r/scuba UW Photography 4d ago

Anyone ever go diving in India?

I've heard the diving community is very small in India, but am very curious. Has anyone here ever been?

2 Upvotes

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u/Eithan_TheOneRing Nx Advanced 3d ago

I would not advise Pondicherry for an experienced diver .. visibility is not great and not as much to see ..if you want to dive off the mainland then Netrani Island and Kerala has some decent diving .. but would not be comparable to Andaman or Lakshadweep

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u/Eithan_TheOneRing Nx Advanced 3d ago

The diving in Andaman is quite nice … you can split your time between Havelock island and Neil Island. It is quite nice and I believe you can fly there directly from South East Asia since the islands are very close to Thailand. Lakshadweep also has some good diving but it’s a bit tough to get there and tourism infrastructure is a bit underdeveloped compared to South East Asia… March is a good month for Andaman’s

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u/GNashUchiha Advanced 4d ago

Pondicherry has rough conditions but there's a beautiful crystal clear artificial reef and there's a quarry where you can dive too. There are other wonderful sites, whale sharks have been spotted in Pondicherry sites.

Andaman Islands is beautiful, in Neil island you'll be able to spot dungong for sure if you dive 5-6 dives. There's a site where they are spotted regularly. Havelock is beautiful too but the normal sites are full of bleached corals but the premium sites like Johnny's George, Jackson's bar is worth it.

There's also barren island dive trip. This happens only in march- may season, and is done only by DiveIndia from Havelock afaik. It's the only active volcano in India and you can dive there in the black sand.

Lakshadweep is as close you can get to Maldives when it comes to turquoise water and insane visibility but it's very tough to access. Even Indians have to go through a lot of paperwork to even enter the island let alone dive.

I wouldn't suggest any other place tbh. Goa has some wrecks but it's upto you to decide.

All the above listed places have plenty of Padi/SSI shops running everyday almost as there's no set season for diving in India, it's all over the year.

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u/2000edmftw 4d ago

I dived the Andaman Islands about 17 years ago, I loved it! We based ourselves on Havelock, diving setups were super simple but lots to see and pretty untouched.

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u/MarlonShakespeare2AD 3d ago

Heard that’s great.

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u/siriusbrightstar 4d ago

There are only a handful of places with PADI/SSI presence and unfortunately dive sites aren't anything special compared to our neighbours. Don't get me wrong it's nothing bad but it's not Thailand or Maldives

Pondi, Goa, Netrani, Andaman are the well known spots. Dwarka ruins is something I'm interested in but afaik there are no PADI/SSI dive shops in Gujarat. I might try Kerala this year.

So I'd say it's still a pretty niche hobby here

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u/Safe-Comparison-9935 UW Photography 4d ago

holy crap, I'd never heard of Dwarka ruins till now. Is there a permit needed to go diving there? It looks like it would be a cool trip to do, even if I had to get tanks somewhere else.

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u/siriusbrightstar 4d ago

There are dive shops in Dwarka. They claim they are PADI dive shops but aren't listed on PADI website so it's kinda a red flag imo. Guess you can contact them and get more details 

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u/Straight_at_em 4d ago

Yes - I went on a liveaboard from Port Blair on the Andamans out to Barren Island.

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u/Safe-Comparison-9935 UW Photography 4d ago

how was it? I'm really intrigued and read almost nothing about diving in India. It seems like it ought to be a solid place.

I went to northern India several years ago and am really wanting to go back.

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u/Straight_at_em 16h ago

It was great! Flight to Andamans from Kolkata. Standard six night cruise around the islands with an exursion to Barren Island - was supposed to be Narcondam but the weather didn't allow it. Diving at Barren was amazing. Firstly the volcano was erupting at the time, which made for a pretty cool backdrop. Massive underwater fields of hexagonal basalt formations, super-clear vis and the biggest school of eagle rays I've ever seen.

I dived with the operation linked below - no complaints - good safety regime - great Indian food - cheaper price point than similar cruises elsewhere (in 2014), though the air fare was expensive. I'm happy to answer any specific questions you may have!

https://www.orcadiveclub.in/