Our Andaman trip - Dec 2009

Day 1: Port Blair-Ross Island
The 6 of us (Me, sister, her husband, dad, mom, grandma) arrived at the Veer Savarkar Airport, Port Blair from Chennai around 7am. We all were in full josh and wanted to explore the island as soon as possible. So, all of us got ready by 8am! We started our city tour by visiting the Corbyn's Cove beach. This place is 7 kms from the main city. On the way, we got to see a glimpse of the phoenix bay jetty, which was awesome. We saw the sea, which was blue-green-black in color. The different shades of the sea made us go WOW! However, the Corbyn's Cove beach in itself was not a very great place. It is a normal beach where people were enjoying sun bathe.

We just took some photographs and came back. From there, we went to see the Cellular jail. On the way, we saw the Rajiv Gandhi water sports complex which looked good.
Cellular jail is a must-see for people visiting Port Blair. It depicts how our freedom-fighters were tortured by the British and the Japanese and creates a sense of patriotism in us! It’s better to take a guide inside who would answer all the questions of what, when and how.....

Next, we headed to the Ross Island, which was the central place for the Britishers to relax. The island looked like a ruined city. It had remains of the buildings which were present during the British Empire. The place had big coconut trees and we were all pleased to have a sip of tender coconut! :) We also saw lot of stags and peacocks that were roading around in open.

After we came back from the Ross Island, we relaxed for sometime at the Rajiv Gandhi complex watching the speed boats, and had evening snacks there. Then, we headed to see the light and sound show at the Cellular jail. It was OK types, as there was no actual action happening and, therefore it didnt create much impression on the spectators.
From there we had a short visit to Gandhi park, which is a good place for children (amusement park). It was dark, and we couldn't enjoy the place much! We headed to the guest house, to rest and prepare ourselves for the next day...

Day 2: Havelock Island
We took the 7am ferry to the Havelock Island. The ferry was called BAMBOOKA (I liked the name.. )
We took lot of snaps on the way from the ferry as the view from the ferry was wonderful! The cool breeze was complementing the picturesque scenary.. We had heard a lot about the beauty of Radhanagar beach in Havelock Island.. and we instantly fell in love with the place!!

We spent around 3 hours there because we dint want to come out of the water.. Really an experience to treasure always.. !! Finally, with a lot of difficulty (:-(), we left the place and went to Elephant beach through a motor boat. This was a 45mins ride in the boat. The beach had white sand, and the trees had only branches and no leaves.. We got to know from the boat riders that there used to be elephants who used to swim in the water before tsunami. After tsunami, most of the things were destroyed, which was quite evident there.

There was no habitat on the island. We saw some corals, star fish and other sea animals there. We left the place at 3.00pm since our ferry was at 4.00pm and that was the last ferry back to Port blair for the day... The boat stopped in the middle of water.. as the motor stopped working!!! :D We were almost mad at the person who took us to elephant beach, since we were not much interested in seeing this place. Finally, after some 15 mins of struggle, the boat started again and we relaxed.. We had to rush to catch the ferry!
We were done for the day, as we reached around 7pm to the guest house, and all of us were badly in need of a hot (clean) water bath after bathing in the salty water of Radhanagar beach..
I would say Radhanagar beach was the best of all and is a must-see for anyone coming to Andaman.. !!

Day 3: Jolly Buoy Island
There are only 3 ferries to this place, with half an hour difference starting from 9.30am. We went in the last one because we had booked very late (2 days before). This island is famous for its corals and the sea animals. People are supposed to take their own food as there is no habitat/stalls etc in the place (There is only a dustbin to throw all waste). No plastics are allowed to be taken, and each one of us with a bag was thoroughly checked before we entered the ferry. Again, the view from the ferry was beautiful and it was a relaxing short journey.. There is no harbour at the island, so from the ferry everyone was shifted to a small boat 5 mins away from the island.
We had fun time in the island. The water was crystal clear and the beach was amazing... We tried our hands on snorkelling, which was absolute fun, though it was for very less time. If we want to spend more time, we have to pay. We thought of seeing the rest of it through the glass boat as it would fit all 6 of us.. The corals here were much richer as those we saw in Elephant beach. Some of the fishes were swimming on the surface of the sea, which was a beautiful and rare scene to look at!

We had a nice lunch there in the beach, and then walked till the end of the beach. From the corner, the look of the entire beach was superb and fulfilling.. We even did some dance and jumping around the place. None of us were in the water for a long time, since the water was much more salty, compared to Radhanagar beach..
We returned to Port Blair by the 2pm ferry. Once we reached Port Blair, we went to Lord Murugan temple, which is well-made. We spent some time there and then decided to go shopping. Some local people told us that in private shops, we will get stuff for a reduced price, however in government shops, it will be the MRP only. We randomly went into few shops and bought some sea shell necklaces, pearls, etc. We also bought a couple of Port-Blair Tee's.
The day ended with the memories of sea-animals and corals :) and we slept early as the next day was going to be long day for all of us!

Day 4: Baratang Island
This is something which I would never forget... not because the place was good, but because of the events that unfolded during the day..!!! We got up at 3.30 am to catch the bus for Baratang Island. We had got a booking done for 1 day package tour to Baratang Island (Incredible India). We were waiting for the bus for almost 15-20 mins, and once we got into it, we saw... the bus was full!! Infact it was overloaded!! There were 30 seats in the bus, however there were already 36 inside. Our seats were already booked and someone else was sitting on it. After a half an hour struggle, some people got ready to adjust and we got seats here and there... Later, we got to know that there were some people travelling the bus without ticket!! (What fun!)
The journey was tiresome. The bus was aweful and though it was AC coach, the AC was almost all the time switched off, and we were feeling very suffocated.. We started eating biscuits to avoid thinking about the feeling of puking, as it was a bumpy ride into the hills and the driver was driving very fast, since the distance to be covered was 135 kms..
The good thing that happened was that we were lucky to see a lot of tribal people on the way.. They were very cute and were smiling and asking for stuff. However, we were told not to give them anything or to take photos. Some (good with due respect) people were still taking photos!! After covering 135kms, we had to go in a boat to a forest. We were told not to touch the water (in the boat), since that was a crocodile prone area..
The forest area looked great... Once we reached the forest, we had to walk 1.5kms inside (it was like trekking.. what ultimate path!) to see what is known as a lime cave. Just some distance from the lime caves were some huts, and everyone decided to have a sip of lemon juice there, which was quite refreshing. We had to wait to go inside the caves, since someone from the high court had come to see the place.. ughhh!! The place was worth walking 1.5 kms :) Felt really good to see the various structures in the cave... which you can assume to be anyone's. Like some people were teling.. some structures looked like a shivalingam, others like fishes etc.. We saw some mica also.

The walk back was fast and we were all very hungry.. BUT... since it was a package tour.. we could eat only when he supplies food :(
There was one more place pending to see.. and we were told that lunch will be served only after we come back from that place.. (It was already 3pm).. The place was a Mud Volcano. It was a super-bumpy ride and since we were already late for lunch, the driver drove super-fast (I think must be 120 or something in that horrible stone-mud road!) There was nothing much to see in that place, as the volcano was already erupted, and only some remains (which looked like 'cement-factory' as told by my sister) were there. We could see some bubbles from the remains..
We quickly went back for having lunch.
Fooo... quite a long day.. again.. while coming back to the bus, someone captured our seat!!! Sad to see such people who travel without ticket.. Shame on them.. and on the management who encourages this..
We somehow managed here and there.. we were really happy to be back to port-blair and more to be out of that bus.. !!
We got down and had some pani-puri.. and then went straight to the guest house. We had a nice dinner (more nice because the breakfast and the lunch was horrible) and as soon as I landed on the bed.. I was fast asleep.. !!

Day 5: PortBlair - Chennai
We all got up relaxedly.. and got ready.. Our flight was at 12.45pm.. We had to do all the settlements. So, just did packing and started for the airport. Andaman is a great place which everyone should see atleast once. The people are very friendly and simple. One more thing good about Port-Blair is that there are hardly any signals on the road lol ;) ...
Almost everyone speaks Hindi there, and there are few people who speak tamil also..
You will have a rocking time if you plan in advance and go.. There is very less scope of getting ferry tickets at the last minute..
We had taken a local car for roaming around, which was quite convenient.
In December, it becomes dark at around 5.30 pm in the evening.. !!
All small bitter things forgotten, it was a wonderful experience...!