October 31, 2004

Beautiful and exotic, the underwater world offers a unique adventure for scuba divers. However, care needs to be taken in protecting the underwater world from reckless enthusiasts

AFTER many years of hard work the Karachi Scuba Diving Centre is finally up and running, thanks to a merger that enabled it to join hands with the National Sailing Club and in the process launch a badly needed Diver’s Social Club.

The driving forces behind this project are Captain A.R. Arshad, Club Secretary of National Sailing Centre and Mrs. Mubina Ali, Managing Director of Karachi Scuba Diving Centre. In a bold and enterprising step, the club has been established to offer exclusive diving packages to tourists and at the same time teaching scuba diving to both beginners and advanced students. And there’s a lot to learn here.

For the one who ventures to peep into the mysteries of the deep ocean, the underwater world offers an entirely new and fascinating experience. Tropical waters especially abound in the most beautiful and exotic aquatic life that can be seen only by divers. Diving as a sport provides a unique opportunity to many to enjoy natural beauty that is exclusive to those who take the effort to see it.

Moreover, the thrill of floating weightless underwater is akin to that of an astronaut in space. And since diving is a social activity, one gets to meet a lot of people and establish long-lasting friendships. At the same time, underwater photography has become an absorbing bobby for many divers.

Today, thanks to the diving centre and its patrons, diving enthusiasts from around the world have found yet another haven for carrying on their sport along the coastline of Pakistan. Its bountiful marine life makes this place attractive for divers, particularly in the Makran Coast. Clean and clear waters there make for good underwater visibility. There are also plenty of wrecks and coral reefs for divers to explore in the area’s shallow and most notably, warm waters. All these combine to make an ideal formula for pleasure diving. Moreover, scuba diving gear and equipment is now easily available here.

Deeper and longer underwater visits are possible only with the use of the SCUBA (Self-Contained-Underwater-Breathing-Apparatus). For novices the adventure generally starts as a skin diver, with a mask, snorkel and a pair of fins; they can explore the very shallow waters.

Generally, the most interesting diving areas are where there is rock, coral, vegetation and wrecks, which attract plenty of marine life.

According to Yousuf Ali, Master Instructor from PADI (Professional Association of Diving Instructor, California), “Karachi offers the best wreck diving in the world in safe and shallow water.” Not only is Ali a qualified instructor, he also has extensive experience in both commercial and recreational diving around the world. PADI is based in Santa Ana, California is the largest professional diver’s training organization in the world. It’s member instructors, assistant instructors, dive masters maintain the highest standards for the safety and professionalism.

Ali holds diving classes and also escorts divers to various dive sites in Karachi. He has been solely responsible for organizing the diving programmes for the diving club and is in line with a variety of diving trips. He has selected some fabulous underwater tourist spots, such as Chota-Cherna, Bit-Coli, Bachum Reef, Port Qasim and the graveyard of wreck near Karachi Port (that sits in 30 to 80 feet of water).

Last year, during the diving session from September to April the diving club offered one-day trips to Cherna, a one-day excursion to Chota Cherna, night dives followed by barbecue and diving, over-night camping on the beach.

Also planned were a week’s holiday in Maldives which proved to be very popular as it included wrecks, reef and night dive with the help of powerful lights. This is especially good for those who want to closely study marine life within a limited area. All dive trips go with beach BBQ music and boat ride.

Divers are classified into two groups. Whilst the dive master will accompany the experienced one, the students follow the instructor. “At the club we will have skills and the equipment to handle 25 divers at a time”, says Ali.

The first lesson in diving starts in classroom where students will be introduced to diving as a sport and will then try out the scuba diving gear in the pool.

Not only do the divers have to be physically fit and healthy but also good swimmers. Before participating in scuba activities, students are asked to be medically fit. For this, a medical test is necessary.

The PADI open water diving course begins with training in the pool where the basic skills of diving are taught. Says Ali, “The emphasis is on safety. It is important that a diver knows what to do in case something goes wrong. If you feel confident and safe, you enjoy the sport better.”

Initial lessons also deal with learning about the scuba gear and equipment mask, snorkel fins, exposure suit, buoyancy control device (BCD), scuba tank, regulator, submersible pressure gauge and dive computer. Students also learn about the general maintenance procedure used in taking care of scuba gear and equipment.

Once students gain confidence in the pool, they are then taken to shallow waters of the sea where they learn to apply the skills acquired during the confined water or pool training. The diver learns how to evaluate diving conditions (weather, water temperature, bottom composition, depth and local area hazard), put on the equipment before the actual dive, enter and exit through mild surf, dive from boat and descend in open water.

Descents and ascents in open water or the sea has to be carried out slowly methodically so that the body adjusts to the increasing and decreasing pressure.

“Usually divers are taught to cope with all kinds of condition and the maximum depth allowed for the beginner is 60 feet. The deeper you dive there is lesser time at your disposal underwater. At a depth of 70 feet, a diver can remain underwater for about 40 minutes whilst at 130 feet; the time limit is 10 minutes. It ceases to be a pleasure diving after this depth and becomes a commercial venture exercise for which one has to go in for different training courses,” explains Ali.

An advance open watercourse is also on the cards of the club where divers will learn the technique of diving at night, in limited visibility, in deeper water up to 100 feet, and in somewhat less than favourable conditions. The course will also include search, recover and salvage technique.

According to Ali, those who successfully complete the basic and advance courses will receive a certification from PADI.

DIVER SHOULD RESPECT MARINE LIFE: The PADI open water diver manual has a piece of advice to divers: “your interaction with aquatic animals and plants carries both a privilege and responsibility ... because aquatic animals are very sensitive to the environment, approaching them can change their behaviour and the natural rhythm of their life. Quite, smooth movement, which is less likely to disturb them, will reward you with more opportunity to observe aquatic animals behaving naturally, rather fleeing or hiding. It is your responsibility to be assuring, that your interaction with aquatic life help minimal impact on the organisms you in counter while diving.”

Responsibility is an important factor as a careless diver can destroy precious marine life. Master Instructor Yousuf Ali explains: “Divers can contribute to protecting the natural environment by learning how to control their bouncy and not land roughly on the sea bed as they can damage the coral reef or rear aquatic plant that takes years to grow.

“When divers go down, the fish leave you alone. Noisy divers can create bubbles in the water that kill fish as they drown in the air space of bubbles. But if you are polite, the fish come back and you can even touch them. The waters of the Arabian Sea are teaming with numerous species of colourful and beautiful sea creatures. Along the Makran coastline we have often seen sea horses. The shy dugongs or sea cow, a specie said to be on the way extinction, has been sited by some divers”.

Nearly all-aquatic animals are timid and harmless and if they ever attack you it is only defensive act on their part. A clumsy diver will learn about the sea urchin hard way if he happens to step on it. Its needles can pierce through skin leaving a painful wound. “Even the sharks are harmless if you remain calm on the bottom,” says Ali.

To avoid potential problems with the aquatic animals the divers manual offers some guidelines. “Treat all animals with respect. Never tease or intentionally disturb them. Avoid wearing shinny, dangling jewellry that may attract the interest of some animals. Wear gloves and an exposure suit to avoid sting and cuts. Establish neutral buoyancy to keep off the bottom”.

Marine life could be further protected, adds Ali, by educating fisher man and making them aware of this aspect. “Throwing the anchor down can damage the coral reef. Instead, marking buoys should be provided so that fisherman could tie their boats. This not only makes it a lot easier for them but also safe guards the marine life.”

Ali firmly believes that there should be a law to stop divers from picking up any marine object. “This is an offence in the Maldives where a diver could be slapped a fine of $500 and in California, the authorities can confiscate your diving gear. Some thing should be done to preserve marine life in Karachi before it’s too late.”

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