Places to visit in Andaman Islands

According to a tour guide, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands consist of roughly 630 islands. Not all of them are inhabited of course, and some are smaller than 1 km in diameter. But they are islands, nonetheless. If you are on a short trip, it is absolutely impossible to visit every island, even excluding those on which tourists are not allowed.
To make your job easier, listed below are a few places worth a visit. Visiting all of these places will too, be a tough job. So based your interests, i.e, scenic beauty, water sports etc, the places will need to be prioritized.

Most famous tourist spots:-
Beaches

1. Radhanagar Beach : Situated in the Havelock Island, this beach is a top tourist destination. The water here is crystal clear and the beach, sandy. It is perfectly safe to go in the water. It is shallow up to quite a distance. You might want to be a little careful if you are travelling with young children since the waves hit a little hard. This is the perfect beach to lay back and enjoy the evening breeze and play around in the water. It is by far the cleanest beach I have visited.
2. Elephanta Beach: Another beach in the Havelock Island, this beach is famous for water sports. If you are an adrenaline junkie, this beach is a must-visit site for you. Although, be warned, the beach might be very crowded and it is not very clean.
3.  Kala Pathar Beach: Kala Pathar, means black stone in Hindi. It is not in keeping with its name, since there aren't any black stones around, at least at present. Maybe there were when the beach was named so. Nevertheless, the water here is very clean. The beach is not very crowded so if you're looking for some quiet time to enjoy the nature, it is perfect.
4. Lakshmanpur Beach: This beach is in the Neil Island. The beach is sandy, surrounded by lush green forests. There is a natural bridge formation near the shore, which is spectacular. It offers Scuba Diving and Snorkeling, depending on the sea and the weather. 
5. Bharatpur Beach: If you like rocky beaches, this is the one for you. Once again, located in Neil Island, this beach is surrounded with forests. The water is clean and clear. The sand is soft. But the sea bed is very rocky, so do wear sandals to avoid cuts.

Other places of Interest

1. Cellular Jail: This spot is a must-visit for anyone in Andamans. The jail has been converted into a tourist spot to serve as a reminder of the dark days and of the atrocities our ancestors bore. The light and sound show in the evening is also worth watching.
2. Viper Island: This island served as the jail before the Cellular Jail was built. There is nothing much to see on this island. It just serves as another historic reminder of the horrors faced by the freedom fighters. 
3. Samudrika Marine Museum: This museum in Port Blair is worth a one-time visit. But kids will love it. It has a unique collection of corals. The fish aquariums are also great. Apart from this, the place is average. It can be improved a lot.
4. Limestone Caves: If you want to visit a cave, you can pay a visit to the Limestone Caves of Baratang Island. Although there are better caves in India, these caves can be visited if you have time to travel to the Barantang Island.
5. Chidiya Tapu: A must-visit site in Port Blair, the sunset from Chidiya Tapu is absolutely breathtaking. The Munda Pahar beach near-by is also worth visiting. 

Day 1

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In the next few posts, I will be sharing details of my experience in the Andaman Islands, hoping it will help you plan your trip. All events described are from my point of view. There are other good places to visit apart from the ones described.

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Our exciting day started at 2.30 a.m. There are just two cities with flight connectivity to Port Blair, at the moment - Pondicherry and Kolkata. Our flight was from Kolkata at 5.

We were all looking forward to what we were hoping would be one of the most memorable 5 days of our lives. And the trip kept its promise by starting with one. After everyone had boarded the flight, a fog settled all around the plane. After we had all boarded. The flight was delayed indefinitely. There was no saying when the fog would clear up, so we weren't allowed to alight the plane. After a full three hours, the flight finally took off. In another 2.5 hours, we landed in Port Blair. We went to our rooms, freshened up, and immediately left for Samudrika, the Naval Marine museum. The aquariums inside were beautiful. A school of clown fish, (who seemed to be playing hide-and-go-seek, thanks to the sea anemone) reminded me of the movie 'Finding Nemo'.

After the aquarium, we paid a visit to the infamous Cellular Jail. Many travel and tourism shows have named this place to be the site from which you must start your Andaman journey. Here, countless freedom fighters underwent physical and mental torture and were driven towards insanity.

The day ended with a light-and-sound show at the Cellular Jail, describing in detail the fate of the prisoners, from the points of the view of the Sun, and a tree.

Day 2

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In the next few posts, I will be sharing details of my experience in the Andaman Islands, hoping it will help you plan your trip. All events described are from my point of view. There are other good places to visit apart from the ones described.

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After a good night's rest, we were all super charged and looking forward to our second day at Port Blair. We went to the Rajiv Gandhi sports complex from where a ferry took us to North Island. The activities available at North Bay were - viewing corals from a glass-bottomed boat, snorkeling, sea walking and scuba diving.

In a glass-bottomed boat, 12-16 people sit in a boat with a glass bottom, hold a black plastic sheet over their heads to view the corals clearly. The glass acts as a magnifier, and you can view up to 5 ft underwater.So if you are hydrophobic, or don't want to wet your clothes, this is a decent option for you.

 In Snorkeling, your head goes underwater, but there is a tube around you and a guide beside you, so it's perfectly safe. You can breath through a mouth piece connected with a tube which stays out of the water.

In Sea Walking, you are given a helmet with a transparent visor. So you won't have any breathing issues should you choose to go for this. Generally, 4-5 people are taken underwater by an experienced guide. You can walk on the ocean floor and admire the marine life from up close.

In Scuba Diving, you use an underwater breathing apparatus, which takes some time to get used to. This is the activity in which you go the deepest underwater. Even though it seems hard, you don't need to be an exceptional swimmer. There are special programs for first-timers, in which an experienced diver takes you underwater, guiding you with the help of the equipment. All you have to do is stay calm, keep breathing and enjoy the view!

I would recommend the glass-bottomed boat ride at North Bay. Since a lot of corals here were destroyed in the Tsunami, you will have a more beautiful experience with underwater activities on other islands. However, if you are nervous about Scuba Diving and aren't sure if you can go through with it, you should try it here. They first have a training session of about 10-15 minutes. After the training, if you feel you aren't comfortable, you can opt out and get a refund, which is not available on other islands. Once you've paid, you don't get a refund whether you go through with it or not.

We opted for the glass-bottomed boat and snorkeling. We were given 2 hours to spend at North Bay, which included the time of whichever activities you pay for.
We started with the boat, viewing many beautiful, living corals and a lot many hard, dead ones. Along with the corals, we saw tens and hundreds of beautiful fishes of vivid colors. Then, we were dropped off at the Island. We changed and went to enjoy our first-hand at snorkeling. The experience was very refreshing. Since the water here isn't very deep, we could see scuba divers right below us. Once again, we saw many beautiful fishes, which included star, zebra, clown and parrot.
At one point, the instructor let those of us who knew how to swim, dive underwater and touch the corals. Then we were guided back to the shore.

After the two hours, the ferry came and took us to Ross Island, the former capital of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where the very first settlement of the British was established. Hence, this remains a place of historical significance.
The most magnificent part of the island were the deers and peacocks. A lady named Anuradha has been on Ross island since she was three. She has named all animals on that island and speaks of them as a mother. She takes special care of a blind deer named Baba, who lost his sight due to some careless tourists a few years ago.

After an hour and a half of deer feeding and peacock watching, we heard the ferry call out to us once again and we set towards Port Blair.  Before returning to our rooms, we decided to visit the Narial Bageecha beach. On reaching there, the scene was absolutely breathtaking. The water was clear, the beach somewhat sandy, and the weather extremely pleasant. There were wooden recliners along the beach to lay back and enjoy the picturesque beauty of the beach. The sweet chirping of the birds and the spashing of the waves gave such a serene environment to the place, it is indescribable in words. We played in the water, on the sand, clicked a lot of pictures and relaxed till nightfall. Then reluctantly, we came back to our rooms, excited about the next 3 days of fun waiting for us at Havelock Island.

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Disclaimer: The photos used above are taken from Google image search. The author claims no copyright on the images.
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Day 3 - Places to stay in Havelock

We saw the sun dawn on our third day, very literally, from the Narial Bagicha beach. It was a sight to behold! We had planned on going to Havelock on this day, however, the morning cruise which we had booked stood cancelled, and arrangements were made on the Makruzz, scheduled to depart at 2. We had half the day for some spontaneity, and half of our party went roaming around Port Blair and the Aberdeen Bazaar.

The Makruzz left the shore at 2.30 and gave us a memorable journey. Rocking to-and-fro, and side-to-side, I felt like I was on a sea adventure.

At Havelock, we stayed at Holiday Inn. Like almost every other inn at Andamans, it was beside a beach. The beach was beautiful. It was a little rocky, but perfect for an evening to relax. The wooden recliners were pretty comfortable. And so, our Evening was spent at the 'home-beach'.

If you are looking for places to stay in Havelock, the following is a list of resorts you can look into:
1. Eco Villa Palm Beach Resort
    It has been given an excellent rating by visitors. It is located near Govindnagar Beach. Its sheds are made from naturally available materials and gives the tourist an authentic experience. It also provides scuba diving on the beach.

2. Silversand Beach Resort
    This resort is located near the Vijaynagar Beach. Its ratings are better than that of Eco Villa. However, it is more expensive and might prove a little heavy on your budget. 

3. Dolphin Resort
    It is located near the Vijaynagar Beach. It has a beautiful view and ambience, and is not very pricey. However, it is pretty heavily booked, so be sure to make a reservation atleast 3-4 months before your visit.

4. Holiday Inn Beach Resort
    The beach along this resort is absolutely breathtaking. The water is crystal clear. The delux rooms of the hotel aren't great, but are comfortable enough for staying the night. The standard rooms, however, are in a pretty bad condition.

Day 4 - Scuba Diving

This day had been marked for Scuba diving at the Sea Shell, by Scubalov.in. So we arrived at the site, packed with energy, only to be disappointed by the choppy sea. We went back to our resorts, keeping our fingers crossed. By 11, the dive had started again. So we went back, refreshed and rejuvenated.
At the Sea Shell, we changed into the Scuba gear and were trained for around 15 minutes. Then we were taken to the dive site by an instructor. My instructor was Xavier, a very jolly and mild-mannered person. The dive was definitely an experience worth having. I saw a number of vividly colored parrot fish, a few clown fish in a sea anemone, zebra fish, sea urchins and many others. However, because of the bad weather in the morning, the sea water was very muddy and the visibility wasn't great. However, it wasn't very bad either. I could still see and enjoy a lot of marine life. We were helped back to the shore by our instructors and given a dvd of pictures and videos from underwater.

After this, we went to Radhanagar beach. This beach was undoubtedly the highlight of our trip. It was a free and untimed wave pool! The waves coming towards the shore were mild, sometimes strong, and fun to abreast. We spent the rest of the day on this beach, jumping and floating with the waves.