It felt like homecoming…9 years after I left Andamans, it was a unique experience taking family to where my career started. Andamans is like no other place…I do realize ‘pristine’ is an oft used clichéd term, but to know what the word truly means, you should visit Andamans. There is peace, tranquility and there is Andamans. When it sinks in that you are many many miles away from where you would not like to be, the air suddenly seems fresher, the sun brighter, the time slower, the water clearer, the breeze softer…and YOU feel better, much better.
We stayed at the Fortune Resort Bay Island where I had started working just after college. The resort is awesome and provides for the best view in town, perched on top of a small hill commanding views of North Bay, Ross Island, and the harbor and on a clear day; of Havelock and Neil Islands.
We stayed in Port Blair for 2 nights before sailing off to Havelock. We were unaware that the resort we were to have stayed in was under renovation and were suitably disappointed on arrival especially considering Havelock was the high point of our visit. Fortunately, we found an acquaintance who was managing another resort (there are over 50 of them in Havelock) and promptly moved in with him. To our luck, we were the only ones in the resort and the entire place including the beach became exclusive to us. Also, we had timed our travel for August since it happens to be the end of monsoons and the tourist season is yet to begin. The island is much quieter then and if you do not mind the occasional clouds and rain, this is the season. However, if you want the sun throughout and plenty of tourists, Oct to Feb would be the time.
Unlike a typical Indian holiday, you can truly laze around in Havelock and soak in the sea. You can start your day at the beach, have coffee on the beach, eat breakfast on the beach, read a book on the beach, have lunch on the beach, sip the evening tea on the beach, watch the sunset on the beach and then if you really wish to, get back to the room and sleep in order to start the next day…guess where…you got it…on the beach.
You have the option of changing the venue the next day though…you could go to a different beach…idyllic, idyllic, idyllic.
The resorts barring a few are not fancy and the menu limited, but the place is exceptional and makes up for any material shortcoming. One of the beaches at Havelock, namely, the Radhanagar beach has been named as the best beach in Asia by the Time magazine.
3 days later we got back to Port Blair and caught up with the local sites…the infamous Cellular Jail, the light house at North Bay, Ross Island and Chidiya Tapu.
Port Blair offers great opportunities to shop for shell ornaments and knick-knacks; make sure you plan well for it…both in terms of space in your luggage and time, money of course .
- Sudhir
