The journey started late evening flight from Pune to Chennai...A couple of hours sleep at the Chennai airport Lounge, and then a very early morning 2 hours flight to Port Blair.
The islands showed their beauty even before touchdown. The birds-eye view of small islands and scattered islets was just mesmerizing.
Portblair welcomed us with a mild drizzle and a cool breez as if welcoming its guest in a grand way.
One of THE Best resorts in Andaman situated on a small hill right besides the amazing blue sea. The balconies of rooms stare at the scenic beauty of Ross and NorthBay islands. Artistic corridors decorated with Andamanese and Nicobari paintings and sculptures.
Sitting in the balcony to have a luxurious breakfast watching the sea, the seagulls fishing for their breakfast; passenger, cargo and military ships passing by, the lighthouse on NorthBay in front staring at you ; this in itself was a wonderful experience. The credit of staying in such a superb resort goes to my organization Amdocs who thanked our loyalty by planning such a great vacation in return.
Day for these islanders start very early due to the early sunrise. Leaving the coziness of the room wasn’t difficult for me knowing that a mesmerizing world was waiting outside to be explored.
To start with, something about Andaman and Nicobar islands. This group of 556 islands and islets located in Bay of Bengal fathers quite a large tribal population of Jarwas, Nicobarese, Shompens, and Sentinelese. Inhabited islands are only 37 many of which house the Indian military base. Dense forests, mangroves, white sand beaches, crystal clear blue and green shaded sea makes this an ideal tourist destination. A strikingly noticeable thing about the locals here is that they are very helpful, genuine and trustworthy. They keep these islands clean, plastic free and care about the environments with passion.
The first day on these dream lands started with the city tour of Portblair. Using the local transport of rickshaws and bus visited the famous Jail turned memorial – The Central Jail. This is the place because of which Andaman was nick named as Kalapani. This jail is a striking contrast of hell (during the freedom fight time) amidst the picturesque heaven. Amongst the famous prisoner was one name which stands tall is of Veer Savarkar. Watching the museum in the jail and the prison cells, one could just imagine the atrocities, the pain and the terror which our great freedom fighters would have faced. During the Light show in the evening this jail speaks for itself. It narrates the complete history of these islands and about the jail, its jailors, the prisoners, the torture and about the fire for freedom kindling in the hearts of these brave men.
There is also couple of other good museums in Portblair. Samudrika is one where various fishes and amazing corals are at display, a naval museum and an anthropological museum all are good places to spend a lil time in the city.
So the 1st day was spent in this small city tour. Looking at the beauty just within Portblair I was sure that something pretty exciting is yet to follow the coming days....
