This was a family trip after ages, carefully conceived and executed by yours truly. Hence I did involve enough R&D before pushing the wagon as nothing should potentially go wrong. Note that rates and experiences are based in November and they shoot up exponentially as December sets in.

So I visited blogs and trusty tripadvisor to figure out what could be managed without really pushing the boundaries much and overall, ensuring comfort. I took a relaxed Sunday to Friday window for this trip (one of the longest trip yet. I know right!)

The approach is tried and tested from my previous trips but here I went a step further and boy that saved me some cash. So without further ado, here is the sequence I followed to manage trip without blowing off the budget:

• Research and fix the places you want to visit. Special attention given to places friendly for senior citizens.
• Research and fix great hotels around 4 months early. Booking through tourism partners is actually paying more for hotels, so book them online (with ample discount coupons out there). Just make sure you do it as early as possible since the demand can sky rocket.
• Next book flight tickets, again preferably within the span of 1 month of booking the hotels.
• Meanwhile keep contacting different travel and tourism companies for their rates and inclusions. Most of them asks for an advance, so go with the best deal. Try to keep the whole water adventure part open ended and decide once you reach if you are keen on the same.

Sunday

We landed in afternoon via Spicejet (Kolkata > Port Blair) around 2.30 PM. Make sure you have the window seat checked in cause this is the beauty you see from the windows.

And if you are lucky, you might just sail through an actual rainbow.

The airport is rather small and as one gets out, there will be travel firms standing with placard in hand. Our operator Tropical Andaman had its representative Rohit standing for us. If you are solo, you can hire bikes or auto there for travel point to point. In our case, tourism across places was taken care off in great AC equipped cars run by locals. These locals were also employees of the tour operator.

We checked in to J Hotel which is situated away from the sea but has great rooms and even more amazing food overall. The staff was courteous and extremely helpful.

We caught only the light and sound show at cellular jail that night (which was a smart thing to do before actually seeing cellular jail as it gives better context). They have steel lousy chairs and long queues outside during entry. The show is essentially a brief history of Andaman, the torture inside the jail and overall importance in Independence. They run English and Hindi alternatively (we caught the Hindi one) and ticket prices range around 100 INR (usually the tour operator takes care of that).

Monday

Stick to times as the ferries are pretty punctual. We got Makruzz (the other good one is Green Ocean) which leaves for Havelock by 8.15 AM.

We took the middle package Deluxe (three classes being Premium, Deluxe, Royal) that have tickets around 1500 INR + Tax (again borne by Travel agency). Deluxe gives you window seat and like all hotels in Andaman, pack your lunch while checking out of hotel in morning. The nearly 2 hour long journey is an AC enclosed vessel and blue tinted windows, which I mostly slept through.

Havelock Ferry drop point is quite well maintained with again Tropical Andaman representative waiting with placard to guide us through from exit. We checked in to the amazing Dolphin resort which is a good few kilometers away from the ferry point.

Apart from the mind-blowing location and duplex styles cottage rooms with glass windows, this place has its own private beach where you can waddle through water with minimal swimming. One can swim across a kilometer during tides. The beach is clean and a hub of hermit crabs with just awesomeness written all around it.

We left for Asia’s best beach post lunch, popularly knows as Radhanagar beach. Although crowded, the beach is superbly maintained with crystal clear water and there are changing rooms available.

I have never been to a more swim friendly beach and somehow the water is not salty like other usual beaches, I could even manage 360° flip like those you do in swimming pools.

Tuesday

So we kept our luggage with front desk at Dolphin and went to Kaala Pathar beach which is a quite place to relax and have some really awesome coconuts (40 INR each, deal huh?). The place had random rocks and jagged trees often used by tourists to pose for photos.

Collecting our baggage, we left for Scuba diving (3500 INR each). They get a NOC signed for health related declaration and have strict no policy for elder spectrum. Unfortunately that morning someone spotted a freshwater crocodile prancing in the ocean and forest department suspended scubas and snorkeling across Havelock. Tough Luck!

Pissed and relieved, the tour operator suggested taking us for lunch at a place called Something Different restaurant. Although I am not fan of places being taken outside of itinerary since they are often excuse for extracting more and unnecessary money, I gave it a go ahead. This was considering they arrange ride to ferry point and we already had poor experience with food till now in Dolphin and beyond. The path to this different place is super muddy and wobbly unfortunately.

Something Different is one of the top 3 rated restaurants online for Havelock and rightly so (data gathered once I managed to get WiFi in hotels). The decor is a mishmash of normal restaurant, library, old toy structures, floor seating, jeans crockery and every abstract idea you are thinking of. The food was PHENOMENAL, might be the best we had in entire Andamans. Check out my Google Review here which is somehow getting decent traction.

When you are here, make sure you explore the back end of the restaurant. This is a deserted forest enclosed beach giving off the mangrove vibes.

We took our return ferry to Port Blair which left around 5 PM. Unlike the onward journey, there wasn’t security check or anything happening here. We just got your tickets verified from the nearest boat counter and voila, we are ready. By evening, we had checked into the Port blair government hotel based on their famous bird Megapode.

Wednesday

The second highlight of this trip added after careful research was Jolly Buoy. And boy was Buoy (pun intended!) worth the trip.

 

Early morning 6.30 AM is the usual time to leave for a steep ride to Wandoor jetty. We were advised to pack our breakfast for the hour long journey (Most hotels do that, make sure you inform them the day prior). The place is controlled by forest department and we asked our tourist operator to ensure we were enrolled for the day. The ticket, as mentions, has a Aadhar/Passport mandatory clause.

This place is strictly no plastic zone, aimed to maintain the sanctity and ecosystem of the corals. We got refundable water bottle at the Wandoor counter for 10 INR (+200 INR security deposit) and 35 entry fee Jolly Buoy island. The ferry ride lasted for another good hour as it waded through waters and mangroves.

The ferry parked itself a hundred feet away from the island since anchors can cause significant damage on the coral bed. We hopped on to a boat with glass bottom wearing the life vests. The minimal glimpse of seabed underneath through that tinted glass was mesmerizing to say the least.

There were six variations of corals available with rich biodiversity in this area and a strong fish community frolicking beneath. We took the full package Glass boat tour (1000 INR each) which showcases all these corals and the boat operator/guide throws out details of fish variations and the specialty of that species through thirty minute span of live Discovery channel.

The island is small and have limited dry food/refreshment options and makeshift rest rooms. The sand is deep and people are allowed to swim, till a limited zone in water being closely monitored by coastal guards. The fish are so unaccustomed to human beings that they have no inclination of swimming away and nibble on feet without a care. The boats leave at 2.30 PM for the journey back from this pure no mans land.

Thursday

Next morning, the guide gave us access pass  (580 INR per person) and took us to Rajiv Gandhi water sports complex. Very nicely built, the purpose of the complex is being the center for information, ferry service and motor boat rides. The adjoining jetty is popularly called Aberdeen Jetty. The water bed is shallow that houses multiple fish schools and vibrant starfishes.

First stop was Ross island (Entry fee 30 INR) which used to be capital of Andaman during British Era.

 

 

The island reverb of numerous colonial artifacts, hoards of fearless coconut flesh seeking deer and male peacocks running through the winding paths.

Next stop was North Bay (Entry fee 10 INR) which usually is popular for multiple food outlets and water sports.

Despite the small area being used, this place throws maximum options for tourists seeking adventure-

• semi submarine(1850 INR)
• scuba diving (3500 INR)
• snorkeling(500 INR for half mask/1000 INR for full mask)
• glass boat to see dolphins (1850 INR)
• sea walking (3500 INR).

From popular opinion, one should avoid all of these here since much better variation of scuba/snorkeling are available in Havelock/Neil, better glass boat at Neil/Jolly Buoy. Sea walking and Semi Submarine are only available here. We tried the semi submarine which was a disappointing experience with dallops of sea sickness.

Although it has interior and safety system of an airplane, the green glasses are obscure and one can spot occasional curious orange fish pecking on the panels. The coral bed visibility was low and the ocean floor was in much much worse state than Jolly Buoy.

Friday

Time to go back. Post Checking out of hotel, we went to Cellular Jail again where you can actually see gray-scale photos, roam around the cells, look at the hanging nooks up close, read the list of prisoners engraved on pillars and understand the history better thanks to the light and sound show on day 1. The guard tower on top gives panoramic view of jail cells and islands nearby.

We dropped by the Fisheries and Anthropological Museum before hitting the airport which will roughly take slightly over an hour time. The Fisheries Museum had multiple species kept mostly in formaldehyde as samples collected from the ocean. If you are an enthusiast (like me), you will enjoy looking at the sheer number of species. They also display mummified larger water dwellers like swordfish and dolphins, higher variations of corals and some aquariums with live rare carps and lobsters. The anthropological museum has explanation of aboriginal tribes, their photos, inter cultural differences, weapons and huts made from samples collected from them and lots of insight on how tribes still survive disconnected from the modern world.

We reached the tiny airport as we headed back to Kolkata. Spicejet again. The runaway is bang near the waiting gate, so have fun looking at the take offs and hearing the engines roar.

Tip offs

• Include most pay points with travel partners (like cruise, permission, entry fee etc.) on mail itself while drawing out the deal
• Choose a month that fits your bucket list. Why November was chosen you may ask. Apart from the obvious better temperature and less expense (vs December), mid November is the time when Jolly Buoy opens only for 6 months.
• Scuba has age limit, fitness and 36 other clauses. So go only if you are sure. Even then your scube might get cancelled cause a reptile wanted to pay a visit, so be prepared.
• Jolly buoy and Red skin island alternates every 6 months to allow corals grow. Red skin has worse review, is smaller and not a great experience as per my online research, so time your trip for Jolly Buoy (Highly recommended)
• Why i didn’t go to Neal? For starters, Neil is very similar and can only be throughly enjoyed if you plan to cycle around island or go water sports, which was not my exact case.
• Why not mud volcano and limestone caves? I really wanted to do it (despite some bad criticism out there) but I dropped it off as it involves a lot of walking/trekking that can prove hard for aged people. I will recommend it as it changes the scenery.
• Debit card only works in Cellular Jail. No, seriously.
• Don’t take base package in cruise, the price difference is often not worth it. Take only private ones (the government ones are in horrible state and takes way too much time).
• Fit light and sound show on first day and museum/cellular jail later for better context. This happened by accident/on recommendation of tourist guides on reaching there, but it was a good recommendation.
• Get window seat and afternoon flight. Thank me later.
• If you plan to stay in J Hotel, must try their food. Great stuff.
• Dolphin has like really bad food stick to veg if you have to). Instead go to coco restaurant around 1.5 km away. Food is expensive there but tastes nice.
• No opinion on food of Megapode resort. They have cafes, nice restaurant and great maintanance. Nothing really tastes out of the world but they serve their purpose well (they have got a buffet system too).
• Book hotels super early, esp if govt hotel is what you are aiming for. They go fully booked as early as six months early.
• When you are in Security check for Makruzz/Green Ocean ferry, dont carry anything that might be taken away in an actual flight baggage check. We lost a cigarette lighter.

My Recommendation

Take Dolphin Resort, have food at Something Different and spend more time at Havelock.

Here is a Hermit Crab for you.

 

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?

Sayantan

And we were back to Goa!

This time with more tweaks.

Yes, this time we took a train at midnight from Mumbai to reach Goa by next day close to noon. The train runs through North Goa and ends at South Goa (Margao), where we met our buddy coming from Bangalore. Our hotel was in North Goa, so we got in an private bus packed more than Dadar station to reach the nearest government bus stop. From there, we took our next stop at Panjim. Famished, we decided to hire the car from Panjim. Unlike North Goa, the car points are really sketchy here. The dealer took 3000 bucks as advance and a photocopy of license, giving us a 2007 Maruti which was too manual for this generation. Despite its shortcomings, it served its purpose well.

Night 1

We checked in to a small spot at Candolim (pre-booked over call) which is essentially an extra room inside the house of a cafe owner called Bosco (1000 per night for 3 guys-quite a deal). Bob asked us to check out his cafe on beach, which could be accessed through a trail of garden adjoining the luxury hotel in front.

Bosco had a shack on beach, which was pretty novel for my two buddies. Watching the sunset over beers and snacks, chatting and laughing over nostalgia was long overdue.

At night, we checked in to the nearest well rated eatery called Bob’s Inn. Famously placed near Hyatt, this place is highly recommended for good taste, decent pricing and a huge collection of old wines.

We swore by Chinese items on the menu. Be aware that they close at 11 PM, so recommended to check in by 10 o clock.

Day 2

This is going to be one long ride.

So we left really early to cover the two major churches of old Goa.

There is a small shop inside church serving breakfast oriented snacks. The extent of exploring was similar to the first post about this place, hence will continue to the next stop.

This is where things got interesting. I finally accessed the coveted South Goa, starting off with the very famous fishing beach of Colva.

 

Parallel to Margao (or Madgaon), the route is fairly accurate on Google maps but the vibe of South Goa is less commercialized and more rural. I believe Colva is the last spot where you will still run into crowd due to being fisherman’s favorite, as beyond this the terrain changes dramatically.

Nonetheless, Colva is a beautiful beach albeit not perfect for swimming.

The restaurants at end of the beach serve some great food, including authentic Goan curry.

Further down, we entered the heaven called Palolem. Hands down this is the most beautiful beach Goa has to offer.

Rows of sunbathers line up the beach. The road to this part of South Goa is highways with low habitation and unruly elevation.

Rock formation is one of the most unique aspect of the beach. This renders such beaches hard to swim and significantly dangerous unless you are extremely strong and adept at braving the waves.

The rocks have interesting flora formation, probably some algae or seaweed coupled with really slippery moss covering that makes it hard to climb upon.

Night 2

And we were back to Panjim for the cruise ride. Everything about the ride was almost the same, although we did manage to twirl around the floating casino Deltin Royal a lot more.

Oh, and my buddies did dance. A lot.

But so did the rest of the boat.

We checked in Fisherman’s Cove, by far the best restaurant of Goa with live music ambience, open atmosphere and scrumptious food. Crabs, Lobsters and chicken filled our plates.

At night, we partied HARD. From Headbanging to Cartwheels, from Body Waves to Air Guitar. The craziest night we had in a long time.

Day 3

The tip of Goa, where you can see Maharashtra on other side, requires driving through roads cut through mountains. Querim beach, the very first beach of Goa is one of a kind.

The beach is again full of sunbathers, optimal for surfing. Being in estuary formation, the beach slopes down steeply into water with waves crashing in with extreme force.

There are ropes connecting the beach to fishing poles in the sea. it is highly recommended to hold on to them tightly in event of losing balance.

Next stop was Chapora fort-Vagator beach. The experience was somewhat similar for me with some add on experiences.

This time we did carry a DSLR to parasailing zone, with bouts of sea water hitting me across face.

Night 3

We drove to Dona Paula with full might but reached couple of minutes post sunset unfortunately.

the ambience was amazing though, with post sunset rays slowly ebbing away into darkness. As we got up to leave, fireworks filled up the sky.

And we were back to the Saturday Night Market near Baga beach. This time we actually spent more time exploring every nook and corner of the place.

The live music was on this time as well. Saturday market still continues to be one of my favorite experiences every time in Goa.

Day 4

We roamed around Panjim a bit (and got couple of floral T-shirts with Goa inscribed). The airport was way off from the city. There are state buses running from Panjim bus stand to Vasco Da Gama airport which was not running that day for odd reason. We asked the car owner who rented us car to drop off and he agreed to do the same for 500 bucks.

Tip Offs

• Do not miss South Goa. For the love of god, dont do that. It is worth every second you spend there. The stark contrast between the beaches is what makes Goa so special.
• Querim is another must see. I do not think anything as unique as sloping beach of Querim is worth missing. The lack of tourists make them amazing.
• Bob’s Inn and Fisherman’s Cove are highly recommended. First time we did not really give much attention to the place where you are eating due to budget constraint. however these restaurants make sense if you are into seafood.
• GPS can be life saver in Goa. They behave bit funny on crossing junctions though.
• Get car from North Goa (Thivim chain of shops maybe) if you have to. The whole process of getting a car is bit shady and random, unlike the ease o getting bike. Remember there is no Uber/Ola in Goa yet. Bike still remains the smarter transport option.

My Recommendation

If you are in smaller groups like us, skip the banana ride. Ask the parasailing boat guy to drop you into ocean. he will agree for a couple of hundred bucks. Its equally fun.

Ciao

Sayantan

Ferry rides from Gateway of India Mumbai go either to Mandwa/Alibaug (Read about my Alibaug travelogue) or Elephanta Island. Each roundabout ticket for Lower Deck costs 190 INR each, with access to upper deck at 10 INR extra, spanning the journey of over 1 hour to and fro each. I managed to catch the Mumbai skyline pretty well due to clear sky, other than that sit back and chill…

As we landed on the jetty running across the beach, we were greeted by hoard of aggressive cows and plenty of dogs. Highly recommended not to carry food in this stretch as there are plenty of options up ahead at reasonable rate. The beach looks rocky and does not look fit for swimming.

Up ahead we had to climb up over 100 steps flanked by series of stalls selling nearly everything you can think of. There are plenty of eateries as well amidst these shops. On reaching the gateway on top, we had to buy tickets of 5INR each to enter the UNESCO world heritage site.

History cannot pinpoint the origin of the cave exactly as the island houses five Hindu caves and two Buddhist caves. However the cave has been considerably damaged during Portuguese invasion of 15th century, a lot of which has been restored. They had spared the central 20 feet Trimurti of Shiva, which forms the major pinnacle of tourist attraction.

The rest of the caves were in too much broken state to really unearth what was there but sharing couple of artifacts to give an idea.

We finally managed to catch the last ferry at 7 PM that took us back to homeland. The night sky and view is amazing as we sailed across the ocean. Being 26th November, Gateway and Taj were illuminated in memory of the martyrs.

Tip Offs

• Avoid carrying food and water bottles. The land borne animals chase you for food while the monkeys are equipped enough to use water bottle.
• You can buy hats/caps at 100 INR on reaching there. If sun makes you sad, buy one.
• 100 steps isn’t difficult but isn’t very easy either. Be prepared to walk a lot.
• Not a place to enjoy with friends. Stay away if you want to have a fun time.

My Recommendation

Buy items you might want to take as souvenir from the flank across stairways. The variety is immense. On parting note, here is a monkey who partially figured out how to drink water from bottle.

Am getting super infrequent with this.

Until Next Time.

Sayantan

Update (2020)

The font becomes smaller because that is the new style of blog posts.

My second visit was all about ensuring four senior citizens can reach the top. This time I explored nearly all the major caves, just because I did not the time before. There is really nothing special to add here.

Get-Set-Go

Landed on Bangalore soil at midnight. The on-off relationship with this city astounds me. Yet the airport terminal filled me with the same awe. In between a couple of hours and Subway sandwich, the Travera swooped in to pick us up as we headed for Coorg.

The Forest

Three hours is what it takes to reach Coorg on wheels. We reached Nagarhole National Forest entry checkpoint at 5.45 AM sharp, waiting for the sun to rise and gates to open.

Here is the first fun part. You can not stop in between the ride.

Why you ask? Well the animals are literally few feet away and messing with wild bison/boar/elephant (yeah and tigers if you get lucky) is not a very smart idea.

The forest is long and travel takes nearly 2 hours to reach safari spot (which operates twice, 6 to 8 in morning and 3 to 5 in evening) in extremely erratic pattern. Despite the abundance of tigers, the officials often end up not having the safari.

Each jeep allows five people maximum at expense of 700 INR per head and promise of experiencing live tiger. A bus stays on standby which again runs pretty infrequently. We were unfortunately late but sources often say they could not spot any stripes. However the spot is great with proper loo and well made cottages.

 The Stay

After missing the opportunity to meet the striped cats, we drove across to our retreat. Picking up few bottles of home-made wine, available in multiple flavors along the way, we landed in between the home of coffee plantations.

The owners were gracious enough to get us food since we were way too tired to move another muscle. The night felt amazing with old friends, wines, local foods and a Television with really few channels.

And so next morning, we left through the coffee and cashew farms to head up to next destination – the hill-station which Coorg is famous for.

The Hills

Mandalpatti gives you a flavor of hills that you only get in Northern and North-Eastern part of India. This is the point beyond which the roads are so steep, that they needed us to take a local jeep ahead which charged us around 600 INR.

Pushpagiri wildlife sanctuary is synonymous with Mandalpatti as we did not see any animals in the thick dense cloud that lies ahead. However the road gets extremely rocky beyond this point.

The jeeps park at the base of lone tourism center and the driver asked us to get back in an hour. Its trekking up to the top from this point.

The charm of this place lies in the fact that we had literally entered the clouds. Nothing is visible beyond few feet away. If a moisture laden cloud chances by, one can experience rain inside a cloud!

The Temple

Talacauvery is higher up and shrouded by mist of clouds. The rain-clouds had hit the place when we landed, cooling the temperature close to freezing point.

There are numerous marble steps to top and we pulled all our strength against the unnatural frozen storm and rain to reach the destination. The thick fog hindered visibility on a massive scale.

The temple top is a strictly no photography zone. In general it is a temple constructed few meters down to the actual source of Cauvery. Attaching an image from wikipedia to project a view of what one can expect.

The Falls

We went down to the most famous waterfall of Kodagu- Iruppu Falls. There is a quite temple at the entrance, we had to pay a nominal fee to enter and walk up to the falls.

The road ahead is amazing, full of greenery and upstream Cauvery. There are wooden bridges with ropes, leeches and beautiful butterflies along the way.

We went ahead and entered the pit where the waterfall touched the ground. The natural two step formation broke its amazing force, enabling us to have a nice bath on slippery rocks. Refreshed we headed for our next touchdown.

The Monastery

The famous Buddhist structures in Kodagu of Kushalnagar is called Namdroling Monastery or more popularly, the Golden Temple. Its a huge area with ample number of people and monks ready to take selfie with you.

The center of attraction is the statue trio of three Buddhas – Gautama Buddha (formerly Prince Siddharth) in the center, Padmasambhava or Second Buddha on the left and Amitāyus (popularly Amitabha) or Celestial Buddha on the right. Like most monasteries, peace rings in every nook and corner of Golden temple.

The Camp

Dubare elephant camp is a major tourist attraction because of the rides of dwarf sized mammoths on other side of Cauvery. However landing there in afternoon on a holiday meant a huge crowd and never ending line to cross the river, hence we never explored the place much. The adventure junkies seemed to have a grand time rowing in the current though.

A lot of people were frolicking in the water. Recommended one should not go deep as force of the stream is strong and a lot of people do drown here.

The Throne

Not Game of Thrones. Ok, kind of a King’s throne where there is no actual throne. The King apparently built this place to view the sunset (which is amazing by the way) from this spot, lending it the name Raja’s Seat. A perfect way to end the day with sunset.

Tip Offs

• Going with car helps a lot. You can travel considerable distance and spots if you are with your friends, helps more if any of you know Kannada.
• Famous as one of the most popular honeymoon spot in South, I would consider it as one of the best emulation of Northern mountains with decent food and stay.
• There are options for adventures be it Jungle Safari, Rowing or Toy Train. Again one of the few places in Southern India offering such activities.
• There is not much to do in dark as its mountains. Getting up early and reaching home before sunset needs to be adhered to.

My Recommendation

The clouds. Walking in the clouds. Its surreal. Every time.

This was late post. Like really late. Got busy with life.

Love

Sayantan