I never really planned to dive. I had just snorkelled for the first time in my life a few days ago off Havelock Island’s Elephant Beach and had seen the deep-sea void in the face. It was fascinating, it was also bloody frightening to have the continental shelf drop off below. So I was fairly sated, wandering around South Andamans with my friends, wondering if I should go see the mini coral archipelago of the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park.