Strangers, Sand, and Scuba: A 2023 New Year's Trip

For New Year's 2023, I decided to do something completely out of character. I booked a trip with total strangers through a group called PlanTheUnplanned.

Our journey started on a vibrantly lit bus functioning as a mobile nightclub. It was chaotic, loud, and entirely unexpected. However, the forced proximity worked exactly as intended; the strangers on the bus quickly turned into friends by the time we arrived.

We hit Kumta Beach on the last day of 2022. We did a trek down to some hidden, secluded shores. That afternoon was dead simple: swimming, playing frisbee with people I had just met hours ago, and eating packed lunches sitting on the sand. It was surprisingly therapeutic.

At midnight, the beach lit up with firecrackers and sky lanterns, and we cut a cake on the sand to ring in 2023.

The real highlight happened the next morning. We drove to Murdeshwar and took a boat out to Netrani Island, a small uninhabited strip off the coast. I had signed up to go scuba diving without really thinking through the logistics.

Sitting on the boat, learning the underwater hand signals, the anxiety definitely kicked in. But the second I actually submerged, the panic vanished. Once you figure out how to breathe out of the regulator, it is incredibly peaceful down there. I spent the dive surrounded by squids and giant schools of fish.

I spent the rest of the afternoon snorkeling on the surface before we eventually boated back.

Looking back, taking a blind leap on an unplanned trip with strangers pushed me completely out of my comfort zone, and I couldn't be happier that I did it.