The MV Frantic Pace returned to Phuket after a disappointing 5 week stay in the Andaman Islands. We had planned to stay in the Andaman’s for 3 to 4 months, but a number of issues led to our early departure.

 No foreign vessel is permitted to engage in any form of fishing while in the Andamans

 When we planned our trip, we were assured, I believed in all good faith, by our agent, that the ban on fishing the Andamans by foreign boats did not apply to recreational and sport fishing. My wife and I have spent 15 years living and traveling aboard the 52’ sport-fish Frantic Pace, and sport fishing, particularly for marlin and sailfish has always been a part of our journey that has thus far taken us to over 30 countries. We release all the bill fish we catch.

 Having worked our way through the 14 separate documents, the 75 copies and the nearly ream of paper for the printer we purchased especially for this adventure, we were thrilled to have finally cleared arrival processes in Port Blair. However when we returned to Port Blair from our first trip to Narcondam, we were informed by fisheries that we were not permitted to fish in the Andamans.

After weeks of clarifications, meetings with our agent and supportive letters, the final decision was handed down, that no foreign vessel is permitted to engage in any form of fishing while in the Andamans. This includes dropping a line over the stern to catch dinner, towing a lure behind the boat as you travel among the Islands, or even having a fishing rod exposed.

 It is prohibited to scuba dive from your own vessel

 Furthermore it was decreed that it is prohibited to scuba dive from your own vessel. Any scuba adventure in the Andamans must be done from a local diving operation.

Restrictions on Communications

 We were aware of the Sat phone restriction on the use of any Sat phone other than Inmarsat, so we borrowed an Inmarsat phone from a friend, placed $200 of minutes on the Sim card – while our Iridium phone was disassembled and placed in a bonded box by Customs.

 Our attempts to use the Inmarsat phone were unsuccessful as was the attempts by other boats in the Andaman’s at the time. Weeks were spent trying to determine the problem before we discovered that India has been blocking the Inmarsat signal since August 2018.

 We were then told that we would have to buy a local sim card for the phone, but another week of searching and we were unable to find such a sim card.

The absurdity of allowing Inmarsat phones while blocking the signal would be laughable, if not for the fact that there is little communication services in the Andamans and unless equipped with a single side band radio, there is the added safety and convenience factor.

Also, due to the required twice daily position reporting, the severely limited options of permissible island is reduced to those near Port Blair or other regulated ports. Since much of the information we gathered on Satphone restrictions was gathered second hand, it is possible you may find differently, but in fact the Inmarsat phones that did not work in the Andamans, worked when we returned to Phuket.

 In our opinion, the Andaman’s are not particularly cruising friendly. I suspect that is why the number of vessels visiting the Andaman’s is in a steady decline.

Bob Mott

MV Frantic Pace

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India: Andaman Islands – Restricted Area Permit Abolished

Andaman Islands

The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of noonsite.com or the World Cruising Club.