2002 Update: Still the same old bad story...

This high season, several boats from Phuket were scheduled to visit the Andaman Islands, but all of the boats (except for one) were forced to cancel their trips almost at the very last minute. The one boat which was not forced to cancel had special permission via the United Nations.

This is not the first time that cancellations have happened and the reason it happens is due to confusion and inconsistencies on the part of the government of the Andaman Islands.

Over the past few years, the rules about entering and chartering in the Andamans have changed continually and remain inconsistent and very confusing, thus impossible to follow. Several years ago, the government told all boats that anyone who comes in by boat must leave by boat, and anyone who comes in by plane must leave by plane. This is not very convenient, but operators can work around it.

This year, however, the government has put the final nail in the chartering coffin, as they have now decided that no foreign boat is allowed to bring in any sort of diving equipment. This means compressor systems (which are custom on most boats), tanks, weights, and personal or rental diving equipment. The idea is that they want to support the local shops in Port Blair and the surrounding islands, but practically speaking, this is impossible to do. Charter boats just can't take the chance that equipment will be available, and guests of course would want to bring their own personal diving equipment with them. Besides, not one local dive shop has a liveaboard boat and you need a liveaboard boat to get to the good dive sites. It's that simple.

Thus the reason for all of the cancellations this year. They have also told us that it will take a minimum of three days to check boats in, which is completely impractical. People will not pay upwards of $200 US per day to sit in port.

Until the government decides whether or not it wants to do charters, we will be advising people against visiting the islands, at least for diving. This is truly a shame as if the local government does in fact want to promote tourism, as they are saying, then diving is the perfect way to do it as it's a relatively non-destructive activity. We will keep you advised of any changes.

A part of India, the Andaman Islands are one of the world's newest diving destinations and have yet to be properly explored for diving. After a 50 year period of virtual isolation from the outside world the Indian government has made a decision to allow limited, environmentally conscious tourism development in the islands.

The Andaman's modern history began as a British penal colony for Indian radical elements. During WWII it was occupied by a small Japanese force. Once India gained its independence from Britain, India initiated a limited colonization program and at the same time, committed itself to protecting the island's aboriginal population and its natural environment.

On the surrounding islands live some of the last stone-age peoples on the earth. One tribe, the Sentinelese, are isolated on their own tiny tropical island, North Sentinel, and no visitors are allowed; no camera crews, no journalists, no scientists, and no researchers. Contact has been attempted only a few times by the Indian government and the locals have made it rather clear-by throwing primitive spears and shooting arrows at the party-that they do not want to be disturbed.

The islands have no modern fishing fleet and commercial fishing licenses are granted to foreign operators only on an extremely limited basis. Thus, the waters surrounding the islands are simply full of fish that have never been disturbed by modern man. And, since the islands only opened recently, most of the offshore diving areas have been dived by less than 50 people.

Although in many of the near shore areas the visibility is limited, the offshore islands such as Passage Island, Barren Island, and Narcondam are rich in marine life-huge fish, sharks, manta rays, unbelievable coral growth-and are blessed with crystal-clear water.

About 70 kilometers to the South of Port Blair, the capital and main port of the Andamans, Passage Island features an offshore pinnacle-appropriately named Fish Rock-where two-meter long dog-toothed tuna compete with sharks for food. Groupers larger than most men cruise the reef unafraid of divers. Large eagle rays patrol the plankton rich waters completely at ease in the strong currents.

The active volcano Barren Island, almost 20 hours cruising Northeast of Port Blair, last erupted in January of 1994. The eruption covered almost everything underwater and above with a thick layer of black sand, creating an unusual landscape to explore. Although most of the coral was killed by this layer of sand, tunas and sharks swim along its black walls, which plunge to over 500 meters. Hammerhead sharks have been seen here. Visibility can exceed 50 meters, and even though there is not much coral left, the contrasting vivid colors of bright fish against the jet-black walls is almost psychedelic.

The most fantastic spot in the Andaman Sea is an extinct volcano located another 160 kilometers North of Barren Island. Walls drop to over 500 meters here as well-just off the shoreline-but the difference is that here everything is alive and healthy. This is truly a diver's paradise.

Imagine four-meter tall barrel sponges. Fans twice as large as they are in the Similan Islands. Monstrous dog-toothed tuna-one animal we saw was almost three meters long. The best part of our first trip to the area was the herds of manta rays that visited us on every dive-both in shallow and deep water. In four days we saw at least 50 mantas-no kidding, and we snorkeled with three groups of 12 feeding animals for over two hours our first day there.

The Andamans are certainly not for everyone. It requires spending long periods of time on the boat and traveling almost every night in order to get to the best spots. However, for those interested in the best of frontier diving, this is it.