Destination
Recent history reveals that the first Liveaboard visited the Andaman Islands in 1998 with a team of surfers departing from Phuket in Thailand. The few boats now to dive the Andaman Islands are the same Liveaboards that dive the Similans in Thailand and often break in their schedule to get a 4-6 week schedule in the undiscovered territory of the Andaman Islands.
The Andaman Islands are a group of Indian Ocean archipelagic islands in the Bay of Bengal, situated between India to the west and Burma to the north and east. Most of the islands are part of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Territory of India with a small number if islands belonging to Burma at the north archipelago. The coast line is perhaps most famous for its mangroves and you may also be familiar with the very famous wildlife photographer Steve Bloom and his fascinating images of the swimming Elephants taken at the Andaman Islands.
The diving is incredible and yet to be discovered to its full potential, our advice is to make a trip soon before tourism is standard, so far that is not the case and although difficult to get to than most diving regions it is so very worth while.
There are a range of dive sites to appeal to all divers, from steep sloped reefs, to towering pinnacles and beautiful coral gardens. The Andaman Islands, although in Indian territorial waters is easily reached by the liveaboards of Thailand so we may see an increase in the number of trips on offer within this region. The lack of commercial fishing around the Andaman Islands, results in unusually abundant fish populations, including bump head parrotfish, Napoleon wrasse, dogtooth tuna and barracuda. You will also find species endemic to the area such as the Andaman sweetlips and damsel fish. Visiting Barren Island rewards divers with pristine soft corals, and it is here you are most likely to see manta rays, whilst at the Passage it is common to see Mobula rays and groupers.
