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Dec 14, 2009 - Day 1
For a seeker of basic Open Water Certification, my destination was obviously Havelock. After a comfortable Kingfisher Red flight from Chennai to Port Blair, it was a quick dash to some crummy restaurant to satisy my hunger and then to the Phoenix jetty from there. The less said, the better about the ferry ride, which was like a hot oven inside. The only highlight of the ferry ride was the time spent in the bridge of the ferry with the captain, which gave a peek at all the navigational equipment onboard.
As i disembarked from the ferry, the sun was setting over what appeared to be a quiet island, until i was swarmed by the touts and the taxi guys, as i stepped outside the jetty.
 Sun setting over Havelock
Havelock has two roads. One running from from the Jetty in the north all the way to the Elephant training camp in the south. Another road forms a T-junction at the village, running westward towards the Radhanagar beach. Well, so much for carrying a map. We drove past the village near beach #3, ( which has a few dhabas and some small stores) to beach #5 where Emerald Gecko, my resort was located. Don't be fooled by the name "resort". There ain't any resorts on the east side of Havelock, what is known as the Vijayanagar beach. All you find is a series of cheap bamboo beach huts between beach #3 and #5. The only resort worth the tag "resort", is the Barefoot resort next to the Radhanagar beach, a truly splendid eco-friendly resort.
Emerald Gecko resort is a nice quiet place, which thankfully was devoid of the stray dogs, which happenend to be regular guests in other resorts. It has a open airy feel, with only a handful of huts under the coconut trees, unlike many of the newer resorts which are cropping up in Havelock, which contain series of row houses(rather huts), and narrow aisles with barely any breathing spaces between them. The slightly upscale Bamboo huts at Emerald Gecko were pretty, and at Rs 1500 a night, it's probably cost-effective for a couple, but not for someone like me who was travelling alone.
 Beach huts at Emerald Gecko
The beach hut i was going to stay at, was a dissapointment, in that it was too cramped and suffocating. I went to the restaurant at Wild Orchid resort for dinner. What a lovely ambience it was - nice polished bamboo construction with a thatched roof, which was tastefully decorated and maintained !. This was the only decent upscale restaurant i found on the east side of the island during my stay at Havelock.
 Wild Orchid restaurant
Dec 15, 2009 - Day 2
Havelock is getting popular, but it still maintains a slow pace of life, when compared to other popular tropical destinations around the world. Havelock certainly cannot calll itself a budget destination anymore. My jaw dropped when a resort owner told me that the cost per acre of land here was close to 80-100 lakhs !. Hell, we are not talking about the Kaanapali beach area in Maui. This is a tiny underdeveloped island in a supposedly remote achipelago in the Andamans, where there's not even an ATM !.
I rented a motorbike and drove to the Radhanagar beach, a 30-min pleasant ride from the village. Now, i won't repeat the cliche "Radhanangar has been voted as the #1.....". Radhangar is a huge crescent of white sand - lush green forest in the background and inviting torquise blue waters. I must say i have not seen a beach so clean, so serene and secluded !. The Barefoot jungle resort is located in the jungle along this beach, in this enviable setting.
   
Radhanagar beach
I took a leisurely walk along the beach all the way to the northern tip of the beach, where it's breifly interrupted by a rocky stretch. Beyond the rocks is another suberb little cove, which is a nice snorkelling spot. I saw a couple of folks lazing on the hammocks tied to the tree branches, having the cove all to themselves. The beach ends after that. I was told that, from this point, one could walk along the forest and reach the Elephant beach. That is, if one doesn't mind getting lost and spending a night in the jungle !
After resting in this cove for a while, i walked back to the Radhanagar beach entrance. After the lunch at one of those dhabas and some fresh coconut water, i could only think of lazing around the beach under a tree, which is precisely what i did. Why not ? Life doesn't get any better than this !. I woke up just in time for the sunset. Longitudinally, Andaman is at 92 degrees, which is 10 deg past the IST or put it differently 40 min ahead of mainland time. So the sun sets a bit earlier here in the Andamans. A steady stream of crowd started trickling in at the sunset time, on an otherwise deserted beach. It's these glorious sunsets that the travellers in the tropics live for.
 
Radhanagar beach at sunset
Now i coudn't resist not trying the Italian restaurant by the beach called Mahua. I coudn't have asked for a better location for this restaurant, set in the absolute silence of the jungle by the Radhanagar beach, only to interrupted by the sounds of the breaking waves. But the food was nothing great. That was probably the most pathetic bruschetta i have ever eaten. But the ambience made up for all the shortcomings in the food. Another walk along the beach, under the stars, it was time to say goodnight to the Radhanagar beach.
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