Neill Island - Port Blair - Delhi - Bishkek
From the book "Straight to the South", part 3 "Visiting a sea cow", episode 25.
28-30.03.2018 |
This is final story of our journey straight to the South. It tooks three days to get home.
On March 28th we woke up very early, at 3 am, because we were going to go to the South-Eastern beach of the Neill Island, it is called Sitapur Beach or just the beach #5. It is about 6 km from our hotel, a tuk-tuk requested 800 rupees for round-trip delivery and waiting. Expensive, but they have such prices, you will hardly find cheaper. Also he had to get up in the middle of the night... We drove in complete darkness.
People gather here, as well as on a sunset beach, to watch a performance organized by nature.
Neill Island
From the book "Straight to the South", part 3 "Visiting a sea cow", episode 24.
25-27.03.2018 |
East entrance to the strait between Havlock and Neill Islands. This place was explored by our guide Dharmesh, he considers that it is his personal finding.
Neill Island
From the book "Straight to the South", part 3 "Visiting a sea cow", episode 23.
25-27.03.2018 |
The Neill and Havelock Islands are separated by a strait with a width of over 4 km, sometimes manta ray come there, but we were not lucky to meet them. But when diving on the dive site "Junction"(11°52'7.50"N 93° 1'3.40"E) we immediately saw a large Napoleon fish. Then there were groupers and sweetlips, fan corals gorgonians covered with sea lilies, titan triggerfish and blue-dotted stingray, boxer shrimps, scorpionfish... The water is clear, visibility is about 20-30 meters - we'd dived with pleasure.
Our dive-guide Dharmesh
Neill Island
From the book "Straight to the South", part 3 "Visiting a sea cow", episode 22.
24-27.03.2018 |
The transition between the Havelock and the Neill Islands by the sea ferry "Makruzz" took an hour and a half, the time flew by - we were "attacked" by friendly Indian tourists. Acquaintances, talking, photo shooting…
The Andaman sea pinnacles
From the book "Straight to the South", part 3 "Visiting a sea cow", episode 21.
20-23.03.2018 |
The best dive sites near of Havelock Island are undoubtedly the tops of small underwater volcanoes in the open Andaman sea. The current-borne spores of coral polyps are searching hills on bottom of the sea to hook, then establish their colony, grow, bloom and provide food to marine life. Even deep-sea large predators sometimes come up here to eat. Therefore, divers have a chance to see all them at once in such places.
On the boat before the dive
Radhanagar Beach (beach #7)
From the book "Straight to the South", part 3 "Visiting a sea cow", episode 20.
23.03.2018 | 11°59'2.46"N 92°57'10.58"E |
I have already said that the Islands of the Andaman archipelago are mostly protected, but they have allowed tourism to develop on Havlok Island. We had no time to observe the island in details - we spent the most of the time under water, but we considered mandatory to visit the beach #7. This is almost the best sandy beach on the Andaman, where you can swim without the risk of getting hurt on the coral, even at low tide. The road there crosses the island from North to South, among the villages and fields, it is getting worse as we approach a small pass. The way takes about 40 minutes, our tuk-tuk puffs and presses hard to the side, passing the counters... And here is the descent, a little more shaking and we are on the beach.
It is large, stretching for a couple of kilometers and it is really sandy. Its official name (Radhanagar Beach) is not known to everyone, here the beaches are assigned numbers. We got here in the late afternoon. Despite its remoteness, the beach was filled with people, the vast majority of visiting tourists - Indians. Few of them risk to go far into the water, but they love to splash in shallow water and sit on the sand, especially the kids. Here is the atmosphere of a quiet family holiday, all people in a good mood and happy to touch the clear blue sea…
White House Rock dive site
From the book "Straight to the South", part 3 "Visiting a sea cow", episode 19.
21.03.2018 | 12° 1'19.40"N 92°48'2.60"E |
A long journey of 20 km by sea, we crossed by boat the strait between the chain of the main islands of the archipelago and smaller islands, such as our Havelock.