Karmatang Beach
Avis Island
Avis Island
TheBeach at Avis IslandContinuing from the previous post....The day I was at Mayabunder there was an army detachment that had come lumbering up in several trucks in the evening. Their commandant had a drink in the lawns of the guesthouse overlooking the sea and later was served dinner by his jawans. It looked like they take every thing along with them wherever they go, including cutlery. Afterwards, they vanished by morning when I came for breakfast. I had planned a visit to Avis Island that the teacher had told me about.
When I went into the town to ask about Avis Island sometime in the late afternoon I was told the donghies were not available. But later I met Dominic who asked for four hundred rupees to take me to Avis Island. I hesitated for a while because four hundred rupees was a large amount and in the end I decided to make the trip anyway. In the Andamans, if one has to visit any island one needs a permit from the Forest Department. Avis Island was under the control of some kind of a co-operative so I had to take their permit before setting off for the island.
It was a small, delightful island that I could see as the donghie neared it. The sea was blue and my heart began to beat faster as I neared the coconut tree fringed island with a small stretch of sand. There were people working inside the trees collecting coconuts and no one disturbed me while I sat on a rock and had a nice view of Mayabunder from the sea. I returned after an hour and was again caught in the rain. The waves buffeted our donghie but Dominc manouevred it expertly back to shore. I thanked him and walked back to the centre of the town. I noticed Mayabunder had a helipad and there was a fire engine parked inside.
I took a walk around Mayabunder town and had tea in a small hotel near the bus stand. It was my last evening on the ten day trip and I felt sad for no reason. It had been a wonderful trip and I had seen scores of beautiful sights and met many interesting people. It was also one of my longest trips I made alone in a strange place. The people here may not be too friendly but they leave you alone.
The next morning after breakfast I caught the bus to Port Blair after bidding farewell to Arun Kumar Sharma who left early in the morning. He had to catch a bus to his place of work. I felt sad leaving this elderly man who was my companion for three days and who told me a lot about the Andamans that I hadn’t heard or read anywhere.
It was another exhilarating trip back to Port Blair with two ferry crossings, one at Sastry Nullah and the other at Baratang. As the bus raced back to Port Blair I was eager to be with my room mates and share with them all my experiences. I had missed Rahul very much. He was a lot younger than me but was very intelligent and was always with me. Our sense of humor matched and we were always cracking jokes about the others in the office. After another week I would be leaving the Andamans and the thought made me sad. I still had another week to go and there were a lot of things I had planned to do. That will be in a future post.
When I went into the town to ask about Avis Island sometime in the late afternoon I was told the donghies were not available. But later I met Dominic who asked for four hundred rupees to take me to Avis Island. I hesitated for a while because four hundred rupees was a large amount and in the end I decided to make the trip anyway. In the Andamans, if one has to visit any island one needs a permit from the Forest Department. Avis Island was under the control of some kind of a co-operative so I had to take their permit before setting off for the island.
It was a small, delightful island that I could see as the donghie neared it. The sea was blue and my heart began to beat faster as I neared the coconut tree fringed island with a small stretch of sand. There were people working inside the trees collecting coconuts and no one disturbed me while I sat on a rock and had a nice view of Mayabunder from the sea. I returned after an hour and was again caught in the rain. The waves buffeted our donghie but Dominc manouevred it expertly back to shore. I thanked him and walked back to the centre of the town. I noticed Mayabunder had a helipad and there was a fire engine parked inside.
I took a walk around Mayabunder town and had tea in a small hotel near the bus stand. It was my last evening on the ten day trip and I felt sad for no reason. It had been a wonderful trip and I had seen scores of beautiful sights and met many interesting people. It was also one of my longest trips I made alone in a strange place. The people here may not be too friendly but they leave you alone.
The next morning after breakfast I caught the bus to Port Blair after bidding farewell to Arun Kumar Sharma who left early in the morning. He had to catch a bus to his place of work. I felt sad leaving this elderly man who was my companion for three days and who told me a lot about the Andamans that I hadn’t heard or read anywhere.
It was another exhilarating trip back to Port Blair with two ferry crossings, one at Sastry Nullah and the other at Baratang. As the bus raced back to Port Blair I was eager to be with my room mates and share with them all my experiences. I had missed Rahul very much. He was a lot younger than me but was very intelligent and was always with me. Our sense of humor matched and we were always cracking jokes about the others in the office. After another week I would be leaving the Andamans and the thought made me sad. I still had another week to go and there were a lot of things I had planned to do. That will be in a future post.
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