The joy of Andamans!

Andamans! The very thought brings a smile on my face. 4 days and hell lot of places to visit! Well thats how the journey started :)

Port Blair can be reached either by air or sea. I would suggest one reach the place by air.Two reasons are , well it saves time and don't fret that you are going to miss out the sea experience! Access to all places from Port Blair is by ferries or jetty's, so you are not missing out on anything.

Port Blair is famous for the Central Jail located in the heart of the city and its beautiful local beaches. The sound and light show in the Central jail takes you to the pre-independence era and all the visuals and stories tug to your heart. I would suggest one to watch the show first and visit the jail next morning, as you can relate to every place. The local beaches are a treat to the eyes. Lined with coconut trees, the Corbyn's cove is a visual treat. Frequented by locals and tourists nonetheless, this place is abuzz with life against the pacific beach and its setting. The local people are very friendly and would be more than happy to show you around and talk endlessly about the places you can visit and the beauty of Andamans. Our next stop was the Chatam Saw mill, supposed to be the oldest saw mill in Asia. A tour around the mill gives you a first class idea about how the saw mills were run in early days. The mill housing the largest saw in Asia is unique with its ancient machines, techniques used and that lingering smell of wood in the air! Ask people working their to explain the process and various machines, and I am sure you would be more than happy to have asked them! Knowledge about the place and its history is what makes it special and makes you look beyond what you see.
Our next stop was Havelock island. The beauty of this place CANNOT be put in words, but I will still give it a try :) . You can reach the island by taking a ferry from port Blair, but check for the timings as they have only two ferry's leaving per day. First impression when you get to the island "wow! what a breathtaking place! " But this is just the beginning ! We arranged for a stay at Cafe Del Mar on Beach #3 ( Yes! the beaches here are numbered! and the # refers to its position on best beach ranking! ) Few of the compelling reasons to visit havelock are its beaches, snorkeling, scuba diving and the undiluted beauty of nature at its best!
Cafe Del mar is indeed a very pretty place to stay over. It has neat and safe tents and huts on the beach giving us a super good nature excursion feel. The cafe has its own scuba diving provision and is mostly frequented by foreigners. Wanna scuba dive? Then you are at the right place! Tag along with the other tourists and an expert to guide you. Its a fab experience and the ocean and its residence will leave you flabbergasted! :D Check out the famous Beach #7. Well all beaches are unique in their own way. And whats unique about this beach is its pristine waters with dense mountains surging into the waters to the left. One can stay over at the beautiful resorts at the beach and one thing that I felt unique about this place, but couldn't point at what it was, is that this beach is actually eco -friendly! And the reason why I say this i because of the setting around the beach. You wont find plastics anywhere.. and anything you find here, from dustbins to resting area are all natural! If i ever want to get lost, I would be more than happy to get lost in this island! Trust me, you wouldn't regret it!
Bored of the beaches? Pack your bags and set on for an amazing trek in the forests. Don't be surprised if you end up in a beach at the end! Head on to Elephant island. And No! we are not talking about elephants here but corals! Surprised? Would touching them make you believe it all? If that's true, why wait! Go snorkeling! You will be guided by expert swimmers and check out the underwater world in reality! The beautiful corals, schools of fish whizzing around, the flora, and all those underwater things you dreamt about will just leave you spellbound! And ask the guide to see if he can find any dead coral, and you can actually hold it!
My first impression when I say this island was like WOW! What can you expect when you see a beach in its best colours! Its blue, green, red and everything! The corals give them the colour. And your journey to this islands is a fifteen minute catamaran ride from havelock. Catamaran ride on the Bay of Bengal!! Definitely sounds thrilling and trust me, you wont be disappointed .You get back to havelock in the same boat and head back to the market place. What you must try here are the really huge coconuts! Its so wondrous to lose yourself watching the beach and sipping the coconut water, whiling away your time.
Our next stop was Baratanga. Well, Baratanga gives you the three most amazing experiences of your life! One, your journey to the limestone caves through the forest inhabited by its aborigines, Jarwas. Its totally unbelievable and all the vehicles pass through the forest at the same time in a convoy and are strictly prohibited to stop. This gives you a very thrilling and out of the world experience of watching nature in its undiluted form! As you race through the forest, greeted at times by the jarwas, you have a feeling as if you are travelling back in time and are watching the world thousands of years ago, through the glass of your car's window pane. Secondly you get to see a strait! An actual geographical strait! This connects middle andamans and south andaman. You cross the strait in a jetty, which also transfers the buses and cars to the island, through the strait. The south andamans houses the beautiful limestone caves. A speed boat takes you to the middle of the forest, which connects you to the limestone caves. And this strait is densely populated by pneumatophores!! A walk through the forest to the beautiful lime stone caves is amazing! The limestone caves are soo amazing, that you wouldn't believe it was all natural! The caves leaves you spellbound. And thirdly, the active mud volcano's! Now you can boast that you actually stood near an active volcano and are still alive! Lol! Mud volcano's unlike other volcanoes, hurl out mud and cement instead of hot lava. At the end of the day baratang leaves you with a fab experiences of "old world" and nature without man's interference. The experience you carry back home will last for a lifetime!
Another most amazing place to snorkel and find the best corals is Mauadera. One the way to the island, do not miss out the rubber factories, a must stopover. Mauadera is connected to the main island by sea. The effect of tsunami can be seen on this islands. But the fury of nature makes this island even more compelling! The fallen trees scattered on the banks, gives the island an exquisite look. A catamaran takes you to the depth of the sea and you will literally be dropped into the sea( of course with your life jackets and trained swimmers) to go experience the underwater life! You just can't ask for more, and you experience it all over again! All your excitement of watching underwater world on discovery and NGC can be assuaged here! :D Our guide actually taught me how to float on water. We were literally floating on water and were basking under the glorious sun! Walk on the beach, explore the dense forests around, hang on the trees, do whatever you feel like! You will just not have the heart to return back!
Chiriya Tapu is famous for its scenic sunset. Set on the backdrop of mountains and sea, u can see the sunset between the mountains. Sitting on the beach and watching the sunset leaves a beatific smile on your face and you can feel the serenity inside you. This was our last stop and we returned back home with the best experiences of our life.
This is what we could do in 4 days on a really really tight schedule. We missed out other islands which are pretty far from port Blair. I promised myself to visit Andaman again for a fortnight and explore it all. truth be told, even a lifetime wouldn't be enough to experience the whole of Andamans.
The people here are very friendly and I envy them. I wish I could bargain my fast paced city life with theirs and I am pretty sure they would just smile at me, and that says it all! :) :)
One thing that really surprised me, given that I am an Indian is that, you wont find beggars in any of the tourists spots. I was told that every person in Andaman works and that travel is their best source of income. So, I didn't feel bad even if i had to shell out few extra pennies. It was worth it all! :)
And the best time to visit Andaman is between Nov-Feb. Do not plan your trip for summer, cuz it rains heavily and you will not be able to travel much. And also the sun sets here at 5! ( well Andaman follows GMT+5hrs! )
When it comes to Andaman, I am at lack of adjectives. Do not anticipate anything and experience it all for yourself. :) Feel close to nature and the world itself :)