The Andamans islands and the sea there is as beautiful as can be. The sea is of dozen different shades – a beautiful light blue, green, turquoise, emerald and more. Long walks on the beach, a star studded sky, snorkeling in some of the most vibrant coral reefs, and breathtaking sites are waiting for you. Here are the places you must visit on these gorgeous islands.
Havelock Island
Visit Andaman’s most beautiful island – Havelock. Long beaches, mangroves and cliffs in the distance, the colours breaking into translucent light green, turquoise, cobalt and blue; the countryside inviting you to bike around; small huts posing as cafes by the road; Havelock is but a backpackers paradise.
Head to Radhanagar beach – the most beautiful beach on the island and voted as Asia’s best in 2004. It’s gorgeous, the white sand stretches endlessly, with a mangrove forest in the background. The water is turquoise, great for swimming and has splendid coral reefs. This is the best place to catch a sunset.
Visit Elephant Beach. It is a lovely part of Havelock, which can be reached both by boat as well as by road or hiking. The hike is through a dense jungle, and will take you about an hour to reach the beach. Reward yourself by just relaxing, or play with a ball or Frisbee or swim in the crystal clear waters of the beautiful ocean. This is one of the best places to try your hand at snorkeling.
And if you want to go one step ahead, go for Scuba Diving. The waters and the marine life in the Andamans are stunning, and it is an opportunity that should not be missed! You will be able to see loads of clownfish, parrotfish, beautiful coloured corals, barracudas, sea cucumbers, jellyfish and more.
Note: Find an operator who can take you on a boat into the ocean for the dive, instead of doing it on the shore. It will be more expensive but the experience is so much better.
Biking around the island is an excellent way to see more of what happens – how the locals stay, how the backpackers and hippies move and more. Visit Kalapathar beach to witness a gorgeous sunrise.
Ross Island
Ross Island used to be a British outpost till the 1940s. One of the first places where the British set up base in the Andamans, it became the centre from where the entire islands were governed. In the 40s, the Japanese bombarded it during World War 2, and in 2004, it was rocked again by the Tsunami.
Today, it is visited by a lot of tourists most of who have no idea about how the tribals were tortured a hundred years back. Today, it is a lovely spot, has some great views of the sea, and ruins of a church. There is a sanctuary located at the middle of the island and is filled with deer and peacocks. There are many unique interwoven man-caves which were built around the island to help the important British officers escape during an attack. There is a lot of history in the island.
Barren Island
Barren Island is not barren in terms of the vegetation but due to the lack of civilization on this piece of land. It is one of the few places in India where visitors are not allowed.
Barren Island is an active volcano situated in The Andaman Sea. This is the only active volcano in the entire South Asia region. The island has become quite popular in past few years and many people want to see this place which is still untouched by humanity. Now, you cannot set foot on this island due to security reasons but there are ways to get a look. There are two options for which you need prior permission.
- You can board a seaplane and take off to enjoy the aerial view of this majestic island. And even though you won’t be able to land here, it will be a thrilling experience to see the only active volcano in the country. Ash fumes rising from the island with water as far as you can see, it does sound perfect!
- The second option is to go on a diving trip near the island. This is what I’d prefer because even though the views will be perfect from above, we should literally taste the waters around this mystical island. The sea around the barren island is one of the best scuba diving destinations in the world. Unlike the lighter sand that is prevalent at all the dive sites around India, the bedrock of Barren Island is black. The black canvas forms the perfect backdrop for the corals which appear much brighter in colour in these untouched waters.
You will be swimming with dozens of manta rays, tunas, sea snakes, barracudas, turtles and oceanic sharks. It is a paradise for anyone who craves for exploring the underwater world. The thrilling quotient will be doubled as you will be one of the few people who get to explore around this uninhabited land.
Little Andaman
Situated on the Southern Andaman district, this island is truly a magical place for beach lovers. With sparkling blue water, dreamy beaches and coconut plantations, it looks like a scene from a post-card.
The palm-fringed shoreline of Butler Bay Beach is the perfect place to lay back and just relax. But if it’s a little bit of adventure you are looking for, grab that surf-board. Considered as the best surfing spot in the country, the place is quite popular among the intermediate and advanced surfers.
Click here to check out the best places to do surfing in India!
There are many trails to go hiking in the island. And there are many waterfalls to explore as well. Visit White Surf Waterfall and Whisper Wave Waterfall. Both of them are equally enchanting and picture perfect.
Visit the Red Oil Palm Plantation here to experience the different stages of oil palm fruit production and oil extraction. There are plenty of workers there who are willing to give you a tour of the plantation where you can witness its processing.
Click here to read more about Little Andamans!
Jolly Buoy/Redskin Island
Jolly Buoy and Redskin are two different islands and the reason I have mentioned them together is because travelling to both is not mutually exclusive. Jolly Buoy is only open for 6 months from June to September and after that Red Skin island is opened for visitors. Both of these islands come under the Mahatma Gandhi National Park’s Marine Sanctuary which is a preserved area which means these islands are plastic free zones. All the visitors are asked to list every item they are taking along to the island and they should return with all of them.
You can take a morning boat from Wandoor beach to reach the islands. You will get enchanted by the ocean view touching horizon between these surrounding tiny islands landscape. The water here is very clear and the islands are best place to watch excellent marine life, wonderful submerged corals from a glass bottom boat. This is also the best place to go for snorkeling in Andamans.
