Underwater to Old Buildings

Before starting our new adventure a little funny missed from previous.  The taxi that drove us around some of the very windy mountainous roads had a sticker on his dash saying “Pray before you drive”, not the best for inspiring confidence. (not sure if prayer was for them or the car).

So looking forward to the snorkelling and warming up on the beach.  Have heard many amazing things about the Andamans, although it is not turning out quite as expected. 

Havelock Island first. Warm – yes, great flora – yes, good snorkelling – a BIG NO.  The worst ever experience.  There is a small area of nice coral and fish BUT the beach is packed with many boat loads, they all wear life vests, are tied together in groups and also have life bouy’s. 

Independent snorkellers like us get strangled, kicked and everything else.  Steve got run (swam over twice) You can not get away from them as the coral is shallow so everyone has to just go down the drop off edge.  Not only is it packed with people but as well as having so much floatation they still walk on it too and the guides do not stop them.  Bad enough you would think but as well as all that next to this coral is a floating pontoon and behind that many many motorised floating play things, jet skis etc so visibility is almost non-existant. So disappointing.  Maybe another beach will be better tomorrow. 

We found a great restaurant that we ate in all the time and had lots of chats with Indians who had been coming to the islands for years,  all saying “No more”.  The general consensus was that it had deteriorated badly in the last few years (coral wise). 

Off to Radhanagar Beach the next day to try our luck there.  Fantastic beach, long and wide with lovely white sand and forest down to the beach. 

Walked down to where the snorkelling and turtles were supposed to be (luckily also away from the crowds).  Donned our snorkel gear and in we went.  Visibility much better this side but coral was not great, just a few small bits here and there, reasonalbe fish though.  I could not find the seagrass area for the turtles either, maybe needed a few more days to work that out. 

Not to worry, Neil Island is supposed to be much better for snorkelling and it has been nice on this island to have good food and warmth. 

By the time we get ferry, check in and have a very late lunch it is too late to find out where to snorkel the first day.  Felt sorry for the old porter – hard work.

Off to Sitapur Beach to start, lovely beach but tide too low for snorkeling here, though it does look like a good spot, will come back. 

Then to the main snorkelling beach at Bharatpur, main coral only 100-200 meters out so decide to wade and swim rather than pay boat costs.  Tide was out so could wade a long way but swimming it was no fun as the sea was very lumpy and the visibility really bad,  could only see coral when a few inches away so after about 40 minutes we gave up – maybe later when tide has turned. 

Again, not to be as the wind and sea got worse, hopefully tomorrow.  

Wow, this is not our luckiest part of the trip – blowing even harder this morning with even more  whitecaps, no chance of any snorkelling at all.  

Today is Steve’s 70th birthday and we thought it would be a great place to spend it, snorkelling with a beach restaurant and bar. Good food but no bar on beach.

Hired an Electric scooter Horrible to Drive, worse for Carol as set up for sidesaddle pillion.

Again, not to be as the wind and sea got worse, hopefully tomorrow.  

Well the snorkelling was out but we did go and explore Laxmanpur Beach No 1 and No 2. 1 looks like it might be Ok for snorkelling in better weather and 2 was interesting for all the rock pools and many creatures inhabbiting them at low tide.

Not a snorkelling beach though. Pity as this side of the island is calm. Beach(sic) was crowded as half of India was there to take selfies with arch as backdrop. 

 
Then also the beach restaurant/bar was out too as they do not exist,  although we did find good food on the main road and take away beer.

Neil Island is also the best chance of spotting Dugong so most disappointed that we did not get to do much in the water.  November should have been good conditions but I guess climate change is affecting everywhere. 

An interesting outing to Cellular Jail in Port Blair and some great birding on our last day in the islands.

On The way to Chettinad saw a rock that looked like a stretched Uluru and version of Devils Marbles.

Arriving in Chettinad to stay at an old Mansion – finally 1 towel each after a couple of weeks of 1 between us – strange habit (wonder if I could get away with the same in my bnb…) but I guess it saves the planet.  

Unknown to us until after we got to Chettinad via Chennai, was that Chennai was flooded and flight etc cancelled got lucky we just got in prior.

Really interesting place, just a small town but full of old historic mansions as are a couple of nearby villages we explored. 

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230404-indias-10000-forgotten-mansions 

There are over 10,000 of these mansion’s in this area but most are just crumbling wrecks, such a shame.  Good to see some being rescued and turned into hotels – all by families of original owners. 

Very pleasant way to finish our tour of India.  Back to Sri Lanka for Beach, Birds & Wildlife before heading home.