Scuba Diving in Netrani Island, Murudeshwar,Karnataka

When I first watched ZNMD the thing that captivated me the most was deep sea diving.

The reason was that I could relate a lot to Hritik's character except for his physique that is ;) and When Hritik gets out of the water and cries for some time and says “zindagi ka matlab hai sirf saas lete raho” it totally brought in front of me a different perspective of life. Life is not just about slogging 12-14 hours in the office and taking home a big fat pay packet, it is also about spending time with your loved ones, staying healthy and breathing in peace. I wanted to experience the exact thing that Hrithik's character had experienced in the movie. Basically I wanted to find peace, and hence grew a passion for Scuba diving in me.......

I started googling about Scuba diving in Karnataka and searched for various scuba diving shops in Karnataka after checking various links for murudeshwar scuba diving review I came across a company called Dreamz Diving in Murudeshwar. They organize scuba diving at Netrani Island also known as Pigeon Island 10 nautical miles off the Murudeshwar beach. Scuba Diving at Netrani island cost us Rs 4500. After reading numerous reviews on the internet about Dreamz Diving I decided to opt for this dive shop for my first Scuba diving experience. And I must say it was a wise decision after all, Dreamz Diving made my first diving experience a memorable affair and I would like to dive again with them. People who visit Goa and want to take part in Scuba diving in Goa can also consider diving in Murudeshwar since it is close to Goa....

I get many questions on trip advisor on how to reach Netrani Island? resorts in Netrani Island ? Can we Snorkel in Netrani Island etc. This blog is intended to give you those details

Netrani Island

Netrani Island or Pigeon Island is located 10 nautical miles off the murudeshwar beach. The Island is surrounded by beautiful corals which make it a perfect place for snorkeling and diving. Based on reviews from professional divers on the internet Netrani Island is one of the best diving sites in India.The Island was used by Navy for target practice earlier which was put on hold after some court case.

The Plan

Four of us including my wife decided to take a plunge into Nethrani Island. I am glad to have a khatro ka khiladi type wifey, who is ever-ready to try adventurous things J so the date was set 3rd of March, Sunday. We paid the advance to dreamz diving and provided our address proofs for clearance from the Navy without which we would not be allowed to dive.

Day1:

We had booked accommodation at Vaibhav Palace Kumta which was 40kms from Murudeshwar. As we were diving on Sunday we had nothing much to do on Saturday. So we decided to travel to Kumta via Jog however we shelved that plan after reading about the bad roads from Sagara to Honnavar and decided to go via Sirsi. The planned route was Bangalore-->Haveri-->Sirsi-->Devimane Ghats-->Kumta. I heard a lot about this scenic route and wanted to experience the same. So we set off by 5Am on Saturday from Bangalore. The road from Haveri to Hangal is in bad shape with pot holes and sometimes no road.

The road from hangal to Sirsi was somewhat OK. We reached Sirsi in the afternoon and had our lunch at The new Kamat Hotel. The food was good. We enquired with the hotel staff about tourist spots on the Sirsi-Kumta highway and we got to know about Unchalli falls. We drove to Unchalli falls which was about 26kms off the Sirsi Kumta highway. We had to trek on a hilly terrain for half a kilometer to reach the falls. We were expecting the falls to be something like Abbey falls but for our surprise it was very big, almost like jog falls. After spending an hour at Unchalli we headed off to Kumta. The road to Kumta from Sirsi was very beautiful as it passes through Devimane Ghats but the only problem is that road-work was being done on this stretch which caused a lot of delay. We reached Kumta only by 5PM.  We quickly freshened up and headed off to Honnalli beach Kumta to watch the Sun set. Honnalli beach is a secluded beach and hence it is very clean. We spotted some Star fish on the beach and took some photographs. We went back to the hotel had dinner and slept.

                             

Roads From Hangal To sirsi

Pomfret fry @ new Kamat Hotel

Unchalli falls Sirsi

                                                         Honnalli Beach Kumta

Day 2:

D-Day - Dooms day, Dive day, Death day etc etc all these things were running in our minds. It was our first dive and we had butterflies in our stomachs as none of us knew swimming and we were about to dive 30 feet under water.So we were all set for scuba diving in Murudeshwar :) We drove to the Dreamz diving shop located at RNS residency murudeshwar.

We were greeted by forms saying if we meet with an accident or die the dive shop was not responsible.

We ignored the contents of the forms and just signed it by completely trusting our dive masters :) after all it is an adventure sport and has risks attached to it which adds to the adrenalin rush :)

We sat on a small boat and headed off to Netrani Island from the Murudeshwar beach. After a few nautical miles the color of the water completely changed. It felt like we were in Mauritius and not in India. Ravi our instructor for the day briefed us about the Do and Do Not’s while diving. He explained about the instruments and the physics behind diving. Ravi heads SAP practice in one of the IT companies on weekdays and dives on the weekends. How cool is that!!! We were noting down instructions from him like a bunch of School kids. As we reached the dive site the butterflies in our stomachs almost reached our mouth. That is how much excited and tensed we were, a total mixed feeling. The Island was very beautiful and the water around it was crystal clear. We could see the sea bed right from our boat. The dives happened in batches of 2. So I was in the 2nd group and had to wait for the 1st group to finish the dive. So I wore the life jacket and jumped into the water to Snorkel. As I put my head down to Snorkel I was totally blown by the magnificent view. I could see different colorful fishes swimming underneath me. I snorkeled for half an hour and hopped on to the boat to get ready for the dive.

                                                           Murudeshwar Beach

                                                           Dreamz Diving Dive Shop 

The Dive

The BCD buoyancy control device, Weights & the oxygen cylinders were strapped to my body. The Dive instructor on the boat put the mouth piece into my mouth and asked me to hold it tight and while I was doing that he just flung me into the water. I fell into the water on my back. That way the weight of the cylinder doesn't cause issues to your back but the act just scares the shit out of you ;) My Dive master, who was already in the water came close to me and held me. I then practiced breathing using the mask.

After I got used to the breathing technique my dive master reduced the air in the BCD and we went 10 feet into the water. It was a magical experience. I spotted many fishes & Corals. I just enjoyed the breath taking view of the marine life as my Dive master took me around. Then after a while we dived to a depth of 30 feet. When I looked on top there was nothing but water and beneath there was abundance of marine life. It was magical. No noise no disturbance, just you and Nature. It was so peaceful.....

Just like Hritik's Character in ZNMD I found peace....

I want to Dive again and probably get a certification done too....You should consider Diving too... As the Dreamz Diving tag line says

"If You Haven't dived you haven't lived"