Andaman

Crystal clear water, sparkling coral reefs, dense forests…….just feeling the wind on my face by walking against it in the empty beach of Havelock Island… On my left side is the endless Bay of Bengal and on my right side are the thick and dense tropical forests. Suddenly I could feel someone tapping gently on my shoulder and telling something, I came out of my thoughts and it took some time for me to realize where I am….. nothing special around me, the same wooden cubical, those 17” lcd displays….. there was message on the screen saying that the download is complete.

Now I am sure that this is my office and I was shamelessly sleeping on the first Monday morning after I came back from Port Blair.

Day 1(19th):
As I told in the previous post we left for Chennai by Rajahamsa on 19th May at 9 PM from Majestic.

Day 2(20th):
We reached Chennai by 5.30 in the morning. Took an auto to airport paying 200 rupees. We reached airport by 6 in the morning and the flight to Port Blair was at 7.20 AM. Around 7 AM we were waiting in the lounge for the announcement from Air Deccan staff. Finally there was an announcement in Tamil at 7.30 to board the flight. We are in and exactly after 30 mins of scheduled departure time we are airborne.. thanks to the punctuality of Air Deccan.
Around 9.30 we were at Vir Savarkar Airport of Port Blair. Shafiq was waiting outside to receive us. He had arranged accommodation for us in a lodge facing the sea at a place called Atlanta Point. We took bath and had brunch and went to the Cellular Jail. I was stun seeing the place where our freedom fighters were punished, made to work till they become unconscious, were hanged till death….a feeling of sorrow and guilty passed through my nerves.
Came back and took some rest. In the evening we went to Shafiq’s huge wooden house and went for some rounds in the clean wide streets of Port Blair.
Slept early that day.

Day 3 (21st):
Woke up and saw that the sun was already up to a certain extent. Thought that we were already late and looked at the watch … one more shock.... it was just 5.45 AM.. all of us finished our preparations and took a boat to Ross Island from Water Sports Complex Jetty at 8.30 AM. It’s a 10 minutes boat ride.
Ross is an abandoned Island where no one lives. It was the center of British rule in Andaman. We can see a lot of old ruined British buildings of olden days. Its one more monument. There is a beautiful beach called Ferrar Beach on the other side of the Island. Came back to the hotel at 11 am and we went to Samudrika Museum maintained by Indian Navy. In the evening we visited Corbyn’s Cove Beach which is one among the popular beaches of Port Blair. From here we went to Wandoor beach in Shafiq’s Red Accent ViVa. The 25+ kms journey was good and full of greenery on both sides of the road. Spent time till evening and came back to the hotel at night. We watched the sound and light show at the Cellular Jail in the night which was marvelous. But no Cameras were allowed. Ruins of an old church at Ross Island

A Moment in Ferrar Beach.

A lazy sunset at Wandoor Beach.

Day 4(22nd):
Took an auto at 5.45 AM to Phoenix Bay Jetty, where we had to catch the ship to Havelock Island. 6.30 AM Ship came to life and that was my first ship journey of life. Enjoyed the journey and reached the Island at 10 AM. Went and checked in at Bay View Inn Resort. Took some rest and spent some time in the knee deep beach right in front of out cottage. In the afternoon we went to Radhanagar Beach, which is one among the most beautiful beaches of the world (That’s what the islanders say !!!). Back to the hotel at around 6.30 PM and it was raining like hell… had Dinner at 8 and said good night to Havelock.

At Havelock Island, view from the cottage.
The Radhanagar Beach

Day 5(23rd):
Woke up to see heavy rains outside. Knew that our plan of snorkeling was screwed to the core. Just waited till 2 PM to catch the ship back to Port Blair. There were no tickets and somehow Aziz (Guy arranged to pick up us and guide us) managed to get us in to the ship without tickets. Reached Port Blair by 6 PM and did nothing except walking in the empty streets.

Day 6(24th):
Took a boat to North Bay Island where we could see corals. We did snorkeling and saw a lot of beautiful and colorful corals. And in the afternoon we visited Viper Island and went for a cruise ride around Port Blair.

Corals at North Bay Island.

Day 7(25th):
Good Bye Andaman, but will be back for sure. We missed out a lot of places out of which Rangath (tribal Place) and Barren Island (a live Volcano) were important.
We were in the airport by 9 AM. Flight took off with a very common delay of 40 minutes at 10.30 AM (Long live Deccan, I do agree that it was very low price we paid.)
Back in Chennai at 12.45 and all flight were full to Bangalore, took Shatabdhi Express to Bangalore at 5.30 PM from Chennai Central.
Reached Bangalore City Junction Station at 10.30 PM .

Details:
Team Size -3
Members - Harsha, Maheshwar and Myself
Expenses per Head – 6,600 (Flight charges Chennai – Port Blair- Chennai, booked almost 55-60 days in advance) + 4,700 for all other expenses. .
First two days we stayed in a budget hotel @ 400 Rs per day. The stay at resort in Havelock Island coasted us 500 Rs. Last two days we stayed at one among best hotels of Port Blair at 1250 with AC and extra bed.
Food is not very cheap. It’s almost similar to Bangalore. It’s a Heaven for people who eat sea food. But even vegetarians can manage without any issues.
We have not spent even single paisa for transport on land. Thanks to Shafiq.

Note: Have a good company like I had….. or else it might be boring.

Aerial View: