Preparation
More than a year ago, Dmitry Knyazev, the author of the volunteer project OpenWaterChallenge, and diving instructors, shark divers Petr and Irina Britanov conceived a bold story: to organize a series of dives for divers with disabilities with tiger sharks in the far south of the Maldives, on the island of Fuvahmulah. Petr and Irina are unique specialists in working with tiger sharks. Their interaction with sharks is not training, not taming, not intimidation. It is communication on the basis of mutual respect.
Petr and Irina began preparing to receive divers with disabilities long before the start of the project. They bought a wheelchair, in which Irina herself, step by step, studied the territory of the diving center and the hotel for accessibility. Then they managed to convince the owners to make changes: make ramps, widen doorways, remove thresholds where possible. The implementation of the project coincided with a difficult global situation, when many international projects were put on hold or cancelled. The trip was postponed and rescheduled several times. The participants' plans and circumstances changed, and some were forced to cancel the trip. Naturally, there were concerns related to the nature of the dives themselves - the participants had to dive in conditions that are among the most difficult in recreational diving. The ocean makes special demands: great depths, multidirectional currents, possible waves on the surface, which can complicate the entry and exit of divers with disabilities.
But the dream of meeting the inhabitants of the Indian Ocean in their natural environment was so great that everyone did everything possible to make this project happen.
It was decided not to postpone the meeting with the sharks and to implement the plan at the first opportunity. Moreover, the diving program was expanded: in addition to the island of Fuvahmulah, it included a visit to the island of Dangetti and a meeting with mantas.
And it turned into a completely fantastic adventure.
Diving in Ari Atoll, Dangetti Island. Mantas
Part of the group arrived in the Maldives a few days earlier to assess the accessibility of diving for people with disabilities on Dangetti Island. But there was another reason for visiting this island - the realization of a big diving dream of one of the project participants, Dmitry Pavlenko. This dream was to meet mantas. And everything worked out! The events unfolded like in a classic novel plot: the first day of diving did not bring the cherished meeting. On the second day, the divers were more fortunate. But the mantas withstood the intrigue and came only at the end of the dive. Well, on the third day there was the culmination of the event: three fantastically beautiful mantas were already waiting for the divers. They swam nearby, performing an amazing dance. They looked at and studied the guests. And there was a complete feeling that they purposefully came to meet and chat.
Dmitry Pavlenko: "What a delight it is to swim with mantas, just space. You forget about everything, breathe every other time to swim next to them, to examine every detail. You understand that they are also studying you. An unforgettable feeling from meeting them, which will excite me for a long time."
Fuvahmulah Island. Tiger sharks, thrashers and much more
After the main part of the group arrived in Male and flew to Fuvahmulah Island by local airline, the project participants had 6 days of magical diving in the Indian Ocean.
Yulia Krylova: “The coolest trip, unlike any of our diving trips, except for its warmth and richness of bright events.
Ours were not the typical Maldives with houses on the water, and we never even swam from the shore. But we had the volcanic island of Fuvahmulah, deep dives into the blue abyss of the Indian Ocean and an encounter with sharks underwater. We fully dived in the Far South of the Maldives, which is considered the top in terms of difficulty in recreational diving. Peter and Irina immersed us in all this and pumped us up in diving. They believed in us more than we believed in ourselves, for which we are very grateful and respectful for the organization. They have a good team, the guys grasped everything on the fly, were attentive and responsive and helped us a lot during the dives. I hope that we did not let you down and coped with it." The underwater world appeared before the project participants in all its splendor. A great gift was the meeting with thrashers. Fox sharks were expected, but, of course, no one could guarantee a meeting with them. But the guys were lucky again, they met foxes on several dives, walked at a close distance, allowed themselves to be examined, returned to the group again and again. Yulia Subbotina: "Diving in the Maldives with Tigersharkprofi will definitely remain in my memory for a long time. It was an incredible experience. Bright colors, the diversity of the underwater world - it's something incredible. During my very first dive alone, I met a turtle and a thresher shark, and Irina managed to capture these emotions on video, I have already watched them many times, although not much time has passed. Tiger sharks - it was scary to think about them on the shore, but absolutely calm underwater, because you could feel the professionalism of the team, whose representatives were always around the perimeter of the participants. It is definitely worth seeing these important predators. "
An encounter with tiger sharks is what divers go to Fuvahmulah for in most cases. This is always an exciting and exciting event. It evokes incomparable emotions. Their power, speed, grace, eyes that reflect the Universe, probably can never get boring. These are amazing creatures, each encounter with them is unique and not like one another.
Marina Kulikova: "My geography of dives is not very large. This is the Mediterranean Sea, the Andaman, the Red and the Black Sea. Each of these seas gave me new and wonderful emotions. And now the first ocean in my collection of dives. Indian.
I was very lucky. Petr Britanov was always next to me and I saw the underwater world of the ocean through his eyes. On the very first dive, sharks - chanterelles (Thresher sharks) swam very close to us. I was amazed by their beauty and grace. For the first time I saw sea turtles and fish of such a color, colors that you can’t find on earth. There was also a meeting for which I flew to Fuvahmulah. A meeting with tiger sharks.
When I first saw sharks, I began to analyze my emotions and asked myself - why am I not afraid of them? I saw the power and strength of these animals and understood that they were predators. There were incredibly strong emotions of delight and surprise, but there was absolutely no fear. I mentally sent them a request that they swim even closer to me, to see them even better. I really wanted to swim closer to them myself, but the well-organized Tigersharkprofi team was always on guard for our safety. It is impossible to describe in words the feelings that filled me when I saw these beautiful creatures. I am happy that I got to know the underwater world of the Indian Ocean. And to feel incredibly strong emotions, you need to experience it yourself. Professionals in their field Petr and Irina Britanova and Tigersharkprofi will help you with this! " Olga Bobrova: "The lectures about sharks and other sea creatures from marine biologist, "sharkologist" Nikita Kornilov gave a special atmosphere to our trip. Every evening we learned something new. These lectures helped us realize a very important fact: people pose much more danger to sharks than vice versa. A real genocide of the "shark people" is happening in the world. They really need protection and careful treatment."
Difficulties of the trip: were there any?
Despite careful preparation and possible difficulties that were known in advance, some issues had to be resolved “here and now”. This became a great example of how additional challenges only motivate and strengthen self-confidence. For example, the absence of instructors on the trip with whom the guys had already dived, and the associated slight nervousness at the initial stage, turned into an absolute understanding that there are no difficulties in successfully establishing all the necessary communication with the employees of the dive center on the spot. People are ready to listen, hear, change their usual algorithms, quickly learn and take into account the needs of divers with disabilities.
Evgeny Burmistrov: “For me, the trip to the Maldivian island of Fuvahmulah was different from other diving trips in many ways. These are three long flights from Tomsk. This is the first trip for me and the team without accompanying divers and instructors. The dives themselves were also different. We made three dives a day. Mostly they were deep. Of course, we should also mention the tiger sharks, which sometimes accompanied us to the observation point, which added to the experience. In the end, the trip was wonderful, which is also a great merit of the entire host team, which made our stay on the island and diving very comfortable. We must repeat it! " Yulia Subbotina: "I would like to separately note the involvement of the team in the process. They were extremely attentive and ready to adapt to a special request. Despite the fact that there was no experience in diving with people with disabilities, everyone understood each other as quickly as possible, which definitely added both comfort and confidence during the dives."
From "to do" to "done"
Dmitry Pavlenko: "For our trip, we chose the following motto: From "to do" to "done". It turned out to be very consonant with the feelings and mood. Our trip took place despite the accompanying difficulties. This was the first trip without instructors, and we overcame a difficult psychological barrier - we realized that the experience and level of our training correspond to the difficult Maldivian diving. This trip significantly expanded the geography of our trips. Everyone returned as winners, inspired, charged, with new dreams and plans. On behalf of our entire group, we thank the Tigersharkprofi, South Ari Dive - Maldives, Petr and Irina Britanov teams, who did everything and even more to make this trip happen. A huge thank you to Dmitry Knyazev's Open Water Challenge project and to all the instructors who worked and continue to work on training divers with disabilities. This is a grandiose undertaking, important, necessary, expanding horizons and giving new meaning to life. We intentionally do not use the word "paradivers" in our story, because we do not consider ourselves as such. Evgeny Burmistrov came up with a wonderful definition - superdivers. Yes, it happens that on land we need more help than ordinary divers. But underwater we are free and the success of our dives is determined only by our experience, our level of training and our skills." Dmitry Pavlenko
Evgeny Burmistrov
Dmitry Frolov
Yulia Subbotina
Yulia Krylova
Marina Kulikova
Olga Bobrova