India · Andaman Islands

Havelock Island

Main Andaman dive season with the best mix of visibility and weather.

Havelock Island (now Swaraj Dweep) is the diving hub of India's Andamans — a remote archipelago in the Bay of Bengal with healthy reefs, manta encounters in season, and a backpacker-island atmosphere. India's best diving by a long way.

Good season

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

December–April is the main season with the calmest seas and best viz. May–November is monsoon.

Trip duration

5–7 nights on Havelock; longer to combine with Neil Island and Port Blair.

Dive style

Boat diving to walls and pinnacles; mild-to-moderate current.

Dive level

Open Water; Advanced for the deeper pinnacles.

Reef health

What you’ll actually find
Mixed

Some loss since the 2010s, but the reef still has plenty to dive. Pick depth and shoulder-season carefully.

Coral reef health

How is this calculated?
A decade ago
Survey 2014
36%
Today
Survey 2024
32%

On current trend, no live coral by ~2104. Losing about 0.4% cover per year — roughly 80 years of reef left to see if nothing changes.

Heat stress right now

Watch

Mild warmth. Worth watching — no bleaching yet.

NOAA Coral Reef Watch · updated May 2026 · 4 °C-week heat dose

What to expect on a dive

Remote archipelago. Cover has held up better than most South Asian reefs due to limited tourism.

Sources, methodology, and the raw numbers

Raw observed numbers

  • Coral cover: 32% (survey Sep 2024, GCRMN South Asia transect)
  • Bleached: 11%
  • Recent mortality: 3%
  • South Asian reef — observed condition reflects the slow loss regional pattern.

Raw thermal numbers

  • NOAA CRW alert level: Watch
  • Degree Heating Weeks: 4 °C-wk
  • SST anomaly: +0.4 °C

How we summarise this

Observed coral cover, bleaching, and mortality come from named in-situ surveys with a stated date and method — they describe one snapshot of one reef and do not extrapolate to neighbouring sites. Current thermal stress is satellite-derived from NOAA Coral Reef Watch at ~5 km resolution; it indicates risk, not observed coral damage. We deliberately separate observed condition, current thermal stress, and projection — and we never publish a projection without a documented model and uncertainty.

Sources

Reef condition changes year to year. If you visit, consider supporting responsible-travel and conservation operators on the ground.

Pressure on this reef

Protection · fishing · what you can do

Protected-area status

Multi-use MPA

Inside a designated MPA that permits regulated fishing and other uses. Worth checking which zones at this location are no-take.

Fishing pressure

High fishing pressure

Dominant pressures

  • industrial fishing
  • small-scale overfishing
  • limited enforcement
  • warming

1 Green Fins-verified operator known at this location.

What you can do

Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park covers Wandoor reefs. Indian Ocean / East African coast has formal MPAs on paper but enforcement is patchy. Tip local guides directly; support community-conservancy diving where available.

Protection status sourced from Protected Planet / WDPA and refined with Marine Protection Atlas. Fishing pressure proxy is Global Fishing Watch AIS data. See the methodology for what these sources can and can’t prove.

Dive sites here

2 curated

Gear

What to bring

Basic kit

Site-specific add-ons

Some dive sites here call for extra gear. Check the individual site page for full context.

  • Dive light or torchAt 30-34 m, ambient light drops sharply and the overhangs where sharks rest are dim — a primary torch helps with shark ID and gorgonian colour. · Johnny's Gorge
  • Nitrox cert + EAN32 fillsBottom time at 28-30 m on air is short; EAN32 stretches no-deco limits and is offered by all Havelock operators with advance booking. · Johnny's Gorge

What divers say

India's diving secret. Healthy reefs, almost no other divers, and the food is fantastic.
Repeat visitor