‘My buddy hums the Jaws theme tune to signal there’s a shark nearby’: Meet the scuba 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 song to indicate that a shark is nearby.

The 21-year-old reveals to MailOnline Travel that John Williams’ tune came in particularly handy during a dive in Mozambique, East Africa.

She says, “My dive buddy and I hadn’t gotten to the point of thinking of a signal for a shark yet, so when one swam right below us as we were descending, it started humming the theme song from the Jaws movies and tried to shout out the word. shark.’

Although she couldn’t make out “shark,” she immediately recognized the theme song and realized there was a shark underneath.

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 tiny pinpricks of light’

At age 11, Jessica underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor that was causing swelling of her optic nerves. Although it was successfully removed, she was left with permanent damage.

Her central vision is now “completely black with tiny 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 mainly relies on her other senses to navigate the world and her guide dog Fudge.

Jessica did not 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 thought of it as a ‘visual’ sport, Jessica ‘fell in love’ with scuba diving and has now explored the reefs at Ponta do Ouro, in Mozambique, and Sodwana Bay, South Africa.

She is already planning her next trip: to Madagascar.

Even though she can’t see the sea life around her, Jessica can distinguish between dark and light colors. She says, “I can make out the contrast of the reef with the sand or the water.”

Jessica revealed that her diving partner hums the Jaws theme song to indicate a shark is nearby

Jessica also uses tactile signals while diving, which she works out with her partner before taking the plunge

While she initially thought of it as a “visual sport,” Jessica “fell in love” with diving. Here she is pictured setting up her equipment on the beach in Sodwana Bay

Jessica is also able to let go of the pressures of everyday life and feel the sensations of being underwater.

She says, “I enjoy the feeling of peace and bliss underwater. Because my daily world revolves around my senses, there is rarely a chance that I can just listen 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 to cars as you cross the street.” She can also “feel the sand” instead of “concentrating on the texture of the ground so as not to trip or miss a step.”

Jessica is bonded underwater with her diving instructor.

Instead of hand signals, she relies on a system of tactile signals, which are established before they come down.

For example, to repeat the “OK” signal, her dive buddy squeezes her two fingers and she responds with the usual hand signal.

Jessica says she enjoys the sensations of being underwater and experiences a feeling of “peace and bliss” because she can simply “feel the sand” instead of “concentrating on the texture of the ground so as not to trip or to miss a step’.

The motivational speaker and student believes that diving should be accessible to everyone

While these cues could be seen as a “whole new diving language,” Jessica says they are “just a new way to make the sport accessible.”

One of the only obstacles she faces is “coming up with new ways to identify 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 represents flapping wings.”

Jessica says her experience with diving made her realize 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 experience the sport and advises ‘everyone to dive, regardless of their ability’.

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 – www.flyblindsa.com.