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PAKISTAN’S LIFE AQUATIC
Exploring what lies beneath
Madeeha Syed
Wreck diving — or recreational diving around the wreckage of sunken ships, vessels or aircrafts — is extremely rare in Pakistan. But the small community of dedicated divers who regularly go diving share a deep bond. As they discover new worlds underwater, they also discover things about themselves. One diver takes us along for the journey
The alarm goes off at 5am and I immediately wake up and spring into action. Today’s dive site will be around a one-and-a-half-hour drive from Karachi, followed by an approximately 40-minute speed-boat ride from Gadani. This means we will have to start off a little before dawn and get there right after sunrise — with a breakfast stop in between, of course.
I have woken up early but still, somehow, find myself trying to outrun the arms of the clock.
This part is always a race against time — and a difficult one. Scuba diving requires carrying a lot of gear and missing any of it can cause huge trouble. So you have to make sure you have it all.
You have several large cylinders containing compressed air (two to three per diver), a sizable bag with scuba gear and equipment, an additional bag for back-up gear and camera equipment, weight belts with additional weights on the side, a dry bag (designed to keep its contents dry even if it comes in contact with water) for personal items, towels and ice boxes containing food and drinks.
I double-check our list and then I am on my way. As I sit in the car, I allow myself a moment to revel in the glory of this moment. Diving is always a spiritual journey for me. To dive is to be one with nature. You learn to read the signs of the sun, the wind and the temperament of the sea. There is no mobile phone reception underwater. You disconnect from your worries and connect with nature. Every dive is uniquely beautiful.
Transporting recovered ghost nets to the surface | Photos by Muhammad Iqbal
But today’s dive is very special. I am finally being given the privilege of visiting a site that’s acquired a somewhat legendary status in our small scuba diving community.
We fondly call the elusive wreck the ‘Iqbal Wreck’, after Muhammad Iqbal, the senior dive master who was the first among us to track it down. Others including some members of the indigenous local fishing community knew of its existence all along, but they do not understand our fascination with it.
Being trusted to dive on ‘Iqbal Wreck’ means the world to me and my fellow divers. Our community is small, barely 20-odd divers from Karachi active in a season (this is not to be confused with the many more that get certified every year but don’t pursue the sport as consistently). But even in this close-knit community, the revealing of an otherwise ‘secret location’ can break friendships that are several years and hundreds of dives old.
These teira batfish were very friendly | Photo by the writer
If there is any written documentation of what lies beneath, it is not easily available to the public. Perhaps that’s why when more seasoned divers chance upon a location with a unique underwater architecture or one that is bustling with wildlife, they guard the coordinates of that site quite fiercely.
Another major reason for this secrecy is to prevent the sites from getting crowded by potential tourists and divers alike. One of the advantages of not having a bustling coastal tourism industry is that our seas are safe from the littering that comes with more people. The secrecy is also to avoid attracting too much attention to the sites — we could get ‘banned’ from accessing them, the way we have been by various government agencies at other sites.
Pakistan is a hard country to scuba dive in but, if luck and mother nature are on your side, it can also be one of the most rewarding.
A native but rarely sighted lionfish
When diving here, you need your community. Over the years, we form a bond that comes from seeing life underwater in a way most around us will never see. It is a bond we share not only with each other but, more importantly, with the sea and its inhabitants.
Most of our dive sites take us close to or into Balochistan, where the waters are relatively pristine and the sites remain untouched. That’s what makes diving in Balochistan so very exciting — you can never be completely sure of what to expect.
Every dive into a new location is an adventure into the unknown.
But this dive site obscurity also makes it difficult to collect information on potential dive sites — of the rocks, reefs and wrecks that lie deep underwater. It requires forging relationships with the local fishing communities, in the hopes that they will share information on which locations have the best fish stock.
Sometimes one has to track older ‘retired’ divers (there are so few that they can be counted on the fingers of one hand) and seek their advice. Other times, one finds oneself in the open sea with a fish finder (a scanning device which senses movement underwater) hoping that luck is on their side.
THE EXPEDITION
Penetrating the unstable wreck can be very dangerous
It is around 8.25am and the scorching sun is already out. We are finally at the beach near Gadani. Seeing how far our boat is, I start panicking, imagining endless trips back and forth on the sand transporting heavy tanks, weights and gear. It’ll be fine, I am assured.
I turn around and see the other divers loading cylinders on to a donkey cart. Of course, we weren’t going to carry all of it ourselves! This is a relief (although I cannot help but feel bad for the donkeys). Unlike me, the donkeys are not overthinking things. They walk straight into the water and next to our boat, and the gear is transferred.
And off we go.
Small speed-boats, such as the one we are on, are fast, but they also jump over the waves in the sea quite hard. You will fly off your seat every time the boat hits a wave, so it is important to have a secure hold at all times.
To be contd'
Exploring what lies beneath
Madeeha Syed
Wreck diving — or recreational diving around the wreckage of sunken ships, vessels or aircrafts — is extremely rare in Pakistan. But the small community of dedicated divers who regularly go diving share a deep bond. As they discover new worlds underwater, they also discover things about themselves. One diver takes us along for the journey
The alarm goes off at 5am and I immediately wake up and spring into action. Today’s dive site will be around a one-and-a-half-hour drive from Karachi, followed by an approximately 40-minute speed-boat ride from Gadani. This means we will have to start off a little before dawn and get there right after sunrise — with a breakfast stop in between, of course.
I have woken up early but still, somehow, find myself trying to outrun the arms of the clock.
This part is always a race against time — and a difficult one. Scuba diving requires carrying a lot of gear and missing any of it can cause huge trouble. So you have to make sure you have it all.
You have several large cylinders containing compressed air (two to three per diver), a sizable bag with scuba gear and equipment, an additional bag for back-up gear and camera equipment, weight belts with additional weights on the side, a dry bag (designed to keep its contents dry even if it comes in contact with water) for personal items, towels and ice boxes containing food and drinks.
I double-check our list and then I am on my way. As I sit in the car, I allow myself a moment to revel in the glory of this moment. Diving is always a spiritual journey for me. To dive is to be one with nature. You learn to read the signs of the sun, the wind and the temperament of the sea. There is no mobile phone reception underwater. You disconnect from your worries and connect with nature. Every dive is uniquely beautiful.
Transporting recovered ghost nets to the surface | Photos by Muhammad Iqbal
But today’s dive is very special. I am finally being given the privilege of visiting a site that’s acquired a somewhat legendary status in our small scuba diving community.
We fondly call the elusive wreck the ‘Iqbal Wreck’, after Muhammad Iqbal, the senior dive master who was the first among us to track it down. Others including some members of the indigenous local fishing community knew of its existence all along, but they do not understand our fascination with it.
Being trusted to dive on ‘Iqbal Wreck’ means the world to me and my fellow divers. Our community is small, barely 20-odd divers from Karachi active in a season (this is not to be confused with the many more that get certified every year but don’t pursue the sport as consistently). But even in this close-knit community, the revealing of an otherwise ‘secret location’ can break friendships that are several years and hundreds of dives old.
These teira batfish were very friendly | Photo by the writer
If there is any written documentation of what lies beneath, it is not easily available to the public. Perhaps that’s why when more seasoned divers chance upon a location with a unique underwater architecture or one that is bustling with wildlife, they guard the coordinates of that site quite fiercely.
Another major reason for this secrecy is to prevent the sites from getting crowded by potential tourists and divers alike. One of the advantages of not having a bustling coastal tourism industry is that our seas are safe from the littering that comes with more people. The secrecy is also to avoid attracting too much attention to the sites — we could get ‘banned’ from accessing them, the way we have been by various government agencies at other sites.
Pakistan is a hard country to scuba dive in but, if luck and mother nature are on your side, it can also be one of the most rewarding.
A native but rarely sighted lionfish
When diving here, you need your community. Over the years, we form a bond that comes from seeing life underwater in a way most around us will never see. It is a bond we share not only with each other but, more importantly, with the sea and its inhabitants.
Most of our dive sites take us close to or into Balochistan, where the waters are relatively pristine and the sites remain untouched. That’s what makes diving in Balochistan so very exciting — you can never be completely sure of what to expect.
Every dive into a new location is an adventure into the unknown.
But this dive site obscurity also makes it difficult to collect information on potential dive sites — of the rocks, reefs and wrecks that lie deep underwater. It requires forging relationships with the local fishing communities, in the hopes that they will share information on which locations have the best fish stock.
Sometimes one has to track older ‘retired’ divers (there are so few that they can be counted on the fingers of one hand) and seek their advice. Other times, one finds oneself in the open sea with a fish finder (a scanning device which senses movement underwater) hoping that luck is on their side.
THE EXPEDITION
Penetrating the unstable wreck can be very dangerous
It is around 8.25am and the scorching sun is already out. We are finally at the beach near Gadani. Seeing how far our boat is, I start panicking, imagining endless trips back and forth on the sand transporting heavy tanks, weights and gear. It’ll be fine, I am assured.
I turn around and see the other divers loading cylinders on to a donkey cart. Of course, we weren’t going to carry all of it ourselves! This is a relief (although I cannot help but feel bad for the donkeys). Unlike me, the donkeys are not overthinking things. They walk straight into the water and next to our boat, and the gear is transferred.
And off we go.
Small speed-boats, such as the one we are on, are fast, but they also jump over the waves in the sea quite hard. You will fly off your seat every time the boat hits a wave, so it is important to have a secure hold at all times.
To be contd'