A trip to Andaman: A mesmerizing treasure of India

I always had fascination for Andaman Islands from my childhood. After waiting for so many years and unsuccessful plans, finally I was able to visit this spectacular place in Dec 2011 with my wife Deepika and kid Puru for a week vacation.
The planning and booking started in July 2011 so that I could get cheaper air fare for the peak season (24 Dec – 31 Dec 2011). The cheaper air fare was still very expensive and ate about 50% of my vacation expenses.

The travel started early morning from Delhi and we had a 1 stop flight, via Kolkata, to Port Blair. The JetLite flight was good and we were expecting to enjoy a lot of scenic beauty of Andaman from the window. Soon we got the news that a cyclone had hit Andaman. The turbulence increased my anxiety of possible return of flight to Kolkata. But we were fortunate enough and the flight landed in Port Blair in first attempt. We could enjoy the scenic beauty from a few thousand feet above only. From flight I could imagine how wonderful my vacation would be. I could see the excitement in my family and Puru was showing all his excitement to the co-passengers.

We had our taxi waiting outside the airport. I had booked my suite in Sea Princess resort at Wandoor. The hotel staff suggested refreshing at another hotel in Port Blair and visiting a few tourist places in Port Blair before going to Wandoor.

So we visited Mahatma Gandhi Marine Museum , an aquarium, some local handicraft shops etc.

Skeleton of Whale: Naval Museum

After visiting a few spots we reached at Cellular Jail. A huge 3 stories building was very well maintained. A part of it has been converted into civil hospital. Walk around and from the roof of the building you get a spectacular view of the sea. The sea was rough due to the heavy winds of cyclone that had started engulfing the island. Well later in the evening they had Light and Sound show. It started drizzling but the show was breathtaking. The arrangement of colorful lights and sound effect was great. Although we were very tired due to the travel but we enjoyed the show. And later we moved to Sea Princess resort at Wandoor. It was already dark and it was still drizzling. I could not see much on the way. But I could understand that we were passing through forests, a couple of small villages. From most of the places the sound of sea was audible. Wandoor is about 30 min drive from Port Blair.

Amar Jyoti : Cellular Jail

Cellular Jail

Cellular Jail : A view from top

Corridor: Cellular Jail

Light and Sound Show

The welcome at the reception was warm. A special barbecue party was arranged in the lawns near the beach. We had a nice dinner and we retired soon in our room. The whole night I could hear the soothing sound of sea and heavy rains. One thing I always see as advantage on sea beaches is you get up early in the morning and don’t feel sleepy throughout the day.  So we were up before 6.00 AM and from the veranda of our room we could have a nice view of sea through the coconut and beetle nut trees. I walked around the resort a bit and I must say the resort was more beautiful than the pictures on the website. 

Wandoor Beach: A view from cottage

We packed our luggage and started our trip to Port Blair to catch a ferry to Havelock Island. To our disappointment all the ferries were cancelled due to the rough sea. We did not have option but come back to Sea Princess resort in Wandoor. Luckily I had booked the resort both in Wandoor and Havelock from the same group of hotel. On our return to resort we were welcomed again with same warmth and were given the suite again. We just relaxed at sea beaches for the rest of the day. Fortunately the sea was not rough in that area. The Wandoor beach was like a picture postcard. Nice sand, tall trees, few rocks, sea shells, small islands at some distance. The big trees that were uprooted in 2004 Tsunami are now lying on the beaches and they add to the beauty of beaches. Puru had a great time playing with other kids on the beach and collecting the sea shells.

Wandoor Beach

Wandoor Beach: Full View

Wandoor Beach: The remains of Tsunami

Well, I thought of following the news on cyclone on TV channels and surprisingly there wasn’t any news on the channels. I later relied on my mobile phone to check the weather update. I could imagine, reading the forecast, that there would not be any ferries at least for next couple of days.

The sleep in the night, in fact for 2 consecutive nights, wasn’t pleasant. The heavy rainfall was scary, especially when you are 100-200m away from the sea shore. There was no power backup and during the power cut in the night it was complete dark. I could not see anything lying next to me. It was scary but enjoyable.

Sunset at Wandoor Beach

Next day I contacted the hotel booking staff to check if we could travel the Havelock. I got the expected answer “No”. Alternately, they sent us to visit Chidiya Tapu. It was again breathtaking travel along the beaches and through dense and peaceful forest. Since I had a driver I could enjoy sipping beer. Puru was all excited to see tall trees and rough sea.

On the way to Chidiya Tapu: Effect of Cyclone

Magrooves : Chidiya Tapu

Chidiya Tapu has a zoological garden that has a rich collection of birds and small beach. Well, due to the rain we could not spot any birds. The sea shore was great with mangroves and small islands at some distance. All we could do is get wet in sea water.

Beach: Chidiya Tapu

Lucky enough to find a closed Sea Shell

On return to Wandoor we stopped in Port Blair to have lunch at a much known restaurant “Annapurna”. It is a vegetarian restaurant and I must say the food was really good. We also tried the Lemon Tea which was freshly prepared (must try).

We were back to our resort in Wandoor. The hotel staff was pissed off due to heavy rush and chaos created due to cyclone. Mostly tourists were after hotel staff for arranging site seeing and ferry to Havelock. While I and my family remained calm and I left everything on hotel staff. Next day they managed to get the permission for limited guests for a visit to Jolly Buoy Island. The Jolly Buoy island remains closed during that period of the year. But the hotel staff and other tour operators pressurized the forest department and they agreed to open the island for limited duration and limited number of guests. It was sunny day and I was relaxing on the beach and the resort manager came running. He had a short time to take us to the boarding point for Jolly Buoy Island. We were instructed not share the information with other tourists (an advantage of trusting the hotel staff and booking directly with them).

On the way to Jolly Buoy Island

Jolly Buoy Island

Beach: Jolly Buoy Island

The bottom glass boat ride was the first experience of my life and we could see the marine life in their natural habitat. It is even important for small kids as they cannot do snorkeling or scuba diving. Well later I did snorkeling and I paid extra to the instructor to take me for a longer distance. It was one experience and I got to see so many colorful small and big fishes, colorful and different shapes of corals. The instructor spotted an octopus which was hiding inside the coral and I had a clear view of the octopus. The 15-20 minutes of snorkeling was one experience. There was something enigmatic about it.

Deepika, after some apprehension, agreed for it. On her return she was all excited. The excitement of Puru on beaches and then seeing Deepika’s expressions after snorkeling paid my vacation.

On our return from Jolly Buoy Island we could see a small island from a close distance. This island was also visible from Wandoor beach. The golden sand glows in sunlight. This island is under Forest Department and tourists are not allowed to visit. The island stands in the middle of sea giving a nice picturesque view.

Property of Forest Department

After another relaxing day, when the cyclone was faded out, ferries started plying we started our travel to Havelock Island. Despite the heavy rush the hotel staff could manage to board us in government ferry. The first I did, after the ferry started sailing, to reach at the upper deck. Next 2 hours Deepika and I just enjoyed the sound of sea waves hitting the ferry, the splashing water, immense blue water till horizon, dense forest on visible small islands. Later near the Havelock Island, when ferry slowed down, we brought Puru on the upper deck as well to enjoy the wind, sun and splashing water.

Havelock Island, a mesmerizing and breathtaking island with immense blue sea and dense forests. We checked in our resort Silversand Resort. As the name suggests the resort was on a beach with silver sand. Unfortunately, the effect of cyclone was clearly visible with fallen trees and branches of coconut trees, dirty beaches etc. Well blame it on the cyclone.

Sea Princess Resort : Havelock Island

During sunrise at Havelock Island

Afternoon we visited Radhanagar Beach. It is claimed to be Ranked No 2 beach of Asia after Bali. It was huge beach with golden sand. I think it would take about 1 hour to walk from one end to another end of the beach. A place for complete relaxation. It was a peak season and the beach was crowded. All the families were discussing about the disruption in their travel plans due to cyclone and cursing the tour operators for mismanagement. Well I was lucky enough that we were taken a good care by the hotel staff.

Radhanagar Beach

Sunset at Radhanagar Beach

The next day we wanted to go for scuba diving but the bookings could not be arranged. Due to the cyclone the sea had become dirty (the sand had not settled down till then) and because of this only fewer spots were open for scuba diving. And the operators were not taking new bookings. We regret missing scuba diving till date. To settle down alternately they sent us for other water sport like snorkeling and Jet Ski. But again the water was dirty as the sand had not settled down, huge crowd and Jet Ski operators were busy negotiating. We decided not waste time there and returned to our resort and relaxed for rest of the day.

The next day, we had to return to Port Blair as we had a flight on the following day. It is always advisable to return earlier to Port Blair as there are risks of cancellation of ferries. So we were back to Wandoor and the same suite was ready for us. In the evening the Hotel Manager arranged for a special Barbeque only for us and another family from Europe.

The next day we had our return flight to Delhi. I thought of extending my holidays for a couple of days but rescheduling the flight was not an option for me.

In all it was a 7 days trip and we felt that Andaman is not a place for 7 days vacations. We needed at least 15 days to enjoy Andaman fully. 

Our holiday was very well taken care by the Sea Princess Resort, Wandoor and Silversand Resort, Havelock. The Andaman has occupied a special place in our hearts and picturesque landscapes of dense forest, immense blue sea, silver and golden sand beaches are always to remember.

On our return we realized that indeed the place is a treasure. We will certainly visit Andaman again and again. Yes for sure we will not visit in peak season as it is more expensive during peak season and very crowded. Also the locals suggested that the month of December is never great as generally the cyclones hit the island during that month.

The only thing I felt bad is Indian tourist care little of the treasure. They litter waste anywhere and you can see polythene bags, plastic bottles, beer bottles etc on roadside, beaches and in still sea water near shore. The place is not dirty yet. But if the administration remains lenient, in few years the place will lose all its beauty.

After a couple of days of our return to Delhi I saw the news on TV that briefly covered the cyclone in Andaman. As you can judge from my story above the cyclone had faded away about a week ago. Such ignorance by the media of a great treasure of ours is disappointing. Whereas, the same Indian media gives a full live coverage on the hurricanes in US. 

Special Thanks to Vibha Malhotra (Founder Literature Studio : http://literaturestudio.in/) for guidance in editing the content of this story.

Rajat Rajvanshi