Neil Island Diving

Neil island is one of the best places i have ever dived. The visibility and variety of sea life is blissful. I stayed at Tango Beach resort and dived with India Scuba Explorers. Johan was an amazing instructor and partner to dive with. His passion for diving lead him to discover amazing dive sites around the island. I even went exploring around the island with him looking for unexplored sites and had the most memorable dives of my life.
Neil island is an amazing island. Havlock is good too but Neil is a well kept secret close by.

Hi shanawaz,
Is Scuba possible for nonswimmer ?
What was the total cost?

Hi Shanavaz,

How long does it generally take to do scuba diving? What I mean to ask is do we have to spend entire day and stay at night at Neil Island? Or we can start in morning from Port Blair to Neil Island, do the scuba and return in evening?

grupai - i assume diving is ok for a non swimmer....cost for open water certification is around 15-25k depending on dive shop and then usually 1 or 2 thousand for fun dives.
im not an instructor and think it would be best you get in touch with a dive shop or with Johan at india Scuba explorers and ask what you wanna know.

swaps - Certification is from 3-5 days.

Theoretically, yes you can scuba dive if you can't swim because your BCD keeps you afloat and the movement underwater is very different to traditional swimming.

Having said that, do you really think it's a good idea to hop in the sea of you can't swim? How do you get back to the boat if you get caught in a current? What happens if your BCD is damaged and doesn't keep you afloat? It's also a huge help to have some confidence in the water when you're learning how to dive - already knowing how to move in the water is one less thing to think about.

From a more 'legal' point of view, on the 1st day of a PADI accredited course everyone has to demonstrate that they can swim a set distance (several hundred metres, I think, but I did it too long ago to remember the exact distance!). There's no set stroke and no time limit. You also have to demonstrate that you can tread water for a set length of time (maybe 10 minutes?).

Personally, I'd suggest not trying diving until you're fairly confident in the water. As fantastic as diving is, I really don't think it's worth the risk.

Cheers,

Hi Judy,
You are absolutely correct..
In my last trip I went to Redang Island Malaysia.
There I felt afraid of open water snorkelling.Though People were saying it was due to the choppy sea conditions and current as it was the end of monsoon.
But still I am pretty sure I cann't go for Scuba..Actually what I felt...I can float ..But I cann't change the directions ..So I felt insecure ...My husband tried to convince me that nobody will leave you for dying and you are wearing Life-saving jacket..But when I looked into the sea I felt nervous ..

You can scuba dive with instructor, they give you training for 15-20 minutes depending upon how fast you can learn breathing under water. Then they take you for 30 minutes dive, which is approx 8-10 minutes deep.
I have seen this in Havlock, there were people (Men and women) 50 to 60 years old and they didn't know how to swim but they went for dive with instructor. For experience one can dive like this but for proper diving I agree with Judy01.
I also did snorkeling with life jacket and there was a very young boy who accompanied me with tube. I also thought of diving but dropped the idea as I was traveling alone didn't want to take chance in a place so far. Just dropped the idea at last minute.
PADI has a shop at beach no: 5 in Havlock and they organize fun dive and different courses.

I also did snorkeling but with tube not with life jacket accompanied by guide in Havlock.However the feelings was totally different.I felt comfortable with the tube.though open sea snorkelling was a bit different than Havlock.