Trip Tales: Andaman Island Vacation-Neil Island (Part 3)

Read the first 2 parts of our Andaman Island Vacation

Trip Tales -Story of our Andaman Island Vacation

Trip Tales: Andaman Island Vacation-Part 2

Adieu Havelock

After our 2 days of Havelock fun, the next part of our Andaman island vacation was reserved for Neil Island. So early in the morning, after having the buffet breakfast we set out from our resort for the Havelock Jetty, . Our seats were booked on the cruise ship, Makkruzz, at around 11 am. If you remember from my last post the trauma of a suitcase full of wet clothes, courtesy of our last cruise ship, was still fresh in my mind. But this time around,I had full preparation!I had packed a few backup clothes in hubby dearest waterproof suitcase.

The Makkruzz ride

The Makkruzz cruise ship ride was relaxing and fun. We got some packed snacks like sandwiches, chips and coffee from the in-ship services. When we got near our destination I realised that true to its name, the corralled waters around Neil Island were the most beautiful shade of blue I had ever seen. Finally we reached the Neil island Jetty and it was under construction. So after a lot of pandemonium regarding collection of luggage we finally reached our hotel. The Seashell Neil was one of our best stays during our entire Andaman Island vacation. They even upgraded our room to an Island Lagoon without us asking for it. So the beginning of our Neil sojourn was a very happy one.

We freshened up and visited the rocky mangrovy strip of beach just behind our resort and lazed around on a hammock. Then we had our lunch and rested for a while.

Lakshmanpur Beach

For the evening we planned on catching the sunset at Lakshmansagar Beach. Here also we hired a scooty to ferry us around the island. At around 4pm, with very large thunder clouds looming over our heads we set out for sunset at the beach. As luck would have it just on reaching the beach, a mere 10-minute ride from the resort, it started to rain a bit. So we took shelter at one of the tea/Maggi stall at Lakshmansagar beach which was run by a very sweet and accomodating couple.

Despite the thunder clouds and the wind, the sunset view was breathtaking! Munching on yummy pakodas and delicious maggi we enjoyed the magical cloudy and stormy sunset. We spent around 2 hours at Lakshmansagar beach and then returned to our resort. But our fun for the day was not yet over. A night swim at the resort was waiting for us. After our invigorating swim, we had our dinner at the in-house Dugong restaurant.

Scuba

The next morning we woke up very early and set out for the scuba diving point. They gave us a declaration form to fill stating that everything that happens during the dive is our own responsibility! Also, the form had a medical history section to be filled after a doctor’s check-up. The scuba agency did not have a doctor on-site, and when I informed the scuba instructor about my hypertension, we decided its best that I don’t go for the dive L. It was extremely disappointing for me! But insisted that hubby goes ahead with the deep-sea dive as planned, as he was the one who was really looking forward to it. After he wore the scuba gear, they took us out on a boat to the diving point. Then hubby took the plunge!

I stared at the rippling blue silk like water which had a hypnotic and mesmerising nature. The boatman saw me stare at the water. He assured me that I should not worry and my husband would be back safe and sound! Touched by his concern I assured him that I was not worrying but was rather enjoying the beauty of the deep blue waters. Hubby returned from his scuba dive very happy and excited. We collected the underwater photos and videos from the divers and returned to our resort for breakfast.

Bharatpur Beach

After breakfast we again set out for a sea bath at Bharatpur beach. We reached Bharatpur beach at around 11 am and low tide had set in exposing a vast stretch sandy beach flats. Our plan of bathing in the sea was not successful. But we spent some time in the sandy flats with ankle to knee depth sea water. This resulted in getting a complete sunburn. So to cool down, we had some coconut water and returned to our room.

10 minutes of Silence

After a relaxing bath we started to plan for lunch. We were planning on trying out some local cuisine, so went out on the hunt for a fishy meal. Despite my protests, hubby dragged me into a small local house doubling as a restaurant. They claimed to serve local fishes. I did not like this place at all! It upset me. But it was way beyond our lunch time. So after some bickering we ordered a simple meal of rice, dal, papar, chicken curry and a local fish “Surmai”fry.

We did not speak to each other for a whole 10 minutes while the meal was being prepared,! This was the only 10 minutes of total silence in this entire Andaman island trip! I was angry at being forced to eat here. And also because hubby pretended to ignore me. Then lunch was. Oh the Surmai! It was superlative! The fish steak was nearly as big as my palm. It was fried to a perfect balance of crispiness and softness! I immediately forgot that I was “hangry” and our banter resumed. Satisfied with our tummy full of surmai, we went back for our afternoon siesta at our Island Lagoon.

The farewell Sunset and the good news that greeted us!

(..all of the captures were so beautiful that I could not choose and uploaded most of them!)

Again that evening, we had planned to go and catch the sunset at Lakshmanpur beach. This time around the stormy beauty was not there but we did experience the full splendour of an island sunset. After the sunset, we had our tea and snacks at the beach and returned to our resort. After our usual swim, we got changed, roamed around the lawns for a while and headed to dinner at the Dugong restaurant. Now, one thing that has to be kept in mind about Andaman is that there is absolutely no network connectivity except BSNL. So in the true sense of the word, this was an offline vacation. Hubby had a BSNL connection which was our only sporadic link back to the mainland.

The big news!

During our dinner at the restaurant, I got an excited call from my sister. She informed me that Blogchatter had announced their biggest loser and list of eight best participants for the MyFriendAlexa challenge 2019 on Twitter. This was my first year of participation and my name was there on the list!! Oh! The joy and happiness that coursed through my veins knew no bound. I thanked her for letting me know and shared the good news with hubby. He was very happy for me and we celebrated by ending the dinner with ice cream. This awesome piece of news hugely reduced the melancholy of a trip coming to an end was now This year  I’m again taking my blog to the next level with  Blogchatter’s  #MyFriendAlexa Challenge. So writing about last years achievement is really making me nostalgic.

Port Blair again

The next morning we returned to Port Blair. Our flight back home was booked for the day after next. So we had a total of a day and a half left in Andaman and we took full advantage of it. We explored a Naval sea museum, Anthropological Museum were we got to know about all the indigenous tribes of Andaman. I’m not a huge fan of museums. But to my surprise anthropology turned out to be really interesting

Then we had our lunch at the waterside New Lighthouse restaurant. We were given the option of choosing our own live seafood. Hubby chose a crab which was then cooked. So you can imagine how fresh the food was. I did not want to have any more fish and chose chicken mainly because I am allergic to shellfish. Then after some memento shopping,we returned to our Hornbill’s Nest resort.

Next day i.e the last day was a rest day. Our driver cajoled us into booking a night cruise at a ship called Bella Bay. So we spent the day lazing around, had our lunch at Anju Coco, port Blair  and got decked up to go for our night cruise. It was a very pleasant experience, with welcome drinks,onboard entertainment by a a local Andamanese band, and a set menu dinner.

This was a perfect ending to our epic Andaman Island vacation. We went to sleep with our hearts sated and at peace. The next morning we saw another beautiful sunrise from our room, checked out boarded our flight, reached the airport and boarded our flight back home to Kolkata, and bid adieu to the beautiful Andaman island archipelago for this time promising to be back again someday.