Andaman Trip

If u love nature, peace of mind and sunny sandy beaches, then Andaman is the place to go.
I travelled to Andaman and nicobar islands in December 2016 and had a great experience. I went with my wife. Had a great experience with the beaches and Scuba and food.

Its good to have your own plan and not fix it with a travel agent but i would like to tell you what i went through and what a travel agent would do. I booked the flight tickets online myself on makemytrip.com and booked rooms via goibibo.com. There was a guy in Portblair who helped me book tickets for cruises to and fro the islands, Neil and Havelock. Obviously i had to plan a lot for all this and had the fun of customising it as i liked it. My friend booked a similar holiday through an agent at Yatra.com and had a similar quotation for more or less the same price[Mine 65K and his 70k all costs included]. So, I feel booking through an agent may rid you of some hassles and give u time to relax n not fuss about the plan[which i did]

My Plan:
Day 1: PORT BLAIR. Reached Chennai by train. Did that by 4:00am. Reached airport by Auto. 350rs. Got onto a flight to Port blair at 8:00ish. Reached by 11:30. Stayed at a hotel Sun sea resort in Port blair. Got a bike for rent for a day. Roamed around. Went to Fortune Resort bay island https://www.fortunehotels.in/port-blair-fortune-resort-bay-island.dh.31for lunch and had a good view while dining. There s a view of 20 rs note that was taken from the island. [U will know if u go there]. Saw the light and dance show in the evening.



How it could have been better: As soon as u land, take the next boat to the island of choice. DO NOT WASTE time at port blair. Nothing much to see there. Got a warning from traffic police for not wearing helmet. Thats a very imp thing in Andaman.

DAY 2: NEIL ISLAND. The bike rental guy offered to drop me at Harbour when i returned the bike. So went to him by 6am. He dropped us at harbour and we were on the boat by 7am. Can carry one bottle of alcohol each person. Customs will stop if more than that.
Boat ride will make u puke if u wake up. I made the mistake of waking up and looking up :(
Reached Neil by 11am  and got an auto to the

COCO N HUTS resort. https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g2646897-d12209273-Reviews-Coconhuts_Beach_Resort-Neil_Island_Andaman_and_Nicobar_Islands.html

[Best thing: private beach. great rooms. Good food and good location]. Got a bike for rent from resort. [It wd be better to rent the bike and go from harbour itself] Changed and went snorkelling. All watersports are at the same beach and are same as in Goa except for snorkelling. Was taken on a glass floor boat to a particular place and the guy gave me fins and snorkel and held me and swam and asked me to not swim and jus look down. was a great experience. [But after Maldives visit i feel snorkelling in maldives was better]. Had many photographs and then went back to resort to eat and relax for few min.
Evening: went to the sunset point of laxmanpur beack by the bike and had a lovely evening walking on the silver sands of the beaches. So peaceful and serene. Took some sand from the beach and put it in my socks and the sand is still in a glass flask at home on my fridge in Yzag.

I took an LED usb light with me which i connected to my powerbank and had a led light dinner on the beach back at the resort.

Day 3: Havelock: We should have seen the sunrise but i was very lazy and we slept through the sunrise. Got the boat at 11 and reached Havelock by 1230. Got a bike at the Jetty/ harbour itself and went to Flying Elephant resort. [Do not goto flying elephant, Its very far away and deserted, It will give u feeling of detachment from the world that u r not prepared for.] I should have made bookings earlier and booked some other resort for the first day.
Changed and went to Kalapathar beach. The beach is crowded. But with couples. so no problem. Had noodles on the beach side. Delicious.
Changed at the resort again and went by bike to Fat martin cafe. Its the most happening place on the island. Fat Martin cafe also houses Andaman bubbles, the scuba diving centre. Filled some forms and had some instructions about diving the next day. Food is good and safe at Fat martin. Had schwarma. was good. The good thing abt andaman is.. no wild animals and no trouble unless u r looking for it. So even at 10 in the night we rode back along the beach rode for 5km back to resort with no problem at all.

Day 4: Had to change resort to Dolphin https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g503691-d499991-Reviews-Dolphin_Resort-Havelock_Island_Andaman_and_Nicobar_Islands.html as well as go for scuba on the same day. Went wd luggage to fat martin cafe/Andaman Bubbles scuba diving centre. [Both are in the same place]. Had a light meal. Went to scuba.
Its an entirely different world inside the water. Cant be explained by words maybe. Good thing the instructor diving with me had a gopro camera. It doesnt matter if u dunno how to swim. u can still do the scuba diving. [Just dont dive down fast or come up fast. Thats dangerous].

Back at the Fat martin centre and picked up luggage and checked into Dolphin resort. The good thing abt this resort is that it has the largest beach. best gardens and lots of space to walk around. Food is served in the resort restaurant and has indian food and drinks.
lunch at resort and slept till evening coz of fatigue of scuba.

Evening went walking on the beach and gardens of dolphin resort. I sometimes feel that i haven't seen such beauty anywhere, with such good colors of sky, water and sands. with some soft music, a friend beside and such great views.. u r Relaxed.

Went to  Full moon cafe for dinner. Was a wonderful place and had a great time relaxing there and eating with candle lights. Back at the resort, went for a walk again. just to hear the waves crashing on the sand.

Day 5: Back to Port blair: We checked out and went to ''Something different'' which is a restaurant.

 It was really really good. Must be experienced if u goto Andaman. After food there, left luggage there and went to Radhanagar beach. The beach is no different but had some mountains beside it so is picturesque.[Heads up: The road to this beach is dangerous and we should drive carefully. We slipped and fell as it had rained[it always rains in bits and pieces] and luckily didnt have any serious injuries. A local guy who was going on a jeep, stopped and made sure he followed us till we reached the hospital at havelock safely. So in retrospect, wearing helmet was essential].
Got onto the boat at 330pm back to Port blair. Reached by 7pm or so. Got into a cheap hotel as it was just for the night. Got a bike from same guy at port blair. Went roaming the roads and markets and streets of Andaman again. Tried the local food again.

Day 6: To Chennai: Woke up in the morning and went to Corbyn's cove beach. Was boring after having seen the more beautiful beaches.
Reached the airport an hour earlier to find that the airport doesnt have much traffic. Eevrybody is waiting for the same plane :p

Back in chennai we had time till our return train so we left the luggage at railway station baggage counter and went shopping in Express avenue. Had fun eating at burger king and went back home.

Trip cost 65,000 rs for two people. Went on November 30, 2016. Returned on Dec 5th.

Travel essentials: Selfie stick, Downloaded offline maps, lost of music, waterproof camera, Sunglasses, sunscreen, lots of beach clothes and a great body to show off in that clothes.

How to do it differently: Money spent is mostly on travelling. So if u go to Andaman, Don't return in a hurry. Stay on the Islands longer. I would recommed two nights on Neil and three nights on Havelock MINIMUM. Stay for a week infact. Take some time to do nothing and to let your thoughts and mind wander. Just sleep on the beach and look at the sea. Get back in touch with nature. Be a child, do stupid things like running on the beach for no reason or making a sand castle. Let go off stress. Relax, Rejuvenate and come back to reality slowly.