Disbelief registers quickly on most people's faces when I tell them that India has an active volcano. Well, the truth is that India does have volcanoes. And, historically, the most active volcano along the volcanic arc extending between Sumatra and Burma is India's very own Barren Island. With reported eruptions dating back to 1787, we have known the volcano's existence for centuries. However, inaccessibility and limited, poorly publicized research has long rendered the island an enigma unto itself.

Barren Island is located 135 km northeast of the Andaman Islands? capital city of Port Blair. Standing alone, surrounded by nothing but water for miles, this solitary sentinel keeps a silent watch over the Andaman Sea. The giant pinnacle's massive foundations rest in the dark depths 2,250m below the surface. What mysterious creatures ply these silent, sunless waters is a matter of conjecture. But an exploration of Barren Island and its surrounding sea provides startling evidence that the island is anything but barren.

Circle the 3km- long island to find a suitable spot to anchor; it is difficult to ignore its stark beauty. The 2km ? wide caldera, rising 350m above the sea, sits on the northern half of the island. Its sloping walls of dark-grey cinder are bare, shunning all forms of life. In places, steam rises from the ground in silent spirals reaching for the sky. In the eastern and southern sides of the island, trees and shrubs cling tenaciously to steep slopes that fall to the sea. Feral goats pepper this green hillscape, which, in combination with the sulphur-choked lunar desolation of the volcano, seems straight out of a Tolkien book. How these goats got here is a mystery, but it is popularly believed that in 1891 a steamer from port Blair left them on this island. Apparently the British did this quite often, leaving live-stock on island where they feared they might be stranded in future. But these are fleeting thoughts and cursory observations made at the same time I was checking my scuba equipment.

Recreational divers in clear tropical waters are accustomed to checking the reef from the surface to ensure a suitable entry point for the dive. All you can see through the clear water is an unnerving infinity of blue. With your face in the water turn towards Barren. The black sides of the pinnacle fall into nothingness through water that changes from light blue at the surface to an inky indigo that swallows all detail of the island's sheer sides.

Everything about Barren's underwater landscape is darer, deeper. It seems almost as if its tumultuous origins and hermitic existence have coloured its waters with an incessant, pensive contemplation. Unlike the lighter sand that is prevalent at all the dive sites around India, including Lakshadweep and Goa.

GETTING THERE

Barren island is located 135km northeast of Port Blair, the nearest inhabited island is Havelock, which is four to five hours away by boat. Visiting Barren Island is, at best, difficult. The government-run ferries that used to take tourists for a distant glimpse of the volcano have been discontinued now.