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The Mystery of the Andaman Islands – A Must Visit On Every Traveler's Itinerary

I dreamt of aquamarine blues all through my childhood. My dreams were always surrounded by seaweeds, blue water and the occasional starfish. Did this place exist in reality? That was my question to the universe and today after so many years that has been answered. I and my family were looking for a destination for a summer holiday, when we stumbled upon this group of Islands.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are a group of 572 islands, lying at the junction of Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. Out of these islands, only 38 are inhabited. Tourists are allowed to visit the Andaman Islands only. Nicobar is out of bounds for tourists, because of the tribal inhabitation. The Andaman Islands are further divided into North, South and Middle Andaman. Before we explore further, you should know where the name ‘Andaman’ came from. A theory which did the rounds in the 19^th century derives the name from Hanuman – the Indian mythological god.

The picturesque beaches, aquamarine waters and the history, is what you should visit this place for. It houses the third most populated coral reef in the world. The place is untouched to a large extent. If you are bored with your daily schedule, phone calls and e-mails, this is the place to be. Few telecom companies work in the islands and internet is mostly out of bounds. People visit the Andaman’s for various reasons. Some prefer, relaxing, some are on their honeymoon, some are adventure tourists and some love to explore the place. Whatever, your need is, the island will satisfy all of them.

The most visited places in the Andamans are Port Blair, Havelock Islands, Neil Island and Ross Island. 3-4 days trips should never be planned, as it is not sufficient. Trips of 6-7 days may still quench your thirst. Ours was a 6 day trip. The above islands are what we covered. However, there is more to Andamans than what we could cover. Other places worth visiting are the Baratang Islands, Rangat, North Andaman, Long Island and Little Andaman as well.

The airport is located at Port Blair, the capital city. We had a short stay at one of the hotels on Day 1. We visited the Anthropological Museum and Fisheries Museum in the afternoon. You can have a fair idea of the inhabitation, tribal population, and lifestyle of the tribals here. The museum throws light on the livelihood of Jarawas, Sentinelese, Shompens, Onges and Nicobarese – the main tribes inhabiting the islands. We actually lived their lives through the experience. Exhibits in the museum comprises of huts, boats, canoes, fishing rods, utensils and jewellery amongst others. The Fisheries Museum houses the samples of the fauna found in the region. You can even get yourself clicked with the skeleton of the sperm whale, which is put on exhibit in the garden outside the museum.

In the evening, we visited Cellular Jain or Saza-e –Kala pani (we have heard of it in movies till date) as the British called it. The place is directly linked to our war for freedom. Many freedom fighters have shed blood at this very place to get India independence. We were taken through the Light and Sound Show, which brought tears to our eyes. We could actually feel the pain of the prisoners. The event brought back nostalgic memories and tears of respect.

On Day 2, we headed towards Havelock Islands on the ferry Green Ocean. The cool breeze and vast expanse of water surrounded us in the 2-hour long trip. We even had a small dance party on the upper deck, for a significant part of the journey. The island greeted us amidst a sunny weather. As, we were moving towards inland from the port, we were welcomed by a school of fish on either side of the jetty. The attractive colours of their bodies, gave us some respite in the hot and humid atmosphere. We headed to our Resort to freshen up and relax for a while.

The island, approximately 27 kms in length and breadth was surrounded by serene, calm waters on all sides. You could spend the entire day, just lying on the deck chairs and staring at the vast expanse of water. Well, we were the active kind and so ventured out to explore in the afternoon after lunch.

First, we headed to Radhanagar Beach a short drive away. The white sands and crystal clear, blue waters can put any foreign beach to shame. It is more beautiful than depicted on television or videos. The beaches being surrounded by tropical forests lent an air of greenery and coolness to the air. The waves did not dash at you, but maintained a calmness of its own. It just sweeps you off your feet and de-mystifies. After spending an afternoon at the beach, we headed back to our resort in the evening. You can even hire a scooter and drive around the place and we did just that. We explored the market and eateries around drew us to the much awaited seafood.

The next day was the most waited part of the holiday. It was the day of adventure activities. We had booked our scuba diving activity, an evening in advance. At 5 am in the morning we headed for PADI certified Scuba Diving session. I had been waiting my entire life to experience this, and the day had finally come. I was ‘LIVING MY DREAM’, literally. We filled out forms stating that no one would be responsible for our death while scuba diving. We happily did it, without giving a second thought. Having watched the movie, ‘Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara’, all of us had been waiting for this moment.  

So, we headed to the sea, to experience the madness we were looking for so long. Our session started with training. We were explained how to breathe through the mouth with the help of the oxygen pipe attached to the oxygen cylinders, which would be soon fastened on our backs. We were trained in different hand signals, which would help us to communicate with our trainers underwater. They were OK, UP, DOWN and PROBLEM – our lifelines. We were also taught how to remove water from our nose covered eye goggles, ears and mouth. After some practice, we ventured out. Slowly, we cut ourselves off from the noise above and delved into calmness. What we saw left us speechless. The underwater world was a dream, with colorful schools of fish and a huge variety of corals. We went about 10-15 meters beneath. The madness turned into meditation. Trust me that was the best place to meditate. There was calmness all around, without a hint of noise or pollution. We spent 30 minutes in underwater.

We came out, a changed, new being. We had conquered the unknown water kingdom. We were in awe for quite some time after the experience. Next, we headed to the Elephant Beach. Time for a snorkeling session! We floated our bodies and just lay on the water. The drift did the rest. We armed ourselves with full-face masks and ventured into the sea again. The crystal clear waters allowed us to see what lay beneath. Corals of different shapes and sizes caught our fancy; Cauliflower-shaped, fan-shaped, table-shaped, finger-shaped and many more.

The parrot fish was the most common fish found in the Andaman waters. We were soon surrounded by fishes, the moment we introduced their food. We quickly got the moments captured through our guides, so that we could freeze them. After coming back to reality, we visited Kalapathhar beach in the evening. The beach was a half hour drive from the jetty. The beach gets its name from the black stones covering the ands, here and there. ‘Beware of crocodiles’, read the sign-board. So, we were a bit skeptical and stayed away from the waters, as it was almost dark. The ride was through a winding road lined by tall trees on either side. It almost seemed we were driving through some National park.

We spent a day in Neil Island, which is less visited. We had occupied a lagoon facing beach cottage there. The island has three beaches Bharatpur beach, Sitapur beach and Laxmanpur beach. We also tried glass boat ride at Bharatpur beach, to view the live corals once again. We were actually love-struck. We just wanted to see the corals, the fishes, and the blue sea again and again.

As, all things good come to an end, so did our heavenly affair. We again ferried of to Port Blair and managed to visit the Samudrika Naval Museum and Chattam Saws Mills, one of the revenue generators of the island. We had our flight in the afternoon; so after a final good bye flew back with memories of a life time. I managed to pack in a few small dead corals too, as a memoir of the seas and its water life.

Each one of you out there should visit this tranquil union territory. It is somewhere in between heaven and earth.