Scuba Diving in India

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image-center Scuba diving is one of those adventure sports where you don’t need to do much physical activity, rather enjoy the beauty of the nature. It’s popularity has picked up in India. It is definitely one of the expensive sports, but a worthy one. So for those who want to try this sport in India here is the information compiled for you.

Places to Dive in India:

Andaman:
Andaman boasts some of the India’s best diving. Huge schools of fish, lush coral reefs, shipwrecks and pristine conditions make this a must-dive destination.

  • Visibility: Best visibility, 18 to 45 meters
  • Currents: non-existent to strong, depending on the site and tides
  • Season: November through April with February and March prime dive season; monsoons often shut diving here in June and July.
  • Dive sites: Diverse range of dive sites. (more)

Goa:
Scuba diving is also an increasing draw in here. Diving off Goa offers some of the easiest access to the Arabian Sea along the Indian mainland and offers lush coral gardens, pinnacles, and a variety of shipwrecks. I have heard the visibility is bad but definitely my next places to dive.

  • Visibility: 5-11 metres (a major issue)
  • Currents: generally milder
  • Season: October through May
  • Dive sites: Roughly around 7. (more)

Pondicherry:
The Eastern Coast of India is rapidly becoming famous for its pristine, untouched and largely unexplored reefs and occasional wrecks. This site has deep flowing cuts in the rocky reef bed that you follow as you ascend from deeper to shallower during the dive.

  • Visibility: 5-20 meters (more)
  • Currents: non-existent to strong.
  • Season: February - April & Sept – Nov while tourist season is Dec-April & July-Sept.
  • Dive sites: Around 7 sites.(more)

Netrani Island, Murudeshwar:
Netrani (also called as Pigeon Island) located off the coast of Karnataka has clear waters with a wealth of marine life, including a variety of corals and reef fish.

  • Visibility: 15–40 meters
  • Currents: non-existent to strong
  • Season: Mid October to mid May.
  • Divesites: Roughly around 4-5. (more details)

Lakshadweep: [closed for diving as of now]
Across India’s southwestern coast is Lakshadweep. Here you’ll see a lot of the lush green reefs, overhangs, swim-through and big fish action. It is currently closed to diving.

  • Visibility: Best visibility, 18 to 45 metres
  • Currents: non-existent to strong, depending on the site and tides
  • Season: May through November is ideal for diving Lakshadweep

If you are going for a course better do it in a place like Andaman where they have variety of dive sites to offer. If it is just a fun dive (or) discover scuba dive it doesn’t really matter as long as the visibility is good.

Cost & various packages:

Basic entry-level certification courses

Course Cost
SSI Open Water Course (4 dives) Rs.18,500
PADI Open Water Course (4 dives) Rs.21,000
NAUI Scuba Diver Course (4 dives + more training in Rescue)                 Rs.20,500

Advanced level certification courses

Course Cost
SSI Advanced Adventurer (5 dives) Rs.15,000
PADI Advanced Open Water (5 dives) Rs.17,000
NAUI Advanced Diver (6 dives) Rs.16,500
SSI Advanced Open Water Diver (8 dives/4 complete Specialties) Requires least 16 dives to enroll Rs.26,000

(More details)

Popular Scuba Resorts:
DiveIndia: Review Resort Review
Barefoot:Review
Lacadives: Review
DiveGoa: Review
Goa Acquatics: Review
Temple Adventures:Review:

Some important points to note:

  • Visibility & currents play an important role in a dive.
  • Season: Underwater it doesn’t matter much. Better go in the off-season where there is less crowd on the Island.
  • Variety: If you are going to dive for a couple of days than variety is what you need.
  • PADI vs SSI: It really doesn’t matter. Both the certifications are recognized in all the places. PADI is around INR 2.5k more expensive than SSI.
  • Discount Price: The prices offered by the Scuba resorts for Discover, Open Water and Advanced are similar. Just check for combo packages if any. DiveIndia and Scubatravel India have some special offers I know.
  • Less explored is best: It is always good if the dive schools are actually searching for less explored places.

This was the research I did before my first dive. I hope this comes useful to you. Do share your views in the comments section below.

More details about my scuba diving experience in Havelock.

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