We had early morning flight on 14th September from Hyderabad for Port Blair. We left home around 4.15am in Uber. It was raining heavily all thru night. I was worried we may get stuck and not reach the airport in time. Cab driver was good and made it in time and we could board the flight. There was a stop over at Chennai and we reached Port Blair at noon time. Though Andaman Islands are part of India, however, all foreign passport holders have to register their entry into Port Blair . The registration process at FRO took more than an hour . Aanchal Goel wife of Mayank Goel, our host here was anxiously waiting for us in visitor lobby. Mayank is brother of Shubha our daughter in law.
Finally we reached their home, a huge luxurious mansion , which was not less than a five star hotel. It was located on a small hill top with beautiful ocean view. We had lunch and relaxed in our room for couple of hours as we were damn tired from the day long activity. In the afternoon we went to Cellular Jail, an important historical land mark. This jail was known as ‘Kala Pani’ before independence and Indian freedom fighters were kept here under treacherous conditions. Many of them died or were hanged serving their jail sentence here. This is no longer a Jail and has now been converted into a museum, a national heritage site. We went around the complex and visited the jail cell of Veer Damodar Savarkar , who was a well know Indian freedom fighter. He was an inmate here for 20 years from 1901-1920. In the evening, we attended the light and sound show, describing the history of last 150 years of Andaman , but show was interrupted mid way due to heavy rains. We left for home completely drenched and slept early after dinner.
The Andanans Islands are an Indian archipelago in the Bay of Bengal. These roughly 500 plus islands are known for their palm-lined white-sand beaches, mangroves and tropical rain forests. Except few, majority of the islands are uninhabited . Port Blair, the capital of Andaman Islands is around 800 miles away from Chennai and Kolkata and is rather closer to Bangkok and Yangon.
Next day we went for sightseeing to Ross Island , which is a small island, 2 miles from Port Blair by ferry ride. This island was the administrative head quarters of British government when they ruled here. The opulent past can be seen in the ruins of this island, which was residence of Chief Commissioner and had troops barracks all in dilapidated conditions now. No one stays here now except the security staff of Indian navy which manages this island now.
Next two days we went to Havelock and Neil islands which are 30-35 miles up north from Port Blair . We went by a luxury catamaran, which took 90 minutes to reach Havelock islands. This island is a popular destination for tourists and has best beaches in Andaman. Radha Nagar beach here is listed in best five beaches in Asia. Scuba diving and snorkeling are popular water sports. We stayed in Sea Shell resorts, which had luxurious cottages at sea shore and had its own private beach. Stay was comfortable, however, we could not do water sports due to heavy rains throughout the day . Next morning, we went to Neil island another popular tourist destination. Both these islands were uninhabited till the settlers arrived in late sixties, Bangladeshi Hindu refugees, who left prior to war of independence of Bangladesh. Neil island has a natural coral arch, which is worth visiting. This is accessible during period of low tides. We went back to Port Blair after spending two wonderful days here.
Last day at Port Blair , we had a meeting scheduled with Dr. Jagdish Mukhi, Governor of Andaman Islands. Both myself and Kochi along with our hosts, Mayank and Aanchal met him at Raj Bhawan and had pleasant discussions about the tourism potential of Andaman Islands. Next day, 19th September, we left for Chennai by morning flight on our way to Sri Lanka
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