North Cinque Island

North Cinque Island or Gue-a-lue[1] is an uninhabited island in the Andaman Archipelago, 5.4 km southeast of Rutland Island. It is a part of Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park and of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands Union Territory of India.

North Cinque and the South Cinque Island, about 1 km to the south, are sometimes considered to be a single Cinque Island. The passage between North Cinque and Rutland is called Manners Strait.

North Cinque consists of three rocky isles connected by sand bars. The northern isle is the largest one, about 2.9 km long in the N-S direction and 1.4 km wide; it has two adjacent hills about 161 m and 173 m high.[1] The middle (southernmost) isle, about 1 km across, lies 270 m to the south and has a bare hill 89 m high.[1] About 150 m to its west lies the third and smallest isle, an oval knob about 400 m across.

The island is a popular destination for underwater diving and tourism. There is a lighthouse at the top of the tallest hill on the northern part of North Cinque, established 1972, about 3.5 km from the landing point.[2]

The sand bar between the south and north isles of North Cinque was broken through in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami but has since reformed.[3]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 US Hydrographic Office (1916) Bay of bengal Pilot, page 288. H.O. pub. 160, Government Printing Office.
  2. ↑ North Cinque lighthouse, Government of India, Directorate General of Lighthouses and Lightships. Accessed on 2012-07-05.
  3. ↑ Pankak Sekhsaria (2009), North Cinque Island Wildlife Sanctuary. Accessed on 2012-07-13

Coordinates: 11°18′49″N 92°42′39″E / 11.313709°N 92.710903°E