Glimpse of Kalapathar beach.
Havelock is a small island with a population of just 12000. Whole island can be easily criss-crossed by a bicycle. #7 is a little far, nearly 10 kms from the main market. There are 2 more prominent beaches, one is Kala-pathar and other one is Elephant beach. Most of the resorts don’t have license to serve liquor, so it is seriously advisable to buy your own liquor from the jetty as and when you disembark at the jetty and then carry it to your place. There is a lone wine shop which is at the jetty. It is wonderful way to check ones intake !!!
Nandini Restaurant (He was concerned that the tourists wont come because of the Bombay blasts, this restaurant is their livelihood)
Most of the resorts have in-house restaurants. Unfortunately they are not good. They are okay but food is much better at standalone restaurants.
Nandini and Full-Moon are the recommended places at #5. In the main market there was a good eating place, but 2-days back , in a major arson it was gutted along with 18 other shops. Huge losses for the shop owners. Market has a good vegetable and fish market. At both the places, supplies look fresh. There is a book shop as well which sells second hand books at reasonable prices, always bargain. One, caution, Vodafone network, doesn’t exists here, rest others are available in full strength. I have airtel, so no problems. There is not ATM in Havelock, so one should carry enough cash as well, and if interested in diving then carry lot of surplus!!!
Beach just outside the resort.
Diving is tad expensive as compared to Thailand and Malaysia. PADI certification costs around 16K without acco, which is only 12K in Thailand and with acco. But still, being in India, it is the best place. The water has a amazing clarity and it is cheap to reach here.
Houses of local people.
Life is slow here, the local population is super friendly. Natives are very few, most of the population is migrant from mainland(Andhra, Tamilnadu, Kerala and Bengal) , Burma and Bangladesh.
After coming here, I realized that how popular this place is among westerners, very few Indian tourists come here as compared to them. My resort itself is a global village, apart from me, there are people from England, Sweden, Canada, France, Switzerland and Holland. That’s all I have met with so far. This is a place which demands a week, not a day or two.
One got to spend some nights at the beach, some wonderful mornings, excellent evening markets and diving offcourse, its all very nice. This place is damn cheap as well. The amount I would have spent daily in a city, in the same sum, I can spend 2-3 days here. The market is opening up after the big arson.
To get around the islands, bicycles and motorbikes can be rented at not so nominal charge. Bike rent is 250 bucks which is even expensive than the Goa bike rentals. Similarly bicycles can be rented at 50 bunks a piece with a nominal deposit. They are available in plenty, in worst case it may take a day to arrange. We rented bicycles for a day to get around the island.
Kalapathar beach in its full glory
Kalapathar is a popular beach around 5 kms from the main market.
Access road to Kalapathar beach.
The access road runs along the coast with thick jungle on the right. It was really nice, I was feeling as the jungle is inviting me, come and explore me. Hiking is no problem in Havelock, only downside is that camping is strictly prohibited. Apparently local administration gave a sound reasoning. If allowed, many foreign campers, generally go deep into the jungles and then it becomes really difficult to keep a tab on their number of days of stay. Foreigners are only allowed for a maximum of 45 days in amdamans. But still one can erect a camp within the boundary of a resort, but that would be insult to camping. That’s why may be till now I haven’t seen anyone camping anywhere.
Some more of Kalapathar.
The whole beach is lined with remnants of Tsunami. Lot of uprooted trees can be seen, but still the beach was amazing. Havelock was not affected much by the Tsunami. Further down the beach, there was a enclosure which houses elephants. People come here to watch them work.
Fortunately enough, being 25th Dec, it’s a holiday for them as well. Today they would have had a field day in the jungle.
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