Neon Night

As a child I was never really fond of darkness and that feeling didn’t change over all these years of growing up. So when I was asked to do a Night dive for the first time it did send some shivers down my spine. I could hardly think of what people can see in a night dive apart from very hard to spot nocturnal fishes. I still remember having checked my torch multiple times before gearing up or descending, but night diving with group of 5 was reassuring and that too 4 guys was boost to my uncertain thoughts of getting lost in darkness or inability to see much in darkness.

So when Instructor asked me if I would like to go on a “UV Night Dive” with him, it was a prompt yes, I was not thinking beyond the word “Ultraviolet”, but soon “Night Dive “ followed and my euphoric balloon bursts.  My previous night dive was not bad at all, but it wasn’t inviting as well, it was just a one short dive to overcome fear for darkness and feel the adventure of it.  The pretentious me didn’t want to put my fears on display so I decided to stand by my yes. It was about to get dark and I could start feeling butterflies in my stomach, I was thinking dozen of things- whether or not to go? Should I cancel on the dive? Should I just fake that I am tired? What if I couldn’t do it? Would I be sabotaging instructor’s dive? What if I cancel and miss the most amazing sight? What if it’s not very difficult? I shut out all the thoughts and decided to go; the adventurous self was still alive and full of hope.

We started towards the dive centre while it was about to get dark and decided on keeping the gear ready well in advance. Back at the hotel instructor told me that only three people can dive which meant himself, me and one of the local dive masters as he only had three yellow mask filters. My gear was already kept ready by divemaster all I had to do was change in my dive suit, wear the weight belts and wait for briefing. Looking at instructor’s all so alluring and huge camera housing, a lady came asking if she could join us on the dive. For a moment I thought I should trade my dive with her but a feeling kept me off that trade and she had to go with the usual night divers.

As soon as it got dark instructor decided to brief us about this “UV Dive”, I was so anxious that the more I tried to pay attention the less I learnt and by the end of the briefing I had the “too much information” look on my face and it made me goofy as soon as the dive began.  After a proper ascend from shore, I left the torch on for a moment to get accustomed to the surroundings, we went a bit more deep but not more than 15 meters. Soon Instructor signaled to switch off the lights either or flash it in some other direction. By now I was just holding onto some rock on the reef so I quickly hid the light by pointing it at my belly, now having a beer belly sure helps to hide the light. The moment Instructor turned on his UV light I thought I was hallucinating again, was I seeing real or did I start expecting too much out of the dive and started imagining my mind palace only to shut down things around because the entire dull reef just got back to life, as if the party just started and somebody spiked my drink already. No colours in the entire universe could match that neon pink, orange, blue, green and yellow reef; the aura got me tripping. I couldn’t have imagined the dive site to look so lively and psychedelic if I were to be diving there one morning. Anywhere and as far as the UV rays of the light fell my eyes experienced celestial moments, the sea cucumber which seems uninviting and doughy to touch during the day dives was now gleaming in neon orange-green-blue mix. I almost forgot that my torch was still on; on comprehending I voluntarily switched it off and started moving around the neon colours to rave in its beauty, to capture it forever in my mind. The reef fauna reminded me of a kaleidoscope that amazed me as a kid and similar was the impact of the glowing reef , I realised what would have I missed if I succumbed to my fear.

Instructor started the dive with one quote “There are more people who have stepped on the surface of the moon than having done a UV night dive”, his words started resonating, and I don’t know how does one feel to step on the moon but the sight I was witnessing was equivalent to a universal beauty. The neons surely caught my eye and my thoughts went into an infinite loop. Soon I started feeling weightless and elevated, to my horror it was not the euphoric feeling that made me feel elevated it was my oxygen cylinder that I forgot to check. Neither did I check nor did the divemaster remind me to check. The dive was supposed to be lasting for 57 minutes, but at 51^st minute I decided to check my pressure gauge and I was left with 50 bars of oxygen, that was alarming, I knew I sometimes need extra weights at the end of the dive and divemaster was carrying them for me. At 51^st minute and 27 seconds I turned back to look for divemaster and signal him for weights. The divemaster on my multiple attempts of dumb-charades couldn’t guess I was asking weights from him, I had to manage to stay closer to the reef and in that process I lost almost another 15 bars. Instructor had mentioned during the briefing not to disturb him throughout the dive and all my needs would be catered by the divemaster. Clock was ticking, the divemaster lost the guesswork game and I couldn’t hold on any longer at a single spot, the only option left was something I dreaded from the very beginning of dive-abort the dive.While all this was happening my fear of darkness was sidelined and I was going around the reef trying to find divemaster in the dark sea.

I had to swim towards instructor shake him out of his lull and indicate him about my current situation and I did nothing of that sort, I just tapped him on his shoulder and he figured out my trepidation just by one look at my pressure gauge, as soon as he put a kilo in one of my pockets, the divemaster came swiftly and put another kilo in another pocket, damn all this while he couldn’t guess and now he adds a weight which I don’t require anymore. Bam! I banged hard on the reef and instructor had to drag me to the surface, we were on the surface at 54^th minute with just 20 bars left in my tank and with a scar on my mind of aborting the dive by 3 minutes. I remember I walked back to dive centre all mute and completely blank at my thoughts, but somewhere in my heart there was a tranquil silence of having defeated my worst fear.

PS: The pictures has instructor's copyrights cannot use it for my blog.