Andaman Islands Diving - Is Havelock or Neill better?

[Polpessa]

Hello,
I'm planning a trip to the Andaman Islands and as far as I know (please correct me if I'm wrong!) there are only two islands that have dive operators - Neil Island and Havelock.

From a diving point of view, which is better? I'm really hoping someone who has dived both can compare them for me. I'm especially interested in macro life and quality of corals.

Thanks very much!

[wmperry]

I did a week of diving in Havelock and loved it. Ferry went by Neill and it seemed much less developed, but I could be remembering incorrectly. Not hat Havelock is very developed either... Plenty of macro ops when I was there and lots of big critters too.

One thing that was a bit of a bummer was only two dives a day. India does not do time zones so the sun rose at something like 4:15am when I was there. I was willing to go out that early and buy the whole boat, but no dive masters wanted to get up that early.

South Button island till ranks as my favorite dive site. Boats were very small, the larger boat the op had suffered from the constantly watered down gas from local suppliers. Never felt unsafe on the boat, even with 6-7 divers plus staff. Hot tea and samosas for your surface interval is hard to beat!

I dove with Island Vinnie's and had a blast. Inexpensive, safe, good rental gear if you need it, and fantastic food.http://www.islandvinnie.com/index.html

I doubt you would be disappointed with either choice, good luck!

[Polpessa]

wmperry, thanks very much for the post!
I'm curious to know when you were there; I have read some terrible reports about coral bleaching (post summer 2010). Apparently the coral was in much better shape before that but has really been impacted by high water temperatures.
I haven't been able to find many online reports by experienced divers who have been there since then, but those that I have read have been pretty depressing.
I'm also curious to know how long the dives were with Island Vinnie's - I don't mind doing just 2 dives a day as long as I'm allowed to stay down for 60-70 minutes each time.

Still hoping to hear from anyone out there that has dived off both Havelock and Neil and can give me a comparison. I read on the Neil island-based dive op's website that they sometimes see dugongs but have no idea whether this is something that happens like once a year or whether it's a regular thing.

Thanks very much for any further info!

[wmperry]

I was there 3-4 years ago so cannot comment in recent bleaching. Seems like a lot of conflicting info is out there on various forums. I would recommend emailing a few shops and ask their opinion. Vinnie was great at helping me plan my trip out there. Even with significant bleaching it is probably in better shape than a lot of places I have been.

Most of my dives were in the 60 minute range. Bring your on computer if you plan on doing long dives or dives that might be a bit deeper than your guide. I did a 75 minute dive at South Button Island and nobody cared -- the guide got too cold and packed it in round 65 minutes.

[wmperry]

Vinnie also had some aluminum 100s for rent if you are a bit of an air hog (like I was back then) or just like to have plenty of just-in-case gas.

[Polpessa]

wmperry, thanks again for your posts and help, I really appreciate it!
Yup, we've got our own computers with us, so that's not an issue re: dive time. Good to hear you were able to do a nice long dive and no one minded.

[Nishan]

Sorry I have not been to Neil but the shallow reefs around Havelock are definitely badly affected by bleaching and South Button is apparently in bad shape. The dive operators dont even seem keen to go there anymore. I would expect the dive sites around Neil to be in similar condition. I dived with Dive India and they were pretty chilled out about dive times. There are a few small negatives but overall l found it a great place to visit and I'm planning to go back in April this year. If you already havent read it I posted a trip report last year.