The Mystery Of Diving Southern India's Coast

[TicBiz]

I’m hoping to find some nitty gritty details about diving the southern India coast: Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay, Adams Bridge (Rameswaram.)

I appreciate that most divers are looking for beautiful waters and a great dive experience, and none of that may exist in these waters. Still, GOMBR and GOMNP are right there and even if you can’t dive the protected islands, there is still a lot of ocean left no one is talking about? So, there must be a few rogue divers out there that know some sea-stories or some real stories about what’s happening on these coastal waters with regard to diving rules/regulations/laws.

From the lay of the land it looks like it would be an adventurous expedition. e.g. you’d have to be almost 100% self-sufficient. And maybe just maybe find one or two gems to write home about.

I’ve written various India Government offices, tourist centers, hotels, Indian dive centers, Universities and even managed to contact a few locals. All of who either don’t respond, are extraordinarily vague/general or assume suggesting diving someplace else, as a good answer.

So, I’m open to sea-stories, real stories, suggestions (other than diving someplace else) that might contribute to solving the mystery of diving the southern coast of India.

 

[Kevrumbo]

Try Sri Lanka then . . .the civil war is over, and they've been trying to revive tourism since the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

 

[Nishan]

I have dived extensively on the Sri Lankan side of the Gulf of Mannar and the diving there is actually very good. Large shallow patch reefs with healthy hard coral cover as well as deeper sandstone reefs with good fish life. The shallow reefs were badly affected by coral bleaching in 1998 but recovery is good. The deeper reefs have groupers, napolean wrasses and schooling fusiliers. There are also extensive seagrass beds and good muck diving and I have seen several types of scorpionfish, seahorses, frogfish, cowfish etc. The habitats are diverse so it facilitates good diversity. There are interesting hardbottom habitats, sand banks and mangroves. You can also see large pods of dolphins during your boat rides. Fishing pressure has increased a lot and overall fish life has decreased compared to 10-15 yrs ago but there is still some good diving.

This area can be dived from October to April but the best time is February and March. Winds can sometimes be strong so its not fun being out in a small boat with a dodgy 25hp engine. But overall the best diving in SL is in off the beaten path locations like this and sometimes just getting to the reef is as much an adventure as the diving itself. Logistics wise there is no organized diving in this area. There are many ornamental fish collectors as well as divers collecting lobsters, shells and sea cucumbers so you can rent tanks and a fishing boat to take you out to the reefs. The tanks are a bit rusty but they work but you need to take you own gear, and have a good local contact. Of course some local knowledge also helps. Again this might change though as many people are visiting this area for dolphin watching and snorkeling and diving is slowly catching on although currently there are only a few recreational divers who people who go there.

Further north on the Sri Lankan side towards Jaffna and Palk Strait there are many shallow reefs and banks, some with good coral. This area is known for good macro and clear shallow lagoons but diving has been restricted due to the war. Hopefully things will change soon.

I would presume that there are similar habitats off South India but from what a few Indian scientist told me the visibility is often low and reef recovery has been slow after bleaching. I think the circulation might be poor in the northern GoM and that area may also be more affected by pollution. But again no personal experience so I may be completely wrong.

Btw, there are some pictures from the southern GoM Sri Lanka side on my blog. See posts under Kalpitiya and Bar Reef.