Aside from being the capital of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Port Blair is your gateway to the diving paradise of Havelock and Neil islands. While you need to travel at least 40 kilometers (25 miles) to reach these popular island destination, many do not know that Port Blair itself is a haven for scuba diving where several dive sites awaits divers from all parts of the globe.
Dive Sites in Port Blair
Located in the South Andaman Island, Port Blair is dotted with dive sites that are mainly composed of protected reefs. These sites caters to all levels of scuba certification where many have already experienced a great underwater adventure.
Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park
Type of Diving: Reef diving
Maximum Depth: 20 meters (60 feet)
Comprising of 17 islands scattered in an area of 281 square kilometers (28,100 hectares or 69,436 acres), Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park, is by far, your biggest dive site in the Andaman Islands. And not just the biggest, but many have considered it as the best dive site in Port Blair.
Located 16 kilometers (10 miles) south of Port Blair, the reefs of Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park has been conserved and protected since it became a marine protected area in 1983. Among the vastness of its area, Jolly Buoy Island is the most visited dive site. As you enter the water, you will see that this site is filled with massive types of reef building corals. A lot of tropical fish can be found in the reef which is dominated Pomacentrids like damselfish, Anthias and Sergeant Majors.
Note: Even non-divers can see and enjoy the underwater beauty of Jolly Buoy Island and the rest of the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park. You can either do this by going to a nearby marine-dedicated museum where preserved and stuffed marine animals are displayed or go out at sea in a boat with a glass bottom.
Please watch this video and have a glimpse of the glass-bottom tour in Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park.
Video courtesy from shreya roy
Bala Reef
Type of Diving: Reef diving
Maximum Depth: 20 meters (60 feet)
Located 101 kilometers (63 miles) south of Port Blair is Little Andaman. While this 4th largest island in the Andamans is popular for surfing, boating inside creeks and elephant safari, Little Andaman is also known for scuba diving where Bala Reef is its most popular site. Exploring its underwater habitat allows you to see corals and tropical reef fish with colors from all sorts. In other words, you will exploring a colorful coral garden.
Aside from diving, the good thing with Little Andaman is that you can visit and relax from their famous beach. You can either visit Butler Bay Beach which is considered a virgin beach or Netaji Nagar Beach which is considered as the perfect place to unwind in a serene and quiet facade.
Cinque Islands
Type of Diving: Reef and Deep diving
Maximum Depth: 30 meters (100 feet)
Located 37 kilometers (23 miles) south of Port Blair is a marine sanctuary that houses some of Andaman’s pristine reefs. Despite being uninhabited, Cinque Island is frequently visited by scuba divers who wishes to have an amazing underwater adventure. While it is composed of 2 islands connected by a sandbar, most of the diving activities takes place on the North Cinque Island. Your underwater adventures in North Cinque Island will initially start start by descending down to the shallow reef where you can mostly see massive types of reef building corals.
But as you go deeper, you will clearly see a visible change of the reef composition where sea fans and other gorgonians abound. This is on top of the numerous reef-associated fish like damselfish, wrasse, parrotfish, snappers and groupers that is either hovering peacefully or swimming along the edges of the reef. Many have claimed that diving in Cinque islands is like exploring a virgin reef. In fact, many of its reef inhabitants are not well studied. And a good indicator for this is that the reefs of Cinque island houses a newly discovered fish – the blenny Alloblennius frondiculus.
Fish Rock
Type of Diving: Deep, Wall and Reef diving
Maximum Depth: 30 meters (100 feet)
Located is along Passage island is a site for advanced diver. Fish Rock is basically a pinnacle that rises from the seafloor and barely reaches the surface water. The reason why this site is called fish rock is that this rocky protrusion is literally filled with fish where you can see a lot of triggerfish, snappers, sweetlips, surgeonfish and Napoleon wrasse to name a few. If you are lucky, you might see the passing by of mobula rays which pretty looks like the giant manta rays. If you will be able to reach the sandy bottom at 30 meters (100 feet), then expect to see the resident giant grouper that measures 1.8 meters (6 feet) in length.
Accommodation in Port Blair
Of all the hotels in Port Blair, we only recommend the best – Munjoh Ocean Resort. This all suite resort and spa is nestled and naturally sheltered under the shades of coconut palms and other tall fruit bearing trees like betel, mango, banyan and jackfruit.
Being the only 5-star resort in Port Blair, it features elegant villas and individual configuration rooms that is set in a unique hillside setting. It has its own multi-level swimming pool with a cascading waterfalls. And of course, speaking of food, you can indulge in fine dining or just munch any go to foods at their swanky restaurants.
Video courtesy from taijashvi khera
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