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!

Goodbye Winter, Hello Pondicherry

My fun arrival experience placed me in a mental fog for the next few days which coincidentally was alright because the students just arrived from Thailand a day or two prior and everybody had a couple of days off to adjust and get acquainted with the workings of FERAL and the town of Pondi. I spent the next day completely awake to try and adjust as much as possible to the time here. The students went into town to scope out Pondicherry and to meet up with the program coordinator Tara. I tagged along mainly to catch up with Tara. She was the program assistant for the study abroad semester when I was a student in 2009 and had since then taken over the program and I was now filling in the spot of program assistant. We all meandered around Pondicherry and tried to convince the students not to buy too much stuff the first day so they wouldn't get ripped off because of not knowing the ins and outs of bargaining and how much things really are worth over here. The next day I slept for 13 strait hours. 

And then I was caught up on sleep. The next few weeks were spent in Pondicherry at FERAL with classes on GIS (which stands for geographical information systems, a simplified description is that its a mapping program), statistics, and a classes on Gender and Culture. The students also created and collected data for projects on local estuarine systems and a few of the areas sustainable reforestation farms. 

I spent a large chunk re-orienting myself and assisting with the GIS course. The problem with computer programming courses is that everyone has a different type of computer with different formats, capacities, and issues. Which means when something goes wrong, there can be up to seven different issues and ways to fix the issue each time an error popped up. I also have been compiling and working on literature reviews for a number of papers that are in the works with Tara's individual research here at FERAL which has to do with the coastal fisheries in the surrounding area. 

Now that we have all been in Pondicherry for a little over a month and have gotten comfortable, its time to start traveling! The program heads to a crocodile sanctuary just south of Chennai for a week, then off to the Andaman Islands for a week at the Andaman and Nicobar Environmental Team's (ANET) campus and then off to Havelock Island for the students spring break and a chance to relax for a couple of days before returning to the mainland in early March. 

36 Strait Hours Awake

One should never underestimate flying halfway around the world. Yes, its a whole lot of sitting and waiting around but after a while it reaches a level of manic sleep deprivation which is the point I wish I was at. I passed that point around 25 or so hours in. I flew from Buffalo to JFK which was a small hop skip and jump across New York. JFK to Dubai was a relatively comfortable flight for twelve and a half hours. I did have to deal with a Bengalese man with a low tolerance for booze who was acting like a child for a few hours. Emirates solution to dealing with someone who has drank too much.........give them more booze until they pass out. Not the best strategy but it worked thankfully.

I then had a six hour layover in the Dubai airport. It was a relatively nice place with a huge assortment of people from all spans of the globe. All the facilities were top notch and there were even prayer rooms if that's your thing. My flight from Dubai to Chennai was a relatively quick 5 hour flight comparably. At this point I had been up for the better part of 27 or so hours. A taxi was waiting for me at the airport for the ride down to Pondicherry to FERAL, the organization I will be volunteering at for the next three months. So the driver and I set off from the airport around 10 pm or so after waiting an hour and a half to get my checked luggage.......without any headlights.

Now in the states, no headlights and driving at night seems like a terrible situation right? In India the roads are kind of a open format where people pass as they please and the margin of space between fatal collision and getting back onto your side of the road is about two or three meters. Anyone who has been to a developing nation knows how the driving is and it can best be described as organized chaos. To pass someone at night the driver uses their high beams and horn to indicated a pass to oncoming traffic and the vehicle being passed. Makes sense. Without headlight, shit gets a little dangerous. After being up for over a day I was amused and exhausted beyond caring because I knew it was a least a 2 hour ride to Pondicherry from Chennai. The familiar loud ass honking and noise kept me from dosing off and the sweet smell of humidity and diesel fumes invaded my nostrils. The driver stopped along multiple street repair shops and after waiting another hour and a half to two hours the 'repair guy' switched around all the fuses in the fuse box enough to miraculously get only the high beams working but it was better than nothing.

I got to FERAL in Pondicherry at 2:30 in the morning. the nightwatchmen woke up and had no idea who the hell I was nor was he expecting me to show up. Between my sleepwalking state and his simple English I was able to convince him to not worry about me and that I'd figure shit out in the morning. I had no idea what my sleeping arangements where and frankly at this point didn't care. I laid in a hammock under one of the students capsules (raised thatch hut) and conked out. January is a harvest festival month in southern India. Temple music started blaring at 4 am. An hour and a half of sleep after being up for 36 strait hours. Welcome back to India.

October 14th 7:03 PM

I MADE IT!!!!!!!!! Coming out of Skykomish I encountered more beautiful trail up to getting into Stehekin.(and a small wildfire right outside of the town!!!) Stehekin is a small town/resort thing that is on a lake. Thats about it. There are no roads going into the town. The only way out is by boat or barge (which is coincidentally how they get their groceries and other things). Stehekin was tons of fun especially because there was a solid group of 10-12 hikers all of us getting ready for the last stretch to the border. In some instances to much fun. Over a early night of drinking two hikers decided to arm wrestle. Cowboy lost bigtime and one of the bones in his arm broke. Insert 'oh shit' moment. We're all in a town with the only available exit being a long boat ride. Only 80 something miles from the end of the trail. The smart and responsible thing to do would be to go to a doctor get it figured out etc. But its the middle of October in Washington and snow could dump on the trail any day. Cowboy decided that the end of the trip was more important. His crew of friends divided up most of his pack weight, he fixed a sling for his arm and took on out to Canada. Stupid maybe but walk 2500 miles with the end in sight and evaluate it from that perspective. 

That last stretch tested all of us. The hiking was still Washington style - Ups and Downs over some pretty craggy mountains. The only difference between this section and all the rest was the fact that the weather had taken a turn for the worse. The temperatures were hovering around just above freezing to freezing and everything was in a cloud, including me. And then the rain started. About two and a half days from the border and it didn't really let up the entire time. I hiked over 2500 miles with almost no rain, its about time I dealt with some. Conditions were hypothermic so the only way to fight it was to keep hiking and keep moving just to stay warm. It sucked. The last day I had a decision stop at 20 miles for the day four miles from the border and cross in the morning and do the other 8 miles to Manning Park (civilization) OR say screw it and get to the border around darkness which meant more time wet and cold and potentially get hypothermia. Guess which I chose................with six miles left to the border I thought I'm finishing this beast tonight. Around 7 PM with darkness surrounding i turned a corner and there it was, The US-Canadian Border and Monument. Spins and I both had the same idea quick photo, sign the register and walk the extra 0.2 miles into Canada and get camp and more importantly warm clothes on. I could hear some hollering in the distance and my buddies whom I've hiked with for quite some time were already hunkered down celebrating with two or three more hikers behind me as well yet to finish. 

It was pretty bittersweet. Oh look there's the border. No big epic mountain finish like on the AT with Mt. Katahdin. But it's not about the destination; it's about the places and faces that you experience along the way. The next morning the clouds parted to a beautiful and sunny day.....goes to figure. Everyone got up and huddled over to the monument and we all realized that we all made it, even Cowboy with a busted arm. Pictures were taken and celebrations began but we still had to hike 8 miles to Manning Park, the closest road. It was a weird 8 miles of wow I'm done the PCT but still hiking. I digested some of the trip on those 8 miles and came out to Manning. I hung around with my friends everyone figuring out their exit strategy from Manning, the closest actual area being Vancouver, a 3 hour drive west. Spins, Shepdog, and myself we're headed to Vancouver tonight, it was cheaper than Manning and that was the decisions that was made.

So the three of us smelly dirty hikers are standing on a road in the middle of nowhere Canada with a sign heading to Vancouver and little traffic. Then it started to drizzle and ontop of it, it was getting late and would start to get dark in a few hours. Chances were slim but belief was high and a car pulled over and gave us a hitch all the way to downtown Vancouver. And that was it. I sat in a cheap hotel in Chinatown in Vancouver, BC when it sunk in....'oh shit it's over, I'm done. I just did the PCT.' My mind was racing but along those 8 miles to Manning Park I was already dreaming up my Continental Divide Trail thru-hike for 2013. 

Leaving Skykomish - 10/5

So today one year ago I finished the Appalachian Trail. One year later I wouldn't have guessed that I'd be back out in the woods freezing my butt off again. I told myself on the AT that my hiking days in October were not to be repeated, it was cold and wet over in Maine. Luckily it's just cold here.

Jerry was kind enough to drive us over to the post office so we could grab our resupply boxes and then went out to breakfast with us. He dropped us off at the deli and very soon it's back to the trail to get closer and closer to Canada.

Into Skykomish - Mile 2476 - 10/4

Woke up and got moving around nine and slowly climbed up and down just to go back up again. The terrain is putting a hurting on my feet. Dirty socks an tight shoes have created a nice network of blisters and sores on them but it's definitely bearable because I'll be at a trail angels place tonight, the Dinsmores. Hiking to the pass was pretty standard and then we darted hitching in the wrong direction. A super cool girl, Jenna, picked us up and after quite a few miles informed us that we were going the wrong way. So we were like just let us out and we'll hitch but she insisted on turning around an driving us over which was super nice of her. She ha been driving for a few hours from Bellingham back here to visit family and we were really grateful for the ride. She dropped us off at the deli and said we have a place in Bellingham to stay when we're done if we swing through. We got into the deli just before close and got some huge sandwiches they hooked us up! Then they were nice enough to drive us over to the Dinsmores where we were treated so well. Jerry and Andrea did our laundry and it was so nice to be clean. The hiker lounge had bunks, cotton clothing to wear (so comfy), a woodfire stove and hundreds of movies! We popped in a movies and called it a night a warm and comfortable night of sleep. Back to the trail with 186 miles to go only a weekish left!