Just in case


Just in case i have some Bangagalore Dive Club Members who only exclusively follow me on the blog ( i have my doubts i read my stats people!!) There is a Bangalore Dive Club Meeting held at Extreme Sports Bar located on 100ft road Indiranagar at 6.30pm on the 17th of July. That is TOMORROW!! So if you guys don’t know about it, just come down and have a drink with us and catch up. There will be plenty of details on the Maldives trip and other trips there. Also quite good discounts are to be had on our equipment. Hope to see you all there soon.

Bangalore Dive Club Meeting
Venue: Extreme Sports Bar (100ft road Indiranagar, above Reid & Taylor showroom)
Time: 6.30pm
Date: 17 July 2009 (tomorrow,Friday)

Zero to Advance


How long does it take to go from a non diver to a PADI-Advanced Open Water Diver? All it takes is 5 Days. WHAT?? NO WAY!! IMPOSSIBLE? It’s true. just 5 days.

It begins with 2 days of classroom lessons and pool sessions. Then take a 3 days relaxing trip to the Andamans and completing 9 dives and getting qualified as an Advanced Open Water Diver. Sure you can take the same time do a even more relaxing holiday and get qualified as an PADI-Open Water Diver. But this is me we are talking about. We got to go the whole way or no way.

But i will tell you this, it was a beautiful experience. The classroom sessions give you a feel of what to expect. I shall be honest and say some parts of it were dry but hey all classroom lessons are generally on the dry side. The pool sessions however were good. You get to learn the basic skills in a safe and conducive environment. It puts you at ease and gets you acquainted with the equipment that you will use in the open waters. Also its the best excuse to cool yourself off in this summer heat.

PADI-Open Water Diver: The first 2 days in the island was spent getting certified as a OWD ( we use short forms from here on cos, for one thing it sounds cooler. 2ndly i can’t be bothered to type out the whole thing) The first time you are on the boat and putting on your gear, there is a fleeting moment in the back of your head which says ” am i doing the right thing?” that fleeting moment soon disappears when you roll backwards from the boat to the water and is replaced with a siren that goes ” HOLY *#*$&# what the hell is happening”  But when you surface and are lazily floating, you realise this IS the life.

You begin the first couple of lessons learning to breathe normally and adjust to your surroundings. You start to feel comfortable in the water. It feels as if you are back home. You gain more confidence moving around. You start to enjoy yourself. Then it hits you. You are breathing underwater. It seems like almost 2nd nature to you. You see the corals and the fishes. This seems like the most natural thing to do. The OWD course teaches you to move underwater, performing tasks that you need to learn. Like defogging your mask (we are waiting for them to create mini internal windshield wipers) learning how to be buoyant so that you don’t crash land on top of  aquatic life. You learn and enjoy yourself at the same time. It does not get better than this.

AOWD(Advanced Open Water Diver) shall be continued in my next installment. But first i shall leave you with some pictures.

Scuba Diving – The Ultimate Adventure Sport!


Most sports are played with national pride at stake, and few others are played with a competitive streak. But there are certain sports that border on a particular way of living and are niche to adrenaline junkies. Scuba diving is one of them.

The thrill of adventure and the rush of blood while taking that first dive into the deep blue waters are fantastic catalysts for most people who love adventure. Scuba diving is popular all over the world and in India, it is now picking up pace mainly due to the efforts of Planet Scuba India. The country’s first inland scuba diving school, based out of Bangalore, is aiming at making scuba diving one of the premier leisure activities for Bangaloreans, without the hassle of travelling to the diving hot spots across the country.

Very few adventure sport in the world matches up to scuba diving in terms of fascination, and most people in the world would like to try it out, given a chance. The chance is here. The time is now.

Leisure and adventure are two faces of the same coin, when it comes to sports like scuba diving. Once underwater, the diver can experience the beauty of the marine life in near weightlessness, and that feeling is incomparable. It has become a way of living for many people across the world and Indians are taking to the sport like a fish takes to water, all puns intended.

So, give the adrenaline junkie inside you a chance to take you through an exhilarating experience. Anyone can dive at Planet Scuba India!