The first thing nobody tells you about your first scuba dive is how loud your own breathing is. Underwater, with a regulator in your mouth, the only sound you can hear is yourself breathing. In, out, the small mechanical hiss as you draw air, the slow stream of bubbles travelling past your ears as you exhale. In, out. For the first three minutes I forgot how to do this normally. By minute five I had a rhythm. By minute fifteen I had forgotten that the rhythm existed, which is when the dive properly began.
I did my first scuba dive in Havelock last November. I had snorkelled before, several times, in Goa and the Maldives, and I had watched what I thought was a respectable amount of underwater footage. I assumed I knew what to expect. I did not. Want to write this one for any solo traveller or first-timer who is considering a Discover Scuba Dive (the entry-level trial) on an Andaman trip and is not sure whether to commit.
The first decision is the trial versus the certification. Two paths. One, Discover Scuba Dive, DSD, which is the trial dive, no certification, about thirty to forty minutes underwater with an instructor holding a strap on your buoyancy vest the whole time. Five thousand rupees give or take. Good for finding out if you like it. Two, the Open Water Certification (either PADI or SSI, both are valid worldwide), which is a three or four-day course with pool sessions, classroom theory, four open-water dives, and a card at the end that lets you dive anywhere in the world up to eighteen metres. Twenty-five to thirty-five thousand. If you have never been underwater on a tank, do the DSD first. If you love it, come back next year for the certification. If you do not love it, you have saved twenty-five thousand and a lot of time.
The medical form is the part that catches people. You will fill out a one-page list of conditions. Asthma, ear problems, heart conditions, recent surgeries, current cold, any of these can disqualify you on the day of the dive. Be honest. The operators will refund you if you cannot dive. Lying on the form to get into the water can genuinely kill you, this is not an exaggeration, the pressure changes underwater are not forgiving.
The morning of the dive, eat a light breakfast and skip oily food. Avoid alcohol the previous night (twenty-four hours ideally). Take a sea-sickness tablet, forty-five minutes before the boat departure, even if you do not normally get motion sickness. Avomine is the standard. The boat to the dive site is twenty to forty minutes on choppy open water. The number of first-time divers who get violently seasick on the boat and have spent the actual dive feeling shaky as a result is more than people realise. Tablet first.
The briefing on the boat is fifteen minutes. The dive master will go through how the regulator works (the thing you breathe through), how to equalise the pressure in your ears as you descend (pinch your nose through the mask, blow gently, your ears pop), the hand signals you will use underwater (OK, problem, ear hurts, up, down, look at this fish), and what to do if your mask floods (lift the bottom of the mask, breathe out through your nose, the water clears, do not panic). Even if you think you understood it from a YouTube video, listen again. Things look different on a wobbling boat with a mouthpiece in your hand than they did on your couch.
The descent is the part that requires the most attention. You enter the water from the side of the boat. The instructor holds a D-ring on your BCD (the buoyancy vest) and guides you down. Equalisation is the first challenge. Your ears will start hurting at three to four metres if you do not equalise. The instructor stops you several times on the way down and signals "ears?" with a hand gesture, and you signal back. If you cannot equalise, you do not go down. Some people just have harder ears. There is no shame in surfacing. I have seen one out of ten divers turn back at the first equalisation stop.
At the bottom, eight to ten metres for a DSD, the world goes still. You hover. The instructor will hold on to you, swim you slowly around a small patch of reef, point at fish, gesture at coral, sometimes hold your hand if you look panicked (I did, on the second minute). You will see clownfish in the anemones (yes, the ones from the film). You will see angelfish, parrot fish, possibly a small reef shark passing in the distance who will not bother you. You will see a trigger fish stop two feet from your mask and stare directly at you for about ten seconds, in the way that a cat stares.
What surprised me. The colours are not as bright as in the photos. Cameras enhance, your eyes do not. There is a kind of blue-green softness to everything that is its own beauty but very different from the over-saturated underwater photography you have seen. The fish are not afraid of you. They have decided you are a slow, noisy, big fish, and they go about their business. Your own breathing is the loudest sound. For the first three minutes I was disoriented about which way was up. The instructor's grip on my vest was the only thing keeping me oriented. After three minutes I was fine and the orientation came naturally. Thirty minutes feels like ten.
The ascent is slow. You come up at a controlled speed (the instructor manages this), with a brief safety stop at five metres for three minutes to let nitrogen leave your blood. Then you break the surface. Take the regulator out. Inflate your vest. The boat is right there.
You will be tired in a way you do not expect, even though you did not move very much. Decompression is real and your body has been working harder than your brain noticed. Rest the afternoon. Drink a lot of water. Do not fly within twenty-four hours of diving (the residual nitrogen + cabin pressure can cause decompression sickness, this is non-negotiable). You will probably also be hungry and a small bit emotional. I cried a little on the boat ride back. The instructor was kind enough to look in the other direction.
The dive sites for DSD around Havelock are mostly beginner-friendly. Nemo Reef (shallow, calm, lots of clownfish, eight to ten metres). Lighthouse (slightly deeper, more variety, twelve to fifteen for OW divers, shallower zones for DSD). Aquarium (coral garden, very photogenic, six to ten). Tell the operator you are a DSD diver and they will pick the right site for your day.
On choosing an operator, look for PADI or SSI certification (the two industry standards), a good ratio of instructors to divers (one-to-two for DSD, no more), equipment that looks in good condition (inspect masks and regulators, the mouthpiece should not be cracked), and dive insurance included or available. Avoid the cheapest options. Dive safety is not the line item to save on. The mid-range operators on Havelock are reputable and the small extra money is worth it.
Havelock versus Neil. Both have good diving. Havelock has more operators and slightly more developed sites. Neil is quieter, less crowded dive boats, slightly higher prices, slightly fewer trip options. If it is your first time, Havelock is easier logistically.
Costs. DSD around five thousand. Open Water Certification twenty-five to thirty-five. Photos and video of your dive (optional but most people pay for it the first time, and you will be glad you did) fifteen hundred to two and a half. Single fun dive after certification, three and a half to five thousand.
When to go. The Andaman diving season is October to early May. Visibility is best in February to April. June to September is monsoon and most operators are closed.
The way I have started describing scuba to my friends who are considering it. It is the closest thing to being a guest in someone else's house. The fish were there before you, they will be there after you, and you get to be a respectful visitor for forty minutes. You do not touch the coral, you do not chase the fish, you do not bring anything back except the photos that the dive master takes for you. Nine times out of ten the visit changes the way you think about the ocean.
I have been back to Havelock twice since for fun dives, and I am now planning the Open Water certification later this year. The first dive opened a door. What was on the other side has turned into a small obsession.