Andaman Islands, India- Havelock island
Dive India + Island Vinnie resort+ Havelock island review:
I went to dive in Andaman’s ( Havelock island specifically in India) in November 2012. Overall, diving in Havelock at Dive India was a pleasant experience. However many reefs around Havelock were bleached.The dive masters were very well-trained and gave great briefings. Best part of the dives was we got hot samosas, chai and bananas after every dive!! I emailed with Vinnie( the owner), and he was very responsive to all my emails.
Getting to Havelock:Unfortunately, this was the worst part of the trip- but fixed appropriately by Dive India- the dive resort. The journey can be divided as follow: Two airports have planes to Port blair from mainland India- Chennai, and Kolkatta. After you get to Port blair, you need to take a cab ride to the ferry station, and then a ferry to Havelock. At the Havelock ferry station you need to take another cab to get to the diver center. I would strongly recommend arranging the travel from Port blair to the dive center through the dive center. They will send people for pick up at airport, and the ferry stations.
Getting to the Havelock island from Port blair can be a night mare. Our flight arrived at Port blair at 9 am. Dive India had arranged for a jeep to pick us up from port Blair airport and drop us to the ferry station. The ferry from Port blair to Havelock leaves at 1 pm. Our cab driver offered us to give a "tour of the island" and said it would cost us Rs 2000. We agreed thinking there was not too much to do anyways. however this tour lasted 30 mins, and we hardly drove around for 8 miles around Port blair. This was a rip off, and I told the driver I would pay only after I spoke to Dive India. At Dive India, the person in charge told us that the cab driver was operating on his own, and definitely should not charge us that much amount for his services. The guy at Dive India spoke to the cab driver, and fixed the situation for us. So I was satisfied.
Accommodation: Accommodation was available in standard hut, upgraded hut, or cabanas. The difference between them was basically the room size. Standard huts had common toilets/ showers. I did not saty in them, but did check them out. They were tiled, clean and had hot water showers. They also had Mosquito nets or electronic repellants in all rooms. The cabanas had fans, and were larger compared to the tents- also more luxurious looking. We choose a upgraded hut which had a bed, restroom, hot shower. This was enough for me, and I didn’t need the extra frills. Price for upgraded hut was Rs 900/night + approx 5% tax. For a booking they needed payment for rooms + Rs 1000 deposit for the diving. Overall we had to pay 3 days/6 dives: Rs 13,000 with all gear.
Food: The cafe at the dive resort served excellent Indian food and had with some western entrees, drinks as well. Hanging out at the cafe at the end of the day was one of the best experiences. They had great trance music.
Diving: Although many reefs were bleached, we saw quite a few colorful fish. Visibility was great. 80+ feet on most dives. IT rained a lot on a couple of dives, but the dive crew was very helpful in getting everyone in water safely. Visbility under the ocean was good, and we didnt have any problems with currents on those dives. The Wall, and pilot reef were my favorite dive sites. The wall, as the name suggests is a giant wall. There was a ton of life here, but most coral was bleached. Pilots reef had some good opportunity for macro. Nudibrachs here were huge! On all the other dive sites there were a ton of starfish, butterfly fish, banner fish, blue angelfish, red headed and blue headed groupers, white lined rock cod on most dives. This was the most color we saw. Some cool sea life we saw: couple of manta rays on one of the dives, a banded sea-snake, some eels, barracudas, a cuttlefish on separate dives. Dive boats are quite small- about 6 people per boat.
Things to do on land:
Getting around: We rented a scooter for Rs 100 per day ( really cheap) to explore the island. The island felt largely unexplored, had a very tropical look- I will call it a greener version of Kauai. The beaches were splendid. Specifically the Radhanagar beach, and beach number 7.
Market: The market opens in the evening, and has fresh fruit and some eateries. I would recommend staying away from the food-carts, as the food look quite questionable. But you can definitely get really cheap fruits at the market.
