Dive site

Purple Haze

Explore Vibrant Purple Corals and Colourful Marine Life in Havelock

Depth
5 - 18 m
Visibility
8 - 13 m
Entry
Boat entry
Boat ride
15 min boat ride
Water
26 - 29°C

Discover Purple Haze, a beautiful scuba diving site near Havelock Island in the Andaman Islands. Famous for its vibrant purple soft corals, red gorgonians and colourful reef fish, this site offers an exciting underwater experience for first-time divers and certified scuba enthusiasts. Explore its distinctive coral formations and discover fascinating marine life beneath the crystal-clear waters of the Andaman Sea.

Discover Purple Haze Dive Site

Purple Haze is a beautiful scuba diving destination located north of Havelock Island (Swaraj Dweep), Andaman Islands. The site features a collection of semicircular coral reefs, creating an attractive underwater landscape filled with colourful soft corals, sea fans and tropical marine life.

Colourful Coral Formations

Purple Haze gets its name from the striking purple soft corals and sea fans found across sections of the reef. Red gorgonians, hard corals and sandy patches add variety to the underwater scenery, making the site particularly appealing to underwater photographers and nature enthusiasts.

Marine Life at Purple Haze

Divers may encounter schools of yellow snappers, fusiliers, clownfish, moray eels, octopuses, lobsters, shrimp and other reef-dwelling species. Careful observation around coral crevices can also reveal smaller marine creatures, including nudibranchs and mantis shrimp.

Diving Experience

Purple Haze is described by local dive operators as a beginner-friendly site with relatively sheltered reef sections. Its shallower areas can be suitable for introductory scuba experiences and training dives when conditions permit, while deeper sections offer additional exploration opportunities for appropriately qualified divers.

Best Time to Visit

September to May is a suggested diving season reported by a local Havelock dive operator. Actual visibility, current and site accessibility depend on weather, tides and daily sea conditions.

Whether you are experiencing scuba diving for the first time or exploring the underwater world as a certified diver, Purple Haze offers an opportunity to discover the colourful coral reefs and marine biodiversity of the Andaman Islands.

When to dive it

Best conditions: October - May

Outside those months the site still gets dived - visibility and sea state just move around, so ask us what the water is doing the week you are here.

What the water is doing

The figures our guides brief on. They are what the site usually gives you - the sea gets the final say on the morning, and the boat briefing always wins.

  • Depth5 - 18 m
  • Visibility8 - 13 m
  • Water temperature26 - 29°C
  • CurrentMild current
    • No current
    • Mild current
    • Moderate current
    • Strong current

    Comfortable for a diver holding their own buoyancy.

Before you dive

The rules every diver on this site is held to, whichever trip brings you here. None of them are negotiable, and none of them are a surprise on the day.

  • Minimum age

    Ten years old for a first guided dive, twelve and above for certified diving. Ask us if you are travelling with younger children.

  • Medical declaration

    You will complete a diver medical questionnaire before entering the water. A "yes" to any question means a doctor has to sign you off first, so tell us early rather than on the boat.

  • Flying after diving

    Leave at least 18 hours between your last dive and your flight. Book your trip home with that gap already in it - we cannot shorten it for you.

  • Insurance

    Bring travel insurance that names recreational scuba diving, including chamber treatment and evacuation. We will ask to see it.

This is general guidance for recreational diving, not medical advice about you. If any of it is a question rather than a formality, speak to a doctor before you travel.

Other sites we dive

Want this site on your log? Tell us when you are on the island and we will put you on the boat that goes there.

EnquireAll dive sites
From our divers

What people say once the boat is back in

  • Best first dive I could have asked for. The instructors were unbelievably patient - I panicked at four metres on the first attempt and nobody made me feel stupid about it. Second attempt went fine and I finished the course three days later.
    Rahul MenonOpen Water Diver
  • Only one of us dives. Every other operator we spoke to had a plan where the other one sat on a beach for four days. Aqua Nomads put the snorkel line off the same boat, so we were in the same water the whole week - and by day three I had done a Discover Scuba dive too. The sunset sailing on the last evening was the best hour of the trip.
    Priya and Arjun NairHoneymoon, February
  • They called the Dixon crossing on our first morning because of a swell, and I was quietly annoyed. We dived Jackson Bar twice instead and it turned out to be the best day of the week. Getting Dixon on day three in flat water made the point - they were right and I was wrong.
    Daniel OseiAdvanced Open Water Diver
  • Two teenagers, neither of whom had dived. The instructors worked one-to-one with both of them for the first two dives without us asking, and my daughter has since booked her Open Water for next December. Whatever they did, it worked.
    The Fernandes familyFour divers, two of them under fifteen
  • I cannot swim well and I said so when I booked. They ran the whole thing one instructor to one diver, stayed in the shallow half of the bay, and never once made it feel like a concession. I have since done the swim assessment and the full course.
    Aditi SharmaOpen Water Diver
Call +91 90000 00000