With the diving season kicking off this month, Temple Adventures Scuba Diving in Pondicherry offers lessons and a fantastic view of underwater marine life
You needn’t head to exotic locales as far as The Great Barrier Reef or even closer home, like Goa and Andaman, for a spot of sea diving. If you’re a fan of breathtaking sea creatures, that’s even better, because Temple Adventures, India’s only diving centre on the East Coast, offers an unusual experience. From traditional man-made “reefs” and untouched coral reefs, apart from a host of interesting marine life (think moray eels, manta rays, groupers, barracuda, batfish, bannerfish, sea snakes and crustaceans), the outfit promise to take you through amazing diving sites in the area.
In the beginning
Started in 2007, the outfit was one of a kind as it is the only outfit which promotes these activities. Temple Adventures is associated with The Professional Association of Diving Instructors(PADI), the world’s largest recreational diving membership and diver training organisation. It was founded in 1966 in California and now they have more than 5000 dive centers and resorts in more than 180 countries and territories.We met up with Rob Patridge, one of the partners of Temple Adventures who explained the initiative behind the school. Rob grew up in Australia, where he learnt diving and surfing with his father in Sydney Harbour and so the interest grew in him. On asking him why he has chosen India and Pondicherry as the place to set up operations, Rob explains, “I wanted to offer something to a coastline that has never been done before. To make available some fantastic experiences for the Indian population. Why dive where everything is already discovered, and many, many dive centres are already established? In Pondicherry everyday is a new experience, adventure and offers new, never before seen, amazing scuba diving sites to explore.” He rates Pondicherry as one of the top diving sites in India.
Rob’s dream
Rob is trying to promote diving in India, because he believes that the Indians have a traditional notion that the sea is bad and evil, which is something he wishes to change. He points out that this notion is changing and people are beginning to think and beout of the box and taking the first step of diving for a day (where one goes scuba diving underwater with an instructor, looks at some fish, clicks a few photos and comes up).
What you get
Diving sites include 4 corners, Groupers Gorge, Ravines, Shark Reef, The Hole and Aravind’s Wall, where divers get to see a variety of marine life. In 4 corners, you can find dolphins in groups of three to 50, while Grouper’s Gorge is a great place to seebarracudas, batfish and Eagle rays. Rob says that March – April and October – November, are the best months to scuba dive. “It is a very safe sport,” states Partridge. It is proven that scuba diving is about 1000 times safer than driving a car. Rob imports internationally branded good quality dive equipments, “as none of the equipment (surfboards, diving masks, regulators, etc…) has been made in India… everything is imported. Maybe in some years, it will be possible to find equipment here, with the opening of more centres and with the rise in ocean awareness.” And awareness is rising. Rob says that every year about 3 times as many people try diving with him as the past year. “We have a great local club that dives regualrly, but most clients are from cities like Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, and even as far as Mumbai and Delhi. People travel to dive!” Partridge states. “It is so much fun, and new to this area that everyone wants to try!” 
For beginners
Temple Adventures currently host an introduction to diving, swimming and snorkeling at several resorts, so if you are staying at one, they are happy to come to you for a training session. Apart from taking qualified divers for an underwater tour of sea scapes, they also offer a range of PADI diving courses for beginners to experts.
What next?
“The Pondicherry government has been encouraging us and giving support all through the years”, offers Partridge, adding that he wants the government to start taking more and more of initiatives and want them to create artificial reef which will help the environment, fishing stocks and revenue, and can also be converted to a marine park to help our future generations.
On the side & Scuba Gear
Temple Adventures also organise boat trips for family or friends. Other activities which can be arranged include wakeboarding, hand boarding, body surfing, frisbee flying disk, Djembe lessons, fishing, motorbike tours, hacky sack, beach cricket, beach tennis, touch footy, camp outs and more. On offer are the latest Scuba diving equipment including masks, snorkels, wetsuits, fins, boots, regulators, bcds and more. A mask is 3300, while a snorkel is 1450. Also available are a range of other water sports equipments like surfboards, bodyboards, lifejackets, and more. A profile short wetsuit will cost you about Rs 5,400, while jet fins are at Rs 7,300
Details: templeadventures.com +91 9940219449
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