Andaman trip

Sorry. This is a very long blog post with nearly 220 pictures and hopefully with some information. I hope this is of use for some readers in the future.

Exotic Andaman - Holidays Package by MakeMyTrip (MMT). We booked this 8-days and 7-nights trip about 3 months in advance. The package included return air-fare, hotel stays, local tour transport costs, guide and entry fee costs, breakfast and dinner. They have Premium and Standard options.

There are no direct flights to Port Blair from Bangalore. They fly either from Kolkata or from Chennai only. But MMT had this package with a Kingfisher Airlines charter flight from Bangalore directly to Port Blair exclusively. In our case, since they did not get enough headcount bookings just before the travel date (they had only about 40 bookings), we were routed via Chennai, both for Bangalore - Port Blair and return, by the regular Kingfisher's flights.

Tour summary

Trip span: 6-May-12 (Sun) 7:00 AM to 13-May-12 (Sun) 6:00 PM.

Day-1 (Sun):
     - Have your lunch at the hotel upon check-in at Rose Valley View Resort near Port Blair.
     - Post-lunch: Visit to Viper Island and back.
     - Sound and Light show at the Cellular Jail.
     - Stay at Rose Valley View Resort.

Day-2 (Mon):
     - Visit to North Bay Island, a.k.a. Coral Island: Snorkeling, coral view, water sports, etc. and back.
     - Have your (something better than nothing kind of, basic) lunch at the North Bay Island shops.
     - Visit to Ross Island.
     - Stay at Rose Valley View Resort.

Day-3 (Tue):
     - Cruise by MV Makruzz, from Phoenix Bay Jetty, Port Blair to Havelock Island.
     - Have your lunch at the hotel upon check-in at Sea Shell Resort Havelock Island.
     - Free time in the afternoon.
     - Or, visit to Kala Pathar Beach in Havelock Island, at extra cost for MMT's transportation.
     - Stay at Sea Shell Resort Havelock.

Day-4 (Wed):
     - Visit to Elephant Camp Beach by boat on the other side of Havelock Island.
     - Have your lunch at the hotel upon return from Elephant Beach.
     - Free time in the afternoon.
     - Stay at Sea Shell Resort Havelock.

Day-5 (Thu): 
     - Visit to one of the most beautiful in Asia - Radha Nagar Beach in Havelock Island.
     - Have your lunch at B3 Hotel near the jetty before boarding the cruise.
     - Cruise by MV Makruzz back to Phoenix Bay Jetty, Port Blair.
     - Stay at Sea Shell Hotel Port Blair.

Day-6 (Fri):
     - City tour in Port Blair.
                       - Cellular Jail.
                       - Aquarium.
                       - Anthropological Museum.
                       - Samudrika Naval Marine Museum. 
                       - Forest Museum at Chatham Saw Mill, Chatham Island.
                       - Shopping at Sagar Emporium, Middle Point, Port Blair. 
                       - Corbyn's Cove Beach, Port Blair.
     - Lunch stop-over at Annapurna Cafeteria (Veg.) or Ananda Restaurant (Non Veg.).
     - Stay at Sea Shell Hotel Port Blair.

Day-7 (Sat):
     - Free day.
     - For others, MMT arranged, at extra cost, a trip to Baratang Island.
                       - Start at 3 AM in the morning.
                       - Bus drive for 4 hours, 120 KM. 
                       - Then a boat drive, and then a speed boat ride, then a walk.
                       - To see limestone caves, mud vulcanoes, and tribes in the forest en route. 
                       - And return later in the night.
                       - This plan did not look practical for us. 
     - We considered a few places to go on our own and decided against those.
                       - Jolly Buoy Island
                                - Was just closed for the upcoming off-season.
                                - From 1st or 2nd week of May monsoon rains start.
                                - During our stay we had 3 instances of short rains already.
                       - Boats to Red Skin Island
                                - We were told that the only boat leaves early in the morning
                                - We were not sure to go there on our own and get stranded.
                       - Wandoor beach [Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park]
                                - We were not sure how attractive the beach there was.
                                - Was a little far away, and we felt there is not many interesting stuffs there.
     - So we finally visited the following places by our own transportation.
                       - Science Center, Port Blair.
                       - Gandhi Park, Port Blair.
                       - Southern most tip of South Andaman at Chidiya Tapu. 
                       - Biological Park, Chidiya Tapu.
                       - Munda Pahad Beach, Chidiya Tapu. 
     - We carried our packed lunch from Ananda Restaurant.
     - Stay at Sea Shell Hotel Port Blair.

Day-8 (Sun):
     - Late check-out around 9:00 AM.
     - Departure flight at 11:55 from Port Blair, and return to Bangalore via transit at Chennai.

About the trip

Overall we had a great trip. 

We learned that Andaman is not pronounced as Andhaman that we say in Tamil. It is Andaman.

The place has a lot of Hindi and Bengali speaking people. And a lot of Tamil speaking as well.

Port Blair is a nice little city. Downtown is well developed and maintained, has good roads, and traffic is well regulated too. The beaches are pretty good. The beaches at some remote places are the ones which are great with emerald blue-green crystal-clear water that is amazing.

Port Blair main as well as other islands are very green with lots of trees. We never imagined to see so much of greenery. It was 1st week of May, peak of summer, but still we never saw any dry or wilted vegetation anywhere. Many islands have a lot of forests, many of them completely uninhabited.

1st or 2nd week of May is generally when the monsoon rains set in. Andaman sees heavy rains and storms from later part of May and so, that will not be a good time to go there. We were also worried about rains, but luckily for us we had only 3 spells of short rains. Only one of that affected us a bit when we where at Elephant Camp Beach on Havelock Island.

While on the main island, we were always in South Andaman only, that is, Port Blair surroundings. The Andaman islands have very limited electricity generation options. Their Hydel power plant somewhere in North Andaman is said to be still coming up. Most of the islands get the power from Diesel Generator based power plants! 

Our hotel stays, all with breakfast and dinner buffets were all nice. One of the menus had the very tasty Surmai fish that is popular in this area (see photo of price menu below). The stay at Rose Valley was outstanding. Sea Shell Havelock was superb. Sea Shell Hotel Port Blair was just fine. 

Scroll down for more details about the places, a lot of pictures, and the Make My Trip experience summary.

This is a very long blog post with about 220 pictures and hopefully with some information. I hope this is of use for some readers in the future. Please do post your comments HERE. Thank you for reading.

Port Blair Andaman

• During the time (6-13 May 2012) when we were there, daybreak was happening at about 4:30 AM everyday, and sun was rising around 5:15 AM itself. 
• Here are some pictures of Port Blair and surroundings. 
• You can click on the picture to launch the Image Viewer and see all images at one place using the Right and Left Arrow keys. You should Press ESC key to come back to this page.

Our drive in the bus, Greenery in the town

Taxis and autos, Petrol bunk

Rained while we were on the bus, Lake en route

 

The marine-drive beach roads

 

Central parts have good roads

Market zone viewed from the cab, A restaurant menu

Surmai fish menu, Local bus transport

 

Coconut dry, Badam dry

Anand Paradise theater in a bit of ruin, INS Utkrosh Naval Base

Kamaraj statue, AFC Andaman Fried Chicken, Apollo clinic

 Viper Island

• An hour's boat ride, one-way, starting from the jetty at Andaman Water Sports Complex.
• Entire boat was booked exclusively for MMT group that was nice.
• Just before reaching the island, a guide appeared from nowhere in front of our seating aisle and gave a vociferous intro about the island and what we will be seeing there.
• It has ruins of a jail and the only structure that remains is the gallows used for hanging convicts. The guide also gave a grand speech at the gallows atop the hillock on the island and won a lot of applause and tips as well!
• Only 10 minutes was spent on the island. The boat ride takes 1 hour each way that someone may not like. However, we pass through a few other islands, another boat jetty, the port trust, naval dock yard, etc. that are exciting during the onward journey.
• We started from the Jetty at Andaman Water Sports Complex at 2:45 PM and were back at about 5:25 PM.
• Here are some pictures.

Andaman Water Sports Complex, Boat jetty

Port management board, The guide

Other boats in front, Other islands en route

Ruined jail, The gallows on hillock

Climbing up the hillock, The guide's vociferous speech

Sound and Light show

• Sound and Light show at the Cellular Jail that is near Andaman Water Sports Complex.
• It is a very well directed show with voice and lighting perfectly used in the real jail location bringing about the freedom fighting and jail fighting incidents that had happened at the very location almost in front of our eyes.
• There seems to be an English version available at certain timings, but we got into a Hindi version show at 5:30 PM (we were a bit late to enter). We were out by about 6:25 PM.
• It was heartening to see this old gentleman at the show. I am sure he must have had a live part of some of those freedom fighting moments during his younger days.
• Here are some pictures.

The live gallery at the cellular jail, The grandpa audience 

The front view at night

Rose Valley View Resort

• Stay at Rose Valley View Resort near Port Blair.
• This was the best stay we had on this tour, for 2 nights and 2 days.
• Located about 18 KM from Port Blair city.
• Well isolated and calm location, somewhere in the vicinity of a beach. But we never walked up to that local beach.
• Sprawling huge area well landscaped with a lot of plantation in a hilly terrain.
• Excellent cottages with wooden interiors, well furnished, and with unique open-to-sky bathroom laid with raw pebble-strewn floor!
• Here are some pictures

Window view from the cottage, The mist on window glass (due to AC!)

Front view of the cottage, Inside the cottage 

Walk towards the dining hall, Other duplex cottages 

Health club in the backdrop of coconut plantations, Swimming deck 

Breakfast, Dining hall

OTS with raw pebbled floor 

North Bay Island / Coral Island

• North Bay Island, also known as Coral Island, is on the way to Viper Island.
• We went again by a boat departing from the Jetty at Andaman Water Sports Complex. It is a 20 min. boat ride.
• There are guides and trainers to take us on snorkeling for coral view.
• They also have glass-bottom boat rides to see corals while on a short local ride.
• There are other water sports too.
• There is a "sea walk" boat stationed at a distance, where people are taken 25-30 feet deep into the sea floor to walk amidst coral reefs and take pictures they put on a CD and give it to you. It costs per-head Rs 2500.
• Just before reaching the island, another guide again appeared from nowhere in front of our seating aisle and gave an intro about the island and the activities there. Since the activity on this island was not part of the package, we had to pay extra for whatever we like to do. And they started selling tickets for the activities you choose. [There is snorkeling or glass boat ride that is part of the MMT package at Havelock Island later in the tour.]
•  As there is no jetty in North Bay Island, the boat we went on was anchored a few 100 meters away from the island and we were transported by a glass-bottom boat (as a trailer to show how the coral view bottom will look like) to the island shore.
• One of the issues in all the island beaches is the Warning sign about salt water crocodiles. Everywhere there is warning to watch-out for crocodiles. In some places the sign says they have sighted salt water crocodiles there recently. But in spite of the warning signs, the guides and trainers take the people into water. Independent people also do not care and they get in to water very comfortably and casually. 
• There are some tiny shops and thatched-roof (eco) huts for change rooms.
• We were on the island from 10:30 AM to 12:40 PM. 
• We saw a lot of Hermit Crabs.
• We went for snorkeling at Rs 500 per head.
• Later we had our (something better than nothing kind of, basic) lunch at the Island itself.

Andaman Water Sports Complex, On the boat towards Coral Island

Docking the boat off the shore, Transfer to glass-bottom boat

Glass-bottom boat trailer, The 5-star lunch!

The island's views

Water sports, Coral stones and shells

Glass-bottom boat to return to the main boat, Water sports activity

The island view from the boat offshore

Ross Island

• We started on the same boat from Coral Island at 1:00 PM, and continued on to reach Ross Island within 30 min.
• Ross Island was the administrative head quarters of the British before moving to Port Blair.
• There are several ruins of their facilities, water distilling plant, offices, quarters, church etc.
• There is this guide lady, Anuradha Rao, who lives there and supports / grows deers, squirrels, peacocks, etc. with affection.
• She took us around the island and gave a lot of historical information along the tour.
• Ross Island took a big hit in the December-2004 tsunami and is said to have lost some 20% of its land in that calamity. 
• We stayed on Ross Island from 1:45 PM to 3:15 PM.
• From Ross Island we returned back to Andaman Water Sports Complex at 3:30 PM. 

Nearing Ross, Entering Ross

Deers everywhere

Root-clad ruined building, British water-distilling plant

 

The guide lady, She gave us bread to feed the deers

 

British Bakery, Residence of Col. Edison - Supply Officer

 

Peacock, Subordinates' Club

 

Church front view, and side view

 

Leaving from Ross island

MV Makruzz Cruise

• The cruise by MV Makruzz, from Phoenix Bay Jetty in Port Blair to Havelock Island was one of the highlights of the package.
• We had an interesting 1.5 hours aboard this well-interior-ed cruise on sea to Havelock Island where we stayed 2 nights and 3 days.
• While the other islands we visited earlier, including Viper, North Bay and Ross, did not have any people settled in (they are so small), Havelock is a reasonably bigger one. It has roads, vehicles, homes, people, restaurants, shops, agriculture, and... beaches.
• Again, due to very limited electricity generation, hot water heaters (geysers) are banned in Havelock island. Bathrooms at hotels have only cold water. If there is a particular need, we can request the front desk and they shall provide fire-wood-heated hot-water. 
• Here are a lot of pictures of the cruise and a few views of Havelock Island's roads and surroundings.

Phoenix Bay Jetty, The MV Makruzz vessel

Boarding the vessel, Level-0 inside the vessel 

Getting seated

Dark blue-white waters (via sun film glass), Alighting at Havelock

First view of Havelock island, Just got down

Entering the island, Roads as we drove in  

A beach, Plantations  

Crystal clear water at the Jetty, Locally grown coconuts being shipped

 Fish catches going for sales, Locally grown bananas being shipped 

 The jetty, Boarding the cruise to go back

Setting sun (via sun film), Back at Phoenix Bay Jetty Port Blair 

Sea Shell Resort Havelock Island

• Sea Shell Resort Havelock Isaland is a wonderful resort right at the beach.We stayed there for 2 nights and 2 days.
• Crystal clear, blue-green waters with mangrove trees made it scenic. Beach chairs and thatch-roof shaded sit-out made the beach view more enjoyable.
• We could spend time near the shore after dinner also since they had installed lights for the sit-outs.
• Cottages had excellent wooden interior facing the coconut grove and well grass-caped surroundings.
• Nights had some insects come by that was upsetting. There was this huge poisonous centipede my wife spotted next to our cottage near the clothesline in dark. We called for help quickly (had to call a few times) and they came down to only find that it was already killed dead by a huge crab that we just saw pass by!!
• The low tides took the water away from the shore for most part of the days and nights, and we could explore the sea cucumbers, some forms of sea urchins, some molluscs, shelled live beings, and several peculiar (may be dangerous) organisms there. Saw a lot of Hermit Crabs as well.
• We had a wonderful time staying at this resort.
• Here are a lot of (!) pictures.

The cottages, The sea view from the coconut grove

Blue-green crystal-clear waters, Mangrove trees

Beach chairs, Fisherman waking past

A boat arriving to pick-up passengers, The beach curve

Inside the cottage, Window view

Water is gone during low tide, The lunch

Shore-view night at the sit-out, The sunrise

Exploration during a low tide, A sea cucumber sitting quiet 

Relaxing early morning, High tide again

  

Kala Pathar Beach Havelock Island

• About 7 of us visited Kala Pathar Beach in Havelock Island, by the transportation arranged by MMT at additional cost.
• It was a quite beach a few KM away from the town. Nice arching low-bowing tree lines along the beach. 
• We were there from 4 PM to 5 PM. Absolutely no crowd at all. We were there at a low tide time so the water level had gone a bit inside, but still it was a scenic beach. Saw a lot of Hermit Crabs again.
• Here are some pictures.

Elephant Camp Beach Havelock Island

• Visit to Elephant Camp Beach by boat on the other side of Havelock Island was the highlight of our stay at Havelock Island.
• The fiber boat ride for about 45 min. with not-so-good life-jackets was thrilling.
• As we rode away from the town and got around the island to the other side, more waters were crystal-clear blue-green attractive. 
• Elephant camp beach is remote and so it is unspoiled. There are these couple of dry tree-trunks fallen at the shore giving the movie song effect to the place. There are no shops or anything else at this beach. There are just 2 guards from forest department in case of need for assistance. 
• Main attraction at this beach is snorkeling and glass-bottom boats for coral view. One of the two is included in MMTs package for us. We took both by paying the difference in cost.
• At one point while we were on the glass-bottom boat, the weather suddenly became very cloudy, dark and stormy. It was an ominous sight. We rushed our boat back to the shore. It rained heavily for 20 min. We opened up our sole umbrella under which we took shelter to protect the camera and mobile phones primarily. The sea became rough too. We had almost started worrying about how we were going to reach the town jetty back. Finally were were back safely.
• We were at that beach from 9:30 AM to 12:00 PM. 
• Here are a lot of pictures.

Life jackets ON, Fiber-boat un-docked and ready to start

En route views on Havelocks other side, Enchanting light house

Another view of Havelock, Elephant camp beach at the distance

Elephant camp beach, Water so so clear

The fallen tree-trunks adding the mesmeric factor

Crocodile warning, Getting into the water

Scenic post card setting, Enjoying the waters

MMT group in the waters, Snorkeling to view corals

Glass-bottom boat ride to see corals, It is becoming cloudy

Sudden ominous outlook, but astonishingly scenic

Coral view through glass-bottom boat, Raining heavily

Ready to depart, Elephant beach after the rain

Misty clouds came down quickly, Scenic views as we rode back

Radha Nagar Beach Havelock Island

• This is described as one of the most beautiful beaches in Asia.
• Has a nice curvy beach shore, with a hill side land projecting into the sea at one end and low-bowing arching tree lines along the sand shore stretch. Very pretty. The water was also pretty nice blue.
• There are some shops and tiny restaurants near the beach.
• We were there from 11:00 AM to 12:30 PM.
• Here are some pictures.

 

 

 

Sea Shell Hotel Port Blair

• We stayed 3 nights at Sea Shell Hotel Port Blair.
• Finally a modernized accommodation on this tour, but we did not quite want or like!!
• Here are a few pictures.

The hotel

Dinner, The room

MV Makruzz spotted from the roof-top, Roof-top night view

The rain through the window, Front office 

 

City Tour in Port Blair

Bus is ready from the hotel, Entering the cellular jail

Museum inside the jail, The model of the jail 

Sound & light show location, The corridor in 1st floor 

That's me inside, Another view

Anthropological museum, Inside the museum 

Samudrika naval marine museum, Inside the museum

Chatham saw mill, Forest Museum inside the mill 

Inside the Forest museum 

Inside Chatham saw mill 

Shopping at Sagar emporium, Old man selling local berries

Aquarium, Corbyn's cove beach

Corbyn's cove beach, Crocodile warning

 

Science Center 

• This was on our own plan and expense. We hired an auto to go to Science Center and Gandhi Park.
• Science Center is close to Corbyn's Cove beach. Was well equipped. Had quite a few exhibits, all well maintained and working. A few rabbits in a fenced lawn outside were joyful to watch.We were there from 10:00 AM to 10:30 AM.
• Gandhi Park was calm and green. The lake inside was small but well maintained too. Kids' fun rides seem to be available in the evenings. We were there for 20 min. from 10:45 AM.

Science Center entry, The exhibits

Gandhi Park signs, Gandhi statue

Gandhi Park Lake, Kids' rides

Biological Park Chidiya Tapu

• We hired a cab to drive 30 KM from city center, a 50 min. drive. We had packed our lunches from the city center.
• Originally we wanted to go to the mini-zoo that is in the city, but since a couple of people said the animals have been moved to Chidiya Tapu Biological park, and since the southern most tip of south Andaman is also located in that area, we took this trip.
• The Biological Park has huge trees and walkways around them with just some crocodile, monitor lizard, wild boar and spotted deer. The wild boar was not sighted though. 
• There were no visitors at all when we went and the place looked completely calm with just the loud sounds of trees and birds. The lone security guard asks us to leave the back-packs and bags in his room.
• They seem to be planning to add a butterfly park, sea turtles etc. in phase-2. Though phase-1 itself looked very incomplete for us.
• We were at the park for about 40 min. from 12:30 PM.
• Here are some pictures.

The cab drive, Entrance to the park

Sprawling walk ways, Crocodile

Monitor lizard, View point, Spotted deer

Thitpok tree, Lunch after we came out

Southern-most tip of South Andaman at Chidiya Tapu

• Just a few 100 meters from the Bio Park. Very scenic sea view with distant islands at sight.
• We stopped for a few pictures.

Munda Pahad Beach, Chidiya Tapu

• About 2-3 KM from the Bio Park. The drive is over a hillock via jungle like plantations.
• Suddenly this beach shows up near a parking lot. Very scenic, blue-green water. A couple of dry fallen trees again added the movie songs effect to the whole place. Not much crowd and so we could spend peaceful time. There was this crocodile warning sign here also.
• We were there for 45 min. from 2:00 PM. 
• A tender coconut vendor at the beach, and later our cab driver, both Tamils, had some moving narrations of their experiences during the tsunami incident in December 2004.
• Here are some pictures.

There are more Caught Special pictures from our Andaman trip HERE.

Make My Trip - Review

• Here is a short review about the whole MMT experience.
• Their pre-sales experience was disappointing. Once you give them an inquiry and a hint that you are looking for a holiday package, they are continuously after you. They keep on calling every other hour until they get the booking advance money from you. Then you are trapped. No more responses after that for any clarification asked. They would be sitting somewhere in Gurgaon and you can no way push them hard. To get any update about the tour or package or status or anything via phone or email is a very tough task for us after that. You pay about 15% as booking advance 2-3 months earlier, and have to do the full 100% payment at least 15 days prior to the departure date. And then... just keep waiting. They give the e-tickets and hotel booking details only about 1-2 days prior to the travel date. Kingfisher airlines have been going through problems as well. So you do not know whether your trip is really ON or not, and whether to make preparations or not. So beware.
• At the time of booking, we had negotiated our package rates with MMT, and got (only) about 3-4% discount finally. The accommodation promised is with twin-bed rooms added with an extra mattress if you have a third person. You will realize much later in the tour that if you have negotiated and got discount, basically you are put in Rooms that are one grade lower than others who are in the package. [This is unconfirmed though. Another possibility for this disparity could be: The package rate per person quoted is 'early-bird' price at the beginning (3+ months prior to travel date). And then when it is 3 or 2 or 1 month closer to the travel date, the rates go up by 10-15%. Not sure whether the early-birds are losers!] The hotel is same, and the basic facilities in the rooms like AC, mini-fridge, etc. are same. But the difference is in, for example, premium room with balcony vs. standard room without balcony, cottage with stilted duplex villa type vs. standalone cottage on ground, etc. And they never commit what "type" of room will be given to you during the pre-sales discussions whatsoever even if you ask several times. So beware.
• On tour, at Port Blair and around, the experience with MMT was very good. From the time we arrived at Port Blair airport till they dropped us back at the airport after about 8 days, their tour escorts were with us during all the local trips, the tour managers met us once in a while at the hotel to update the following days' plans and options, their vehicle arrangements were well coordinated and arranged, guides were arranged at the required places, entry-tickets that they were supposed to bear were taken care of correctly, etc. So that was all nice.
• One issue was about the uncontrolled way they handle your luggage - from the airport to the hotel and from the cruise deck to the arrival point (both to and fro Havelock Island). They tell you to leave the luggage with them at a particular spot and say that you can collect them later at a particular spot. There is no one who counts how many bags you hand over, and no tags are provided (only during the return from Havelock to Port Blair cruise they had some tags, but they quickly ran short of quantities, and for some of us they just tied a paper tag that, obviously, tore and fell off in no time), etc. There was always a jitter about whether the luggage will reach you back safely or not. So beware.
• Otherwise, all their staffs during the entire tour, in general everyone, except may be just one odd person, everyone were good, courteous, friendly, helpful and supportive. So that was all nice.

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It was a long blog post with a lot of pictures. I hope this is of use for some readers in the future. Please do post your comments here. Thank you for reading.

Note: You can click on the picture to launch the Image Viewer and see all images at one place using the Right and Left Arrow keys. You should Press ESC key to come back to this page.