Week 1 and then some!
Greetings with apologies for the long time to the first blog. We were modestly delayed in getting started by some modest confusion at the FRRO (Foreign regional registration office). They were unsure about whether the students needed to register or not. After three days of back and forth it was finally settled on YES. Registration completed, we were off to the islands—the Andaman and Nicobar’s—but only after a brief stop at the Madras Crocodile Bank Trust, Reptile Park. It is more commonly known as croc bank. We did a few activities there including small reptile handling , pen cleaning, beach cleanup, and a lecture on amphibian and reptile conservation in India.
One of the highlights of the afternoon was a croc training session with Soham—a computer scientist turned animal trainer. The video clips below will show you the amazing results he has gotten in three short months. By treating the crocs as intelligent social animals instead of vicious predators, he was able to train them to do many of the same things a dog can be trained to do. Perhaps even more interesting is the some of the crocs learned by watching the other croc to come do the same trick to get a reward. Check out the videos links below.
After an unrewarding beach walk (mostly sand and needles) and a two hour nap, we boarded our kingfisher flight for Port Blair Andamans. 4:30 AM Departure 7:00 AM arrival. After an hour clearing immigration, we were met by the fine guys at Barefoot Travels (port Blair). They dropped out luggage off at their office in Aberdeen Bazaar. Part of the luggage included Cait and Liz who had had enough and opted for a nap. The rest of us wandered Aberdeen Bazaar in search of breakfast, sandals, decongestants, and fruit for the ferry trip (scheduled for 2 PM). We found breakfast at Guggans—a local Bengali place that did a good job with south Indian dosas and made a reasonable cheese omelet. (Dosa are fermented rice flour and water steamed and then fried like a very thin crepe.
Nourished and energized, we headed down to the waterfront and the Rajiv Gandhi Aquatic Sport Complex. A little bit of serendipity came our way we happened across the fish cold storage being open. Were greeted by foot long sardines, 4 foot tuna, and massive groupers. The picture below attest to the magnificence of these fish. Fish of such size have become extremely rare in mainland India as fishing pressure has begun “fishing down the food chain to younger, smaller and different species”. The sardines in these pictures are kept as bait fish for long line fishing. In mainland India such fish would be a saleable catch in the market. The course will introduce this concept in greater detail and the time goes on.
A couple of coconuts later we walked to the water for a dip and then back to the lighthouse residency for lunch. I’ll let the images below do the talking.
We caught the fast ferry to Havelock Island at 2 oclock. We landed and the Havelock Harbor Jetty and after a rapid run to the end, we were in the Barefoot jeeps and whisked off to the Café Del Mar to settle into our “Chicken huts”. While seemingly primitive, they are absolutely perfect for being someplace the last place you want to be is home. The view wasn’t bad either. Even though we were mere hundred feet from and incredibly beautiful beach, formalities awaited and we spent the next bit of time doing paper work and getting ready for diving with the amazing instructors—Gayatri the Tamil Film Star, Jelena the Serbian Assassin, Helena who finished off Franklin, Lenny “body art” , French Ann, and Sean who is Norwegian. We almost had Dennis who is Jelena’s sweety, but a bout of high fever cancelled his participation. Our host Samith Sanny, author of the World is a Spittoon and husband of Gayatri (http://www.geocities.com/gayathrijayaram/photos.html) an actress cum dive instructor gave us a brief welcome.
We then feasted on a great dinner prepared by Tamil Selvam and his crew before an early bedtime. An early bedtime in paradise is a must since dives start at 7 am after a 5:45 AM wakeup call.
I’ll finish with a few photos and let the students themselves follow up with their tales of finding Nemo, Dori, Scar and Ursula…….
