Day 1 - Dropped Anchors at Port Blair
Our journey started on Day 0, when we completed the Bangalore - Chennai part and decided to spend the night at the airport. Shatabdi Express dropped us at Chennai Central around 10:00 PM and then we took the Chennai EMU to reach Chennai Airport, which was pretty cheap & interesting.
Our flight was early in the morning, so we decided to spend the night at the Airport itself. We presumed that we might be able to use the airport lounge & have a decent time. But when we entered the airport, all Air India counters were closed, and we weren't able to clear the security check till 03:00 AM. Spending these 3-4 hours at the airport was the toughest, as you don't have much too do in this zone (inside the airport, before the security check-in). Added was the fact that it was the eve of Diwali vacations, the airport was filled with tourist, travelers & students from VIT,Vellor. We struggled but finally found a quiet place where we slept for 2-3 hours.
On Day 1, we had our flight around 5:30 AM from Chennai. After the nap, we woke up around 3. Went through the security check and ran to the lounge. We were hungry and sleepy, needed food & coffee. We spend the rest of the time at the lounge and then boarded the flight to Port Blair.
We slept through the flight so Port Blair came up pretty quick but it was a 2.5 hours flight. The first view of the island state was very refreshing after the tormenting last night at the airport.
First views of the islands
Veer Savarkar Airport is one of the smallest but a very beautiful airport. We had a pickup waiting to take us to our accommodation. The hotel was close to the airport, so we reached in minutes.
A local city tour was planned for the 2nd half of the day. We were so excited that we just changed and left. We started with the Central Jail, Rajiv Gandhi Water Sports Complex, Aquarium & few museums. We stopped for lunch at Ananda Multicusine Restaurant and were back at our accommodation by 3. In the evening, we went for the Central Jail light & sound show. This is the portion that narrated us the dark history of the region. All that happened here, all that was just an act of one human on another to make them lay low and be a slave.
Cellular Jail
Anthropological Museum
Aquarium
The small town of Port Blair is a mountain straight out of water. So you wont find many beaches here. Also if you are travelling inside the town, where the sea is out of sight, you will surly presume Port Blair to be more of hill station that a sea shore town.