Manta Point Bangaram — Bangaram

Planning a trip?

Hotels, dive operators, gear, and how to get here are on the Bangaram location page.

Overview

Outer-reef site on the eastern edge of Bangaram Atoll, the most-dived spot in Lakshadweep. The reef top sits at 6 m and slopes to 23 m, with cleaning stations on the deeper bommies where reef manta rays show up in November and December. Snappers, big-eye trevally and yellowfin tuna patrol the drop-off; whitetip and grey reef sharks pass on most dives. Visibility is exceptional outside the southwest monsoon.

Briefing note

Lakshadweep entry permits are mandatory and arranged through a registered tour operator before travel. Diving is closed roughly June–September for the southwest monsoon.

What you'll see

7 species curated

Reef manta ray
seasonal
Peak: Nov · Dec · Jan · Feb
Whitetip reef shark
year-round
Grey reef shark
year-round
Yellowfin tuna
seasonal
Peak: Nov · Dec · Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr
Green sea turtle
year-round
Bigeye trevally
year-round
Giant moray
year-round

Sightings evidence

1 record on file

Reef manta ray
medium confidence
Last confirmed
Feb 2026
Recent records
45 within 25 km
Cluster months
Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb

Sources & methodology

How we summarise this

We aggregate confirmed occurrence records from GBIF and OBIS within a fixed radius of each dive site. Occurrence records confirm presence and reveal seasonality clustering, but they DO NOT measure per-dive probability — there is no eligible-effort denominator. We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.

Sources

Global Biodiversity Information Facility — GBIF Secretariat
Ocean Biodiversity Information System — IOC-UNESCO
iNaturalist — California Academy of Sciences & National Geographic Society
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature
Manta Trust IDtheManta Database — Manta Trust
OBIS-SEAMAP — Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab / OBIS
WoRMS — World Register of Marine Species — Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
FishBase — FishBase Consortium
Atlas of Living Australia — CSIRO / GBIF Australia
REEF Volunteer Fish Survey — Reef Environmental Education Foundation

Conditions

Month	Water	Visibility	Current
Jan	27–29 °C	25–40 m	mild
Feb	27–29 °C	25–40 m	mild
Mar	28–30 °C	25–40 m	mild
Apr	28–31 °C	20–35 m	mild
May	29–31 °C	15–25 m	moderate
Jun	28–30 °C	5–15 m	strong
Jul	27–29 °C	5–15 m	strong
Aug	27–29 °C	5–15 m	strong
Sep	27–29 °C	10–20 m	moderate
Oct	28–30 °C	20–30 m	mild
Nov	28–30 °C	25–40 m	mild
Dec	27–29 °C	25–40 m	mild

Season calendar

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Peak season highlighted · current month outlined

Gear for this site

Beyond the basic kit

SMB + reel — Boat pickup off the outer reef; deployable surface marker is standard for the drift exit.

Next step

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