A day in Neil Island

There are plenty of options of how one can spend their time on Neil. If you do get tired of lying on the beach or you have finished your book, there are some activities you can choose from. There are two dive shops on the island that operate seasonally – India Scuba Explorers and Dive India. One can also rent snorkel equipment from most beach resorts and go snorkeling. Otherwise, good old swimming is always an option.

Cycling in Neil Island is highly recommended – you can hire bicycles from most resorts or even from small rental shops all over the island.

What we selected to spend our time is as below,

We visited Neil Island in the month of February, a perfect time to visit Neil(Need to book a ferry a month prior). We booked Markruzz ferry from Havelock (swaraaj dweep) to Neil ( shaheed dweep) https://www.makruzz.com/

1. Neil Island Jetty

The view of the sea here is spectacular. Blue clear water. Lots of fish to see. we spent half an hour there as we reached at 09:30 AM(make sure you reach early, as time passes temperature increases). There are couple of options for hotels, you can prebook or book at the time you visit. We pre booked a hotel. Then we headed to our hotel "Neil Banjara", from the jetty it's 10min away. February is a humid month, so as soon as we reached the hotel we kept our luggage & went for a swim. After that we took a shower & went for lunch around 12-12:30.

After lunch we took some rest & started to get ready for the rest of the day. I always remember to have my sunscreen applied on my face and hands as the temperature is around 32° to 38°. After that we rented a scooty for Rs.500/Day & we headed towards our second place for a day.

2. Natural Rock Formation (Beach No.2)

We decided to visit Howrah Bridge ( Natural rock formation).
Neil’s famous attraction is a natural bridge formation locally known as the Howrah Bridge. To see this natural “wonder” one has to visit the rocky beach No. 2 at low tide when it is possible to walk on its dead corals and rocks to reach the attraction. We were lucky enough to reach there at low tide time. From the hotel it's a 20 minute journey.

There are a couple of locals who can be your guide on this beach for your safety. But we were prepared, As the beach is full of rocky patches, the rocky surface can get slippery in some parts and many are sharp so one must take care while walking. We were having knee & elbow protectors with us so we didn't took their help. In the beginning, there are 150 steps, after that walking around half a kilometre you will  reach your  destination. You Can find small fish, sea urchins, sea cucumbers, starfish, and in some parts you can even see colorful corals are slowly growing again.

At the time of returning from the beach we saw many shops of handmade jewellery, t-shirts, food items and many more. As it was the second last day of our trip we decided to shop a few things for our family & close ones.

*Note- Always Check the tide timings(easily get from google) before you plan a trip here!

After seeing the natural bridge, it was time to go for sunset at lakshmanpur beach, famous for sunsets. We got back towards our scooty and started going towards lakshmanpur beach.
From beach 2 to beach no. 1 it is a 20 minute journey.

3. Lakshmanpur Beach (Beach No. 1 )

We reached here at around 3:30-3:45 pm. Long stretches of white sand, turquoise blue crystal waters, a V shaped beach and lush green forest. Beach No. 1 is postcard-perfect with old fallen trees being slowly washed away by the waves. Swimming is best at high tide, but also possible during low tide. Take care of the corals and few rocks underneath the water surface. Beach No. 1 offers the best snorkeling points on the islands with colorful fish and some corals. We decided to go snorkeling here @2500Rs./Couple.

The beach is also known for the sunset point of the island & TBH it was the second best view of  our  trip. We took snaps of  a sunset. There are a variety of snacks available on the beach. We decided to go for a Maggie & bhel chat. People started leaving as soon as the sun went down, but we wanted to see the sky at night time, and the wait was worth it. After sunset around 6:45pm the total darkness can be seen with a black sky perfect for sky gazing. We spent another few minutes before we headed back to our hotel. We had a quick shower and went for dinner. After dinner we asked for a cycle and the hotel staff managed two cycles.