Andaman Islands - The most exotic honeymoon destination in India. ( Part 2)

Our next day started with Elephant beach. We took a jetty from Havelock port. There's one more way to reach the beach. It's a trekking route. I would want to take this route next time. I am not sure how the beach got it's name from, as you won't see any elephant here. This is the beach if you want to enjoy all kinds of water sports. There's jet skiing, snorkeling, kayaking etc. It's a beautiful beach with blue water, green trees, white sand. Elephant beach is surrounded by corals. It is quite near to the beach and hardly 2 meters deep. There are lots of vendor running on the beach with the equipment. I got hold of one of them and went into the deep blue water. It was an amazing experience watching water world from up so close. I wish I had a go pro at that time to capture the beauty.

Elephant Beach 

Scary cloud formation. Looks like it's raining out there

By the time we left the beach, the sun was on top of our head. It was extremely hot and we got sunburn spots pretty bad. We reached our hotel and relaxed for the rest of the day. The next day we were to go to Radhanagar beach, We had the morning to ourselves so I left my wife at the cottage and went out for taking photographs. The resort was beautiful as I earlier mentioned, so I went to the beach side. There were some kids from the village playing and having fun. It was such a candid moment that I didn't disturb them and took some shots. There were boats anchored which gave me a good composition along with water and sky.

Kids playing on the resort beach

It was time to leave for Radhanagar beach. I had read a lot about the beach that it's the best beach in India and one of the best beaches in the world. And it surely wasn't wrong. The beach was clearly the best I had seen. The water had turquoise hue, The sand was white. It was an overcast day which disappointed the photographer in me a bit but seeing the magnificent water body excited me. We went straight into the water and had a lot of fun. This beach does not have water sports which I think is good and is actually the reason it's a beautiful beach. Imagine if vendors start flocking the beach like they do in Juhu, what would be the scene? Sheds were there on the beach for the tourists to sit and relax. It started raining by the time we were exhausted. We took refuge in the shed for a while and went back to the beach once it stopped raining. We spent a good amount of time here before heading back to hotel to pack our bags and leave for port Blair.

Overcast weather at Radhanagar Beach

Yes. it's one of the best beaches and yet empty. That's the beauty of it.

My wife posing

Fellow tourists enjoying on the beach,

We reached Port Blair and roamed around the market to buy souvenirs for friends and relatives. The price at the shops was a bit expensive as is common with any tourist place. We bought key rings, show pieces, and had dinner at Lighthouse restaurant. Now this is one of the best restaurants in Port Blair market. We visited this restaurant couple more times during our tour.

Our tour rep told us to be ready by 3 AM to leave for Baratang island. Baratang island has three attractions. Limestone caves, Mud volcano. and Jarawa tribe. The route consists of 1.5 hours of car travel through Jarawa reserve. The rep asked us not so shout or click photographs of the tribe. It is a no-overtake zone and tourists are advised not to step out of vehicles to interact with the tribe. There was an incident where some tourists had teased the tribal people asking them to dance for food. It was a disturbing incident which was covered by international media as well. The video had gone viral. Forest officials raised security after this incident and interacting with the tribe is not taken lightly now. We took the advice of our rep and just sat silently throughout the journey. We didn't see and tribal people while going to Baratang. But we did see them while coming back.

We reached our destination from where we had to take a ferry to next port. It was a 15 min travel. From the next port, there were small motor boats which had a seating capacity of 8. We were four and shared the boat with one more family. The boat ride is quite adventurous and scary as it has to be balanced right else may capsize in the middle of the river. The ride was through the mangroves. It was a spectacular sight. The mangrove branches were dangling in the air and some of them were touching the water. There was one quick right turn which was unexpected for all of us and immediately after the turn branches were hanging which was extremely low. All of us had to duck as it could have hurt us. We reached jetty from where we started a small trek towards limestone caves. The trek passes through a small village. Guides are available here who will tell you various facts and amazing stuff about the caves. There are some interesting and mysterious limestone patterns inside the cave. Limestone create such patterns over many years. This blog has all the details about the limestone cave. I'd recommend reading it.
We came back to the jetty where our tour staff was waiting for us to proceed to Mud Volcano. it is a one of it's kind and the only mud volcano in India. It has erupted many times during the last century. The most recent one was after an earthquake. We had to climb up to reach the place. We reached the top and were searching for the volcano. Then we realized it is in front of us. We were a bit disappointed as it was just a small hole in the ground and was covered in cement like mud. The volcano was surrounded by fences so that people doesn't go near to it. We left the place within 10 minutes. We decided to have a little fun with people who were going upstairs. We started speaking loudly how the volcano was a great sight to watch and it was amazing. Boy, I can imagine their disappointment and anger on us. We quickly sat in the car and left the place, reached the jetty, boarded the boat to reach the main jetty and got on the car for Port Blair again. This time, we saw a group of Jarawa people on the road. It looked like a family. They waved at us and we waved back. By the time we reached the hotel, we were totally exhausted. We relaxed for rest of the day and bid adieu to Andamans the next day.
It was a dream time which finally came to an end. I'd love to go to Andamans again and cover other islands we couldn't. I've heard a lot about Neil island which I'm planning to include in my next trip.