[Travelogue] Sea dive, Kovalam

Networking always brings the best. Seriously, it does (I have whined hard for missing the Chennai Bloggers meet) So, last Photowalk when I went to Syndenhams road, I met this cool set of boys who were super enthused about everything in life, they were regular trekkers and passionate photographers. They were telling me about Chennai Trekking Club which was is not an organization per se, but a club run purely by volunteers.

I was super interested in it and started following Chennai Trekking Club updates much seriously. Much to my dismay, the treks that were listed in the month of May-June were largely of moderate-difficult treks types and were not open for beginners. There were dos and donts that were listed meticulously and what needs to be brought mentioned in detail. CTC is a non profit club which thrives by volunteers, therefore the more you volunteer, the more readily you are accepted in future treks. I was amazed.

By the end of May I was super excited to see sea dive trip in the Kovalam beach. There! I mailed to Sridhar who was the volunteer, asking for a Sunday slot. I called him up and told him - I was a menial swimmer, will it be okays? He reassured me. Back at home, hubby (the Piscean) was okay with me (the Cancarian) for the SEA dive, our forte!

Things needed : Snacks for post dive, dry clothes and a super open-mind!
Caution : You had to sign a disclaimer form. You were advised not to eat anything before the dive, lest set in a wave of seasickness.
Watch outs : You might find people who canoe or surf in the sea. You will definitely find lots of people that cycle on the ECR.

Canoeing duo - Student and the Trainer

5.30 AM
We started from home, hitting the roads with absolutely no traffic. We were heading to Thiruvanmyur, which was the meeting point. We had volunteered to bring our car, so that we can offer a lift to those members in CTC who needed it.

6.00 AM
At the Thiruvanmyur Railway station (meeting point) volunteers were put in charge of collecting the money, getting the disclaimer forms signed and to call up the people that hadn't turned up.Since, we had LOTS of people who had volunteered for cars. There were cars one too many. Therefore, some of the people left their cars in a shed. Sridhar, Elangovan sir and another guy came along with us. Later, in a jiffy we were at Kovalam.



7 AM +/- odd hours
At Kovalam, we met the crew mostly fishermen with some sort of a supervisor, who had the responsibility of taking us to the sea. Sridhar / the organizers, collected all the car/bike keys and placed it in one car, just so we dont lose all the keys and so we took only one car key to the sea. It was thinking with common sense and I laud the organizers for that! :) then we posed for the Pre-dive picture!

Pre-dive Photo

There were 41 people in our team. We were strapped into life jackets - Small, Med, Large, before we were taken to the boats, four in number. There were close to 10 people in each boat, with 2 to 3 boatsmen accompanying in each boat. We were in the fourth boat, we had our camera with us, of course with the plastic bag/cover that Sridhar had suggested.

Being drawn into the Sea

In the Sea
First of all, its lovely to write in the sea, instead of at the sea ;) The boat ride was bloody awesome, we could almost sea monstrous waves of water, that kept the boat rocking. About 1 to 2 kms away from the shore line, we were had to jump into the sea (of course, supervised by the boatmen) which we did. It was AWESOME to just go inside that sea water, and have that slight hint of fear in your heart until you surface! (like... shabba innum uyiroda thaan yaa irukooom!!)

Then on you float, you try to swim with the current, against the current (it doesn't matter either way you stay in the same place :P) The East Coast has a steep ocean floor and 1 km inside the sea is no joke. It was marvelous to see the horizon much clearly, whopping waves and a thin puny line of buildings which outline the thing called shore.

Hubby, and that DISTANT streak of shoreline

Back on the shore :
After forty minutes of solid fun, we were taken back ashore. We were taken back in the first boat, when our camera was in a different boat, however when all the boats arrived at shore, the guys (boatmen) returned our cams. I gave a heave and got the camera back from them, we are SO used to people stealing electronic goods (mobiles etc) that its a refreshing change to know people who might actually save it in their dashboards to protect it and later hand it out. (nallavangaaaa!)

People are more ENTHUSED in the Post-dive pic?

Then we posed for a Post-Dive group pic in the rocky Kovalam shore and with light hearts left, dropping our respective car-taggers back in shed (where the cars were parked) and moved home.

Back at home, it was time for a HARD hitting nap and a dream that probably said, whens the next sea dive...  ;)