Andaman Trip report & photos

Radjesh

Hi
I have just been to the Andaman & Nicobar Islands in the first week of December and now back to Chennai. Thought I’d share my trip report and a few snaps, We were 5 guys from Chennai making the pilgrimage to Andamans

Day1: We left by the 7.30AM ‘Simplify Deccan’ flight to Port Blair. After booking on Air Deccan (as it was back then) we were very anxious about the flight getting cancelled and all. But everything went to plan and we had a smooth landing at Port Blair. The Aerial view of the tiny islands was simply breathtaking. We reached our hotel, ‘The Light house residency’ located at Aberdeen Bazaar, we got sea facing rooms and it was a nice view from our balcony. The hotel was small but it was clean and served good food, and their service was excellent. After cleaning ourselves we ventured to the Cellular Jail, 10 minutes walk from our hotel. Of the original 7 sections of the jail, some had been destroyed and some renovated and used for other purposes, only 3 sections remained. Post lunch we proceeded to Wandoor beach located 30kms from town, a nice quiet beach with very few people around. It didn’t look that great for bathing, but we spent some time in the water and then headed to Corbyn’s cove beach in Port Blair. This beach was a bit rough and as we didn’t know swimming we resisted taking bath here. I felt that the time in Port Blair is very early compared to mainland India, by 5.30AM it is fully bright in the morning and by 5PM it is completely dark

Day 2: We were to leave to Havelock Island on the morning ferry, but as it was a Sunday there was only 1 ferry in the Afternoon to Havelock. We spent the morning visiting Ross Island. It was the first time that I was actually going on the sea; I did feel a sudden feeling of sickness and felt that I was going to vomit. Somehow I managed to control myself till we reached Ross Island, 20 minutes from Port Blair. I was back to normal once I put my foot on land. Most of the structures in Ross Island were in ruins; we wandered for some time around the Island and then headed back towards Port Blair. This time we went in much smaller vessel and I stood near the driver’s seat and didn’t feel any jitters at all, I was cured miraculously. After lunch we made a hasty retreat to reach the Phoenix Jetty to catch our ferry to Havelock, it was a 2 hour ride on the high seas. We left our seats in the cabin and moved to the upper deck, wherever you looked around it was just forest and islands, really beautiful. Once we reached Havelock, ‘Emerald Gecko’ where we booked our accommodation, sent a jeep to pick us up at the jetty. After we were settled in our rooms, we went to ‘Dive India’, to confirm our booking for next day’s Scuba diving. We signed some papers and then tried a couple of scuba suits to find our best fit. Although the people @ ‘Dive India’ assured us there was nothing to worry, I felt the jitters after I signed up for Scuba diving without knowing swimming.

Day 3: I woke early in the morning and decided “Well what the heck, lets give it a shot” and proceeded to ‘Dive India’. We took a motor boat from Beach No. 5 to Elephanta beach, famous for scuba diving and snorkeling activities. There were 3 instructors and they took us in two groups of 3. They gave us the instructions and fitted us with the diving gear, it was very heavy equipment. Well I did successfully manage to do scuba diving, as everyone in our group were non swimmers, the maximum depth we were supposed to go was 12 meters. One of my friends went as far as 11 meters; it was a splendid experience to watch those corals and all kinds of colorful fishes, truly incredible. It cost each person 3000 for 1 dive and was totally worth it and we also managed to do some snorkeling. After spending close to 3hrs we left for Beach No. 5. Had a hearty lunch, we wanted to chill with some beers, but we were told to avoid alcoholic drinks for a couple of hours after scuba. We spent the afternoon lazily lying around Beach no. 5. The evening walks in Havelock outside our hotel were a different experience, except for a few lights the road was completely dark and deserted, and it was nice to be all so lonely.

Day 4: We spent the morning in Beach No.7; the beach was spotlessly clean with white sands and clean blue waters. We spent time bathing, had some beers and also enjoyed a fun elephant ride. After 2 hours we headed back to our hotel to grab our lunch and catch the 2PM ferry to Port Blair. Our entire stay here simply amazing and unforgettable, Havelock is indeed paradise on earth. During the return trip, I took a couple of newspapers with me, spread them out on the ship’s deck and had a fantastic sleep there.

Day 5: As per our plan it was the last day of the trip, but then things never work out according to our plans. We visited Baratung today, we bought tickets for a package trip to Baratung, and it cost 550Rs each. We left from Port Blair at 4AM, the ride to Baratung took around 3.5 hours, and on the way we saw a couple of Jarawa tribal. We were provided with breakfast (it was horrible) and then set out towards the mangroves. At some point there was a clear opening inbetween the mangroves, where we left our big boat and had to travel in a much smaller boat to enter the mangroves. Once we reached land we proceeded to visit the limestone caves. We returned to our boarding point and from there went to visit the mud volcanoes. After some rest and post lunch we started our return leg at around 3 PM, and we had to stop twice in between. Once because one of the earlier buses had a flat tire and the road was so narrow that only 1 bus could go through. Another time because the bus in front of us just skidded off the road in to the forest, luckily no one got hurt. The bus was hauled backed to the road with the help of a lorry and we proceeded and reached Port Blair at around 8PM.

Day 6: We had to return to Chennai today via the Indian Airlines flight IC550. The flight was delayed thrice due to ‘Technical reasons’ and finally the grand announcement came that it was cancelled. We returned to the hotel around afternoon and spent the rest of the day there doing nothing as there were no places to visit nearby.

Day 7: We came back to the airport to find that our flight IC550 was delayed again. It seems that they had just brought in from Calcutta, the spare parts to do the maintenance work for yesterday’s repair. After being delayed again till 2PM, the grand announcement came. But this time Indian Airlines had the courtesy to provide us with lunch, a noble gesture indeed. We, the irate passengers stormed into their office and demanded an explanation. After much arguing, the officials agreed to get a new flight for tomorrow’s take off and promised to give 500/head for accommodation for every economy class ticket.

Day 8: As we were 4 people in our group, we produced bills worth around 2000. But you know what, these guys are pros in this game and they now changed their stance saying that they had agreed to give 500/family, what a joke. I and my friend gave the Indian airline officials a piece of our minds, and after some heated exchange of words they agreed to reimburse us 1000 bucks. As we were getting delayed for the flight we took it and left, never to travel again with Indian Airlines. The worst part is, as we were about to board our flight IC8550, the original flight IC550 was still delayed till 12PM as they hadn’t fixed the problem yet. Poor passengers of IC550, they didn’t know what was in store for them.

Accommodations:
Port Blair, Light House residency: http://www.lighthouseresidency.com
Nice cozy place with good sea view rooms, good restaurant and excellent service. Many people in Port Blair recommended only 2 moderately priced hotels for good food, Light House residency for Non vegetarian and Hotel Annapurna for vegetarian.

Havelock island, Emerald Gecko: http://www.emerald-gecko.com/
Located on Beach No. 5, Good beach huts and good service; food is good, but maybe a little expensive for the budget traveler.

If you need any other assistance or need to make bookings contact Island travels 03192 233034/233358, very helpful people.

Overall it cost each of us around 22K for the entire trip, all expenses included.

Some snapshots[/size][/size][/font]

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shahronakm

Thanks Radjesh for that write up & lovely pics. Brought back some happy memories of my trip to Andamans in Feb 07, with my wife. Yet to write a review & post pics, hope to do so before this year ends.

Ronak.

Radjesh

Glad to refresh those wonderful memories...

joepubli

Re Vegetarian food I'd highly recommend Icy Spicy - found vegi food difficult until we hot this place. Great food. We also tried Annapurna as it was our taxi driver's first recommendation but found the menu rather limited. The taxi driver then took us to this "new" place. Great food - superb dosas!

shahronakm

[quote=joepubli;428251]I agree with your views on Icy Spicy & Annapurna.

Ronak.

traveler08

Hey, planning to go to Havelock in December. How's Wild Orchid for a place to stay?Am confused btwn barefoot and wild orchid. can someone tell about the facilties at both the places/ wild orchid looks bttr in pics....bt i blv, barefoot has the best beach, radhanagar....how;s the beach adjoining wild orchid and how's the food at the resort??

Radjesh

Barefoot is more expensive and located in Beach 7, on the other side of the island. This area is kind of quite deserted except for Barefoot. Wild Orchid is situated on Beach 5, with the other resorts. Emerald Gecko itself is very good, run by the same people who run Wild Orchid. Stay on Beach 5 and make a day's trip to Beach 7.

I liked the food @ Emerald Gecko, it was good

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MY 2008 KASHMIR TRIP