How is scuba diving in Havelock Island?

Havelock Island is well known as the home of transparent waters, vast marine life, and a Mangrove ecosystem. The white sand beaches kiss the transparent blue waters around the island. There are multiple scuba diving sites with a variety of colourful schools of Southeast Asian reef fish, soft corals, hard corals, squids, lobsters, octopus, and many more.

The visibility ranges between 8 meters to 15 meters even though it rains. All the dive sites are reachable by speedboats within a few minutes. The temperature underwater and at the surface is also warm and comfortable for scuba divers. There are a few shipwrecks too that you can witness during your scuba diving in Havelock.

Where is Havelock Island?

There are more than five hundred islands under the chain of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Havelock Island is one of them, located in the Bay of Bengal in the Andaman Sea. The island is closer to Thailand and Burma than mainland India.

Havelock Island has a few siblings too, such as Pill Island, Nicolson Island, Wilson island, John Lawrence Island, Henry Lawrence Island, Inglish island, and South Button Island. Most of the dive sites are either close to or a little far from those islands.

How to reach Havelock Island?

The Andaman Islands are connected to mainland India either by shipping routes or by flight routes. Ships are available four times a month from either Chennai or Kolkata. There are daily scheduled flights from different Indian cities to Port Blair. You can either book direct or connecting flights from Bangalore, Chennai, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, and Bhubaneswar to come to the Andaman Islands.

Once you reach the capital of the Andaman Islands, called Port Blair. One can stay one night in the city or choose to take a ferry to reach Havelock, which you can decide depending on which time you land in the Port Blair airport.

The only way to reach Havelock from Port Blair is to catch a ferry. It is a great idea to book your ferry well in advance. There are a few renowned ferry booking websites that you can rely on, such as Makruzz, Nautica, and Green Ocean ferry service.

Best time to scuba dive in Havelock Island

Scuba diving in Havelock is possible throughout the year, since rain does not have any impact on underwater marine life. It is also true that if it rains too much for a few days, the visibility might drop by two - three meters due to the "Murky waters" from the hills mixed with the sea water. The ideal time period should be between October till May.

Is there any age restriction for scuba diving in Havelock Island?

Yes, there is an age restriction. The minimum age limit is 12 years, and the maximum age limit is 60 years as defined by the guidelines of the Tourism Department of Andaman Islands.

On the other hand, being physically and mentally fit for scuba diving is also very important. It is recommended that if someone is taking prescription medicine or is above 49 years old, they should obtain a medical fitness certificate from their respective family doctor for scuba diving in Havelock.

Besides scuba diving, what else is there?

Radhanagar beach is the second most beautiful beach of Asia, as per Times Magazine, located in Havelock Island. The white sand beach with crystal clear blue waters is worth spending a day chilling with your loved ones.

Apart from scuba diving, most of the other water sports ( Jet-ski, Parasailing, Sea-walk, Semi-submarine, etc. ) are being conducted at the Elephant Beach by the locals. The pristine silver sand beach is on the southwest side of Havelock Island. There are two options to reach there, one can either choose to trek from village number six and a half or opt for a speed boat ride from the jetty of Havelock Island.

If you love photography, Kalapathar Beach would be a perfect place for you. Sunrise is an amazing event there. Please note that the sun rises before 5 am in these islands, so you might have to wake up really early to catch the beauty of the sunrise there.

That’s it for today. I will be presenting another blog with some very useful insights and some fun facts about scuba diving in Havelock. Thank you so much.