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We had just settled in for a leisurely dinner at Megapode Retreat, Port Blair and the local travel agent dropped a bombshell…we are booked for the trip to Havelock Island next morning. The travel agent was quite firm, “Sir, the ferry leaves at 6.30 sharp…my car will fetch you all at six o’clock from the hotel lobby”. It was quite a disturbing thought…getting up by 5.00 in the morning. Considering we just landed at Port Blair the same day by a flight, which had left Kolkata at an ungodly hour of 5.00 AM, we almost hated the idea!
The bright & sunny morning next day dispelled a lot of our worries and saw us rushing towards the jetty for inter-island ferries leaving from Phoenix Bay of Port Blair. We boarded MV Kamorta, a ship sailing from Port Blair to Rangat in Middle Andaman with stopovers at Neil & Havelock islands on the way. We preferred Kamorta over MV Ramanujam, which was also leaving at the same time… Ramanujam was a bigger ship with higher capacity of 800 passengers but it was also slower between the two. The ship, Kamorta, named after a tiny island belonging to Nicobar archipelago, is owned
by Shipping Corporation of India and operated by the Directorate of Shipping Services, A&N Administration.
The passenger sitting area in the covered deck of Kamorta was cramped and sultry... the non-functional ACs added to the woes! While the passengers initially scrambled to grab their seats, they soon gave up the idea and rushed out to upper decks for cooler climes. As the shorelines of Port Blair receded fast and Kamorta hit the main channel, we experienced a bit of bounce sideways. That caused enough uneasiness for the first timers. Going down into the hull, there was an option of lying on the cushioned bunks and thankfully the ACs worked there. Our group gradually settled into the bunks...some of us catching a nap too in the process. Eventually we located the ideal resting place…the main door opening at the deck tunnelling in a strong breeze.
Within two hours, we reached Neil Island, a small island situated 36 Kms. north-east of Port Blair. The island has about 4000 inhabitants, mostly resettlers from erstwhile East Pakistan after Indian independence. The island has come to be known as ‘vegetable bowl’ of Andaman; having worked hard for it, the local Bengali population now
enjoys good income from the harvests. Neil has a nice beach and now boasts of a few ‘resorts’ with thatched huts, mostly frequented by foreign tourists. The stopover was for 15 brief minutes and Kamorta sailed again for Havelock.
I met Tarak Saha, an elderly Bengali travelling with his daughter by the ship. After spending a few days with his relatives at Neil, Tarak was returning to his home at Havelock. He migrated to Kolkata from Faridpur district of East Pakistan in 1960 and was resettled in Havelock under the rehabilitation programme of Indian government. Tarak proudly informed that Bengali resettlers in Havelock reaped great harvests from the fertile land – the income from the betel nuts, coconuts & paddy harvested annually was enough deterrent for them to seek any job as such! He readily invited us to visit his village in Havelock.
We reached Havelock at about 9.30 in the morning. Havelock Island, located 54 Kms. from Port Blair, is known for its pristine beaches, lush green rain forest and exotic marine life. The island has become a major tourist destination these days with many Indian & foreign nationals thronging in. Indian families mostly arrive by the
morning ferry and depart by the evening with a 'must-see' visit to Radhanagar beach. Foreigners take to unwinding themselves by spending weeks at a stretch and imbibing in the slow paced life in the island. The authorities strive to promote eco-tourism in Havelock with numerous signboards appealing to the visitors for improved sensitivity to environment. Havelock is dotted with so called ‘resorts’, mostly with basic facilities. A few of them though offer up market amenities and activities like scuba diving, snorkeling etc. Their presence in the Internet is mostly targeted to woo the foreign tourists…some of them have been known to charter flights in recent times for groups of tourists from Thailand too.
Our jeep took the narrow metalled road meandering through small villages and thick plantation of betel nut & coconut trees. We headed to Dolphin Yatri Nivas, a property owned by Andaman Tourism. The resort, 3 Kms. from the jetty and located right next to Vijaynagar beach, scores full marks for its proximity to the sea but needs to catch up miles in food, service, maintenance etc. The deluxe cottages, quite moderately priced, are newly constructed and spacious with attached toilets & front verandahs for an uninterrupted
view of the sea. We went straight to the beach lined with arching trees. The colour of the seawater ranging from azure blue to turquoise green spoke volumes about its unpolluted nature. The beach was strewn with large pieces of driftwood, dead corals and shells. We saw many hermit crabs homing into colourful shells befitting their sizes. The waves were gentle almost lulling into one’s feet. To top it all, the beach had hardly any visitors.
In the afternoon, we drove down to Radhanagar beach, located at the western part of the island. Radhanagar, rated the best beach in Asia by the Time magazine, is a killer combination of silver sands, crescent forming hillocks and green vegetation all around! The water was crystal clear and the waves were so gentle, they were hardly carrying any sand with them. We spent full three hours in the sea…as the sun had set behind the clouds, we felt dog-tired and deserved some sleep after a long day.
Our jeep driver, Rabindra Mandal, has been a third generation young islander...his grandfather settled in Havelock in late 50's. Rabindra reiterated the prosperity of Bengali resettlers basking on the agricultural income from their New
Found Land. He showed us the newly commissioned solar power facility for the island with a large array of silicon panels. Rabindra pointed out the excellent health of island roads, courtesy recent visit by the President of India. In the ensuing summer break, Rabindra along with his group of friends & family members planned to travel by ship to Chennai and thereafter to Mumbai by train. The islander ID card, issued by the local authorities, entitles one to avail concessional fares for travels by ship & air. Surprisingly for all the resettler Bengalis, Kolkata does not figure much in their scheme of things...be it for tourism, medical treatment or education, Chennai scores over Kolkata. Is it due to a hurt somewhere deep within that they were not accommodated in West Bengal but pushed several miles away into an unfriendly island?
Next morning we checked out from the hotel after the breakfast, dumped our bags at Nala Restaurant near the jetty and carried the towels & costumes with us…we were all set for the famed Elephant beach, the snorkeling haven of Havelock. Elephant beach, located at north-western part of the island, is best approached by a boat from the jetty
sailing along the eastern & northern coastline as otherwise one has to traverse through a thick rain forest without a good motorable road. Six of us boarded quite a rickety wooden boat fitted with an outboard engine...two lanky juvenile boatmen looked very confident of giving us a taste of adventure!
The boat sputtered on its way to Elephant beach and bounced & tossed a little for all of us to sit stiff! It took good 30 minutes to reach the destination where groups of families had already gathered for the novel experience of snorkeling. The initial process of using snorkeling gear, getting used to breathing through the mouth and floating on the life-belt with our heads below the water took us some time. The kids were fast learners and they were first to venture out. Our boatmen, who also doubled as our snorkeling guides, took turns to push us into the deeper & calmer zones of the sea. But the view down below was simply breathtaking, really worth all the troubles...colourful live corals, sea anemones & sea urchins with more colourful fishes wafting by…we were in nature’s garden with bounties of beauty!
Finally, all good things must come to an end...we returned to harsher reality to Havelock, savoured the South-Indian buffet lunch at Nala restaurant and waited for the return ferry to Port Blair. The voyage by MV Strait Island leaving Havelock at 4.30 in the afternoon was uneventful...it was a faster journey with no stopping over at Neil this time. Gradually the dusk approached with all its hues of paint brushing the clouds and the sea...we spotted the North Bay lighthouse near Port Blair from a good distance and soon after the town appeared prominent in the horizon bedecked with its string of lights beckoning us to its folds!
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wanderlust13
Sahil Kapoor
sahil kapoor
Nice blog. Thanks for sharing. I am also planning there soon. not sure how much money do I need?