- by Bipasha
Day 3: We boarded the super luxury cruise Makruzz
from Port Blair to proceed to Havelock islands - if the tragedies of the
cellular jail haunt you, believe me the pristine waters and the modernistic
tourist attractions of Havelock Islands will wash it all away. It was as if
Kala Paani never existed! Scuba Diving, Speed Boat Rides, Snorkelling, Water
Walking or just frolicking on the Havelock beach (known as Radha Nagar)under
huge trees (yeah, the beach has rich plantations adding more romance to the
waters) adds to the charm of the place. Also, for people who just want to enjoy
the beach experience, my suggestion is you lodge at Havelock instead of Port
Blair and spend the days there - you can find hotels, or just shacks brimming
with tourists mostly foreigners. By the time we take the steamer (there is the
service of a government steamer also available; we decided to try this one
too!) back to Port Blair, the moon is already up and casting its light on the
waters.
I’ll never forget the sharp sea winds brushing my
hair, the salt in my face and the thrill of holding the railings of the steamer
- things that I missed out on the luxury cruise! And all the time, the images
of lovely corals (some as big as a house), and multi colored fish did not leave
me. The day ended on a even higher note with a romantic dinner at Welcome Group’s
Mandalay restaurant.
Day 4: The day was spent in a guided tour (again a
steamer from Port Blair - there are limited number of guided tours on steamers
so you don’t want to miss them!) to three islands Ross Island (the British era
capital), North Bay Islands and Viper Island. Ross Island is out of a Dauphne
Du Maurier book - the island is so small that you can take a walk and complete
a tour on it! The island was the British capital so it still holds the ruins of
the officers’ quarters, the mess, the club etc. You can see the cellular jail
from the island and it seemed pretty near! North Bay Islands is a beach getaway
(you can do a glass boat ride wherein you can see amazing corals and colorful
fish from the glass at the bottom of the boat or you can snorkel. North Bay
island’s beach and the corals were largely washed away in the Tsunami and the
beach had to be recreated using the corals in the sea bed. Hence, the locals
say, that a lot of beautiful corals were lost during that time. We proceed
further on the steamer to Viper Islands - on the way, we see India’s only FDN1
or Navy’s floating dry dock which is used for repairing entire ships in the
middle of the sea! Our last stop of the day, the Viper Island, had a macabre
history - it was the house of the ‘hanging rod’ where several freedom fighters
met their deadly fate - again you can see glimpses of British-time military
establishments there.
Day 5: We took a steamer ride to Jolly Boy islands
- this time, we could see mangroves all around. Both the islands were prettily
placed in the mangroves. The waters were so clear that you can see shoals of
fish swimming while you stand on the beach! Our guide told us that there is an
island from where you can see the sky lights of Singapore!
Day 6: We took a taxi ride to Chatham Islands from
Port Blair - it is the only island that you can reach via road. It boasts of
the oldest saw mill from the British times - and what an amazing experience
that was! You can get a tour of the museum there and the mill of course.
It was a short action packed trip - for lazy
holidaymakers, you can laze around in Havelock Islands because it offers the
entire package of snorkeling, scuba (Havelock is the only island offering scuba
diving) and beach walking. But I wanted to explore everything in Andamans (of
course I was not party to the human safari of the Jarawa tribes).
Rightly so, I absorbed the macabre history full of
imprisonments, killings,and captures , the beautiful present (full of modern
beach sports, pristine aqua green waters and lovely steamer rides) and a
promising future! More than half of the islands of the Andaman archipelago are
out of bounds. Locals say that some islands are 2-3 day rides on the waters and
many are uninhabited. On the other hand, some islands are under the control of
the Indian defense forces for security purposes.
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