Andaman Diary : Day2-3 : Ship Journey

20/21st Dec 2008


The evening of the previous day.

Sleeping on the ship is not bad, it becomes bad only when the waves are punishing. The rear end of the ship vibrates a lot, I can feel a constant buzz, but after some time I have got used to it.


Crack of the dawn.


Morning are outstanding, not at all to miss such an opportunity, I woke up by 5:30 AM and was ready for the spectacle. Unfortunately from the sea, most of the horizon is occupied by the far far away clouds and the mist. The sun was visible only after half an hour of the actual sunrise, nevertheless it was still breathtaking.


Insanely expensive Bunk Canteen.

The breakfast in Cabin class dining is pretty impressive. Upama + Bread + Jam + Butter + Omlette + Cornflakes + Boiled potatoes. A very healthy and a little too heavy !!! Ship travel is very relaxed, I didn’t do any physical work on the ship, just lying around here and there :) Anyways, the breakfast in bunk Canteen is 4 cold bread slices + butter and it costs 30 bucks. That’s ridiculous. The 2-day meal pass for cabin class dining costs around 350 INR per person. Very much worth it, the food is good and in plenty, and a good ambience to eat as well.



While talking to the ship crew, I came to know that for the shipping corporation, these trips are very loss making. The maintenance is huge as compared to the fares. Tickets prices are very low and for islanders it is less than 50% of the fare what tourists had to pay. Islanders had to pay only 700 INR for Bunk tickets, for the same ticket I had to pay 2000 INR. These ships run on the government subsidy. After all as a government enterprise, primary purpose of The Shipping Corporation is to provide good and cheap services to its citizens. No issues :)


Life-boats.

This vessel M.V.HARSHAVARDHAN is 32 years old and after 2 years, it would be scrapped, most probably would end up in Gujarat-scrapyard port. The other ships which operate from Chennai are M.V.NANCOWRY and M.V.SWARAJDEEP. They are pretty new as compared to this one, only 16years old.


Smoke spewing chimney.

While talking to Cadet Naveen, a friendly chap, I came to know about few of the ship’s details. The bridge is the main control room of the ship, it has radars, compasses and other gadgetry. Our guide was The maximum speed of this ship is 18knots/hr(nautical miles/hr). 1nautical mile = 1.85kms. Our course is set to 126 degrees from Visakhapatnam to Port Blair.



We are expected to reach there by 21st midnight, but Port Blair has only 2 pilot boats and they don’t operate during the night. So, the ship will unnecessarily wait outside the Port till morning but Dolphins can be seen near Port Blair :)


Some more sunset shots.

Island passengers are crazy about playing cards, most of the time I could see them playing. Crazy lot !!!