Greetings Fellow Divers!

[Ankush Mittal]

A pleasure to finally join the board.

I have received so much knowledge and clarifications from this board that I decided to join up and contribute as much as I can.

Thanks to everyone for their expert and experienced advice.

I hope to make some positive contribution soon.

Ciao.

FYI: My profile is quite explanatory.

 

[iamrushman]

howdy and welcome from southeast florida USA....

 

[Compressor]

Welcome to SB. A great place to be during surface intervals.
How's the diving in India?

 

[ram04769]

Hello Ankush and welcome to ScubaBoard.

 

[TheMasterDiver]

Welcome to SB. A great place to be during surface intervals.
How's the diving in India?

Yeah I am also keen to know hows the diving in India too?

 

[Sono]

Howdy from south fl

 

[drrich2]

Welcome. If you dive locally, you'll have something special to add to the forum. I don't see much posted about diving India or Pakistan.

Richard.

 

[Ankush Mittal]

Thanks for the welcome guys.

India is definitely not represented properly in the dive community around the world.

Since the number of divers per capita is so minuscule in our country the diving industry itself hasn't really evolved as much. Plus the government lack of interest in developing the industry as a viable tourist option is a major disadvantage.

The majority of the good diving is between Lakshwadeep, an Island on the West Coast and Andaman on the east (Very close to Thailand geographically speaking)

Unfortunately to protect our borders and for security, they shut down the islands and dive boat licenses from time to time. But if you send a quick email to the dive shops you will get an honest update on the status of diving.

Other than the above, we have Pondicherry on the east coast near Chennai and of course few islands off the coast of Goa on the west coast.

Luckily the number of dive sites are increasing, but the visibility isn't the best near the Indian coasts, the islands I mentioned above have the best diving in the country.

Unfortunately, I haven't dived here as much as I have in Thailand lol, will be getting in more local dives now.

If you guys need any assistance in making a trip to India, feel free to contact me

 

[NYCNaiad]

Did you attend the first dive show in India?

 

[Ankush Mittal]

Unfortunately not, by the time I found out about it, it was too late. My friend did hear some words from me for not updating me on time lol.

Another classic example of the state our dive industry is in. Very unorganized. I know more about expos happening around the world than India at any given time.

Luckily its changing slowly.

Another issue is cost of equipment. Custom Duty kills you. I just imported some stuff and paid nearly 45% on top after everything delivered. My Reg is arriving end of the month, need to arrange about 300 usd just for the duty for that lol.