Mesmerizing Andamans- Trip before #lockdown

When our plans to Bali were dropped off due to worldwide emergency, the only place we could think of traveling just before the week of our anniversary was this beautiful island on eastern part of the country- Andamans. The flight tickets are not too expensive but hotels and resorts in the island are! So, anyone planning to visit the place and have a nice experience, do book your stay way ahead of your travel period.

It was a 2.5 hours flight journey from Bengaluru and we landed in Port Blair at 9am in the morning. We could easily book a cab service from the airport to our hotel for first day- "Peerless Resort". The resort is a beautiful beach side property at Corbyn's Cove beach. It took us around 20-30 minutes to reach the resort which is 10km from the airport. The beach offers different water sport activities but you can save these for Havelock and Neil islands.

The auto rides are comfortable and easy to find but it's recommended to take the auto driver numbers if one is not hiring a two wheeler.

People who want to explore the city should start early as all the tourist spots in the city get closed by 4-5pm. People can visit Ross Island, North Bay island by taking a public ferry; visit the Cellular Jail famous for the atrocities committed by the British government during the time of struggle for freedom. The Cellular Jail visit timing are only till 4:45pm but later one can book tickets to watch the light show presenting the history of the historic place and the plight and condition of the prisoners at that time. Due to lack of time, we could just witness the light show at Cellular Jail and spend sometime in main city area.

We had booked our ferry for Havelock very next day morning. One suggestion for everyone is to book the ferries to Havelock and Neil islands prior as there are very few them operating in a day and it might be a trouble for you to book it online due to lack of network connectivity in the island.

We had booked 10:30am morning ferry and it took is around 1.5 hours to reach the island. With it's beautiful beaches, line of adventure activities and thickly forested places, Havelock also named as "Swaraj Deep" is a travelers paradise. If one wants to get best combination of escape to beach and forest, spend time at this beautiful resort "Barefoot". The place has amazing eco-friendly cottages, restaurant and a private beach (Radhanagar beach). One can also indulge in spas and massages, adventure activities, yoga sessions and enjoy the beautiful sunset at the very famous Radhanagar beach just adjacent to the property. The only disadvantage about the property is it's distance from the main city and less food variety in restaurant.

We explored the property and hired a two wheeler to visit the city area. We also had a plan to try Scuba diving for the first time and we booked the same for the next day through one of the very famous diving institute named "Gypsy". We could get a good discount at the place as we directly visited the place. There are 2 kinds of dives that are offered by these institutes- Shore dive and Boat dives. Boat dive is always a recommended one if you are not very afraid to go deep inside the sea and want to experience the marine life to the fullest. The cost of Boat dive for us was around 4.5k per person.

After our booking for Scuba, we decided to visit the famous Radhanagar beach to watch the beautiful sunset. The famous Radhanagar beach which is best place for beautiful sunsets is surely a place one will fall in love with. We sat for hours on the beach observing the sunset. There are lot of eateries around the beach area where one can enjoy snacks and spend the evening

We had booked our Scuba slot for morning 9am and we were a bit scared. The instructor first gave us a brief on sign language, equipment in shallow water for around 15-30min and then we were taken to the main scuba area with a boat in the middle of the sea. 30 minutes of time inside water with corals, fishes all around is a different feeling altogether. You feel like an alien from outside world exploring a beautiful sight. We were really excited and happy after finishing our first dive and would definitely be trying again.

After the dive, we visited this cool restaurant named "Something different" which served us amazing drinks and cuisines. The place is beachside and has amazing food. (Try fish and pasta)

After the dive we were a little exhausted so spent our day in the Barefoot resort enjoying the spa and massage facilities at the resort.

We missed the hike to elephant beach which is a 45 minutes trek through the forest. The trek entry point closes for tourists at 4pm, so anyone who wants to complete this trek and visit the beach must reach the point in afternoon.

Neil Islands also named as "Shaheed Dweep" is a tiny but beautiful island in the southern part of Andamans. The island small enough to be covered in a day and has good options for water activities.

We reached the island at around 12pm and reached our resort which was 2km from the Jetty area. The resort is a beachside with pool and other recreational facilities. We had lunch, booked a two wheeler and decided to explore the island without wasting much of time.

The 3 main places to visit at Neil Island are- Natural bridge known for the coral formations, Bharatpur beach known for its adventures activities and Lakshmanpur beach for its beautiful sunsets.

We first visited the Natural bridge also named as Howrah bridge. The bridge was formed by the coral reefs and can only be witnessed during low tides. One gets to see amazing marine creatures near the bridge during low tides.

We then made our way to enjoy the beautiful sunset ay this beach. It is a white sand beach lined with trees and is a postcard perfect place to enjoy your evening. We enjoyed the view with hot maggi at the beach and ended our day.

We had booked our ferry for Port Blair and wanted to visit this last spot at the island- "Bharatpur beach". We decided to check out from the hotel early morning and visit the beach to enjoy some of the adventure activities.

The beach has various vendors with different package options for activities like Banana ride, Scuba diving, Glass boat ride, Jet Skiing, Snorkeling. Due to lack of time, we decided to take a package of Snorkeling, Glass Boat ride. Glass boat ride is a totally different experience and worth the money as you get to see different types of coral and marine life without stepping into the water. This is a great activity for people who can't experience scuba and snorkeling.

We then had our Snorkeling session for around 15min. The best part of Snorkeling at Neil is the clarity of water here. We would recommend people to go for Scuba at Neil to experience their dive with better clarity and many more different marine organisms. We even got a short video and photos of our activity. Do negotiate for the package cost and try various options at the beach. There are hygienic pay and use public toilets near the beach area for changing purpose. We then moved to catch our ferry to Port Blair where we spent the evening souvenir shopping and exploring the city.

Finally our beautiful trip to Andamans was over and even if it was a last minute planned trip, it was surely a bliss. A must visit place for everyone.