
“I
got into my room and crashed straightway without even changing. I slept like a
child dreaming about corals and colourful schools of fish dancing around me”
