Beaches & Islands in Goa

How to choose your water activity in Goa

Goa water sports run from Baga and Calangute on the north coast. Rides are sold one at a time, so a session of an hour or two usually mixes two or three: a few minutes aloft on a parasail behind a speedboat, a short jet-ski circuit close to shore, or a banana boat for the whole group, the gentlest of them. It fits into a beach day rather than filling one.

Goa scuba diving is a boat trip to dive sites around Grande Island, where rock and reef formations lie in relatively shallow, sheltered water. That makes the introductory dive workable for complete beginners, one-to-one with an instructor and with no certificate needed, while certified divers dive in a buddy pair or small group and log the dive. For diving further afield, see our Andaman scuba diving.

The Goa sunset cruise is the calm choice: about an hour to ninety minutes on the Mandovi past Panjim, Goa's capital, timed so you are on deck as the sun goes down, with music or a folk-dance set on many boats.

With children, start with the banana boat; to try diving, or to log a dive, take the boat to Grande Island; for an evening without a club, take the cruise.

What to expect

• Water sports: we drive you to the beach, and a guide books you with an operator we have vetted for equipment condition and safety practice. A life jacket goes on for every activity, the rides themselves are not included and are confirmed on your quote, and you stay inside the roped-off water-sports zone.
• Diving: a transfer from your hotel, then a briefing with equipment fitting and the hand signals you need, the boat out to the site, a controlled, shallow first dive for beginners, and a debrief back on shore. Wear swimwear under light clothes, avoid diving within 24 hours of flying, and carry a simple remedy if you get seasick on boats.
• Cruise: a short evening transfer to a jetty near Panjim, boarding before sunset, when the rail seats go first, and back shortly after dark. Most boats sell drinks and snacks on board rather than including them.

When to go

Goa Tourism Development Corporation calls October to March very pleasant, with normally clear skies and the sea in its normal condition, and the weeks from December through New Year the busiest. The south-west monsoon runs from June to September and brings about 90 per cent of Goa's annual rain, with July the wettest month at more than 995 mm; the state's information department puts its normal arrival in the first week of June. April and May are hot, with daytime temperatures that sometimes reach about 36°C.

Our three trips follow that calendar. Water-sports operators run consistently from mid-November to February, and many close for the monsoon, when the sea turns rough. Diving runs roughly from October to May and stops altogether from June to September. The cruise runs through the season, with the most reliable clear evenings from mid-November to February. Month by month, see our best time to visit Goa.

Rules and practical points

• Minimum ages and weight limits apply to some activities, solo jet-ski hire in particular, so give us ages when you enquire.
• Do not get on a jet ski, boat or parasail rig without a life jacket properly fitted.
• Certain heart, lung and ear conditions, and pregnancy, usually rule out diving. You fill in the operator's medical form before going in; mention any ear, sinus or heart condition before the boat leaves.
• If you want a diving qualification rather than a single dive, say so when booking: it is a course of several days, not a day trip.
• Sun cream is worth wearing on every boat trip; Incredible India advises it for the boat ride to Grande Island.