Havelock Island

Havelock is a ferry ride from South Andaman and named after Henry Havelock who was a British General. The astounding thing about the islands is that they still, to this day, retain most of their British names, Lawrence Island, Sir William Peel Island, Interview Island and Table Island. Perhaps it is a sign that the mainland actually is not really engaged with the islands except the few that are of military importance to them so largely speaking there is little change and creeping but not galloping development. 

Havelock is perhaps the most developed with a thriving back packer and diving community all built on the wonderful white sanded beaches. There are two roads on the island. One going to the eastern beaches and the other to the western where we were. 

Barefoot resort is lovely. Nestled in a clearing of the rain forest the tents are comfortable and spacious and there is a palpable serenity to the place. There is a restaurant and a yoga centre and a great bar where everyone hangs out in the evenings and exchanges stories of the day's adventures. 

The resort is a short walk from the beach which is one of the loveliest on the island. There are no umbrellas or organised outlets on the beach, just the shade of the forest which literally comes down to the water in some places. 

This remind me about mad dogs and Englishmen in the midday sun 

The butterflies were so impressive and extremely large. 

The reef off Elephant Beach is well worth visiting and there are trips for diving and snorkelling there on a daily basis. 

We also loved the rain forest so we took one of the guides from the resort and headed on a four hour round trip which took us into deep and dense rain forest and then back along the beach. A beautiful but demanding walk where our guide had to cut a path through the forest which was lush and overgrown from the monsoon rains.A word of warning, however, the next day when we headed off on our own to walk to Elephant beach we had to come back. The path was slippery and muddy and the forest path often had different directions and it was impossible to know which was the right one. We had to admit defeat and come back covered with mud to our knees but grateful that we managed to find our way back to the main road. 

 The trees were gigantic and went up to a 100 ft 

The sunsets were amazing but inevitably I didn't carry my camera so this one was sent by a Spanish friend we met on the beach. 

The best moment was coming across this sign :

More on Port Blair in my next blog