Day 1:
Port Blair is the main island of the Andamans and your main point of entry and exit for all flights. We arrived at Veer Savarkar Airport just before noon and had our transport waiting to take us to our hotel (Lemon Tree Hotel Port Blair). The hotel is right outside the airport so pretty soon after checking-in we were ready for sightseeing.
Our first stop was Corbyns Cove Beach. Its just 8 km from the airport on the south eastern part of the island. The beach had calm waters surrounded by beautiful greenery from 3 sides. The beach was clean and well maintained but we saw much prettier beaches in the Andamans later on our trip.
The star attraction of the island is the Cellular Jail (Kala Pani ), one of the most notorious prisons in history where the British Government shipped mostly Indian freedom fighters during the independence struggle. This had been on all of our bucket lists (especially my mom) because my grand-father who was a freedom-fighter was imprisoned here from 1932-1938.
Visiting the execution chamber was a very somber experience. Our guide told us that the beam at the top is original piece (but not the ropes).
Our guide took us to one of the wings of the prison where we found my grand father’s name among the list of prisoners who spent time there.
The Cellular Jail closes at 5 PM and all visitors are asked to leave the premises and then re-enter for the Light & Sound Show (showing times 5:15 PM/6:15 PM/7:15 PM). We had booked the 5:15 PM show so didn’t have to wait long. The general admission ticket is separate from the Light & Sound Show ticket.
The Light & Sound Show was pretty good and provided a nice history of this brutal prison. After the show, we returned back to the hotel where we had dinner.
Day 2:
This was actually the 2nd to last day of our trip. We returned from Neil Island to Port Blair around 12 PM by Makruzz Ferry and the ferry ride took about 1 hr 15 mins.
After checking in to our hotel for the night (Sinclairs Bayview Port Blair) we had our transport vehicle take us sightseeing. Today we were going to visit a bit further south to Munda Pahad Beach. This beach is a good 24 KM distance south of the airport and takes you through stretches of dense tropical rainforest.
The weather was not cooperating on this day and there was intermittent burst of strong showers throughout the trip to this beach. All of us got soaked there and ended up staying only about an hour at the beach. On the way back our guide stopped at the historical Flag Point where the Indian National Flag was hoisted first time on Indian soil (by none other than Subhas Chandra Bose). This was done in 1943, a good 4 years before Indian Independence.
After returning to the hotel, we had dinner at the on-property restaurant The Bayview.
Day 3:
This was the last day of our trip and we had an outbound flight at mid-day. We had buffet breakfast at the hotel restaurant and spent time lounging around the property before it was time to leave for the airport.
