Andaman Island

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ANDAMAN ISLAND 2014



Leaving Langkawi after filling the wine cupboard, heading thru Thailand without checking in, doing a bit of island hopping.

Up the west coast towards the Similan islands from there we turn out to the Andaman’s, about 900km north west of phuket. Dragging a lure we named Phil, hit a huge fish, he took the line all the way to the end then just straightened the hooks on the lure, no chance we could ever have eaten that one!

We have been told heaps of story’s about the Indians been a pain, that they don’t want any yachts there, all so hard and bureaucratic. Lucky there was the odd one who has been there talking very fond of it. We had all our paperwork sorted, copies of everything x4 even the dog’s passport and paperwork. Inventory, itinery and so on. We got into Port Blair 1500 on the 18/02/2014, after 4 days at sea. We told ourselves that we may get one department on board before they all knocked off.

Call in for permission to enter port. Anchored and Graeme had to head for the jetty to pick up customs. 3 guys on board. Completely confused about the dogs on board - making a mess with my neatly laid out paperwork, some tea and tonic water to wash down the peanuts( did ask for cashews- which we didn’t have) one hour went past, a lot of phone calls and talking- then we got told immigration was ready to be picked up at jetty. Off they went to get the next load. While Graeme was gone the coast guard came with their boat pulled up alongside, 5 very official dudes came on board to inspect our vessel. More paperwork, have you got anything illegal on board drugs fire arm and so on, photos got taken. They needed to look in some of the storage department’s the best was when one of them ask how many decks we had on the boat!!!!!

We had our photos taken with all of the coast guards. All in all the whole process took a bit over 2hr not near as bad as everybody told us. All we had to do the next day was go to the harbour master to get our itinerary approved.

After all the officials left we reckons we deserved a drink, a nice bottle of wine to celebrate our arrival in port blair.

We headed into town the next morning for brekky. Iddly was on the menu – I love the stuff. Port blair is like a slow motion india , busy but not so bad.

Harbour master must have had a bad morning man was he grumpy , anyhow we got our itinerary approved and we were free to go.

Neil Island was our first island to stop at. As we pulled in we could not believe our eyes the beach was jam pack full of Indian tourists. ? We only stopped there for one night tried to go on shore to clean our yellow fin tuna we got on the way, our lure phil did a fine job, but we couldn’t get over the reef at low tide so we had to abort that mission and clean our fish on board.

Dinner was by the looks all planned, no fire to cook the fish on but the frying pan did the trick. We kind of were hoping that not all beaches are going to be as busy as this one.

Inglis island was the next day, as we got there we soon discovered that it was uninhabited- was looking good for a fire on the beach , doggies for a walk and a bit of time to ourselves.

As we settled in for a couple of days got all the shade up, dingy ready for exploring, guess what there was the first yacht on the horizon , not long after the second and just to make sure we not alone the third one rocked up just on sunset- ah well we did have a plan 😉 we can’t have everything.

Two days there no luck with catching any fish. We dragged phil and our other lure Frank, (named after a certain fine fisherman friend in Yanchep) all over the place. Bought a Cray fish of the locals for less than 10$ and paid way too much. They did tow us back to our boat since they wanted some money and our dinghy was to slow for them

Our fire on the beach attracted the local fisherman so that was not all that romantic, as it meant to be.

We moved onto Outram Island and had that place all to ourselves for 3 days, still not much luck with the fishing – Graeme decided to start catching the crayfish himself, had to make himself a weapon out of a stick and fish hook and here we go, after endless of attempts he got one. Should of seen the look on his face when he got it out of the water, it shrank and it was tiny. We did have a good laugh about it, at least a bit of bait to catch maybe a bigger fish

North Button Island we reckon we will never forget even if we try. Still by ourselves, walking around the island. Exploring the reef with snorkelling in the crystal clear water total paradise. Shame the coral is all dead from the bleaching in 2011 but we still had fun. Finally after spending most of the time tangled, swimming backwards, or wrapping itself around the other lure, Frank came thru with a beautiful 1m long tom! We got a couple of good size fish early in the morning so the fire got built up on the beach and after dark we headed in to cook our fish. Equipped with food wine and rug we headed in for a lovely evening on the beach. Lazing around on the rug talking, watching the fire, fish almost ready to eat, Graeme mentioned that the hermit crabs are rather friendly , when he shone the torch onto his leg the hermit crab was actually a snake crawling up his leg.

The moving was not lazy any longer, rather like lightning. Man did we move, good ol me had to scream jumping onto the dinghy talking photos , as the snake headed back into the water( since it was a sea snake) then there was all of a sudden two!!! Scrambling around like mad people trying to get our stuff, dogs walking over snakes, which lucky didn’t care at all. We abandoned the beach in record time decided was much safer to eat the fish on board.

Just as we pulled up to Inti there was another snake in the water, this one gigantic! All I wanted to do was close the port holes and hatches just in case! When we finally calmed down from our close death encounter we realised we left our easky on the beach, since Graeme was adamant that we couldn’t get it the next morning because of the tide, we got all our courage together and headed back on land once more.

There was our esky patiently waiting for us next to the nice fire without snakes!! I carefully checked to make sure none of them hopped in the easky before running back to the dinghy.



Long island was the next top. Here we found a local village 1000 people live here now 20 years ago there were over 10’000 , the logging industry used to be booming here but no more. The town is full of old buildings falling down everywhere, it looks rather deserted but still the locals left there smile at you and seem happy. Cows, goats, chicken dogs and the odd cat walk the main street if you can call that. The occasional motorbike comes past and you feel like traffic jam.

Local food cost us all of 2$ per person as much as you can eat, simply good. Not much choice in restaurants but between the one we went to and the samosa lady we managed.

Bush walking thru the beautiful forest to a bay surrounded by coconuts, stunning. Local lady’s clearing the path for us welcoming us with big smiles. Not too many men out there chopping away on the dense bush. Thru some farming land full of rice field’s, nothing high tech or intense farming.

These people are just plain poor. The government gives them rice, sugar and oil and not much else. 3 donkeys got left behind and they amongst all the other sort of sick looking animals. If I had I bigger boat it would have been filled up with all of them, most dogs need to be put out of their misery the goats are all in need of a good drench. But they just don’t know how, so they just don’t do.

3 days of long island where everything moves slowly we headed for Havelock. The main destination for the tourist, which are mainly Indians. First night we anchored at the main port. Headed into town to check out what we can get for supplies for our next few days, the first building we came across was the barefoot bar! Cool can go for a drink, been a while, nice bar to. As we ask for a beer we got told that they don’t have any and we have to go to the blue bar, got a guy showing us where it was. Now that was dodgy, dark dingy and only a hand full of men sitting in there. Glad to leave after one beer which was all we needed at 8% alc.

Made a plan to go to the market early the next morning. Will be open at 7am so we better get out of bed since the markets normally finish as soon it get hot. We got ourselves a tuk tuk and got there by 8 am, hmm a bit ambitious, opens at 9am, even breakfast you don’t get before that.

Stocked up and ready to head for Havelock beach nr 7, everybody talks about it and where not sure if it was going to be over rated. What a spot, don’t think words will do it justice. The pic will I’m sure, stunning.

3 days beach walks, trying to find the elephant who supposed to live here. We came across a lot of dung but no elephant. I got taken out to a romantic dinner which was divine.







Finally it was time to move to some islands about 30km south of port blair. We stopped over and got more supplies and some fuel and water. Came across a tuk tuk driver called Babu, he was great. We suddenly had a tour guide, and in a few hours had 70l fuel, heaps groceries, 40l water and us stacked in, majorly overloaded. As we started back to the boat he stops, tell us this is his house and asks us in! Then we get fed some lunch, meet his kids and half the rellies! We gave him a bit extra money since we probably ate his dinner, the going price for his services and the tuk tuk was $2 an hour. After fuel and wear and tear he isn’t ever going to be rich, but that’s just life here unless you are one of the lucky few. Then a really slow sail to rutland island, the wind has been very light so we are battling to make 3knots (5.5km/hr) under sail, but finally 1 awesome beach and more crystal water. We spend a couple of days looking around, but everywhere we go is so rolly we cant sleep and are tossed around the bed all night, so we head for another island chain, the Cinques. Our first anchorage here isn’t any better, both pretty tired after 3 nights of little sleep, so up at first light and shift again. Then we find a little paradise, water is so clear you feel like you float in air when you swim. Then we dig through our lure box, phil sadly got lost at sea in some fishes mouth, and frank just didn’t seem interested. We decide we need a little competition, so christen it Helen after another fine fisher woman, (who in real life is married to frank). Only went about 500m trolling and we have a ripper trevally, albeit jagged through the nose! We had a chuckle about the beginners luck, then took off again and hit another big snapper, she is on fire, we have 3 days’ supply of fish so it’s time to stop. Now we have to argue over who gets Helen next trip, our expectations are high!

We fill in our days with a little maintenance and cleaning,( the gearbox oil has gone black again so it could be a very long sail back to Thailand). Mainly it’s swimming, the snorkelling practicing our free diving is amazing, fish of all sizes and colours, and no crocodiles so far touch wood. There are big salties only 15 km away, so we always swim with care, and Mr Strife often gets to be the first one in. Very few sharks here, that’s a plus.

Time to head back to Port Blair our 30 days are almost up. Sadly we had to motor back, the wind’s came the wrong way, ( straight from the north}, perfect to head back to Phuket, just a few days too early for us. Back in port we get water, diesel and stock up with all the good fresh vegies and fruit. Visit Ross Island with the ferry from Aberdeen jetty in Port Blair. The journey is all of 800m and we had to wear a life jacket, we both had a bit of chuckle.( there has been an accident with one of these ferry’s and 30 Indians drowned since most of them can’t swim very sad)

Ross Island used to be populated by the British used as the administration centre from 1840-1945. Now all what’s left are heaps of crumbling brick buildings overgrown by strangling figs. Heaps of spotted deer and peacocks roaming around.

The happy holy day was on also, we got covered in coloured powder by our tuk tuk driver’s kids, and we still are not sure what the happy holy day was all about. Heaps of people in the street where full of colour, the all cover each other, by lunchtime everybody was cleaned up again accept us???

The last few bits and pieces and we were ready to check out on the 18^th march, we had a truly amazing time here. So far the best spot we have visited, we would even come back one day if we get the chance. And all the bad talk about the Indian’s and there officialdom is just rubbish, they are just super paper driven and like to have everything stamped and signed. As more copies and paper the merrier, that’s just the way they are.



On the way back to Thailand we decide to give Frank the lure a chance of redemption, and put him and Helen out for a gruelling 30 km swim, before Helen hits a 10kg tuna, about as big as we can handle. They aren’t that good eating, but the dogs had an endless supply of fish and we didn’t have to share our chicken! As for Frank, all he caught was a plastic bag, ever the environmentalist. With 70 hrs motoring so far. The wind god is definitely not on our side this time. Stop over at the Similan Island , both lying flat with a flu , lucky we got a bit of energy to do some free diving since the water is beautiful clear and there are heaps of fish , stunning.

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