Elephant Beach
Depth: 7-30m | Category: All
We typically conduct Discover Scuba Diving and the first open water dives here – but despite the “oh, a newbie site” connotations that has, it is a magnificent site. A large school (numbering 30-40) of bumphead parrotfish, some well over 1m, hang out here. This area has a high frequency of turtle sightings. There are large forests of staghorn coral, housing hundreds of reef fish species and other marine life – damselfish, clownfish, trumpetfish, pufferfish, boxfish, large emperor angelfish, coral groupers, giant clams, angelfish, Moorish idols, fusiliers, rabbitfish, etc. Photographers, you'll love this.

I-95
Depth: 10-18m | Category: Beginner
I-95 is a gentle drift dive along a shallow wall (7-18m). Large sea turtles are sighted here occasionally.

Jackson Bar
Depth: 25-30m | Category: Advanced
In late 2007, Jackson, our instructor with more dives in the Andamans than anyone else on this planet, finally found a site he could put his name to. One word: pelagics. A few more words: sharks, eagle rays, turtles, barracudas and groupers. Big fish lovers, rejoice. This is one of our best sites. Be prepared for a workout, however, as currents can be quite strong and perversely always flow perpendicular to the site.

J-Table
Depth:14-17m  | Category: All
Discovered by us on a team outing, J-Table has a profusion of table corals, layered one atop the other. Large school of batfish swim by, looking at divers curiously. Blue and gold fusiliers swim around in one long stream, while yellow snapper circle slightly higher up. Large schools of glassfish hover close to rocks for protection, while giant groupers swim by purposefully. Surgeonfish, various type of triggerfish, morays and black unicornfish are also seen - and we've also spotted oceanic whitetips (!!) and dugongs here.

Johnny's Gorge
Depth:25-30m  | Category: Advanced
Our newest dive site (discovered by Johnny, our divemaster), Johnny's Gorge is a small rocky outcrop in the open sea, with a profusion of large pelagics - big schools of barracudas, lots of sharks (white tips, black tips, nurse sharks and bull sharks), mackerels, trevally, tuna, eagle rays, napoleons, huge groupers and occasional manta rays as well. This one matches up to any site anywhere in the world.

Junction
Depth: 25-35m | Category: Advanced
A very popular site with advanced divers, and with good reason - on a typical day, you get to see sharks, schools of barracuda, a turtle or two, groupers, large schools of fusiliers, trevally, groupers and maybe even tuna. Absolutely stunning. Strong currents and a deep bottom make this site suitable for advanced divers only.

K-Rock
Depth: 18-24m | Category: Advanced
A large coral bed, with excellent fish life as well as a chance to see dugongs makes this an excellent second dive after either Sea Fan City or Junction.

Lighthouse
Depth: 6-18m | Category: Beginner
A shallow reef sticking out near the Havelock Lighthouse, this under-appreciated site once had a large forest of staghorn coral, which was flattened by the tsunami (but now we know how to say "look, big wave" in Swedish). However, it is still a very good muck diving site. It provides shelter to yellow trumpetfish, various angelfish, bannerfish, fusiliers and . Further on, the reef gets deeper and isolated pockets of rock act as an oasis of life in the sandy bottom. Large table corals, a couple of gorgonians, lot of feather stars in various colorations and occasionally eagle ray and turtle sightings make this a very site.

Mac Point
Depth: 10-14m | Category: All
Off the southern side of Havelock, Mac Point is usually a leisure drift dive alongside a reef with lots of lagoon rays, large numbers of sweetlips, occasional groupers, varieties of wrasse, octopii, morays and firefish.

Minerva’s Delight
Depth: 12-17m | Category: Intermediate/Advanced
Another location on Minerva Ledge, this is one of our top dive sites. Virtually every type of reef species can be spotted here – not to mention pelagic action. Imagine swimming in a large garden of coral, with hundreds of yellow and red snapper around you. Another school of unicornfish swims halfway up the water column. Amidst the rocks, a giant grouper stares at you balefully, a sea snake swims along looking for food, various rivers of fusiliers swim around you, tuna and barracuda patrol the outer reef. An occasional reef shark hurries by on some important errand – this is a site that you will want to return to.

North Button
Depth: TBD | Category: Advanced
New site. Details to come.

Nursery
Depth: 4-14m | Category: All
This is a rocky outcrop, extending out from Nicholson island. With a lot of hard coral and lots of rocks, it is a great place to go looking for little critters. Muck divers, you'll like this site.

Pilot Reef
Depth: 6-18m | Category: All
When the visibility is good, Pilot Reef is a drop-dead gorgeous site. It has, in our opinion, the best spread and variety of coral in the Andamans – virtually every type of coral can be seen here: whip coral, red coral, table coral, gorgonians, brain coral, madrigal coral, staghorn coral, a type of green coral that we have not been able to definitively identify, sea grapes, etc. etc. Because it is a very big life, the fishlife is more scattered but there is still lots to see here – leopard sharks sleeping on the sand, large banded sea kraits, giant grouper, fusiliers, schools of jack, coral groupers, various wrasses, lots of pufferfish .. and manta rays!

Staghorn Park / Steven's Ledge
Depth: 12-15m | Category: All
This site is pretty much as described by the name - a large park of staghorns, populated by myriad reef fishies. A unique rock formation makes it a very nice site for photographers, and we also see mantas flying by here quite often.

South Button
Depth: 6-30m | Category: Intermediate/Advanced
South Button is another of our top sites. First dived by Vinnie in 2002, this small island is basically an overgrown pinnacle sticking out of the rocks – it has vertical columns of rocks, covered with coral, a couple of interesting overhangs and strange-shaped rock formations, some sheer and some not-so-sheer walls, very clear water and lots and lots and lots of coral and fish. Manta sightings are very common here during the season, and macro lovers will not want to leave this site - nudis, shrimps, crabs, cuttlefish, octopii.. you name it, they are found here.

Wall
Depth: 10-55m  | Category: Intermediate
Physically, the Wall is a very small site: an underwater ledge whose tip and sides make up a wall dropping down to 55m. Average visibility here is 10 to 15m, but the mind-boggling array of fish and occasional mantas make this one of the top dive sites we have seen anywhere. Usually, there is a moderate to strong current as well.

Vinnie’s Wreck (or Niall's Wreck - we still haven't settled that one*)
Depth: 6-18m | Category: All
The 30-year old wreck of an inter-island cargo ship, this site was discovered by the DIVEIndia team in March 2003. Vis here tends to be a little on the low side (3-10m), but that is what wreck diving is all about. The wreck itself is very interesting, with the full propeller lying intact and all the bits and pieces still in place. No penetration, however.
*Vinnie had been searching for this wreck for 2 months, and was leading the search pattern during which Niall, our friend and former instructor, came across the wreck. He claims that gives him the right to name the wreck. Vinnie disagrees, pointing out that the Guggenheim is named after its designer, not the head mason). You can decide what to write in your log book.

We look for dive sites all the time, and while we try to keep this list up to date, frankly, we prefer diving to web page authoring. So it is quite possible that this list is out of date by the time you get here.