Blogs from Havelock Island, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, India, Asia - page 3

After peeling ourselves away from Goa we took a short plane ride to Bangalore. We were only there for an evening and half a day but what we saw of it we liked a lot. All of the walls were painted with murals, the weather was just right (not too hot and not too cold) and our hotel was very nice for the price we paid (the staff were a bit grumpy but that seems to be the way in cities everywhere). So after a nice rest stop and a bit of auto rickshaw action we head over to the station to catch an overnight train to Chennai in the East. The journey was only 7 hours and was surprisingly comfortable. We both had a top bunk each (unlike the people below who were sharing their ... read more

Our adventures in India continue! We traveled to the Andaman Islands - 2 hours by flight from Chennai, India. The Andaman Islands are part of India, but located in the Bay of Bengal, closer to Myanmar and Thailand. The landscape was similar to Cambodia (and other parts of SE Asia), but the people who currently populate the Andaman Islands come from all areas of India. So, to continue: Monday, 1 November Arrive Port Blair, Andaman Islands. Eat! Nap! Informal sightseeing tour of Port Blair - the Islands' main city. 2 hour ferry to Havelock Island. Find hotel. Sleep. Tuesday, 2 November Travel by 30-year old, barely-working bus (seriously, it was ghetto) to Radha Nagar Beach - the #1 beach in Asia! Wanted to ride an elephant (for only $1!), but the elephant went home early. :( ... read more

We arrived after three flights and a one half hour catermeran (decorated with Valentines balloons, and were given cake and juice to mark the occasion), followed by a crazy rickshaw ride! Our accommodation was in a tropical garden, set back from the beach No. 5 (all the beaches here are numbered). Being slightly weary, our first impression of Beach No 5 was very underestimated, we arrived when the tide was out, which exposed lots of layers of muddy broken coral, tree roots and some rather odd creatures. We later discoved that the holes were those of small crabs which were fascinating to observe, as they scampered around making beautiful swirling patterns in the sands. Even the many stray dogs agreed, and had a keen interest in crab hunting. Also we spotted a few sea cucumbers washed ... read more

It rained a bit in the morning but fortunately our flight was on time. The early morning flight was cancelled ! There was a large group of first timers in our plane. A steel plant had sponsored a paid trip to Andamans for all its workers. They were visiting the islands in batches and hence next 7 days we kept on bumping into one batch or another. There was a huge applause, cheers and whistles as the flight took off ! The flight attendants had a tough time serving and managing the curious group. Two hours later, the plane landed at the beautiful Veer Savarkar International airport of Port Blair, surrounded by densely forested small hillocks. A smiling tour manager was present at the airport to receive us (some perks of organised tour). A quick lunch ... read more

12 dives later...we can say it, this place is pretty amazing. I would not rate it top 5 in the world, but it is clearly above or in par with places like the Similans. Havelock is still in a discovery mode, as many exploring dives still take place every week. Last week, they just found one more site. A year ago, there was only 2 dive schools, today, there are six of them. The best sites we did are Jackson's Bar, Johny's Gorge and Dixon's Pinnacle. We dived with Dive India, and I can only recommend them, they do a truly great job. They have 4 boats, this give you the chance to chose every time where you want to dive. But be warned, I would consider Havelock as an "advanced" diver paradise. The reason is ... read more