Emeralds of India - Andaman Series #1🏝️
Let's ship ourselves to these beautiful islands once in our lifetime
This one is so special for Footboard today. Wondering why?
This is the 50th blog of Footboard. Woohoooo!!🥳🥳
We started on 21st May 2022, and since then, we have become more robust and have reached greater heights with all your unconditional support and love.
Thank you so much to all the subscribers and readers of Footboard. Of course, we can’t just stop with my gratitude; We are out of words❤️
With all the joy, let’s get into our business, lol.
After the Coorg Series, we regret a long break before the next one.
But now, we are here with one. Yes, the header which led you to open this blog!
It is Andaman Nicobar Islands. It is also called the Emerald Islands due to its spread of islands when looked at from an aerial view.
We will cover Port Blair, Havelock, and Neil Islands of the archipelago. The Nicobar side is mainly uninhabited - either Indian army bases or entirely given for tribal societies - and not allowed for tourism activities.
Let’s do some water sports for real on our trip. Keep reading.✨
Overview of the Trip
The trip was planned for the first week of September 2022, when the monsoons have reduced considerably, and it is possible for all the activities and sightseeing. September was the right time with the apt weather (windy, sunny with slight drizzles) and also let me do all the sports activities.
Ensure your trip never coincides with rainfall because even a short downpour will close all the water-related sports activities. Also, if you plan to visit Havelock or Neil Islands, the jetty service might be completed if there is a monsoon or cyclone. Note that to reach these islands, the only mode of communication is these jetty services - both government and private services.
To give a one-liner to Andaman, I would say - “if I were asked to mention a place where I would settle down after my retirement, it would be Andaman.”😍
For me, Andaman was a mix of the western ghats of Kerala with properly maintained roads covered with a canopy of big old trees, and non-commercialised Goa.💕
Travel Dates – 01 September 2022 – 05 September 2022
We used a flight to reach the island and a jetty to reach Havelock and Neil Islands.
Budget - This was not a solo trip; my parents were together with me. We will still let you know about the budget so you can have an idea about the same.
A significant portion was spent on water sports activities, transport, and accommodation. Water sports costs cannot be reduced, but there are cheaper options for accommodation, and you can further use government jetties if you would like to reduce the cost.
A ship also reaches Andaman from Chennai, Vizag, and Kolkata. It takes three days to get one-side travel from either of the cities.
5-7 days would be more than enough to complete the itinerary shown below, but there are other places also on the Northern side of Andaman Island, which would take a day for you to drive and way back. We skipped it because of the distance factors, and also, there were good places nearby that we could easily cover.
Some places I wanted to see are Jolly Buoy Island and Red Skin Island, which were closed a couple of years back, and some places like the Limestone Cave (Baratang) and the tribal area were very far away from Port Blair. You can add them if you have enough time and also if they are reopened sometime in the future.
Try all the water sports available, for which we will be giving detailed instructions and where it would be best to try.
It is worth the money you spend on these activities, rather than just sitting on the beach sands. Honestly, Andaman is the best place for scuba diving in India🤿
History and General Brief
The island has a lot of history regarding the rulers who used this space as their naval base and some voyagers as their refueling yard. Cholas effectively used this land to commute between Malaysia and had naval supremacy. The Danish East India Company settled here in the British era. During World War II, the islands were practically under Japanese control, only nominally under the authority of the Arzi Hukumate Azad Hind of Subhash Chandra Bose.
If not for all of these, you would have seen the Cellular Jail setup in many Indian movies - the place where Indian freedom fighters were prisoned and tortured.
We will see the history of these places in the subsequent blogs.
Two communities - Tamils and Bengalis, dominate the island. So, you can quickly get both cuisines anywhere. Hindi is commonly spoken, and Tamil can also be used here. Genuinely, the food is better wherever I try. The island settles down around 9 PM, and there is not much nightlife/parties. There is also not much alcohol culture seen. The place is safe for any tourist.
We will start diving into each place in the next blog of the Andaman Series.
Stay tuned to witness some of the best places you could ever visit.
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