‘My buddy hums the Jaws theme song to signal there’s a shark nearby’: Meet the diver who explores tropical waters – despite being BLIND
For movie fans, the Jaws theme tune is pure entertainment, but for diver Jessica Pita, it’s a potentially life-saving tune.
That’s because she’s blind and her diving partner hums the Jaws theme to indicate when there’s a shark nearby.
The 21-year-old tells MailOnline Travel that John Williams’ song came in handy during a dive in Mozambique, East Africa.
She says: ‘My diving buddy and I had not yet managed to find a signal for a shark. When one swam just below us as we descended, it started humming the theme tune from the Jaws movies and tried to shout the word shark.”
Although she couldn’t make out “shark,” she immediately recognized the theme song and realized there was a shark underneath.
Jessica Pita lost her sight when she was just 11 years old, but she didn’t let her disability hold her back – she is now a certified diver. She is pictured here with her guide dog, Fudge
The 21-year-old from South Africa underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor, but was left with permanent damage. Her central vision is now “completely black with little dots of light.”
At age 11, Jessica underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor that was causing swelling on her optic nerves. Although the tumor was successfully removed, she was left with permanent damage.
Her central vision is now “completely black with little pinpricks of light,” her peripheral vision is “extremely blurry,” and she has problems with depth perception and color blindness “because everything just blends into everything else.”
The motivational speaker and student from South Africa can distinguish contrasts between light and dark, but relies mainly on her other senses to find her way in the world and on her guide dog Fudge.
Jessica didn’t let her disability hold her back and decided to take an accessible diving course with the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), to become a qualified diver.
While she initially saw it as a ‘visual’ sport, Jessica ‘fell in love’ with diving and has now explored the reefs at Ponta do Ouro, Mozambique, and Sodwana Bay, South Africa.
She is already planning her next trip: to Madagascar.
Although she can’t see the sea life around her, Jessica can distinguish between dark and light colors. She says, “I can see the contrast of the reef against the sand or the water.”
Jessica revealed that her dive partner hums the Jaws theme song to indicate that there is a shark nearby
Jessica also uses tactile cues while diving, which she works out with her partner before taking the dive
While she initially saw it as a ‘visual sport’, Jessica ‘fell in love’ with diving. She is pictured here setting up her gear on the beach at Sodwana Bay
Jessica can also let go of the pressures of everyday life and experience the sensations of being underwater.
She says, “I enjoy the feeling of peace and bliss underwater. Because my everyday world revolves around my senses, there is rarely a chance that I can just listen to or feel something without worrying about whether it will affect my orientation.”
She says she can “listen to the reef for pleasure” rather than for a purpose, like “listening for cars as you cross the street.” She can also “feel the sand” rather than “focusing on the texture of the ground so as not to trip or miss a step.”
Jessica is connected to her diving instructor underwater.
Instead of hand signals, she relies on a system of tactile signals, which she determines before she descends.
For example, to repeat the “OK” signal, her dive buddy squeezes her two fingers and responds with the usual hand signal.
Jessica says she enjoys the sensations of being underwater and experiences a sense of “peace and bliss” because she can simply “feel the sand” rather than “focusing on the texture of the ground so as not to trip or miss a step.”
The motivational speaker and student believes that diving should be accessible to everyone
While these signals could be seen as a “whole new diving language,” Jessica says they are “just a new way of making the sport accessible.”
One of the few obstacles she faces is “coming up with new ways to signal different types of fish.”
She adds: ‘The butterflyfish signal involves my dive buddy grabbing both of my hands and forcing them up and down in a motion that mimics flapping wings.’
Jessica says her experience with diving made her realise how ‘wrong’ her initial beliefs about the sport were.
She explains: ‘Rethinking diving showed us how easy it can be to make something accessible.’
Jessica believes that everyone should be able to practice the sport and advises ‘everyone to try diving, regardless of their level’.
If you want to see more of Jessica, visit her on TikTok at www.tiktok.com/@x_flyingblind_x or Instagram on www.instagram.com/x_flyingblind_x. And visit her website here – vliegendeblindsa.com.
