Scuba diving academy to come up at Chintapalli in Visakhapatnam

Here is some good news for all the watersport lovers in Vizag. A scuba diving academy will be coming up soon in the district, at Chintapalli. The city of beaches has been into the watersports trend, with activities like kayaking, snorkeling, jet skiing and scuba diving. Among these four, scuba diving is the more popular watersport. This watersport is not available at places in India such as Goa, Pondicherry, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. But fortunately, Vizag has adopted this highly thrilling and mesmerising underwater activity.

Taking a big step towards promoting tourism in Vizag, a scuba diving academy at Chintapalli village in Visakhapatnam District. The academy will be started by Livein Adventures, a Vizag-based adventure sports firm, which operates water sports activities in the city with the support of the Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC). This will be a first-of-its-kind scuba diving academy in Andhra Pradesh and one among very few such academies in India. The academy will come up on four acres of land at Chintapalli and will be built at an estimated budget of Rs 2 crore.

Speaking to Yo! Vizag, Balaram Naidu, of Livein Adventures, revealed, “The academy will have courses on basic diving, kayaking, and boating from October 2021. The courses will range from two days to 6

months in duration. Interested individuals, swimmers and non-swimmers, will be able to take globally certified courses on open water diving, rescue diving and advanced diving.”

Why Chintapalli?

One may wonder as to why Chintapalli has been chosen as the site for this scuba diving academy. The answer is that the coastal area in Chintapalli consists predominantly of clear waters. There are two adventurous 100-year-old shipwrecks at Chintapalli, named Livein and Goliath, which were discovered a few years ago and attract most divers in Vizag. It was when the divers swung through the region of Chintapalli to check the facility for scuba diving that they discovered the shipwrecks deep down.

Talking about the staff and trainers to be appointed for the academy, Mr. Naidu said, “We will soon recruit instructors and divemasters from AP, Kerala, Pondicherry and Bangalore. Solely for the academy, we will have 10 staff members while another 15 members of staff will be handling the beach resort.”