Neil Island- Heaven on Earth

Want to fall in love at first sight? Come to Neil Island and do exactly that. This little piece of paradise is located to the south of Andaman Islands and is teeming with natural beauty. A relatively smaller island, you can walk its entire circumference in approximately 2 hours. It’s the perfect place if you are looking for some peace and quiet among unexplored coral reefs, brilliant bio-diversity, white sandy beaches and tropical climate. Spend the day basking under the sun on the Bharatpur, Laxmanpur or Sitapur beaches, or cycle down the shaded forest roads. And if you are feeling adventurous you can pick from a variety of water sports and jungle treks.  

What sets Neil Island apart for diving enthusiasts  are the untouched waters around the island, teeming with marine life like manta rays, tropical fish, sea snakes, turtles and dugongs!  When compared to Havelock, the lack of mangroves nearby means that the water typically tends to be bluer/clearer even on days of low visibility. At Scuba Yogi, we offer a once-in-a-lifetime experience by taking you to multiple dive sites (as listed below), each rich with diverse marine life, guaranteed to enchant everyone, from absolute beginners to seasoned divers.

Neil Island is connected to both Port Blair and Havelock by government and private ferries.

So what are you waiting for? Pack you bags – tranquility calls!

Aquarium Dive Site

Aquarium is made of several patch reefs that are parallel to the main fringe reef off the east of Neil. A popular drift site to spot dugongs; this is a shallow comfortable dive site for both snorkelers and divers alike. Bottom topography is made of several impressive hard coral structures and rocky patches alike. Spotted rays are often found in sand patches around the reefs here.

Lighthouse Dive Site

TThe most popular reef to dive amongst novice divers in Neil is Lighthouse. It’s a circular shallow reef that’s formed around a small lighthouse found about 500m from the main jetty. Despite its small size, one finds the most spectacular fish life here. Large schools of unicorn fish, fusiliers, jacks, trigger fish, puffer fish… This reef also houses Bob the turtle. A great place to spend some comfortable time underwater with beautiful fish.

Junction Dive Site

Junction is a deep site for advanced divers as the bottom depth throught the dive is between 28-34m and one can expect decent currents running towards west-east here. This beautiful little site begins with rock formations bejeweled with the most beautifully coloured soft corals. Spend some time enjoying this site, taking shelter around here and examining for unusual macro life like ghost pipe fish and nudibraches one finds here often. The rock crevasses at the bottom is known to hide large marble rays and lobsters. Once you pass the rock patch, the rest of the reef is an oval sandy path with lots of sting rays and snake like sea-cucumbers called Holothurian. We’ve also spotted eagle rays and mantas here. Along the rocky edge, lots of lion fish hide under the rocks. Keep an eye on your dive computer throughout this dive to avoid exceeding the decompression limits. If the currents are very strong, holding on to the descent line and watching the beautiful marine life in the dive site is worth the effort.

Margarita Dive Site

One of the three popular reefs between Havelock and Neil is Margerita. From the descent point, this site is a long chain of rock mounds extending southward. The sandy bottom here has a particular variety of sea grass which is much loved by the dugongs and hence their occasional sightings here. The rocks provide shelter to large moray eels, octopus, lobsters, shrimps, juvenile pipe fish, mantis shrimps and their likes. Schools of various kinds of fish are found here making for a very alive and interesting ecosystem.