Hidden Gem - Fathom Five Marine National Park

I thought I had done snorkelling before. I remember 3 minutes of utter discomfort in the marine national park of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, after which I discarded my tube (which was forcing me upright) and the snorkel (whose mouth piece was too salty) and explored the beautiful coral reefs by myself without any equipment. Only when I entered the Diver's Den did I realize what snorkelling is really like. There were nine pieces that we put on us - 4 pieces of wetsuit, gloves, glasses and most importantly the snorkel and fins.

We went by a launch to the first site. Shitikant and I left the boat straight away. It was difficult to start with. Firstly you should not breathe through your nose, only through the mouth. And of course the water was so very cold. 7 degrees C only. However, we had been frightened so much before the plunge with talks about brain freeze and Canadians calling the water too chilly to get into, that it didn't feel so cold after all. Still, from time to time, I felt my extremities going absolutely numb.

 I just paddled my legs and I was staring into the water face just below the surface. It didn't seem like I had moved much, but when I tried to look out of the water towards the boat, I realized that I was already about 50  metres from the boat. Such is the power of the fins. Moving is easy, but stopping at a point in an upright position is tricky. I discovered the trick pretty fast that to stop somewhere I should just turn around and face the direction from which I had been coming. Though I didn't see much in my first venture other than the hull of a ship and some wood lying around, I was elated as I gained confidence in moving around freely along the surface of the water.

The next diving spot was in the Big Tub Harbour. I felt at ease exploring in the water. The binocular glasses helped immensely. About 100 metres from our launch, there was a shipwreck which was just about immersed in the water. It was the Sweepstakes, an archaic schooner. It sunk in 1885. The hull is still infact making it a great picture. The feeling was great as we floated over the ancient structure almost from the sets of Pirates of the Caribbean,with the difference that this was a real ship. We moved along its length casually scanning it completely. I was absolutely enthralled by the experience.

We had fish and chips for the second time here (the one at Craigie's on the first day was better). At 1.30 pm, we boarded the Heron Cruise and went on a guided tour around the islands of Fathom Five National park, around the Otter Islands till we reached Flowerpot Island. On the way, we saw the rock faces on the forested islands having a bright tinge of amber. It is caused by a type of fungus.

We had about 2 hours on the Flowerpot Island. The island gets its name from the pillar-like structures that border its south-west coast. It is caused by dolomite rocks that have been eroded to different extents at different heights based on the water level, which at one point of time completely submerged these structures. We hiked around the western side of the island, spent some time around these majestic formations, walked through the forest making our own trail. There were many fallen trees as the soil is too soft and the roots are superficial allowing strong winds to uproot them. I waited for the crowd to disperse and the sun to come out for the sake of photography. Thankfully both conditions were satisfied after some time.

At 4.45 we returned by a vessel which was more of a hovercraft. We enjoyed the ride, fast though it was, chatting up with a funny old guy who assisted the engine-driver.

All of us were happy having spent the best weekend in Canada so far. Well, almost all. Except for Bob. He got his name from the nice old lady at Diver's Den. When she asked his name, and she couldn't pronounce Srinivasan, she said "I will call you Bob". Tragedy followed him everywhere, even to the water, where he lost his fin while trying to snorkel. He was the subject of ridicule wherever he went, mostly because of his "How do I care" or "Why should I care" attitude throughout the trip. And in the most lethargic way, he says "What the hell...". He used the phrase more number of times than Amrish Puri said "Mogambo khush hua" in Mr. India. Such was his expressions even when the old guy on the boat back from Flowerpot Island asked him how did he find the island. So for the rest of the journey, in between conversing with me and Vishnu, whenever there was a pause, he would turn to Bob and say ".... and you don't care about it anyway..." He also has a thing for all drinkable stuff, be it milk or alcohol. All in all, we had a lot of fun around him, and so even if he has any complaints, none of us do.