First thing this morning we set of for Havelock Island, where the amazing diving is supposed to be. The wind was on our nose and we were in head seas. We felt like we were on a hobby horse, but it wasn’t bad, just a little bouncy.
We pulled up to Radha Nagar beach (known as anchorage #7) on the middle of the west side of the island around 1400 (2:00 pm). It looks just like what you would expect a South Pacific Island to look like. The water is a clear turquoise and there is a long white sand beach with jungle behind it. It is stunning.
We situated Kosmos, got Kosmopolitan down and headed to shore. Beach landings are always tricky. You have to carefully time it so the wave brings you in, then you have to jump out fast and pull the dinghy on the sand before the wave sucks the dinghy back into the ocean. Eric is getting to be pretty good at the landings these days. Fortunately, there were no rocks at all and the beach is an incredibly soft, fine sand, which made the landing painless. We dragged the dinghy up to the edge of the jungle and tied her to a tree. The birds were happily singing away. This is the nicest beach we have seen yet. There were several people playing on the shore, so we headed their direction, figuring they could point us to the road. No need to ask the road became evident as we got close to it.
On one side of the road is a small hotel that consists of several weird little domes. The other side is lined with a dozen or so small lean to shacks made of wooden planks with corrugated metal roofs. They look like they are all small restaurants. As we started on the road we watched a bus pull up and park. That’s convenient. We headed over to the bus to ask when it was leaving. Several other people got on and sat down, so we figured it must leave at 1500, in just a few minutes. We guessed correctly.
The fare is only 6 rupee each, which is 15 cents USD. We set off down a relatively new, but very narrow, asphalt road with modern Indian music blaring. It looks just like the south pacific. It is mostly jungle, with a small palm plantation and a few small farms along the way. The few houses around are all bamboo huts, some with palm frond roofs, some with corrugated metal roofs. All kinds of animals were walking around dogs, cows, goats, pigs, chickens. There was a bank of solar panels near a tiny building that said “solar power station”. The road reminds us of Bali, only wide enough for 1 ½ cars, making passing oncoming vehicles a little scary, especially when the vehicle is another bus. Unlike Bali, traffic was light so there wasn’t much to worry about. It is also hilly, and the blind corners add to the scariness factor.
There seem to be no set bus stops. The bus just automatically pulls over any time the driver sees someone waiting at the side of the road. The bus filled up quickly and by the time we got to a village 20 minutes later, was so packed you would think it was a clown car. We had absolutely no idea where we were, but since most of the bus emptied out here, we figured this was as good a place as any to start hunting for a dive shop. A tuk tuk driver asked us if we needed a ride. We asked where we were and he told us Village #3. According to our map we are on the east coast just a few miles south of the north tip of the island. Near to where we were standing, there are a couple of concrete buildings under construction, one of them a medical facility, that all had the desolate look like they would never be finished. There are a few small cylinder block structures, as well. It appeared that the rest of the village consists of a block or so of the same small lean to shacks on both sides of the road, similar to the shacks at the beach.
Down towards the south end of town was a nice looking shop with a sign that said “tourist services”. The lady behind the counter told us there are two dive shops about 500 yards farther south down the road. It was an easy walk since we were on flat land and a good road. Outside the village we realized the road we were on parallels the beach. On our right side is all farmland. The left side, the beach side, is lined with small “resorts” and restaurants. Most of the “resorts” consist of a small collection of bamboo huts and don’t look all that nice. The restaurants are mostly shacks similar to what we have seen on the rest of the island. There were a lot of other anglo tourists walking up and down the road, too. Pt. Blair is a popular tourist destination for mainland Indians, kind of like Hawai’i for Americans, and we had seen lots of Indian tourists in Port Blair, but only one other anglo.
We found the first dive shop and made our inquiries. They were full every day we were going to be in the Andaman Islands, and they were pretty sure the other shop next door was full, too. The guy we spoke with was very friendly and helpful and told us there is one other dive shop at the jetty with a bad reputation that we could try. We went next door and they confirmed they were full. We walked back to the tourist shop and asked how we get to the jetty. The lady behind the counter told us it was too far to walk and we would need a tuk tuk, then advised us not to dive with this company.
North of the medical facility are a couple of schools and a generator plant of some sort. There are a few more buildings that look like residential houses, and then it begins to look much the same as the other direction, with “resorts” and restaurants on the beach side of the road and farm land on the other side. It was about a 10 minute ride to the jetty at the northern tip of the island. Just before the bus stopped, we passed several nice looking concrete apartment buildings on the water side and we got off the bus in front of a nice concrete commercial building and concrete ferry terminal. The jetty is in town #1.
The jetty is a utilitarian concrete block with zero architectural appeal. Along the water on the west side of the jetty there is a dirt road lined on one side with more lean-to shops. The other side is beach front, and there is a children’s play area here with lots of adults sitting on the playground equipment. There is one large concrete building under construction that looks like it is actively being worked on. Beyond the little commercial strip on the water there are buildings that look like houses. Most of the houses are dilapidated and look like they will fall down soon, even the couple that have been painted cheerful colors. There is a park that is just dry dirt that some boys were playing what we think is cricket in.
Our assessment of village #1 is that it is the biggest and has some of the nicest buildings we have seen yet on the island, but it feels the saddest. Maybe because there is little greenery here. It has all been cleared for the village. Maybe because there are so many dilapidated buildings.
We wandered around for a while and didn’t see the dive shop. We inquired at a restaurant, and the several people standing there all pointed down the paved road. A minute later, a man came running up and said he would take us there. The dive shop turned out to be a little farther down, in one of the resorts along the beach. The people helping us spoke very little English and told us our choices were near sites or far sites. We tried asking about water clarity, depth, what we would see at each site, but they had no idea what we were asking them. We picked near sites. The near sites are near Kosmos, and we tried to ask if they could pick us up from Kosmos, but they didn’t understand. If they weren’t going to pick us up, we would have to use their gear because it would be difficult for us to schlep our gear across the island.
On a side note, we had expected some English to be spoken in Singapore and Malaysia since they were once English colonies. But we hadn’t expected everyone to speak English in either place. Conversely, we thought that everyone in India spoke English, and we have been surprised to find that very few people speak English here in the Andamans.
We were very hesitant to sign up with this company based on the communication issues. They are both PADI and BSAC certified, and BSAC has a great reputation. That is a very good sign. We inspected the equipment. It looked like it is in good shape. Another good sign. We asked to be taken to two specific sites the other dive shop had mentioned and they said yes. We figured underwater it didn’t matter if they spoke English. And we have enough dive experience that we can take care of ourselves. So we signed up.
Our new Indian friend that took us to the dive shop followed us out of the dive shop and informed us the bus was leaving in just a few minutes, at 1730 (5:30). He also assured us there was a 0700 bus in the morning that would get us to the dive shop on time. We walked over to the sitting bus and hopped on. The sun was setting and we doubted we would make it back to the beach before dark.
It was almost pitch black when we arrived at our stop. There would be a full moon later, but it hadn’t risen yet. Getting the dinghy back in the water against the waves is much harder than landing it on the beach, but we managed to get it launched with no problems. The stars were dazzling in the sky and the bioluminescence was glowing. A nice close to the day.
One of the things that you have to do when you are on a boat in the Andamans is check in with Port Authority twice a day to say hi and affirm location. You also have to call every time you move. We called in at 1930 (7:30 pm), at what we thought was the scheduled time. We got a lecture. We were supposed to call in at 1730. Oops!