Island adventure

Driving into Port Blair is slightly disappointing. The drive from the airport to the hotel reveals a small, albeit clean town, which could be in any part of India. There’s no feeling of being more than 1,000km away from the nearest point on the Indian mainland.

Nevertheless, the initial disappointment doesn’t last long. The Andaman & Nicobar Islands are different from other parts of India — and they are a great honeymoon destination.

We started out with a quick welcome drink at our hotel and then headed off for a boat ride to Havelock Island. After a short wait at the jetty we found ourselves on a largish boat. The queue for the boat was disorderly and we quickly realised that seating was on a first come first served basis. But luckily we managed to find space to squeeze in our luggage and ourselves.

The boat ride wasn’t much to write home about. We reached our destination after about two hours of bobbing about on the ocean. The first view of the island gave us the feeling of coming to a destination lost in the wilderness, with a tiny jetty reaching out to civilisation.

Silversand Resorts is tidily laid out with small cottages surrounded by trees all around. We strolled to the beach by a paved pathway adjoining the resort. The calm blue waters exuded a feeling of solitude that’s tough to describe now that I’m back in a crowded metropolis.

Snorkelling

Next day we went snorkelling to Elephant Island, joined by an Italian couple who were afraid to brave the journey just with the boatmen. It was a two-hour ride and the tiny boat with a very noisy outboard engine, didn’t look like it would last a four-hour to and fro journey.

After a while, the weather started playing spoilsport with dark clouds appearing almost out of nowhere. It was then that we realised how scary the sea could become, with tall waves lashing our tiny boat and dark waters surrounding us on all sides. The A&N Islands looked like they were about to become our Kalapani.

But just as we thought all was lost, the sky cleared and our little boat chugged along happily to our destination.

You find the snorkelling crowd along a tiny stretch of Elephant Island’s beach — they are easily recognisable because they are trying on snorkelling masks. We joined the melee excitedly and dived in.

The guides led us to the corals which were beautiful beyond words. The colours were unbelievable and the beauty of the swaying corals and darting colourful fishes is almost impossible to describe. How I wish I had an underwater camera! We spent the rest of the evening lounging around on the beach which we had all to ourselves.

The next day after watching a very early morning sunrise, we visited Radhanagar Beach on the island. And in the afternoon, it was the same boat ride back to Port Blair.

Port of call

Port Blair does have its attractions. We did a round of the local museums and other touristy joints. The Anthropological Museum has an excellent collection of exhibits telling the story of the life and history of the tribes in the A&N Islands. Then, there’s the Samudrika Museum, maintained by the Navy which has the skeleton of a blue whale as well as a lonely seahorse.

The Central Jail with the clinical cleanliness of its tiny cells now belies the sad and terrible history of pain and torture that our forefathers had had to bear. It was beautiful yet saddening.

The day after we went to North Bay, barely half an hour away, heavily crowded and dirty. The trip was sad to say the least, with the waters dirty and most of the corals trampled upon.

The ferry’s next stop was Ross Island, where the ex-gubernatorial bungalows and various other building have been restored, giving it a museum kind of feel.

The next day we had booked a vehicle to visit places in and around Port Blair. The first stop was the Wandoor Beach. On the way, our driver pointed out the long stretches of devastation caused by the Tsunami — places where coconut trees stood headless and huge areas of agricultural fields destroyed by seawater, where people were actually fishing now.

The beach itself was beautiful, but again large uprooted trees on the beach gave us an eerie feeling, as if nature was watching us rather intently. Chidiya Tapu is a bird sanctuary at the island’s southern edge. The drive is beautiful through a vividly green forest. The sound of the vehicle was interrupted by the constant chirping of birds of various hues. From there, we went to Corbyn’s cove with its calm waters and a beautiful view.

City lights

The next day we left for Kolkata early in the morning, and we must thank Indian (erstwhile Indian Airlines) for upgrading us to Business Class. That was the icing on a rather beautiful cake.

Ready reckoner

Getting there: Port Blair is connected with Chennai and Kolkata by air. You can also sail to Port Blair from Chennai, Kolkata and Vishakhapatnam.

Best time to visit: Mid- November to April is the best time as one encounters heavy rains between May and October.


Prabhajit Sarkar, The Personal Telegraph