Andaman Experience – Minimalism Travel

TL:DR: Great place. Not touristy. Pristine beaches. For Travel guide details click here.

Andaman has been a journey of self-discovery.

Being Bengali I always believed that we are inherently lazy. If Laziness was an official Olympic sport we would be undisputed champions. Prime example of laziness is any Bhoondali Kaka the bengali shopkeeper next door. You can be rest assured, that his shop is closed from 2:00pm to 4:00pm for customary afternoon rituals of sleep. Health and wellness is a priority, and afternoon siestas are always prioritized over customers and sales. I may have traveled all my life believing this version of Truth- Until Andaman. Here Bengalis are extremely hard working and always looking to serve the customer with a smile. Note: 98% of the island speaks Bengali and it is the unofficial “official” language.

Honeymoon as I learnt from my experience has been misspelled. Many moons ago before Jesus was born, I believe it was originally supposed to be spelt as “Money-moon”. Someone with bad spelling like my sister probably changed it- And since then generations have suffered. Side Note: I always see Varuna ordering without ever checking the right hand column in the menu.

Maslow’s basic hierarchy is not followed in Andmans.

But if you overcome WIFI needs, you can get lost in the pristine serene beaches of Andaman.

MY OVERALL IMPRESSIONS

HAVELOCK

The picture below sums it up. Beautiful sunrises and sunsets.

Andaman/Havelock island is perfect for anyone looking for Likes on Instagram or Facebook. Note: I didn’t put a beach picture on purpose. You have these narrow forest paths (as above), and you walk down it and you open up in to turquoise blue water- Where you are completely by yourself. This has been my favorite part. No Tourists, No plastic, and no vendors. (Not all places but most. Below are a collection of favorite haunts)

Above is front of Beach No. 5. There is a small portion in Vijaynagar beach which is swimmable.

You can find the entrance to this from Coco-Huts. Most days you will find absolutely no one around. The beach is all yours. People in the valley would pay thousands of dollars for this experience. The water is crystal clear and you are in this massive giant swimming pool. The only other place close to this is possibly Koh Phangan, Hidden beach. (That’s another story)

We arrived on 29th January in Havelock from Port Blair. The first shock was Internet and mobile phone didnt work. The trick is to find hotels with FTTH which is the underground optic fiber cables inaugurated by Modiji. When it works you can definitely stream and watch a Netflix movie. Or in my case do a meeting. Quality was average, but got the work done. The line drops for a bit and is back up. If you set the right expectation with the other meeting attendees, it should not be any issue. Also Pro-tip: Not sure how scientific this is but afternoons are best for meeting and connection is most stable.

29th night- Dolphin resorts

Depends on time of the year. Probably the best property after Taj Exxotica. Its a govt. Property.Its super nice and you get standard rooms at 2K INR.

Not listed on Booking.com, Agoda, and 2K INR was a steal for us. The same kind of property goes for 8K to 10K/night at the island. You can find the booking site here. There are many things Doplphin can do better, but most of all they really need is a web developer. If you are a techy here are some details. Built with link. Archaic technology and Google scores a 10 on mobile friendliness, the lowest I have ever seen. All the best with booking. THey also give free airport pick ups or they forgot to charge us- Not sure.

Walking by the beach in Dolphin inside property or outside is an awesome feeling. First night we had an exec room ( We paid 4K INR- But the price fluctuates. Its Govt. property so general principles of Demand and supply dont really work. ) Pic below is within Dolphin property

For Travel guide details click here.

Favorite Tips

Places not listed on Trip Advisor

Not all beaches are Swimmable- Where to Swim

Best places to stay – Cheap and clean and good wifi and food

What you can skip

Favorite Tips

Download maps.me you wont get internet. This offline maps have you navigating.
Scooter rentals are INR 500/day but with slight bargaining you can get to INR 300/day. (Havelock) At Neil we paid INR 400/day. (There are only 40 scooties)
Ferry Tickets for Govt. & Sound& Light show need to be booked in advance- As soon as you arrive get the ferry tickets.
- You will find it at DC office in Port Blair. Location here.
- You will find it at Xerox shop/Patwari office. Location here.
- You will find it near the jetty in Havelock. Around 200m away. Just ask.

Places not listed on Trip Advisor

Best Swimmable beach- Morning

You generally have low tides in the evening, and high tides start around afternoon. The cycle keeps changing. You can always swim in Radhanagar beach which is absolutely stunning. Clean, stunning water, beautiful landscape and white sand. Its a tourist attraction and yes you will find tourist, but because the beach is so large you will feel its not so crowded. Definitely a far cry from the crowded beaches of Goa, Miami, or San Diego.

There is a spot on Beach No. 5 , Vijaynagar beach. The place is secluded and you can basically swim there only during high tide. You can walk to the middle of the sea. The water is turqoise blue and absolutely gorgeous. Ofcourse if this blog becomes popular, you can expect a lot more tourists. But as on February 2021, we were almost the only people on the beach.

Below is a video of our day. In and out of the beach between meetings.

GPS Location click here

Enterance through this Hotel

You can just walk in — people are cool. I met the owner Hari. We nicknamed the place “hippy cafe”.Well if you know hippies, you know they are all about peace and happiness. Mostly they were just too lazy to care. And also its common to use hotel entrances for beach access.

Best Swimmable beach- Evening

Havelock generally has low tide in the evenings. The water recedes and its too shallow to swim. We found a secluded spot without rocks near Kalapathar beach from where we were staying. Here is the exact GPS location. We were mostly the only people swimming, but if you walk down you will find some of the premier resorts like Munjo.

Hidden Beach with jungle trek- Not known to Tourists. Its the local hidden gem.

I’ll be straight up. The hike was amazing. The beach too.

But the amount of plastic and trash left by locals had me feeling sad.

Ofcourse, Ofcourse we were again the only people on the beach. If only there was no trash.

Below pic is Varuna’s bag

2KM HIKE- Starting from Mr. Biswas house

Above pic with Mr. Biswas who we befriended in the Dolphin hotel. We experienced great hospitality ending with customary coconut water directly from his house garden.