Know Our Dive Sites
The Andaman and Nicobar archipelago lies in the East Indian Ocean, between the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. Coral reefs in the Andamans typically fringe each island, starting as shallow as a meter below the surface to at least 30 meters deep. Due to the constant supply of nutrient rich waters, both from cooling solitons from deeper waters and fresh water creeks from neighbouring islands, our coral reefs are some of the most biodiverse in India.
Diving in the Andaman Islands comes with a slightly different flavour depending on when in the year you come. Currents and visibility are quite variable, and are typically driven seasonally by the two monsoons than prevail in this region but also on a daily basis with the tides (More about dive seasons in the Andamans here). We love diving in all conditions because what you see and experience is always different. It is absolutely thrilling to see how fish fight the current along with you, often times telling you where to hide! In low visibility dives, you will find yourself surrounded by schools of fusiliers and scads scooping in all the plankton while being chased by jacks! All our dive sites are also great if you just want to zone into macro mode.
We are in the process of initiating long-term monitoring of all our dive sites to document the status of their recovery from coral bleaching episodes in the past. We would be thrilled if you would like to share your images and videos for our research database that will be used for reference data by scientists working in the Andamans.
Some things that we try to be particular about in terms of diving ethics:
- We have mooring lines at our dive sites to anchor our boats. We want to minimise damage to the reefs we love so much by avoiding throwing down an anchor each time. Every once in a while, the buoy line goes missing and we try to be prompt in putting a new one back! Mooring lines are also useful for new divers, strong currents or people who need time to equalise their ears while descending.
- We have a strict hands- and fins-off policy and try to keep contact with anything on the reef to an absolute minimum. We would much prefer observing an octopus from a distance and see it changing colours trying to scare away other fish while it hunts; rather than it flashing bolts of white to tell us to back off! And we would love to have spectacular photographs at the end of a dive trip, but not at the expense of disrupting the peace of partner shrimps that are trying to stay hidden, scorpionfishes that have carefully blended into their surroundings and definitely not the coral that are still in recovery. For this reason, we also discourage the use of reef hooks and gloves. What we do encourage is good buoyancy and trim J Pointer sticks to be used only for pointing!
- We encourage people to avoid using sunscreen just before a dive. Wear full sleeve rash guards and full length swimsuits instead (for UV protection) and carry a hat and sunglasses for your surface intervals. All our boats also have roofs to give you shade.
- We do keep a bottle of baby shampoo on our boat to help you defog your masks before each dive, but with a little practice, human saliva is just as effective and chemical-free!
- Along with boat snacks, we provide plenty of filtered drinking water on our boats and in our resort to avoid anyone having to bring any single-use plastic bottles on board or even onto Havelock Island!
