It was the first time in my life that I went Scuba diving. And what happened next was an unbelievable experience, something which I’ll never forget in my lifetime.
Encounter with a Giant Pufferfish is a short-film produced by me. It is about a strange & a peculiar experience that I had while diving and filming underwater at Havelock Island, located in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, India.
Havelock Island undoubtedly is a tropical paradise. It is mainly popular on the tourist map for its Radhanagar beach, which is regarded as one of the most beautiful beaches in Asia. Havelock, and Andaman in general, is also known for its water sports & recreational activities. There are many beautiful dive sites across Andaman Islands. Havelock and surrounding islands have plenty of dive sites with coral reefs and vibrant marine life. One can explore these places through Scuba Diving or snorkeling trips.
This was the first time that I was diving in my life. I was doing a ‘Discover Scuba Diving’ program, a course for first timers & non-certified divers, conducted by Barefoot Scuba, which is a PADI 5 star IDC resort & a National Geographic Dive Center, located on Havelock. This was also the first time that I was filming underwater. I had recently bought a Geonaute 1080 HD sports camera from a Decathlon store in Bangalore. This diving expedition was the real field test for this camera which resembles in form factor like the sports and action cameras popularised by brands like GoPro.
Before we could get to the dive site, we had a theory class explaining the basics and fundamentals of diving, human body and our respiratory system. It gave a perspective to how our bodies behave in water. It spoke of why we drown or why we float. Post that introductory theory class, we were taken to the dive site not far away from the Barefoot Scuba resort. Our team consisted of five students of the course. Each of us were assigned a buddy – an experienced certified diver with whom we would do the dive. After our instructor gave us some practical lessons on handling the scuba gear and some safety exercise, we proceed to our dives.
It was thrilling to experience our bodies submerged under water and seeing a whole new world. The coral reefs, the colorful fishes, sea cucumbers, and so on turned out to be a delight. It took a while before my ears started getting used to the pressure. At about 30 feet below the sea level, our dive team came across a Giant Pufferfish. What followed next was a strange incident. The Pufferfish instead of avoiding us or showing fear, it kept coming towards us. Its movements suggested that it probably loved to come in contact with humans. It seemed to love the camera, and play in front of it. It seemed to communicate with us or understand our signs and signals. It was in its natural habitat but was strangely behaving like a trained circus artist. It almost kissed my Geonaute camera.
Watch the above video and be amazed.
The video was filmed by me using a Geonaute G-Eye HD 1080 camera, at 720p resolution and 60 fps frame rate. The video was filmed with the camera handheld in its standard underwater case.
The post production of the video was performed using Pinnacle Studio 16 ultimate video editing software.
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