Andmans – The Real Paradise

I always had a dream of going to Andmans, an archipelago, a group of islands. Finally my dream come true when Mayank and me planned to visit there in starting of first week of September. One of my school time best friend Abhishek, was posted there in Army, so we 3 planned the whole trip.

Day 1 – 1st September 2006

It was drizzling at 7:15 am when we landed there. View from airport was amazing as mountains surrounded whole airstrip and rainy weather added more to natural beauty. Even the airport was one of the smallest, I had seen ever. I think the flights landing and going out from there, can be counted on fingers of one hand only.

We were scheduled to stay at guesthouse in army station, around 12 kms from Port Blair. In the evening, we went to Cellular jail (Kala paani) and drove back to army station fully drenched in rains. It rained almost daily there on our trip.

Day 2 – 2nd Sept 2006

It was raining again early in the morning. We went to North bay Island in the morning by motor boat. The sea was becoming rough. After reaching there, we straightaway went for snorkeling. It was a great experience as we were floating on water and watching the under water life. We had some fun at sea beach and then left for Ross Island. Ross Island was the maintained by British Army. They used to keep vigil on cellular jail through this island. Indian navy now inhabits this island. Most of the island was destroyed by bombardment in Second World War and Tsunami recently. Weather was getting very rough and raining badly. We went back to Port Blair, but the boat sailing in sea was creating ripples in water and our heart was sinking every time it goes down with the tides. Finally, we reached harbor safely. In evening, we went for a dinner at one of the colleague of my friend. It was a memorable get-together. We spend evening listening to all kinds of songs and various varieties of packed dinner. We came back at 2 am.

Day 3 & 4 – 3rd & 4th Sept 2006

It was 4 am in morning. We slept only for 2 hrs, as we had to catch the ship for Havelock Island at 6’ o clock from harbor. After 2 hrs of ride by ship, we reached Havelock islands.
These were the most enchanting place I had ever seen in my life. Enthralling beautiful white sand beaches with green and blue layer of water. It was such clear that you can easily see the fishes in water. Greenery on island was really eye-catching. Whole of the island was covered with Tropical rain forests. After putting our luggage in resort, we went to RadhaNagar Beach, which is said to be “The Best Beach in Asia” and “The Fifth
Best Beach in World”. And we were dumbstruck after reaching the beach. It was a white sand beach with hundreds of crabs crawling all over the sand. After spending lots and lots of time playing in water, creating sand houses on beach, we returned back. We strolled all round our resort. Sunset happens at 5 pm there. It was such a calm, serene and beautiful environment that I fell in love with it. We had lots and lots of discussion regarding ghosts there and then finally went to bed at 10pm just to get up in time for watching sunrise at 4:45 am. But by the time we got up at 5am, sun had already risen.
Then we again strolled whole area around the resort. We hired one motorboat to go to Elephant Beach cruising through the green seawater. As soon as we moved ahead water was getting dark blue but it was a calm and pleasant day. Elephant’s Beach was a pristine and untouched. It was like we were landing on such a island which is not inhabited by anyone. We went for snorkeling there. The under water sea life and corals were seen as clear as if I had seen in pictures. I was amazed after this snorkeling experience and was the most memorable moments of my life. We took the ship back to Port Blair and reached back. These two days went awesomely great and left a lifelong impact of Andmans in my life. We went for a stroll in Army area in Brigade and saw their private beach and then went to sleep.

5th Day – 5th September 2006

We again got up early in morning at 5am. We left for BaraTang Island at 6am by our hired car. While going to BaraTang Islands, there is a stretch of 36kms through dense Tropical green forests, which is inhabited by tribals, Jaravas. Once they used to be man hunters but now they are friendly to us. We were lucky to see some Jaravas while coming back. Then we went to Limestone caves in motorboat. The way to caves was zigzag in back waters of sea, totally covered by branches of trees. We felt as if we are doing some shooting for Arnold’s movie. There was some trekking to caves. The landscape was great. We were left dumbstruck. We even had the experience of being bitten badly by leeches. Then we saw a mud- volcano where mud was erupting from inside a rock. While coming back to Port Blair, we went to Mount Heriott. It was the top most point of Port Blair. The point was covered with clouds and we were moving in between the clouds. We can see North Bay, Ross Island, Cellular Jail and whole port blair from here. Then we came back and packed our bags for early morning flight next day.

This trip was the marvelous and unforgettable experience in my life. I always had a dream to visit Andmans, which came true. I don’t know why people to Thailand, Malaysia, Switzerland etc, I think the Paradise lays here in India be it in Kashmir or Andman. There is so much diversity here that I have realized one thing “India is the Best”.