My first ever solo trip: Havelock Island.

Took a flight from Bangalore to Port Blair.

To begin with, it indeed is a very boring flight because aircraft flies in straight trajectory without any turns once it sets the path from Chennai. All you can see for two hours is calm sea and clouds.
And then you begin to see the islands. Blue waters. Green trees. ISLANDS!!

I didn't want to explore Port Blair as I'm not really a history enthusiast. So I went straight for Havelock Island.

You will have to book your tickets a month prior for a steamer to go from Port Blair to Havelock Island. Since I was staying at Dive India (details to follow), I requested them to take care of my transportation needs to and from the accomodation spot.

Upon landing at the airport, I was greeted by Dive India driver who dropped me to the port. Upon waiting for 2 hours, I hopped onto the steamer and was on my way to Havelock.

Tip: If your steamer is after 2 hours or so of your landing, you may request the cab driver to halt at some cafe so you can eat something. There is nothing much to eat at the port (just a small shop to pick up packed food).

After reaching Havelock port, I was again greeted by Dive India driver who dropped me to Dive India.

About Dive India:
It is one of the oldest scuba-diving training centre in Andamans. It was started by an IIT passout who wanted to get scuba diving professionally to India.

Dive India has a complete setup of upto date diving gears, gear shop (in case you want to buy your own), amazing cozy huts to stay (clean and well maintained), an amazing cafe and beach right in the back yard. It is a perfect place to stay if you are going with a bunch of friends/solo and want to meet new people as most of the backpackers come there.

Best part: You can just leave your clothes and gadgets in the hut and take a stroll on the beach ANYTIME. Come back, eat some amazing food in the cafe overlooking the sea, sleep whole afternoon on the hammocks right on the beach and dive.

Rest of the day I was briefed about basics of diving, given some study material to read about diving.

I slept early. Didn't really get a chance to speak to anyone.

Reported at the diving deck by 6 AM! (Good news for all the early birds).

Once you go for diving, you come back by the noon.

I lazed around in the noon by just sleeping on the hammock after a tiring dive. By the early evening, I went in for the swim in the sea and that's where I met Lea. One of the two golden retrievers at that place.

She conveniently came swimming in the sea and had some gala time.

Started talking to some amazing people. Now here comes the fun part when it is your first ever solo trip. You might hesitate a lot to talk to someone or even to approach someone. It is very normal. However, at places like these where mostly everyone is travelling solo, it is very easy to talk as far as you are being decent. People are usually very much open to meet new people at such places.
My ice breaker to talk to people would be to ask them about the diving courses (if they are doing any) and availability of Internet (as Internet is barely available there).

I pretty much did the exact same thing.

Dive.
Sleep on the hammock.
Eat.
Talk.
Snorkel.

After done with the morning diving ritual, I took a two wheeler vehicle on rent to go to Radhanagar Beach.

Rent per day: 500₹. If you need it for few hours, You may bargain a bit and get it for 400₹. However you need to fuel it up.
Cost of fuel from Dive India to Radhanagar Beach: 100₹.
Time taken: 30-45 mins.

I would recommend to take your time and enjoy the ride to the beach as it's all covered with amazing landscape.

Upon reaching Radhanagar beach, park your vehicle in the given premises.
Once you walk into the beach, you'll see lots of family and couples taking photographs of each other. Don't stop there. Walk either to the left or to the right for good 15 mins and you'll reach a very amazing secluded spot of the beach. Sit there, witness sunset and just be.

Time to return back to Home. I had a connecting flight from Port blair to Mumbai via Bangalore.

Cost of return Flights: 15k INR total(booked a month in advanced).
Cost of stay at Dive India: 1800₹/day.
Cost of food: One time meal should cost you around 500₹ which can include a dish and bread along with some shake/juices.
Cost of diving: Check out with dive India.
Cost of transportation: 3000₹ roughly.

Total cost of the trip for me including diving was around 30,000₹.

Some key points to remember while booking this trip:
1. Book your tickets atleast a month in advance. You'll save a lot of money.

2. Try staying at places where backpackers come. Staying at a hotel might give you the comfort of a good room but you would just see honeymoon couples and nothing else.

3. If you are staying for more than a week, I would suggest you take a local BSNL sim. Lesser days than that, it's much more preferred to go on digital detox. It works wonders after feeling a bit weird on day 1. Having no internet will compel you to talk to people around.

4. ATMs are not very much available. Keep cash handy with you. Though most of the places do take cards.

5. Keep mosquitoes repellent with you. It might come handy during evening if you are in jungle.

6. Feel free to drop me a message if you need number of few locals who might help you in transportation.