Andaman Nicobar Islands Adventure
Port Blair - the adventure begins!
The flight from Kolkata leaves at 525am and is a short 2 hour flight which gives you endless blue ocean views. The jet airways captain announces over the p.a. system that we will be landing soon to which the views of the surrounding islands give you a small taste of the breath taking views we will be hopefully viewing in the coming days.
Port Blair airport is small, rustic and a flurry of activity receiving the passengers of our flight. Foreigners please take note you will be asked by airport authorities to register and show relevant permits (restricted area permit aka RAP). Baggage claim is quick and effortless and within 10 minutes you'll be out the airport greeted by a plethora of taxi Drivers. We were met by Joseph (+9197324125 or 725) who took us to our hotel, The Nest Bed & Breakfast, for a total of Rs. 300/-.
The hotel is small but clean and the staff are very courteous. After enquiring where to eat the staff directed is to go to the lighthouse restaurant which is a 5 min auto rickshaw ride away. We, instead, decided to walk along the sea front (The Nest B&B is right in front of the sea front.) which you will be greeted with ladies selling the night before catch along with locals fishing along the shore to which the catch varied from coral grouper, octopus and parrot fish among other smaller species.
The lighthouse restaurant is a small but normal busy eatery right next to the local governments fishery department exhibitions building as well as the Rajiv Gandhi water sports park. Don't expect much in terms of seafood, there was some fresh "live" crabs (mostly all dead) and some "fresh" fish that had seen better days...(they weren't on ice and were half way dried). So best to order food like chicken curry and rice.
The local governments fishery department exhibitions building entry costs Rs. 10/- per person and it exhibits a variety of fish such as clown fish, small groupers, trigger fish etc etc along with bottled specimen species native to the area. This quick tour takes no more than 10-15 minutes. As we are after all in the Andaman Islands we headed to the water park to let our feet touch the ocean from the beach. Heavenly! The water is clear as crystal and warm. After a getting our fill we decided to head to the main market by catching a auto (Rs. 30/-). Since it was Palm Sunday and Sunday never the less most of the shops were closed but the few that were open we decided to buy some provisions like snacks, soft drinks, cigarettes and other small items to prepare for our trip the next day to Havelock Island.
After shopping for provisions we took a auto rickshaw back towards a small bar near our B&B. Beer! oh Gosh nice cold beer! We ordered two bottles (Rs 170 each 650ml) and gulped a few cold gulps, however we noticed that the patrons looked at us in a strange way and felt a hint of tension and uneasiness in the air (we are from the east of India in which we have oriental features and speak Hindi) when my companion asked in Hindi to a server why he was staring at us so much he replied "that a certain Indian tribe are banned from drinking at bars". To which we replied we weren't them and didn't enquire further on the matter. After that the was clarified the atmosphere became relaxed and conversations started about our state in India along with questions about the Andaman's. A few more bottles later we decided to head back to our B&B as we wanted to get a early night for our next adventure for the ferry "makruzz Gold" awaited to take us to Havelock island at 8:30am.
530am alarm goes off! I roll out make a cup of coffee and go to the rooms balcony. There you are greeted with a small flurry of activity of women and fishermen transporting the nights catch from boat to shore. Lots of golden snappers and variety of other fish. Breakfast was simple toast and large omelette. The auto rickshaw ride to the jetty to catch the ferry was a quick ten minute ride.(ask the hotel staff to arrange one for you) Please note non Indian nationals will need to show their RAP to the jetty security. We took makruzz ferry at the rate of Rs. 1000 /-, you will need to buy return as well. We left exactly on time and there no complaints on ride which is assigned seating and air conditioned. 2 hours flew by and we reached the paradise island called Havelock.
Don't worry about transport to your hotel as there are a plethora of auto rickshaws waiting for passengers and being a small island the place we stayed at (the emerald gecko) was just a 5 to 10 minutes away. The emerald gecko (EG)is a rustic beach side resort with bamboo huts for accommodation and a small restaurant where breakfast, lunch and dinner is served. Though it is basic, the staff are extremely friendly and make up for the lack of other facilities such as a bar! Yes when we went the Indian court made a new ruling affectively making Havelock with zero alcohol being served! So if you like a night cap do buy some in port Blair and pack it in your suitcase. The EG can arrange;
Snorkeling
Kayaking
Sports fishing (will mention that later)
Transport (scooter for hire etc)
We decided to hire a scooter (automatic) arranged by EG at a rate of Rs. 400 per day. A deposit Rs 2000, driving license and you need to fill up your own tank. Once it was sorted we headed off to the main market to find and arrange an off shore fishing trip! There we were given available date and they offer full day or half day sports fishing trips. So we opted for a full day Tuesday and made arrangements to meet the crew at 8am. After sorting that out we walked around the market to buy a few things and headed back to EG for relaxed dinner, prepare the my fishing gear and to sleep off before 12.
Another early morning but this time with sense of excitement for the fishing trip ahead. Since we didn't have our scooter yet we had a early breakfast, At EG we get complementary breakfast, which is very tasty....so off we went to flag down a auto rickshaw to take us to the jetty to meet the crew!
The sun was out with a few clouds, the water was clam and the ocean breeze was divine! We met the Crew at the jetty without any difficulties. Fret not to the angler who doesn't bring his own rod, reel and gear, our boat was fully stocked with all them. If you don't bring any gear. I would suggest that you do bring your own poppers, stick baits, jigs, leaders and hooks! The ones on our boat have been beaten up by the many monsters they've caught. Giant trivally is the target on these boats and they can be caught as BIG as 40 kgs !
Off we went and within 30 minutes we saw a feeding frenzy of fish breaking the water eating jellyfish. We tried our popper and lures but unfortunately these fish were more interested in the Jellyfish. To cut the to the chase we cruised to various islands getting many hits on the troll as well as casting. It was a whole day fishing and the boat guide tried his hardest to hook up the monsters we were looking for...he will even cast for you as casting, let me tell you is Super tiring! so half hour you cast then the guide and even the boat driver will pitch in and if hooked up he will pass the rod to you. We did manage to hookup on a 6" lure but the it was so massive that it tore off the treble hook from the ring! We finally called it as the sun set and we were ecstatic over all with the day out on the ocean but slightly disappointed that we couldn't land the Monster we were looking for. Since the boat we were on was catch and release for anything above 10kg we were happy to be able to take back 2 coral trouts weighing together 6kg for dinner.
As soon as we got back EG we asked the cook to prepare and serve one of the coral trouts... and omg was it tasty. After dinner we sat chatted for a while and started planning the next day before heading to bed.
It was not that early a wake up like the day before but we woke up around 730 to get the complimentary breakfast which was a choice of different pancakes (banana, coconut, chocolate etc) and or omelette toast coffee or tea. We had our scooter so we decided to go to kala pathur beach (translated black rock) to check it out and also do a bit of surfcasting. One of the EG staff had said high chance to land GT from the beach. So off we went with one rod and some fishing gear. Wow the beach is beautifully long with soft White Sands till the eyes can see. We met up the one of the staff from the other night and he had bought some octopus that he had caught the night before...I told him I'd try it later because I wanted to try some popping. Pop pop pop and no bites... the staff told me that the spot I was fishing was best done at night with small fish or octopus and that he had a secret location that he wanted to take me further down the beach since it was Low tide. We walked for half out through a jungle trail parallel to the beach and when we went out we were still not even half way of the entire beach! We unpacked the gear and I decided to do double Apollo rig using chunks of octopus... casted and put my rod on my rod holder...then mid way through asked the staff "what kind of catch should I expect..." and my reel starts screaming with the rod fully bent! I grabbed the rod and started reeling! What a fight!!! letting the fish run and trying to avoid the massive corals just below the surface! Finally saw colour and landed my first 4 kg Andaman Islands gt!!! First cast and not even 1 minute to hook up! This place is amazing! To the beach caster please note that foreigners must catch and release but if your with a local, which I was with, you can take your catch as the local will say it's his fish! After the gt, the bite died and we move another few meters as the staff was saying the fish must of been spooked. And what do you know. First cast in the new spot an reel screams again. This time the fight was short lived and a new species to check off my bucket list, a nice 3 kg trigger fish! After that we decided to call it a day as the tide was coming in fast and the coral rock I was fishing off was already knee deep. Literally had to semi swim back as the waters were already past a meter deep after getting off the rock.
After reaching EG, we checked out msgs (via wifi), reception out of the main town
Is zero (no network) and to my surprise I received a msg from the proprietor of yesterday's fishing trip asking if I would be interested in going on a a half day trip with his Son. We gladly accepted the offer!
Dinner at EG was different as the night before as we had invited the staff of EG to join us eat the remaining coral trout and gt as a thank you to themfor their wonderful service...again the preparation was scrumptious! After dinner we went to bed early again as we needed to be at the jetty by 830am.
6am and after a quick breakfast we were at the jetty just on time to meet the proprietors Son and the same fishing guide as before. We headed out into a different direction this time and we mostly did our fishing near mangroves using a variety of different lures, stick baits, sabiki and poppers. Our aim was sea bass/barramundi! Unfortunately we didn't catch any of those but we did catch a 3 kg mangrove jack, the rare and beautiful blue fin trivally (1 kg on sabiki) and a few other species. I must say another wonderful day out at sea and thoroughly impressed with the diversity of fish that can can be caught! This too only using lures! I can't imagine what the catch would be like with live baits!!!! (Octopus, shrimp, bait fish etc etc). Since it was a short trip we headed back around 130pm and once at shore we went to look for so local food for lunch. During dinner tried a bit of night beach casting but since the tide was high and our hotel beach had trees it was difficult to cast so after a few casts we decided to call it a night as we yet again had to get up early to pack and catch our ferry back to port Blair.
Packing done we caught a auto rickshaw to the jetty and we just about made it as the ferry counters close at 1030 any one that is late will not get a ticket issued to board the ferry. It was a over cast day and the minute we boarded the ferry it started to rain! Thank you lord for saving the rains for the last day of our trip! The seas were rough, winds strong, waves were very high and soon we felt like we were on a roller coaster! For the first five minutes almost all the passengers were enjoying shouting with joy, laughter and excitement! Whoop whoop! Waaah!!! That quickly came to a end as the roller coaster ride did not stop and the cabin became very quiet. You could feel the tension in the air for what was elation early soon turned to worry...as staff of the ferry started to fill the passage ways...I quickly asked a crew member what the situation was and he whispered there's a cyclone warning at the North of Andaman island, category red and it's been locked down! But not to worry we are In the south and will be safe but expect a rough ride! No sooner had he finished his sentence...the vomiting started all over the boat, every other person had their vomit bags to their faces and the torrent started! Oh it was a nightmare. Even myself a person who's been on many boats and some extremely rocky ones, tested me to the limit (I didn't vomit FYI). The staff were well trained, vomit bags were constantly being handed out, air freshener constantly being sprayed! I felt sorry for the other passengers that didn't have the stomach for the rough seas and also sorry for those that vomit when others vomit...once one person vomited you'd hear another then another just like domino effect. A hour and half later the captain made an announcement saying we were 10 mins from reaching port Blair and that was greeted with cheers by all the passengers still able to cheer. As I finally was able to stand to go to the toilet you could see the casualties of the ride. One boy about 16 had passed out in his chair and family members slapping him to get him up.
Once that was over all we could think of was getting to our hotel having something to eat and drink then sleeeeeeep! We did all those and even managed to do a little shopping for family back home. Andaman tumeric is very nice must buy for those that like to make curry.
Our last day on the island was breakfast final last minute packing and off to the airport to catch our flight out. Just as we reached the airport the rains and wind picked up and we were told our flight would be delayed for about a hour...after that the plane finally landed and we were boarded into it. Again another half hour delay in which I was quite scared the wind was so strong that it was rocking the plane but thankfully the captain and crew were experience and did their best to keep us occupied but serving drinks and snacks. The sky cleared and the wind stopped and the captain to the break in the weather to take off! Once we left the ground it was a smooth 2h40m flight. During those two ours I reflected my time and experience in Andamans and told my self I'll be back again!
