Journey 03 · India
Andamans, the Long Way Home
Islands that are technically ours
Published 20 Mar 2026 · Travelled 20 Feb – 1 Mar 2026
- 7 moments
- 10 days
- 112 km
- Winter
- India
- 11.9830° N, 92.9510° E
- Radhanagar Beach, Havelock
- 11:20
- 31°C, bright, sea like glass
Some famous beaches disappoint you gently. This one does not. The forest walks right up to the sand like it wants to see the water too, and the whole sweep of it stays soft even at midday. Amma swam for an hour. I mostly stood in the shallows looking left and right, trying to pick a direction to be amazed in.
- 12.0170° N, 93.0080° E
- Govind Nagar, Havelock
- 13:10
No sign, no menu, one question: fish or veg. The fish came whole, fried hard at the edges the way it should be, with rice and rasam and a lime pickle Amma tried to charm the recipe out of. The owner said his mother makes it and the conversation ended there, respectfully.
fish, obviously
Overheard · Between Havelock and Neil Island · 10:05
"You came from Goa? But this is also beach only." — "It's a different sea." — "Sea is sea." He then spent the whole crossing at the rail photographing the water, same as me. Sea is sea.
- Moving image
- Mangrove creek, Havelock
- 07:45
- 28°C, still, already warm
The creek · 07:45 · 28°C
The boatman took the outboard as far as the creek mouth, then lifted it and rowed. The water under the roots is absolutely clear and absolutely silent, and the tunnel of green closes over you like a held breath. Nobody said anything for twenty minutes. That was the whole activity, and it was enough.
- 11.9420° N, 93.0080° E
- Kalapathar Beach, Havelock
- 05:55
- 26°C, pink, windless
I got up early on our last Havelock morning and had the pink half of the day to myself. Just footprints from yesterday being erased, and the sky doing its quiet show over the water. I sent one photo to my sister and she replied with the eye-roll emoji, which in our family means love.
- 11.8320° N, 93.0520° E
- Bharatpur Beach, Neil Island
- 15:35
- 30°C
Neil is what islands were before itineraries: three villages, bicycle distances, boats waiting out the tide on the flats. We rented cycles with questionable brakes and rode between paddy fields to Bharatpur, where the water was so shallow and clear the moored boats seemed embarrassed to be called boats.
- Chidiya Tapu
- 17:50
- 29°C, clear, orange
- Last frame
Back on the big island with one evening left, we took a scooter south to Chidiya Tapu where everyone in Port Blair goes to end their day. A dead tree, an orange sea, Amma quiet beside me. Home was two flights away and, for once, I wasn't reaching for it.
- 11.4890° N, 92.7060° E
The route
7 stops
Journey completed
Ten days, seven stories
- Frames exposed
- 468
- Ferries
- 5
- Ferries on time
- 2
- Fish thalis
- 8
- Favourite moment
- The boatman lifting the oars in the mangroves and letting us just drift
- Best food
- Fried fish thali in Govind Nagar, the one with the unmarked blue door
