Havelock Island - ANI

This was the penultimate day of the tour and two very exciting activities had been planned - trip to Havelock Island during the day and the Awards Ceremony at night. The Group once again reached the Phoenix Boat Jetty and boarded a well equipped modern comfortable luxury liner. The sea was magical in colour when viewed from the window. The cruise was fine for a while after which the ship experienced severe pitching due to rough sea. Many of us enjoyed this unique experience but some unfortunates felt nauseus and rushed unbalanced to the wash rooms to throw up. The sea settled down after a while and the rest of cruise was smooth. We reached Havelock Island after about 75 minutes. Havelock Island is a very small Island and most of the population are Bengali settlers. The distance between Port Blair and Havelock Island is 54 kilometers. Havelock Island is famous for its pristine beaches, coral reefs and for a relaxing holiday.

At the boat jetty we were transported into buses & jeeps and we soon reached an exotic plush green resort with bamboo hut cottages, huge lawns and dotted with coconut palms. The crowd was once again treated to delicious refreshing tender coconut water. Some made a bee line towards a table laid out with choicest range of alcohol. While others went straight to the adjoining sparkling white beach where catamarans (also known as dugongs) carrying "Edge 2009" placards were waiting to take us to a faraway beach for snorkelling. The boat ride took around 30 minutes after which we arrived in one of the most magnificent and glorious beaches. We were in Paradise. The sky was clear and the weather perfect for snorkelling. Quite a few in the group changed to swimming costumes and ventured for snorkelling while others were content with taking rides in glass bottomed boats to view the most breathtaking view of corals at the sea bottom - such an amazing variety of colors, shapes & sizes. It was an awesome experience. The sea was so transparent and crystal clear.

We would have loved to linger on in this paradise for ever but we had deadlines to keep and we returned to base for a quick lunch and rushed back to the jetty to board the cruise for the return journey to Port Blair.

At night we were witness to a dazzling Awards Ceremony with plenty of entertainment in the form of crooners and comedy shows in between the Awards presentation.

The show was followed by dinner and that brought the curtains down on a very exciting and enjoyable day.