In the first week of May we travelled to the Andaman Islands with our close friends (two other families). As internet connectivity and phone signal were practically non-existent there, I only managed to share a couple of snapshots. I’ve been wanting to share all that we saw and experienced there, so here’s the first installment from our Andaman diary-
Day 1 of our trip was spent in Port Blair. Our flight from Bangalore to Port Blair was a direct 2 hours 40 mins flight. Spice Jet cancelled our flight just a few days before our trip and we had to book fresh tickets on Indigo for a flight that was in the middle of the night.
We reached Port Blair airport early in the morning and booked prepaid taxis from the airport counter to our Hotel. We checked in to Sinclairs Bay View which was the top rated hotel on Trip Advisor. Hotels in Andaman are comparatively more expensive due to being far from the mainland. After breakfast and settling in to our rooms we headed out to Corbyn Cove’s beach by hailing autos from outside the Hotel. These are not very easily available but we still managed to find one.
The beach and sea were a bit murky due to the cyclone Fani that had just recently passed but the weather was overcast and pleasant and that meant we could spend a couple hours outdoors in peace.
After frolicking in the water and sand we made our way back to the hotel to clean up, have lunch and get some rest. We had tickets to the light and sound show at the Cellular Jail at night so we decided to spend some time at a place called Marina Park and then grab dinner before that. Now Port Blair doesn’t have too many stand alone restaurant or cafe options so we relied on my memory of what Google reviews said (no internet, remember) and went to a supposedly famous seafood place called New Lighthouse Restaurant. The seafood was fresh and the preparation was Okay but the hygiene levels were outright bad and I wouldn’t recommend the place at all.
Next stop was Cellular Jail of course. Most of you would have heard of Cellular Jail by the name ‘Kaala Paani’ which was a colonial prison used by the British to exile political prisoners. The jail is now a memorial monument and offers tours and shows for visitors. The light and sound show chronicles the history of the Jail and was a bit dark and scary for the kids. It did however manage to sensitise us to what the inmates had to face. It personally for me evoked a sense of gratitude for the sacrifices others made to fight for the freedom we enjoy today. Tickets for the show are priced at a humble Rs 40 per person and can be booked here.
For our travel to and fro we booked taxis via the taxi driver who had brought us from the airport. Prices were determined from point to point.
That wrapped up the first day of our 5 day vacation to the Andaman islands. Stay tuned for details on the rest of our trip.