TIME OUT
Happy beach hopping
ANAND SANKAR
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You really haven't seen the sun, sand and surf till you hit the Andamans.
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Photo: Anand Sankar
Breathtaking: Saddle Peak is shrouded in clouds as a fisherman gets busy.
THE Airbus banked left and dropped out of the low clouds. There, below in the emerald waters, was my first sight of the Andaman Islands covered in lush rainforest, and ringed by coral breakwaters and blue lagoons. Ah, you must give it to cheap air travel.
The airport terminal is spare, the foreigners have to produce their passports and get their permits stamped. A friend came to pick me up and joked that the airport is much busier these days. "Cattle used to graze inside earlier, and schools played cricket matches on the runway."
Budget flights have started flying into Port Blair, still the airport is shut for civilian traffic by 11.00 a.m. Something to do with flying over the Bay of Bengal in the noon sun, it seems.
At Corbyn's Cove
Driving through the deserted roads of Port Blair, I just can't wait to hit the beach. Not too long though, I soon found myself at Corbyn's Cove within Port Blair town limits, a beach that perfectly fits the shape of the `c'. With coconut palms right up to the water's edge and the rainforest's thick foliage a little further back, I decided to retire to a hammock here, or probably choose one of the three Japanese WWII bunkers that ring the beach. The Japanese occupied the Andamans during the war and these perfectly sighted bunkers would have been quite a deterrent: just climb into them and look through the slits.
Havelock: we have heard a lot about it. But the ridiculously cheap ferry makes it even sweeter. Inter-island passenger shipping sails on subsidy and you have to see the rates to believe them, cheaper than popcorn at a multiplex.
The biggest resort on the island, Dolphin, is run by the Tourist Department and is pretty efficient, but the biggest plus: it's right on Vijaynagar Beach. Now this beach does not fit the classic description.
Ringed by a coral breakwater for about a kilometre off shore, it is just white sand and still, emerald water. Incidentally, the breakwater saved the island from the December 2005 tsunami. At high tide, the water laps at the roots of the mangroves at the shore's edge, a perfect spot to catch up on some lost reading.
There are just two roads at Havelock, totalling about 15 kilometres. It is pointless to hire a vehicle; just walk it if you have the time. Radhanagar Beach, on the other side of the island, is horribly overrated.
Instead hire a dinghy and spend the day snorkelling or scuba diving at Elephanta Beach, which has stunning coral reefs. If you are for adventure, carry a tent and pitch it anywhere along the forested south of the island.
You have plenty of fish in the waters and fresh produce can be bought from the town market. Be warned though, this part of the island is famous for white people living by nature's rules.
Memorable trip
A trip to the Ross and Smith Islands is memorable for more reasons than the beach. You have to take probably one of the best bus journeys in India — The Diglipur Express — to get there. The bus leaves at 5.00 a.m. from the Port Blair Bus Depot to traverse the south-north length of the Andaman Trunk Road (National Highway 223). At 6.30 a.m., you are the first convoy through the primeval rainforests inhabited by the indigenous Jarawa people. Jarawas spear strangers, I am told, and also that they have now picked up a smattering of Hindi.
Then two ferry crossings, to go from South Andaman to Baratang and on to Middle Andaman. From Rangat, the road follows the picturesque rocky coastline and you come to one of the most curious sounding settlements on the islands, Billy Ground.
Two theories for this, one is an English Billy and the pan-chewing Bengali in the seat next to me explains the other: "Patha nahin, idhar kisne billi dekha..."
Across the pathway
Diglipur, a predominantly Bengali and Bangla settlement, is reached in 12 hours, a journey of about 200 km of more potholes than road. I picked up a permit from the Forest Department at Aerial Bay jetty and, after much haggling, hired a dinghy for Ross and Smith Islands. Like the Cinque Islands in the southern extremity, a narrow sandbar that reveals itself at low tide joins these islands.
I arrived just as the tide was receding, and soon a white strip of sand connected Smith to tiny rocky Ross. It is quite an exhilarating experience to walk across the pathway, with migrating hermit crabs for company and the ocean on two sides. If you manage to be nice to the Forest Department personnel and convince them you won't "smoke, drink or do anything immoral", you can stay in the two-storey bamboo hut on Smith. And the fish catch in this area looks pretty rich; I had to try pretty hard to convince a fisherman I don't eat stingray, even if given free and fried.
A few kilometres south of Port Blair are Chidiya Taup and Wandoor. To get to Chidiya Taup, you must drive through a small Ghat section in the rainforest and for Wandoor you have to navigate bunds between expansive mangrove swamps and lagoons.
Both beaches are famous for their coral reefs but today stand witness to the brute force of nature. They were the most affected by the tsunami, and one can see massive rainforest trees uprooted by the giant waves still lying rotting in the sands. The fallen trees have been left untouched, as they are now part of the ecosystem.
To see even more carnage, a six-hour voyage to Little Andaman, the southernmost island of the Andamans, is a must. Before the tsunami, this was a boomtown and boasted the most hip resort in the region at Butler Bay. Today vast grassy spaces are all that mark fallen buildings at Hut Bay, petrol is rationed and the temporary relief camps are still occupied. There is no trace of the resort at Butler Bay but the palm oil plantation and the sweet-smelling extraction plant, a relic from the past, still function.
Waterfalls
Little Andaman, though, is home to the only two waterfalls in the entire island chain — White Surf and Whisper Wave. The latter can be reached only after a long trek through the jungle, but the former has a road right up to it. A part of White Surf broke off during the earthquake prior to the tsunami, but it is still quite a breathtaking spectacle in the middle of the forest, especially if you get there after a spot of heavy rain. Don't be tempted into the water though, the great salt-water crocodile lurks just underneath the surface, waiting for a free meal.
Travel tips
The season for the Andamans is November to February. March and April are hot and humid.
Indian, Jet Airways and Air Deccan fly from Chennai to Port Blair.
Travel off-season to beat the crowd and get discounts at government and private resorts, and from airlines.
The PWD bungalows and Tourist Department resorts are very well run and reasonably priced.
Get your free tourist guide at the Information, Publicity and Tourism (IP&T) Office, Port Blair. Beware touts who offer package tours. The tourist guide contains all the information you will need. All tourism resorts are booked after an advance at the IP&T Office.
Ferry tickets can be booked in advance at the Phoenix Bay Jetty computerised ticketing centre.
At Little Andaman you can visit a Nicobarese settlement at Harminder Bay and sample some of their unique cuisine.
To visit the Nicobar group of islands, you need a special permit.
Do not try to pick seashells and corals from the beaches; it is illegal. They will be confiscated at the airport. But you can buy them at Sagarika Crafts, Port Blair, or any authorised handicrafts store. Insist on a bill.
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