Hi, has anyone dived here? What are the islands like? What would we see here?? Is there any chanse of seeing manta's and whale sharks? How about turtles and dolphins?? Would we be better doing the similians and surin or this itinery? Thanks for all ye're help!!
Whale sharks - no
Mantas - depends on when you come. Sightings have been pretty good for the past few weeks... wet season is better for mantas, although they can be spotted year round.
Turtles - quite common. Green and hawksbill mostly, although we just got back from an exploratory trip to the North and had a HUGE (>2m) leatherback hanging out with the group for a while.
Dolphins - spotted occasionally but purely at random.
The Andamans has big fish, but isnt a "big fish" destination per se. It has a lot of macro, but isnt a macro destination. It has everything - ranging from big to small, especially large schools - and there is stuff to see the entire dive.
Re. liveaboards - there are pros and cons. Pros: you get to visit Barren and Invisible Banks (although we, Diveindia, are starting Barren day trips soon as well). Cons: other than these 2 sites, most liveaboards have no idea where to go. Some contact us for coordinates, others go to dive sites that went out of favor 3-4 years ago... legacy Andaman sites that have been replaced by much better ones. Of course, Barren and Invisible Banks are totally worth spending a few days diving - there, you are pretty much guaranteed sharks and big mantas. And liveaboard diving is quite different from day-diving - so in that sense, the two are quite different beasts.
Feel free to PM me if you have more questions.
Vandit (Vinnie) - Diveindia
