The Traveller's Soul: limestone caves

At times when people were all heading to exotic islands all around the world, we decided to explore something within India instead. This was more of "Travel in India" kind of campaign, I must say. However, considering the present Covid19 scenario this seemed to be more apt and less risky too. After searching for few places, we finally zeroed in on Andaman & Nicobar islands.

The time we were looking for travel was kind of off-season, so we weren't sure of the places that would be open. We decided to give it a try nonetheless. One minor hiccup was that Andaman had mandated RT-PCR test for all its travelers, and this was to be done before 48 hours of our departure. So in a way we still weren't exactly sure if we would really make it to Andaman till the day our test results came out, i.e., a day prior to departure. Luckily for us our test results came negative and we had only the onward journey flight booked, so going wasn't a problem.

Day 1: Fly to Port Blair

We boarded a direct flight from Bengaluru, flying around 2.5 hours, reaching Port Blair by noon. The time we reached, weather had taken its play and it was raining quiet heavily. We decided to drop by our hotel and keep our luggage's and later head to couple of places for the day. After checking in and placing our luggage at our hotel, we headed to Cobryn's Cove beach. This place is kind of relaxed beach with few watersport activity in it. But considering the present Covid-19 scenario, beach felt kind of empty. Apart from the beach side activities, it also has a restaurant, few road side eateries to pass time around here. After having some light snacks we next headed to Marina Park.

Cobryn's Cove beach

Marina Park, As the name implies, this is quiet a big park by the side of the beach. With kids area, walk track, benches like any other typical park, one unique thing about this was this was resting just next to the sea. Jetty was walk in distance from here. And also there was a sea walk kind of bridge designed to walk from the park towards the jetty, providing a night view of Port Blair.

From here, we headed to Cellular jail. Though the jail was closed now, there was a special Light and sound show that happens every day/weekend at around 6:30 in the evening. Since we hadn't made any prior reservations we couldn't get the 6:30 slot, instead we opted for the 7:30 p.m. one. The light and sound show was quiet nice, briefly describing about the historical changes that happened over the Andaman islands, getting conquered, getting converted to a jail. This lasted for around 30-40 mins. Post this we headed back to our room and called off for the day.

Inside Cellular jail

Veer Savarkar's cell in cellular jail

Cellular Jail geared up for light and sound show

Day 2: Surf the Havelock (Swaraj Dweep)

Havelock is one of the most sought after tourist places in Andaman. Though there is no road connectivity, one has to take a ferry which lasts around 2-2.5 hours. We had our ferry booked well in advance since the seats are limited in the ferry. There are 3-4 private operators operating apart from the government ferry. Though the private ferry are a bit expensive when compared to the government ones, but i must say they are pretty comfortable and fast as well. We had booked M.V. Green Ocean for our journey, though there are other operators like MV Macruzz. One advantage of MV Green Ocean is that it has a open deck allowing you to stand on deck and enjoy the breeze over the sea. You can also spot few flying fishes, and if lucky enough dolphins too.

One of the govt cruise ferries

Entrance welcoming to Swaraj Dweep (Havelock)

At Havelock jetty

Our ferry was the early one from Port Blair, reaching Havelock by around 9 am. We had our stay booked as we felt it would be pricy to book in the last minute. In almost all of my trips, I always prefer to have a private vehicle all by myself and not like to be dependent on public transparent. So the first thing we did post landing was to get a scooter on rent. Since it was kind of offseason now, the rates were moderate. You can get a scooter for anywhere around 300-600rs, depending on the season. Now we decided to head to our room and offload our luggage. Post this since we hadn't planned anything special for this day we thought we will go ahead with some water activity. Scuba diving is the major attraction of Havelock and is quiet moderately priced. We made few enquiry and got our scuba done. Though there are different kinds of scuba, like boat dive, walk in, one can opt to anything as per his/her choice. But one good thing about Havelock is that it has an amazing coral life around it. We were glad we could witness the coral life here, with plenty of sea life roaming around us, while we were in scuba suits.

Me trying scuba in havelock

It was already way past our lunch time by the time we finished our scuba. Hence we headed back for lunch and post lunch we headed to Radha Nagar beach. Havelock being a island, one can witness both sunrise and sunset over beach, at two opposite ends though. Radha Nagar beach was a much cleaner beach, given the fact that it had been recognized as Blue Flag beach. There weren't much of sea activities here, people were just relaxing around. One more thing about Andaman is the time zone. For someone coming from West coast of India, the sunrise and sunset happen quiet early here. By 5 its almost the time for sunset here. There's a nature time difference of nearly 1-1.5 hours.

Blue Flag Radha nagar Beach, Havelock

Sunset over Havelock

Post sunset we didn't have much to do, hence we headed back to our room, Most of the resorts are located along the coast side. This is one nice thing for someone preferring to stay just close to the beach. After having a nice dinner at the resort we were staying in we called off for the day.

Day 3: A day in Havelock

Havelock has so many beautiful places that 1 day isn't enough to explore it completely. Hence, we had planned for continuing our stay in Havelock. Early morning we decided to go watch the beautiful sunrise near Kala pathar beach, which was at a quiet distance from our room. However, the sunrise was worth the visit.

Sunrise near Kala pathar beach, Havelock

After having the complimentary buffet breakfast at our resort, we headed to Elephant beach. There are a couple of ways to reach the Elephant beach : one being a boat ride from the Havelock jetty, which would take around 20 mins and cost around 1000/person, and the other being a trek along the forest, which would take around 1 hour to reach. We decided to go ahead with the latter.

Trekking trails to Elephant beach

We reached the trekking start point, carried few snacks for on the way journey, though there were people selling eateries along the way. It took us a little more than an hour to reach the Elephant beach. The moment we reached Elephant beach, it felt like whole of Havelock had come here, especially given that this beach is famous for all the water activities. It felt soo full, there were people everywhere, enjoying in the water, some going on water rides, some enjoying their time on shore. Elephant beach boasted of all water rides one could get, starting from scuba, snorkeling, sea walk, jet ski, glass boat ride, parasailing to name few. Since we had already scuba dived, we snorkeling and sea walk didn't make much sense to us. Hence we thought of going in glass bottom boat ride. This was a normal boat with a glass bottom through which one can see underwater life. To someone new who hadn't been under water, this would seem soo exciting. But having seen the corals already, this felt not so great, but it was worth the experience.

View At elephant beach

After spending some time here, we decided to head back to and started our trek back to base. After reaching Govind Nagar, we had something to eat as we were damn hungry.

In the evening, we had made few bookings for mangrove kayaking. Mangrove kayaking, is normal kayak going between mangroves, mostly during night, capturing the bio illuminance at night. We had made few talks in the morning with a local operator for the same. But unfortunately, there had been a cyclone alert warning since couple of days and we had to drop our idea of kayaking. Instead we headed out to a nearby beach and spent some time watching sunset.

Some unknown road in Havelock

Day 4: Off to Neil Island (Shaheed Island)

Neil island, aka, Shaheed Island is the next most preferred island after Havelock. Neil too, just like Havelock is an island in itself with only way to get in through ferry/cruises. Even here couple of operators along with government operate ferry at specific timeslots. Journey from Havelock to Neil is a short one , taking roughly around 1.5 hours. We had our ferry in the morning, enabling us to reach by around 11.

As soon as we reached Neil, we managed to get a scooter for rent. Neil though is comparatively a small island when compared to Havelock with very few shops available. However, all basic amenities are still available here. Once we had the scooter in hand, we headed to our room, threw our luggage's and went on to explore Neil island.

Neil is famous for its beaches, especially sunrise and sunset over beaches. Since it was after noon, we headed directly to Laxmanpur beach 1 . Almost all the Neil visitors where here, to witness the sunset along with us. Post sunset we spent some more time on the calm peaceful beach relaxing, and later headed back to room calling off for the day.

At Neil island

Sunset at Laxmanpur Beach, Neil Island

Some snacks with sunset at Laxmanpur Beach, Neil Island

Day 5: Neil sightseeing

We planned to start off our day early, but due to the time difference, the moment we woke up it was already sunrise. We somehow missed the sunrise over Ramnagar beach .

View from the resorts at Neil Island

After having the breakfast at our resort we headed to Radha Nagar beach. This beach is a famous for the natural bridge formed due to continuous erosion over sea waves. Along this beach, are plenty of coral life, and other sea lives. Its more advisable to get a guide here, who would explain the coral life in depth, as its too vast to be just seen and understood. This beach would take around 2-3 hours for a complete detailed view.

Natural Bridge #1 at Laxmanpur beach

Natural Bridge #2 at Laxmanpur beach

The famous Ocellaris clown fish from Finding Nemo

Post this we dint have much time for the day as we had our return ferry to Port Blair pre booked. Hence we thought we would quickly explore the other 2 beaches as well.

From here we headed to Ramnagar beach. This beach is located quiet close to the Neil island jetty and is more famous for the water sports it provides. Since we had no water sports planned we just took some strolls by the beach, looking for something to take home from the small shops on the shore.

Ram nagar beach

Time flew quiet fast this day and in no time, it was time for us to leave to Port Blair. We had booked Aashi ferry, though I couldn't find much info on this, but this was really a nice ferry indeed. It was more luxurious and even provided free snacks. We managed to reach Port Blair in around 2 hours witnessing sunset over sea in ferry.

Sunset over Aashi ferry en-route Port Blair

Once we reached Port Blair jetty, I had arranged for another scooter to roam around and had requested him to deliver it to the Hadoo jetty. After getting the scooter we roamed around aimlessly in Port Blair witnessing the night life of Port Blair.

Day 6: Roaming in and around Port Blair

After having reached Port Blair yesterday, we had nothing planned for this day. We thought of visiting Baratang, but it required prior permission. We made enquiry for the same and found that we had to visit the DC office for the permission. Alternatively there are few tour operators operating and one can check with them for the permission. Since we felt going it personally would be time consuming, we felt it'd be better to get it done by operator.

Our National flag

The year of first tri-colour flag hoisting in Port Blair

After submitting required documents (Aadhar Card), we headed to explore Port Blair. There are couple of islands near by, most of which can be travelled by boat. We headed to Ross Island, (Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Island) famous for being the administrative island for a short span during the British rule. There are plenty of boats available from Aberdeen Jetty to go to Ross Island, which takes roughly around 30mins. Though most of the settlements in Ross island were destructed during the Japanese invasion, there are few debris remaining good enough for identifying the building. Apart from few building it also has a small lighthouse at the opposite end. The boat operators give us around an hour to spend here. And since the island is quiet big, one can use the e-rickshaws to roam around.

An abandoned old light house at Ross island

View at Ross Island

From here we headed to the North Bay island. This is one more such island near to Port Blair more famous for the water sport and all water activities. Since we had already done all the water activities, we were just roaming around the island. This is the same island that comes behind the 20Rs note. On top of this island is one more lighthouse which is closed for the public though. There was a special submarine kind of cruise, which is more of an attraction here. But we felt its quiet overpriced and not worth as we had already seen good amount of coral life. Boat operators typically spend around 2 hours here and then take you back to Aberdeen Jetty. The whole tour is a round trip covering both the island and is priced around 750 per person.

North Bay island

An lighthouse at North Bay island

The boat ride to Ross and North bay island

By the time we were back to Aberdeen jetty it was already 4 in evening. We decided to visit Chidiya Tapu as the sunset over this is very famous. Chidiya Tapu is around 1.5horus drive from Port Blair. Its more life outskirts of the city. There are few resorts here, if anyone planning to stay over. After witnessing the beautiful sunset, we headed back to room.

En-route Chidiya Tapu

Sunset over Chidiya Tapu

Meanwhile our hotelier had got us a slot confirmed for next day's Baratang trip. But one small problem was we got the second slot. Ideally speaking there were 4 slots, 2 in morning, and 2 in evening. But after corona the slots were reduced to 2, 1 in morning and other in evening. These slots are the gaps where people are allowed to travel through the reserved forest and the Jarwa tribes. Now that we had got 2 slot, there was no hope of coming back on the same day if we leave on 2nd slot.

I tried to make few calls, but nothing worked out and finally we decided to give it a try going in the first slot and check our luck if we got could get a pass.

Day 7: A lucky morning slot to Baratang

Early morning we had packed our bags hoping to get the permit for the first slot. Our driver arrived at the hotel at 5 in morning, exactly at the time he told previous night. Fast forward after travelling for 1-1.5 hours we reached the check post. There were plenty of other vehicles apart from ours waiting for the pass. It seems they have a cap on number of vehicles allowed in a slot, i.e. 80 cars. We had to wait till all the confirmed one's for the first slot appeared. Once there were no other people coming in, we talked to the person in charge and he thankfully allowed us to pass through. One more thing that's required is the mandatory RT-PCR tests of all passenger's, including the driver. For the persons not having it, one can avail a RAT test.

From the checkpost-1 we headed further to Jirkatang checkpost. This is where the gates get opened and closed on a particular time slot. We had some quick snacks here and later continued our journey. For the next 1.5-2hours, its a non-stop drive, as it passes through tribal area. We reached the other check post, right next to it is a ferry for people proceeding further to Diglipur.

Ferry crossing point at Baratang checkpost

We parked our vehicle here, and boarded ferry by walk, crossing the water. As soon as we reached there, our driver had made arrangements for the Baratang limestone caves. One has to pay an entry fee of 700/person for visiting limestone caves, which include the boat charge as well. From the jetty, the boat takes us down the water canal for around 15-20mins going along the side of mangroves till we reach the starting point of limestone cave trek. From here, one has to walk for 1-2kms to reach the caves. The walk is quiet pleasant as it goes through mangroves, forest, paddy fields, clean village houses, etc., finally reaching the caves. These caves are all naturally formed and the boat man himself is our guide here. He would explain the statues formed, the vents, few names of limestone inside the cave. One can go till a point, after which the entry to visitors is banned as the cave opening become more thinner.

Boat ride to Limestone caves

Entrance to limestone caves Baratang

Limestone caves of Baratang

From here we headed back to our boat. There's one more thing more famous in Baratang apart from cave, ie., the mud volcanoes. These are the only mud volcanoes found in India, while there are few found in Sri Lanka, Pakistan etc. On a outer view, it appears as if its just some mud, but when you go close enough, you can see that the volcano is slowly erupting. This mud volcano is a bit inside, and one would have to hire a car/jeep which would charge around 800 for to-and-fro journey.

Mud Volcanoes of Baratang

The time we covered both it was already 2:20 pm. We had our ferry at 2:30 post which the check post would close. In case had we missed it, we would have to wait till the next day to go back.

This was our last day in Andaman as we would be flying back tomorrow. We took our scooter for a final ride in the city before handing it back, and headed to room to call off for the day. There are few affordable hotels/homestays right opposite to the airport. We had stayed in that as our flight was quiet early the next day.

Day 8: Bye Bye Andaman

Today was our last day here, and we had a flight from Port Blair early in the morning. It was a splendid journey till here. Though we hadn't planned things, everything went smooth in.

Andaman is really a must visit place for everybody. It has so many varieties that one would never be bored of it. One can always plan to visit this beautiful place, may be stay a bit more longer than us and enjoy its beauty.