andamans..august/september....

kalbarri

update...what a relief to be on these magic islands. it will be difficult to return to reality
flew over with kingfisher and it appears that they have taken over air deccan. service was fine. 2 days in port blair. great supermarket and quite tame town after chennai...no beggars! i have returned as there is quite a lot to do in this area. i advise to buy a map of port blair and the islands, at one of the shops that sells exercise books, for about 50rps. it has all the info including the accommodations on neil and havelock islands plus phone numbers.
don't bother going to corbyn cove, not far from port blair.
neil island is so petite and the houses and bazaar are very fairylandish at night. the most dogs i have ever seen in an area that size and they are all friendly...love the tourists because they feed them.
food trip is definitely not the best although one stall sells mean gelebis and pakhoras, freshly cooked in the night market shed.
snorkelling is pretty good near the jetty. saw an amazing variety of small fish and lots of anemone fish (nemos). i also think i saw a 2 metre sea snake in the distance. i didn't hang around to make sure but was told some mythic tales about giant sea snakes of neil island by chand, of the local tourist cafe. he also told me that he doesn't know of anyone ever being bitten.i had been snorkelling there for days before that encounter but it did deter me so i went fishing instead. managed to catch a reasonable sized one and chand cooked it for me with tumeric and chunks of garlic, to perfection a reef runs all along the front beach and shell collecting was great, but careful of the turds
arriving at the beach near pearl point resort, was incredible milky, turquoise blue waves and an uninhabited tropical beach, literally breathtaking.
weather was really hot and sunny and then lots of rain and a bit muggy but not too much, for the last week and a half. there is only about 5 westerners there at the moment. one day there was only 4, so get there fast folks as the commitee for the development of the andaman islands has plans to follow the style of the maldives and land has been grabbed up by companies and the land prices on neil are now out of the locals reach, so i am told by locals so if not everyone gives you a cheery smile and a hi there, you can understand why. to be continued.......

shahronakm

Thanks for that report. Missed visiting Neil Island (visited Havelock) during my Feb 07 trip. Hope to visit it some day in future.

Ronak.

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kalbarri

the accommodation at havelock and neil must get really crowded in the high season. at neil there isn't many places to stay although a new one is being built. mostly huts, i was told.