Goa offers a walk on its seabed By: Ami Cholia In a first of its kind adventure, H2O, Goa, a water sports company, offers tourists a cheaper, easier and probably tamer adaptation to scuba diving — a walk on the seabed. You don’t need a wet suit or an oxygen tank for this ride.
In fact you don’t even need to know how to swim (swimmers, of course, will just appreciate the water more). Take a motor boat off Baina beach (infamous for its erstwhile red light area) to a makeshift platform that’s built right by Piccany Island and a metallic ladder takes you down to your eventual watery destination. A heavy (to prevent it from floating off) helmet, which makes you look like a space cadet, is placed on your head while a four kg lead belt (the weight is negligible once you are underwater) is attached to your waist to help you maintain balance. The principle is simple — air, that’s let in through a tube into the helmet, creates enough pressure to keep the water out, allowing you to breathe normally. And if you need to scratch your nose, there’s ample room for your hand to get inside! Once you make your big leap, a seawalk instructor takes you for a 20 minute tour on the seabed. And the sea’s inhabitants are at your mercy. The water here is probably the clearest in Goa (the company tested various beaches around before picking this place), so you manage a clear view of your surroundings. Read full text at: http://web.mid-day.com/1news/nation/2006/february/131814.htm But the biggest disappointment comes from the fact that the seabed isn’t very deep — you actually find yourself descending only three metres (the distance, though, has been maintained so you don’t cut yourself with corals and rocks you’ll find in deeper seas). At a simplistic level, it’s kind of like jumping into your aquarium at home, except you have Goa’s beautiful beaches, warm weather and their friendly fish keeping you company. With a basic scuba course costing anything from Rs 15,000, the sea walk at Rs 1,500 a go is definitely worth a one-time investment. Deu Borem korum Edward Verdes Eddie
