SCUBA, an Active Volcano, and a Chinese 'Spy'

While on break in the beginning of March on the Andaman Islands I had the opportunity of a lifetime come before me and I jumped at the opportunity: scuba diving off the coast of India's (and South Asia's) only active volcano. Barren Island, which is about 85 miles from Port Blair, is a desolate island surrounded by nothing but the sea and has erupted multiple times dating as far back as 1787(it's first recorded eruption). More recently it's erupted multiple times since leaving its on and a half century dormancy period in 1991. Two weeks before I arrived in the Andamans, Barren Island released an ash plume 20,000 feet into the sky, showing VERY recent activity.

Aerial Shot of Barren Island (obv. not taken by me)

The trip itself would consume a whole day. We would take a slow boat overnight out to the island and then dive right around sunrise and then two more times in the morning before heading back to Havelock, which is an eight hour trip one way! The remoteness of the trip made it even more thrilling because radio communication is nonexistent/very spotty there and your hours away from any sort of help. I was completely interested and a crew of seven divers and two divemasters (as well as ship crew) went to the Havelock Jetty at 8PM to embark on an awesome adventure. When the divemasters are even super excited to go out to Barren Island, you know you are in for a real treat. 

The divers consisted of Tara and myself, an English/Canadian couple, a French guy, a Swiss girl, and a Chinese guy. We were all very excited for the whole adventure. All the tanks, equipment, and rations were loaded onto the boat, which was a medium/small wooden boat with a load-ass diesel engine roaring within it. The boat took off from Havelock and was quickly surrounded by nothing but the dark ocean illuminated from a recently full moon. Sleeping options were limited to the roof of the boat and the flat cover directly above the engine compartment. The Frenchman, Swiss girl, Chinese guy, one of the divemasters and myself took to the roof while the rest slept down below. Sleeping arrangements were a choice of the lesser of two evils. The Swiss girl had dove Barren Island before and brought a hammock for the roof area which seemed odd but proved very very valuable to a good nights rest. Everyone except the Chinese guy slept horizontally on the roof to minimize the rocking and shifting from the waves. I placed myself strategically along the guardrail to anchor myself and keep from moving to drastically at night while the Swiss girl and Frenchmen slept perfectly in their hammocks. The little Chinese guy who couldn't have been older than me flew all over the goddamn place all night. He was perfectly situated so that when the boat rocked he rolled violently into me ALL NIGHT. It was getting really choppy and to be honest a good bit sketchy for sleeping on the roof. The divemaster got up and went downstairs late in the night during the choppyness while the Chinese guy continued to destroy me and any chance at sleeping. Sometime during all this choppyness the Canadian girl rolled off into the aisle (and almost off the boat) onto the divemaster sleeping there and then stood up during a huge wave which sent her literally inches from going overboard if it wasn't for the divemaster and her boyfriend grabbing her arms. After that scare she got seasick and blew chunks everywhere. At least I didn;t have to deal with that!! We arrive to Barren Island around 4:30 AM and I was able to get at least a little bit of shuteye before diving at sunrise.

Tired and congested around 6 AM the sun rose over this epic lonely island and I instantly forgot about all the shittiness from the night. The volcano even had a small amount of smoke coming from it which was really really exciting. If you look at the picture above you can see the massive lava flow (black rock) on the left. Our first dive was a bit to the right of that along the island heading away from it. Once under I was amazed at the visibility! I was 30m deep and could see the surface and just as far if not further deeper. The island has a huge wall along it with a multitude of coral life and a smaller but still colorful array of fish but I was here for the morphology of the landscape just as much as the fish and coral. This first dive went well and after surfacing the boat broke down and was drifting to the rocky shore. We watched the impending trainwreck from the surface as the crew got the motor to function barely and threw the anchor a little further away from the really shallow depths they were at. They couldn't get the motor fully functioning by the time our surface interval was over so we dove the wall and the lava flow in the opposite direction of where we first dove which had never been dove at previously. This dive was awesome!!! We saw a huge manta ray from afar in the open ocean and diving along the lava flow was surreal. Even pinching myself wouldn't bring me to any sort of reality the whole environment was so unique; underwater lava flows with coral deposits around them freaking mesmerizing. The final dive was good and on the other side of the island (they got the boat to work thankfully). I had trouble equalizing and stayed down anyways because I couldn't see missing out  on any of this. Large mushroom shaped corals with psychedelic coloring were everywhere and yet again I was left amazed. 

Back on the boat my ear started to hurt. A LOT. I had a reverse block in my left ear which is when an air bubble get caught in the inner depths of your ear and the only thing you can do to get if out is to wait. All of my sinuses, my jar and ear were in so much pain for the whole 8 hour boat ride. It was miserable but didn't come close to overshadowing the dives at all, it was totally worth it. After landing back up sometime around dinner between my shower and logging my dives I was able to get the reverse block from the inner-inner chamber of my ear to just near the surface and it went away a little bit later thank god. On top of that between the critical lack of sleep and the constant rocking on a boat for 24 hours I spent the night swaying and was pretty much deaf so I looked a little more ridiculous than normal. Oh yeah I forgot about the Chinese spy.

So this Chinese guy who dove with us was shorter and skinnier than me and couldn't have been older than 28. He also had a really high pitched girl's voice. Beyond spending the night throwing elbows and rolling on me (which I was a little bitter about) he was not a very good or attentive diver. One of the divemasters had to buddy up with him and watch over him. He wasn't the only one watching over him. It is illegal to camp on the beaches on Havelock and the Chinese guy had been doing so which attracted the attention of the local police who had been monitoring his activity from afar for the past few days. Apparently Indian authorities are really suspicious of Chinese people especially on the island and think that they could be spies for the Chinese government. Absurd right? Especially for this guy. (But maybe that's what he wants you to believe.....) While we were on our way out (unknown to us) the local police called in the Indian Coast Guard from Chennai to intercept out ship on the way out to Barren Island which is logically impossible distance and time wise and ridiculous. The head of the resort spent hours talking to the cops telling them that the resort has done nothing wrong by letting him dive because he was certified and his illegal camping had nothing to do with them or their operations and intercepting their boat and business is no bueno. The cops response to late their already headed out!! The coast guard turned around shorty due to choppy conditions and the cops pulled back because it was true that it wasn't the resorts issue (AND THE FACT THAT THIS KID IS OBVIOUSLY NOT A SPY!!!!!!!). When we got back the Chinese guy was forced to stay at a resort and chided for sleeping on the beaches illegally. But seriously I wish I had his picture so you could see why considering him a spy was possibly one of the most ludicrous things I've ever witnessed a power of authority suspect. 

So there you have it by far the most interestingly bizarre 24 hours I had/will have on the trip and a story that can tie together a volcano, scuba diving, and a 'spy' from China...life is never boring.

The Andaman Islands

The Andaman Islands are a wonderful chain of islands in the Bay of Bengal. They have a fantastic variety of coral reef which is home to some great scuba diving (more on that later!) as well as an interesting cultural heritage of indigenous tribes. The islands over the past decade have seen a large influx in commercial tourism as a spot for newlyweds Indian couples on their honeymoon as well as a diving hotspot for people from all over the world. The epicenter for the tsunami in 2004 that devastated eastern India and surrounding areas was not far from the Andamans and had a serious impact on the islands.

My personal exposure to the islands has been limited to the southern area of the islands. It's a quick two and a half hour flight into Port Blair from Chennai. A short ride from Port Blair took us over to Wandoor, located on the southeastern side of South Andaman Island  The program collaborates with the primary environmental NGO on the islands the Andaman and Nicobar Environmental Team (ANET). ANET, which is located in Wandoor, was put together to study the massive diversity of organisms present on the island. The organization hosts researchers from all over and additionally functions as an educational center for students. Their role currently is to provide a base for researchers and works to promote the conservation of such a unique and precious island.

While at ANET, the program focused on the unique location and multiple environments found at and near ANET's campus. It is situated between the mangroves and the jungle and a short walk away leads you to a varied intertidal zone and beach. These three ecosystems and their transitioning zones provide an excellent area to study a countless number of organisms and interactions. The students spent the week we were there formulated and collecting data on individual research projects in these areas. The staff and researchers at ANET are a dedicated and fun group who have a true passion for their areas of interest and for the conservation of the Andaman Islands. ANET additionally has a scuba diving operation and  I was able to get two dives in between the coast of Chidia Tapu and Rutland Island on the southwest side of the island. The first dive was quite relaxed and casual going down deep and then working my way up along a small shelf. The second dive was shallow and although there was a bit of a current, the area had a decent variety of different corals and fish. The laid back island lifestyle paired with the remote and simple living facilities and wonderful people found at ANET made it hard to leave after the week was over. 

The next couple of days were spent over on Havelock Island for the student's spring break. Now I mentioned the draw of tourism to the islands and a majority of that lure is based over on Havelock. Havelock is home to a variety of small resorts and dive shops and that's about it. My experiences in 2009 on Havelock were positive and the island had a small to medium level of development to accompany the tourism draw. Flash forward four years, the island has become so developed and entrenched in making a quick dollar from tourism that the slow underdeveloped nature of Havelock that I once knew has been replaced and the streets are now lined with small restaurants and shops all over. It was disheartening and in addition to the influx of a higher density of tourism is a higher density of land use and trash. Although the island itself was a bit disappointing, the diving around the islands here was still spectacular. I was able to do some local dives some I had done four year earlier as well as new sites. The resort we stayed at was the same one I stayed at on my program and is a comfortable beachfront place geared towards scuba diving and has an excellent and friendly staff. The people who work there are so nice and friendly and happy, I mean i can't blame them their job is to live on a tropical island and scuba dive! Tara and I also had the privileged of taking the 'slow boat' to the only active volcanic island in India and dove all day along it which I will share about in my next post...stay tuned!