A week in the heavenly Andamans!

We took the trip from Jodhpur to Port Blair via Chennai.

Flights often get rescheduled on this route so do not book a very tight schedule. Ours did, and we ended up spending a night at the cozy, affordable, Hotel Beebiz in Chennai and eating amazing Rawa Dosas from Adyar Restaurant.

Finally, we reached Port Blair and took a cab to Salt Life Bed & Breakfast. This hotel had a very picturesque balcony that puts you right in the holiday mood. Vodafone and Airtel will have limited connectivity, and Internet will be unreliable. The best bet is to have a BSNL network if you can't stay off-the-grid for a few days.
The weather during the months of November-February is ideal to visit this island.

Popular spots in Port Blair are Cellular Jail, (you have to take an online ticket for entry), Aberdeen Market (decent priced shopping items and good street food) and Clock Tower, Corbyn's Cove (to be visited during daylight for the water sports activities and in the evening if you want photos by the heart-shaped arches), Marina park and a naval museum.

There is a one day trip to Ross Island from Port Blair, which we decided to skip.

Most restaurants and market will be shut by 9.30pm at night and there is not much of a nightlife here. You can travel around by autos, which can be hailed easily. If you're staying for a couple of a days, you can opt for renting a scooty.

The next morning, we took a Makruzz ship to Havelock Island from the Haddo Port, which was at a walking distance from our hotel.

You can arrange for a government ferry out to travel in between the islands if you plan 48 hours in advance, and can go to the office to fill out forms. It's better for tourists to avoid the hassle and pre-book their tickets online through either Makruzz or Green Ocean. The distance between the islands can take 1 to 1.5 hrs.

Havelock Island is extremely beautiful, green, beachy and absolutely worth visiting once in your lifetime! This is the true holiday destination of Andamans!

It is better to rent out a two-wheeler here as you don't want to rely only on resort / hotel provided travel arrangements.

We rented out a bike for 400 per day right at the arrival spot of Havelock Port from an extremely helpful guide of Laxmi Travel.

We headed straight to the Radhanagar Beach with our backpacks to watch the sun set from this world famous location!

The beach is clean and has pristine white sand. The waves are loud and wild but it is absolutely safe and fun to swim in. One can easily spend hours walking on this vast white coastline, between a green backdrop and azure blue sea.

We headed to our hotel, The Wild Orchid Resort, a hut-styled rocky resort, which also boasts of an in-house bar.

There are a lot of restaurants in Havelock which serve good food - Venom, Fat Martin, Something Different, Anju Coco etc. Don't forget to have as much sweet coconut water as you can during this trip!

We had booked an early morning Scuba Diving session from one of the providers. This may be one of most affordable scuba diving spot in the Asian region so go all out for the experience and book the best experience.

Each diver has their own trainer and can get their photos and videos clicked underwater as well. For us, our scooty arranger connected us with one of his contacts, but you can book with almost any of the centres here.

While we've done Scuba Diving earlier, this was a surreal experience too. It was a little crowded but you get to a depth of 6-12 m and there's plenty room underwater for everyone!

The rest of the afternoon, we spent hiked through the forest and marshlands trail to reach the Elephant Beach.

There's an alternate route via ship, which costs about 1000/- but if you can walk for 30 mins then the trail is a different, interesting, green experience!

Carry your own water bottle, Snacks, and Snorkelling equipment if you can.

The Elephant beach has a lot of water sports activities going on, or you can swim for hours in the tropical sun.

In the evening, we went to Kala Paththar, also known as the sun-rise beach of Havelock Island for a stroll and drank some more coconut water by the beach. (We're not early risers so we would have never seen this beach in its full glory of sunrise. Verdict for Kala Pathar: too far and avoidable, but a clean swimming beach nonetheless)

Since we had touched all the major tourist spots of Havelock and we had a few hours in the morning till our ferry to Neil Island, we decided to visit the one spot that we both loved once again - the Radhanagar beach!

There is something about this place that can make you come back every day. We spent a couple of hours enjoying here before getting on our ferry.

By evening, we had reached Neil Island. We booked a scooty, right at the arrival port, but this is typically not possible as the auto rikshaw union doesn't allow it.

If Havelock Island had a holiday, chill vibe, then Neil Island has a laid-back lifestyle vibe. The alcohol shops in Andaman closed by 5pm due to government guidelines, so buy any alcohol accordingly.

There are five beaches in Neil - Sunrise point, Sitapur, Bharatpur beach , Laxmanpur beach I and Laxmanpur beach II. You can skip the sixth, Ramnagar beach.

We immediately rushes to the Laxmanpur beach I , also known for its sunsets, and then headed to our resort to relax.

Internet connectivity is a major issue. Restaurants are limited and will not give wifi to customers who are not staying in their hotel.

We stayed at Emerald Gecko, located right next to the Sunrise point in Sitapur beach. The family who stays and runs this hotel is very warm, friendly and they cook amazing food! It was a very homely stay.

The next morning, we went to Bharatpur beach as all seaside activities such as snorkeling, glass bottom boating etc. happen here only and they take place only in the morning.

We swam in the beautiful blue andaman sea for more than an hour, bought a couple of items from the shops and then came back to the resort to freshen up and checkout at 12 noon.

Around 2pm when it was low tide, we went to the
Natural rock formation, which is definitely worth a trip at Laxmanpur II beach. You should try to avoid the guides as it is a fairly self explanatory tour unless you're deeply interested in Marine life forms. It's a 10 mins walk on the semi solid coral rocks to be able to view this beauty.

We then took a return Makruzz ferry to Port Blair and began our return journey back home!
(The flight rerouted again making us spend a day at Ahmedabad!)

All in all, this is a trip worth making with your spouse, friends, parents, children or whoever. It's on the very far end of India but provides very relaxing, heavenly and unique experience.

Do not try to go for a "cheaper" vacation experience as it will be a tick off the box rather than a satisfactory experience!

P.S. Do check our if Baratang Islands and other North Andaman Islands are open for tourists in case you want to extend your travel.