This was the third in the series of lectures. This class was taken by Prof. Anton Musgave. Sharing my class notes - Prof. is from South Africa and he started off with sharing his experiences in the current turnmoil the country is facing. More here. It was good to hear that he and his family was safe. Also, he shared how citizens came together to prevent spread of this outbreak by working with the govt. and offering a human shield to prevent further looting in the country. Since, this class was on leadership and strategy, he shared few quotes that I have taken note of - Never say 'empower your people'. Say 'unleash your people' Focus on taking away the obstacles Leaders need to design strategy, equip their team, define rules and step back Thinking about the future should be task of a leader Leaders are in the business of tomorrow Leaders have to deal with today but plan for the future Trends don't help forecast the future but Signals do.. What are signals? How to...
A trip to Andaman was always there in my bucket list. Me and my wife returned to Kolkata from Mumbai due to Covid lockdown. Prolonged stay in Kolkata with remote work forced us to plan for regions that could be visited from Kolkata. Andaman was one such location that's must visit if you are staying in Kolkata. It offers direct flight connectivity with one among the least time to travel.
I planned the trip within a week starting with places that could be covered within max 3 days of travel. Have shared a sample planning sheet (at the end) that I made for the trip. Although, it helped planned my days but due to restricted travel time slot for few locations and unpredictable weather, had to change the plan while at Andaman.
It was a sultry morning of Tues in Apr’21 and I was on my way to a diagnostic center. I had the flight to take on Thurs and I had many things going on in my mind.. will I be able to get my Covid RT-PCR report before I board my flight to Andaman Island.. will there be any restrictions when I visit Andaman etc.
Word of advice: If you are from Kolkata, do get your RT-PCR report from Dr Lal Pathlabs. I got it from newtown center. They gave me the result for me and my wife by evening the same day we gave our sample. Sharing the location if you need to visit for RT-PCR report. This is located adjacent to water tank no. 5 and is located close to Fairfield hotel.
For the benefit of those who are planning to visit Andaman Islands, I’m sharing my travel plan with specific details that you might find useful.
Travel Plan —
- No. of travellers — Me and my wife
- No. of days — 3 days (Thurs to Sat) with return by Sun noon. Pls note: many of the tourist locations are closed on Mondays at Port Blair.
- Type of travel — Casual with no exotic destination visits
- Trip budget — ~INR 60K (~ USD 800) for 3 days trip (will share the exact split of my expenses at the end)
Travel essentials —
- Covid-19 RTPCR test report printout (you will need to show this wherever you travel)
- Aadhar Card (if you're an Indian resident)
- Umbrella + Sunscreen — it rained a lot in Apr, during our visit
- Covid Essentials - Masks (as many as you can carry. You will need to change them frequently), Sanitisers
- Cash — you will need it for local travel. All major food joints accept cards.
Travel Itinerary —
Day 1- 15th Apr’21 (Thu) —
- Flight from Kolkata to Portblair — 8am
- Land at Port Blair airport - 10am
- Get the RTPCR report stamped - carry a printout of the RTPCR report to be screened and stamped by airport authorities on arrival. You will need this to board any ferry as well, if you are travelling to any of the other Andaman Islands from Port blair.
- Get a cab from airport to Hotel - As soon as step out of the airport, you will find quite a few cab drivers. Negotiate to take you to your hotel. My hotel was around 4.5Kms from the airport and the cab driver agreed at INR 50/-. Took me around 15mins to reach the hotel.
- Picked up few water bottles on the way - It's my habit to not solely depend on hotel folks for drinking water.
- Check-in at the hotel at 11am - I booked a Deluxe room (with Breakfast) at WelcomHotel Bay Island at PortBlair. I booked it via Agoda.com where I got the best deal.
- Got hold of an auto for taking me through the city for sight seeing - If you step out of the hotel and come down the road towards the city, you can get many autos plying on the road. I negotiated with one to take me through the day for INR 1000/- (you can do better). His contact - Mr Muniya. Contact no. - 7063900120.
- A word of caution: I will not recommend taking self-driven bikes as the region as quite steeply inclined roads with abrupt rains. Unless you enjoy getting drenced or you are on tight budget, I will not recommend bikes.
- He agreed to take me through -
- Cellular Jail
- Stop by for Lunch
- Flag point Tiranga
- Corbyns Cove Beach
- Sagarika Emporium for Souvenirs (Govt run shop)
- Cellular Jail - visit at 130pm. Entry fees - INR 20 per adult for Indians.
- takes about an hour to cover the premises.
- Do take the steps to reach the top of the central tower for a nice view of the island.
- I missed the light and sound show that happens in the evening starting 5pm.
- Next, I headed to have lunch at New Lighthouse Restaurant. We ordered fish fry, plain rice and prawn curry. Food prices are reasonable and service was prompt. Bill came around INR 680/-.
- You may visit Aquarium, just beside the restaurant.
- I headed towards Corbyns Cove Beach and stopped by at the Flag Point.
- Flag point has a nice stopover point for taking pics
- Corbyns cove beach is not worth the visit if you're not planning to do any water sports.
- Last point was Sagarika Emporium for Souvenir. They have 2 different shops at ground floor and first floor. First floor has a better variety.
- I wrapped the day around 630pm and paid the auto INR 1000/- for his service.
- I also asked him to pick me up at the hotel at 6:30am for my ferry to Havelock Island the next day.
- Had dinner at Amaya (roof top restaurant at Hotel Sea Shell). Amaya has a nice ambience. Must visit if you are staying nearby. We ordered crispy chilli prawns with chop suey. Food was great and service was prompt.
Day 2 - 16th Apr'21 (Fri) -
- It was a cloudy day to begin with. Mr Muniya was punctual and picked us from the hotel at 630am sharp.
- Ferry from Port Blair to Havelock and return on the same day (How to reach Havelock Island from Port Blair and return on the same day) -
- Had booked my ferry to Havelock with Makruzz. Booked my tickets a week in advance from https://www.makruzz.com/. You need to book 2 separate tickets even if you plan to return to Port blair on the same day.
- Makruzz ferry for Havelock Island starts from Haddo Jetty no. 3. Make sure you reach by 7am for 8am ferry.
- Keep your aadhar card, your tickets and RTPCR report handy.
- You also need to check-in at the counter before boarding the ferry.
- Screen your luggage and head over to the onboarding point.
- Ferry is well maintained with comfortable seating. Online booking is recommended to get your preferred window seats.
- They are punctual and the ferry left on time for Havelock Islands, once all passengers onboarded.
- Travel time to Havelock islands is around 1.5 hrs. We reached at around 930am.
- Local sight seeing at Havelock (officially known as Swaraj Island or Dweep) -
- As soon as you step out of the Ferry terminal, you will be thronged by drivers who would offer either of bike, auto or cab to take you through the island.
- You have an option to take Bike on rent (available for INR 300 for the day), or take auto (available at INR 900 for the day) or take a cab (available at INR 1000 for the day). We took the cab.
- Pls note: I got only Airtel's mobile signal on the Havelock Island. I also had Vodafone and Jio SIM, but none had signal on the island.
- Mr Debnath (Mobile no. - 09531836848) took me to Kalapathar beach first.
Road to Kalapathar beach - https://youtu.be/sisI_2Yseko
- This beach is worth visiting if you love tranquil beach with aquamarine water. Kalapathar beach is around 10 mins drive from the Jetty terminal.
- Next, we headed to Radha nagar beach. The journey from Kalapathar to Radha Nagar Beach is around 15mins
- As soon as we reached the beach, the weather turned bad and everyone was asked to not go to the waters. I spent around an hour at the beach till the rain stopped.
- Weather got windy as we reached Radha nagar beach -
https://youtu.be/xlPOtVfB3Es - We took a stroll as the rain stopped
- Next I headed to take lunch at Sea Dragon restaurant at 130. I chose this restaurant because of its great reviews. This restaurant is a part of the hotel premises on the main road. It's better to go by the map link or ask people nearby for directions. To be on the safer side, we order rice, dal makhni and fish curry. Food was great and service was prompt too.
- By 230pm, we were done and we took a lazy stroll towards Ferry terminal. Ferry terminal is located around 800metres (around 12min walk).
- There are few speed boats plying near the ferry terminal where you can take a ride.
- There is a single ferry at 4pm that takes people back from Havelock Island to Port Blair.
- Make sure you check-in at the Makruzz point (just outside the ferry terminal) before onboarding the ferry.
- Return journey took 1.5hrs. We returned to Port Blair Haddo Jetty at 530pm.
- On the arrival point, we took an auto back to our hotel. Negotiated price of INR 150/-.
- We winded up the day with dinner at the hotel cafe - WelcomCafe Bay Leaf. We ordered a Chicken Spraghetti. Food was great and service was prompt. Checkout the cafe menu.
Day 3 - 17th Apr'21 (Sat) -
- The day started with bright sunny morning but soon turned to a dark, wet weather within an hour.
- I had kept the day to cover these in any order that was feasible -
- Ross Island (15min ride to adjacent island near cellular jail)
- Chatam saw mill
- Chidiya Tapu (for sunset view)
- I had to cancel the plan for Ross Island as there are fixed timings for the ferry. First one is at 10am followed by 12pm. If you wish to take the ferry, do plan your day a bit in advance.
- I asked Mr Muniya (my Auto driver) to take me to Chatam Saw Mill.
- This is a nice place to visit that holds quite a few interesting tales to tell.
- I took the entry ticket to Chatam Saw Mill (INR 20/- per adult).
- Headed to the Forest museum located inside the campus. This holds a nice collection of photos depicting various places from Andaman Islands and many artifacts.
- A guide approached me to take me through the place. Asking rate for Guide (INR 100/-) and he said he would cover -
- Forest Museum - hold artifacts made from wood. It's worth taking a guide as he would be able to explain the history and some intesting facts about the place.
- Japanese bunker - it's like a 30 ft tunnel that gives you a feel of the history. Guide would also tell you about the utility of the bunker at the time of Japanese invasion of the island.
- Chatam saw mill - interesting place to visit that stores all the timber. You should take guide to take you through the place and help you understand how the mill used to function pre-Independence era.
- Last spot was a Bombpit. It's a crater of around 20mtr diameter created due to bombing.
- Next step would have been visit to Marine Museum (but it got closed for lunch at 1pm). Will suggest you try to reach Marine Museum by 1230 if you wish to cover this by lunch time.
- My plan for second half was to visit Chidiya Tapu. It's located around 25kms from my hotel. It would have taken 1 hr one way to visit the place. If you wish to visit, do start off by 230pm to reach the spot on time. Asking price for Auto is around INR 1000/- to cover Chidiya Tapu. Any cab driver would take you for around INR 1800/- (I didn't negotiate as I was not sure if i would be able to visit).
- Our hotel offered some breath taking views of the island. I spent some time admiring the nature.
View from the Hotel Lobby
- We wrapped up the day with a dinner at Amaya. We ordered Chicken sizzler, chilly fish and brownie sizzler.
- A short walk back to the hotel to end the day.
Day 4 - 18th Apr'21 (Sun)
- The day of return and you realise that your vacation is about to end.
- I took the return flight to Kolkata by Air Vistara. Make sure you complete your web check-in prior to reaching the airport.
- You don't need your RTPCR report for return flight.
- Drop to airport should take around 15mins and auto would charge around INR 100/- for the drop.
- Bird's eye view of the island as we left back for Kolkata -
Travel Expense Sheet —
This expense sheet is just a representative expense for a couple. This might vary depending on your personal preference for stay, points travelled, type of food etc.
Sample itinerary for the trip -
Other info about the Island -
- Almost everyone on the island can speak in Hindi
- The day starts pretty early. Sunrise expected around 430am.
- Local travel is expensive as autos don't run on meter. You would need to negotiate before taking the ride.
- Make sure you have either Vodafone or Airtel's SIM. Andaman doesn't have JIO network.
- Internet on the island is pretty choppy. Even hotels offer wifi only around lobby with no wifi access within rooms
- Total active cases in the Andaman Islands is still in double digits (as on 18th Apr' 21).
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