Scuba Diving in Port Blair

Scuba Diving in Port Blair

Scuba diving in Port Blair is one of the best diving adventures you can experience in India. The Indian Ocean surrounding the Andaman Islands are fresh and clear and its underwater universe boasts wonderful coral reefs, vivid marine creatures and stunning seabed gardens.

About Port Blair

The capital of the Andaman Islands, Port Blair is well connected to mainland India and attracts tourists from all over the world. Port Blair is the first stop for everyone coming into the Andamans, and is truly the perfect introduction to these lovely islands.

The land has a rich culture, immortalized in the many museums and historical sites. It has plentiful silver beaches fringed with swaying palm trees, tropical rain forests and mangroves, on the outskirts of the city. The warm, clean waters offer great visibility making scuba diving in Port Blair is one of the most popular activities.

Dive sites In Port Blair

Chidiya Tapu, a small fishing village, is a 2-hour ride away from Port Blair and is the gateway to a number of dive sites. To access most of the dive sites, you need to take a ferry out into the sea. You can enjoy the feel of the breeze blowing through your hair as you journey there. Dive destinations around Chidiya Tapu include Cinque Island, Passage Island, Munda Pahar Beach, Parrot's Rock and Suar Mundi. North Bay, Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park and the islands of Rutland are other popular dive locations.

Once under the sea, you'll be swimming with a variety of vibrant fish like bump heads, wrasse, triggerfish, butterflyfish, sweetlips, giant trevally, barracuda, yellow snappers and neon fusiliers. You can spot tons of purple coral and white fan coral gracing the seabed and bobbing around; many parrotfish, dolphins, lionfish, turtles, giant lobsters, schools of bluefin trevally and many more.

Other things to see and do in Port Blair

Be sure to catch the sound and light show at the Cellular Jail, a colonial prison that stands grim with the tales of its tortured inmates. Port Blair has various museums to explore: the Samudrika Naval Museum and the Anthropological Museum are like a doorway to a whole new world. At Chidiya Tapu, you can walk along the beach and witness spectacular crimson-hued sunsets.

Level of diving courses in Port Blair

If you're a beginner who is just dipping your toes into scuba diving, then you can sign up for a Try Dive or a Discover Scuba Dive. You don't need to possess any swimming skills and it's perfect for those who do not have the time for a certified course. Find out more about scuba diving for non-swimmers in our blog post, Scuba Diving in Andamans for Beginners.

But, if you're looking to get certified, you can go in for a PADI Scuba diver or PADI Open Water Diver course. Both these courses will get you a PADI certificate; however, the PADI Open Water Diver course gives you an advanced skill set and offers more number of dives. You can enroll in a PADI Advanced Open Water Diving Course once you've completed the PADI Open Water Diver course.

Scuba Diving in Port Blair Summary

• State: Andaman Nicobar
• Nearest city: Port Blair
• Total days:1-4 days
• Grade: Easy to Advance
• Max depth:40-60 feet
• Season: October to May
• Avg temperature:23-30 degree Celsius

Best time to go/Weather

The best time to go scuba diving in this Andaman Island is between October and May. During these winter and summer months, the weather is pleasant and the waters are still, hence accounting for excellent visibility.