Snorkeling

The underwater world around Havelock has plenty to offer snorkelers but the best sites are those further out to sea and away from the regular beat. Bring your own mask, snorkel and fin set or rent it from Barefoot at Havelock Resort at Beach No.7 and you can while away many a happy hour snorkeling off Neil’s Cove, a short walk west from the resort. Whereas Neil’s Cove does suffer the effects of siltation, the snorkeling gets much better the further out you swim, along the sides of the reef.

If you wish to experience instead some of the best snorkeling the Andaman Islands have to offer, you can venture further afield to one of Barefoot Adventures featured snorkeling sites, by hiring a boat or joining an excursion out of Havelock Island. Below is a sample of snorkeling destinations that Barefoot Adventures regularly covers, in addition to which, Barefoot Adventures can also handle bespoke itineraries to other destinations in the Andaman Islands.

• Elephant Beach, Aquarium, Lighthouse

  

  Havelock Island was originally inhabited by the Akar Bale sept of the Great Andamanese tribe. Evidence of this early inhabitation still exists around Elephant Beach: Kitchen Middens (piles of molluscs) survived intact near the creek behind the beach until the tsunami, and scattered remnants of the same can still be seen. The Akar Bale retreated from Ritchies Archipelago in the late 1800’s, after the advent of British occupation. Havelock itself was subsequently populated by the Indian Government, mostly through Bengali refugees after partition and again after Bangladesh’s war of independence. However, only 18% of Havelock’s landmass is occupied by settlements and Elephant Beach, the Lighthouse, the landhead near Aquarium and the areas around it remain uninhabited and are designated Reserve Forest.

  Departing from Barefoot at Havelock off Beach No.7 and culminating at the jetty at Beach No.1, our excursion takes you through three different snorkeling sites, in an arc from the southwest tip of Havelock, to the Northwestern end of the Island.

  The first stop is at Aquarium, on the southwestern end of Havelock. The gently sloping reef, easily predictable currents and resident fish life make this snorkeling experience like being in an aquarium. The fringing reef, home to the usual reef fish, moray eels, scorpionfish and nudibranchs, tapers gently to the sand where stingrays are sometimes spotted. This is a deep snorkeling site for the most part, and snorkeling commences from off the boat, so novices may give this a miss and proceed instead directly to Elephant, Beach, on the western coast of the island. Elephant Beach named so for the occasional sightings of Havelock's elephants taking a walk in the area, is a destination unto itself. Often regarded as a beginner's snorkeling site because of its easy beach access, the gently sloping sand and fringing reef off Elephant Beach actually have plenty to offer the discerning snorkeler, including rare macro treats like the occasional sea-horse and fringe-lip flathead. The easy conditions make elephant beach a perfect site for macro photography. The stricken giant trees on the beach, victim to the effects of the tsunami, are a sight to behold. The next stop is at the Lighthouse, another boat approach, but with a tiny beach near at hand for the less aquatically oriented. Located at the northwestern tip of Havelock, this site is just off the little white lighthouse at the entrance of the channel that leads to Havelock’s jetty. The reef slopes gently from 1m down to the sand at 25m, with the better coral and fish life in the shallows, which makes the reef good for snorkeling. Peppered with the usual bannerfish, angelfish and schooling fusiliers, this site also has some interesting macro life. From Lighthouse to Havelock jetty is but a short hop and once at the jetty, a vehicle will be waiting to bring you back to the Resort.

• South Button (Swiftlet Rock)

  

  A beautiful little islet out of a fairytale, South Button emerges from the sea north of Ritchie's Archipelago. The island is a tiny speck in the sea, a little more than an acre in area. The rock face rises sheer out of the water on the southern side, to a maximum height of 10 meters, and tapers evenly to the north, where stray rocks fringing the island extend into the water. Underwater, the western side of the island drops along a small wall down to 25m and is host to schooling snapper, surgeonfish, barracuda, big-eye trevally and Napoleon wrasse. The southern side of the island has an exquisite coral garden and many interesting grottoes. The eastern side boasts a beautiful expanse of coral garden in less than 12m of water. Manta rays and devil rays sometimes visit the island with the occasional leopard shark. Other regular residents include octopuses, morays, lionfish, shrimp and nudibranchs of all shapes and colours. South Button has something for everyone and is eminently suitable for snorkelers; it in fact offers perhaps the best coral diversity in a single location amongst all our snorkeling sites. There is no beach, no easy access onto the island itself and no landing ashore permitted for risk of damaging corals, so the only accessible ‘dry land’ for snorkelers is the boat they come on. Snorkelers usually swim circuits around the island (20 mins approx) in an anticlockwise direction, a truly rewarding experience as South Button is fringed with corals on all sides, with different species dominating different sections of the reef. This excursion is best undertaken by experienced snorkelers – if new to snorkeling, you are advised to first ensure that you are comfortable in the water – perhaps by ‘training’ at Neil’s Cove or Elephant Beach, before embarking upon this very rewarding excursion.

• Henry Lawrence (Tamarind Camp)

  

  The southern extremity of Henry Lawrence Island commences 12kms north of Havelock and its northern extremity is located 20kms north of Havelock, near the northern extremity of Ritchie’s archipelago. There is evidence of visitation and sporadic inhabitation by the Akar Bale Sept of the Great Andamanese tribe in the kitchen middens that were found behind some beaches and shallows at Henry Lawrence. This is a relatively large island, approximately 40sq.kms in size. It boasts excellent quality forests, teeming with deer and wild boar, and near-pristine mangrove creeks. Tamarind Camp beach, on the northern coast of the island, is an idyllic tamarind-tree lined beach, with some of the best quality near-shore snorkeling in the archipelago. The top of the reef is shallow and healthy, and the drop offs team with large fish – watch out for a particularly large and overfed (and somewhat ugly) grouper! Tamarind Camp is also unique in that it is one of very few places where high quality corals exist in such close proximity to the mouth of a mangrove creek.

• Middle Button (Turtle Island)

  

  Middle Button is 25kms north of Havelock when traveling by sea. The island is located off the northwestern extremity of Ritchie’s archipelago, and 5kms north of South Button Island. Middle Button has always been uninhabited. This is a small island with a very pretty white sand beach fringing its southern coast – probably the prettiest beach in this Marine National Park and Sanctuary area. There is a very extensive, although shallow reef stretching for a couple of kilometers southeast of the island. It affords very good though unremarkable snorkeling, but the journey and the beach make it well worth it, especially for beginners. Middle Button, with a great beach and decent snorkeling is perhaps best combined with an excursion to nearby South Button, which affords no beach but truly excellent snorkeling.

• Combination Excursions – South Button and Tamarind Camp / South Button and Middle Button

  

  Our most popular excursion, over time, has proven to be the South Button and Tamarind Camp combination – proximity to each other and the return journey through the western channels of Ritchie’s archipelago make this a neat, complete circuit encompassing near shore and boat snorkeling, with a good beach and great scenery on all legs of the journey: and a freshly cooked, hot lunch in spectacular surroundings make this a truly special experience.

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