CanKata: The Andaman Islands

On February 4, 2011, we left Thailand heading for the Andaman Islands. You probably haven’t heard of the Andamans unless,

1. you live in S.E. Asia,

2. you sail in S.E. Asia, or

3. you are a backpacker looking for a place hardly anyone goes to.

We heard about the Andamans from friends who have sailed in this area. They all, without exception, recommend that we make the trip.

GENERAL INFORMATION: The Andaman Islands (a territory of India) are located between the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. There are three principal islands and a cluster of small islands, all hilly and heavily forested. Port Blair is the territory's capital. Timber, coconut, hemp, tea, coffee, and rubber are the principal products of the Andaman Islands. Most of the inhabitants are Indian; Negritos, the islands' aborigines, now number only in the hundreds. Some of the Negritos are a little unfriendly, and we were not allowed to visit some of their islands.

HISTORY: The British established a penal colony at Port Blair in 1789. The penal settlement was discontinued after seven years, but in 1858 it was re-established to imprison Indian “freedom fighters”. The islands were occupied by Japanese forces from 1942 until the end of World War II in 1945, when the British regained control of the territory. The islands became a union territory of India when India gained independence from British rule in 1947. The remains of some settlements, especially at Ross Island, were fascinating to see – most of the brick buildings almost entirely covered with the roots of strangling fig trees.

We arrived in Port Blair on February 7 at noon, and then had to check in with Customs, Immigration, Coast Guard, the Harbour Master and the Forestry Department. We had to pick up the two Customs officials and then the three Immigration officials with our dinghy, but the Coast Guard arrived the next morning in their own big boat (we had plenty of fenders awaiting them!), and four officials came aboard.

Once we answered piles of questions and handed over scads of forms and then completed scads more, we were allowed to go ashore to visit the Harbour Master and the Forestry Department. There are a couple of islands that require special permission in order to go ashore, and we filled out the required forms and waited nearly two days to get the written permission. But when we saw the fee – over $45 per day – we decided that there were enough other islands to visit, so didn’t pay the fee and didn’t get the permission.

So while we were in Port Blair for four days, it actually only took 24 hours to get the clearance we required. For three of the four days, we were able to go ashore and tour, shop, eat and get lots of great photos. Port Blair is

India

without the extreme smog, hustle, smell and poverty of the mainland, so we thoroughly enjoyed our stay there, and got some great photographs.

Darrel and Tim (Rubicon Star) searching for the perfect banana.

The “out” islands are spectacular. Unbelievable as it may sound, there are still islands of breath-taking beauty that are untouched, uninhabited and swarming with reef fish, even if the reef itself is bleached and dying in the warmed-up seas. Highlights

· catching lobster

· spotting a manta ray

· swimming along HUGE and colourful parrot fish

· watching the full moon rise

· and then days later watching the crescent moon and Venus rise at almost exactly the same time