South Button is a tiny island near the center of the archipelago that is a designated National Park. With typically gentle conditions and moderate depths, this site features abundant hard corals, forming lovely gardens in the shallows. There is also a wide range of reef fish, including brilliantly hued regal, yellow-mask, semi-circle and emperor angelfish, many varieties of butterflyfish and wrasse, and several species of anemonefish, including the beautiful, endemic Indian spine-cheek. This is also among the few sites where mobula rays are regularly encountered, often lining up at cleaning stations.

Neil’s Pride The bottom of this site is very pleasant, consisting of coral-covered rocks and pinnacles with lots of beautiful hard and soft corals. The reef slopes very steeply seawards. There is an excellent diversity and representation of marine life, including giant sweetlips which can go up to 1.5 m long, as well as manta rays, fusiliers, leatherback turtles and silvertip reef sharks. Maximum depth is a whopping 40m with 20m visibility.

Campbell Shoal is an open-water site, consisting of a sizable reef that bottoms out at roughly 24 meters, where a series of ledges support large sponges, gorgonians and black corals. Schools of bannerfish, sweetlips and various snappers frequent this area, along with bumphead parrotfish, Napoleon wrasse and occasional Malabar grouper. Moving up the gradual slope reveals a wide assortment of reef fish and prolific hard corals as shallow as ____ meters. Watch for schools of fusiliers, spadefish, and pickhandle barracudas in mid-water. Currents are generally mild.

Among the best dive areas in the Andamans are Narcondam and Barren Islands, both of which are volcanic in origin. Widely separated from the rest of the island chain and each other, these mountainous isles are surrounded by clear, blue, extremely deep water, providing some of the most spectacular scenery in the entire archipelago. At Narcondam, sites like Chimneys and Ooh La La feature massive rock spires, decorated with huge orange fans, barrel sponges and soft corals in deeper areas, while healthy hard corals dominate nearby fringing reefs. HQ Pinnacle offers a perfect multi-level profile, and is home to huge dog-tooth tuna and hundreds of bigeye jacks, along with red-spotted blennies and zebra dartfish in the shallows. Lighthouse Point is a high-voltage dive when the current is running, typically attracting schools of rainbow runners and bluefin trevally, along with occasional gray reef sharks and eagle rays. Nearby, Lion Rock and Bubbles offer sloping hard coral reefs populated by a wide spectrum of reef fish; the latter also features volcanic gas bubbles rising from the seabed. Mantas are common at all these sites, and often allow prolonged encounters when they’re feeding at the surface.

At Barren Island, the region’s only active volcano, sites like Northwest Plateau feature sheer walls dropping to bottomless depths, with colorful sponges and gorgonians sprouting from among the crevices. From 15 meters to 5 or less, an amazing variety of reef fish meander among boulders and hard corals, creating the impression of being in a huge aquarium. At Purple Haze and Black Magic, steep slopes are covered in fields of vibrant pink and red soft corals, accented by red and yellow encrusting sponge, all of which seem to glow against the inky black volcanic sands. Schooling bannerfish and pyramid butterflies come and go in waves, along with pelagics like dog-tooth tuna and big-eye trevallies. It’s also worth exploring the sandy substrate, where notable residents include garden eels, sand divers, and incredibly colorful decorated dartfish and aurora shrimp gobies. There are also several intriguing caverns nestled in the rocky shoreline. Underwater terrain slopes more gradually at South Beach, with large boulder corals dominating the seascape, along with yellow encrusting sponges and a diverse community of reef fish. Banded sea kraits are encountered at all these sites, as are bumphead parrotfish and mantas.

Minerva Ledge This gently sloping offshore reef affords a nice shallow dive. The bottom here is almost rocky, with some healthy corals. The reef flat is at a depth of 9m. Many reef-fish are in evidence, as are visiting pelagics – look out for large potato cod, whitetip reef sharks, big schools of blue-fin trevally and various spadefish.

The sloping perimeter of Passage Island is rocky and rather barren, but often has great schooling action, as well as big fish like bumphead parrotfish, giant sweetlips and Napoleon wrasse. There’s even a chance of giant grouper or mobula rays. The main attraction at Passage, however, is a small pinnacle that barely breaks the surface, appropriately named Fish Rock. Almost every dive here begins with a swirling cloud of surgeonfish and fusiliers, often joined by chevron barracudas and husky dog-tooth tuna. Portions of the deep slope are covered with small, pastel pink soft corals, barrel sponges, orange fans, and large green Tubastrea coral trees. Schooling fish are especially abundant, as masses of bluestripe snappers and bannerfish ebb and flow across the reef, while Oriental sweetlips hover closer to the bottom. While coral is sparse in the shallows, there is still much to see, including super-cute red-spotted blennies. Currents can be strong, but there is always some protection on the down-current side of the rock.

North Cirque Island – Southeast Reef The southeastern part of the reef consists of tremendous hard and soft corals; these are very dense on the rocks down to about 16 metres, below which there is far more sand than rocks. The corals are very healthy and completely free of damage; they are amongst the healthiest in the region. There are many fish in evidence. Maximum depth is 22 metres and visibility can stretch as far as 30 metres, currents are minimal.

Havelock Island offers a number of impressive dives, both close to the island and well offshore. Among open water sites, Dixon’s Pinnacle is relatively compact, just the right size to be seen in one dive. The main structure is an oval-shaped outcropping, rising from surrounding depths of roughly 30 meters to 18 at the shallowest, with two smaller pinnacles nearby that top out at 25. Large gorgonians, barrel sponges and black coral trees are well distributed around the site, providing shelter for many kinds of reef fish, including semi-circle and emperor angelfish and several sweetlips species. Large schools of snappers congregate on the upcurrent side, as do mid-water species like chevron and pickhandle barracuda, along with several species of trevally. Green and hawksbill turtles are regular visitors. A bit of current is not unusual here, but the pinnacle provides ample shelter at depth.

Another superb offshore site, Johnny's Gorge is really more of an irregular, fractured plateau, rising from surrounding depths of 30-plus meters to roughly 23 at the shallowest point. Several large barrel sponges adorn the ledges, but the main attraction is prolific fish life—large groupers, huge schools of humpback snapper and Sri Lankan sweetlips, with giant trevally, chevron barracuda and Spanish mackerel patrolling the mid-depths. There is also a school of bumphead parrotfish that hang in tight formation in early morning. It’s the kind of site where almost anything can show up—recent sightings include both ornate ghost pipefish and bottlenose dolphins!

Just off the north end of Havelock Island, the Wall is a shallow, coral-covered ridge that drops from 8 to 55 meters in one small area. This site offers a rich variety of reef life, including nudibranchs, cowries, octopus, various crabs and shrimp, and countless other invertebrates. Fish life is also prolific, including Indian spine-cheek anemonefish, pinnate spadefish, large and fearless coral trout, Napoleons, and blue-ring angelfish to name just a few. And, while visibility is seldom great, there is lots of scenic beauty, including huge black corals and lush gorgonian fans on the wall.

Radhanagar Beach, often referred to simply as Beach #7, was named by Time Magazine as “Asia’s Best Beach”. Go ashore and check it out yourself at sunset, or opt for a dusk dive in the bay, when masses of sea biscuits emerge from the sand. There’s no coral here, but plenty of life, as veined octopus, bobtail squid, Melebe nudibranchs, porcelain crabs, sea pens, and countless other creatures make their nocturnal rounds.

Near the large land mass of Middle Andaman Island lies the wreck of an old steam-powered cargo ship, the Inchgard. Resting in only 18 meters of water, portions of this large wreck are festooned with gorgonians and whip corals, while colorful soft corals thrive in the shallows. Visibility is quite limited, but fish life is prolific and varied, including blue-ring angelfish, crocodilefish, barramundi cod, giant grouper, giant and painted sweetlips, giant trevallies, and schools of large mangrove snapper that seem completely unconcerned about divers. The wreck itself is fairly broken up, but many recognizable features remain, including the propeller.