Andaman and Nicobar – Around Port Blair

26th Jan – Port Blair City Tour

After coming back from Neil Island, we rested in the afternoon and in the evening went to Wandoor beach with my sister’s family. By the time we reached, it was already getting dark due to clouds. We just hung around at the beach for some time and had tea & snacks at Hotel Sea Princess which is a good resort on the Wandoor beach. Close to Wandoor is Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park from where one can go to Jolly Buoy and Red Skin island. Jolly buoy is famous for corals around it and one can do Scuba diving.

Wandoor beach

Wandoor beach from Sea Princess hotel

For dinner we went to Sinclair’s hotel which one of the famous hotels in Port Blair on the edge of sea. From its viewing point, we could see dark sea occasionally lit by revolving light of North bay light house.

27th Jan – Port Blair City Tour

Today we were to visit only Port Blair attractions. First we went to Samudrika museum which has good exhibits maintained by Navy. Exhibits includes Andaman history, marine life and a blue whale skeleton.

Blue Whale skeleton

The souvenir shop has good collection of items and we bought some. From there we went to Anthropological museum which has exhibits about tribal culture in Andaman & Nicobar. The museum was decent. I was looking for some good book or documentary on the tribal life but sadly there was not much.

Anthropological Museum

From there we went to see Chatham Saw Mill. This is a wood processing unit occupying whole island connected to Port Blair by a bridge. This is a quite old unit still in function, setup by British. The guide took us through whole mill stocked with wood and cutting in progress.

There is a room full of decorative items created using various type of wood available in Andaman. Another attraction here is a big crater in ground made by Japanese bombing in 1945.

Wood artifacts

Chatham Saw Mill

Inside the shop floor

From here we went to see an govt run Aquarium which had again marine life on display. For lunch we went to a restaurant called Blue sea which has a good vegetarian south Indian thali recommended by sister. While criss-crossing the city, we also passed through Aberdeen bazar clock tower (Ghanta Ghar).

Aberdeen Bazar Clock Tower

After this we went to Chidiya Tapu which is a picturesque location around 30 km from Port Blair. Here there is a beach called Munda Pahar which is a small hill ridge and end point of South Andaman Island. There is an easy 30 minutes trek through the forest to climb up the ridge to get a panoramic view of sea, shore and islands around.

There is a light house also at the top and hut for seating. We were glad to walk up which constituted a trek in this trip. For trekkers there is a trek to Mount Harriet near Port Blair but it was not on the plan. We came down to the beach and played in water for some time. At 5:30 the beach closes and warden makes sure that everyone is out.

Trek on Munda Pahar

Looking south from Munda Pahar

Munda Pahar view

Munda Pahar view

Chidiya Tapu beach

For dinner we went to Sea Shell rooftop restaurant which is a hang out place in Port Blair. We had a nice family evening there with drinks and finger food.