Havelock, Andaman: Now & How

I've been asked over and again on traveling to Havelock - that exotic island that seems detached from the rest of the world. It is natural to think getting there will require great feat, but it really isn't that complicated - as long as you know what to expect. For your benefit, here I've compiled my experiences to ease your travel woes.

WHY GO?

Rather, why go now, than later. Still pristine and almost untouched from the inevitable eventual scarring of development, Havelock in the Andaman Sea is what Phuket was like, 20-30 years ago, before the hordes of tourists encouraged establishments that favour quick cash flows.

Diving here is excellent, rivaling the best of Thailand, even. Fine, sandy beaches meet turqoise waters. Contrary to what one may expect, the island is clean and its tenants conscious of the environment. Well, most. The tourist crowd is a healthy mix of different nationalities, not exclusively Indians.

On certain days of the year, you get an almost private beach to yourself. Its name does not strike a familiar nod, many do not even know this cluster of islands exist (myself included, three years ago). But now this is my favourite place in all of India. 

VISA

The following is applicable to Malaysians - but most tourists heading to India will require a visa.

1. What?

First and foremost - apply for a Tourist visa. All applications are submitted through a visa outsource agency and no, you cannot apply in person at the High Commission of India.

2. How?

Online form here http://www.indiavisa.com.my/application/visa_application_form.php. Follow the instructions to fill the form. DO NOT print this out and submit it handwritten - the embassy does not accept this format. Complete the form online and print at the end, bring this along with a confirmed return flight to India (err, there is a way to go around this if you haven't gotten a ticket yet wink wink) and a photocopy of your passport.

3. Where?

The list of visa submission locations are available here http://www.indiavisa.com.my/.

In KL, it takes 3 working days to obtain your visa (inclusive of the day you submit). If applying at other centers (Johor or Penang), it takes about 4 working days - bear in mind, this does not include the day of submission. Be sure to buffer ample time before your trip!

4. Others

Unfortunately, a biometric scan is in place, so you cannot use an agent to apply the visa for you. The only exceptions are for senior citizens above 70 years old and children below 7 years old.

While filling the form online, you will be prompted to upload a photo. If you don't have one, that's fine. My recommendation is to go to the visa center and get your photo taken there. That way, the photo requirements are well met (this may be pricier than getting the photo taken elsewhere, but the agency may not accept it if specifications are not met).

HAVELOCK BOUND

Getting to Havelock, two parts: flight from one of the major cities in mainland India (New Delhi/ Kolkata / Chennai / Mumbai) to Port Blair; followed by a ferry from Port Blair to Havelock.

1. Flight

These airlines fly into Havelock from a major Indian city: SpiceJet, Air India, Jet Airways, GoAir and indiGo.

Check www.cleartrip.com for an idea of rates and timing. As the airport (Veer Savarkar International Airport, Port Blair) is also a navy air base, commercial flights stop operating by 3pm or so.

All foreigners entering Port Blair will need to obtain the Restricted Area Permit. Easy peasy. Once you arrive at the International Terminal (a small little airport), make your way to the left where a large table and several officers are on standby. This checkpoint is hard to miss and in any case, the officers will get you to register first before allowing you to collect your luggage.

Fill in the form, hand it over to the immigration officer, he takes a photo of you with the webcam and later hands you a piece of paper (permit) along with your passport. The entire procedure takes about 10 minutes to complete (go to the loo if you want to, the officers are very chilled out), depending on the number of foreigners waiting in line. Do NOT lose this permit!

2. Ferry

A number of ferries operate between Port Blair and Havelock island. I say don't stress over this, just use Vinnie's Meet and Greet services, let them know the time you land and they will sort out the ferry tickets.

I've seen the queues for tickets early in the morning (before the blasted ticket counter is even open) and trust me, you're better off paying a small sum of money for people in the know to sort it out.

If you land at 1pm, there is enough time to catch the last ferry at 2pm. If you land after 1pm, then you will need to spend the night in Port Blair and go on a cultural trip while you are there :-)

The best ferry in my opinion is the Makruzz. You leave your luggages at the pier, and someone will load them. The government ferries, on the other hand, will require you to bring them in yourself. Alternatively, you can seek out the many "helpers" loitering the pier... remember to tip them!

The fare difference between the two ferries is about $5 (RM15) one way.

WHAT TO EXPECT @ DIVEIndia

Go to TripAdvisor and take a look at the photos available on the resort. The reality is, there are no polished silverware, no plush duvet nor plucked and peeled grapes at the ready. Be prepared, this is definitely not the luxurious chateau du grandeur. Accommodations are basic huts (shared toilets) and the Tented Cabanas. The last time I was there, I stayed at the Tented Cabanas. They were cleaned on a daily basis and to me, that's what matters. No in-house a/c (really, you don't need them - it gets quite chilly at night!) but there is hot water! I also like the fact that the resort is environmentally conscious - reuse of grey water, no complimentary water bottles (there are free refills at the cafe, though), etc.

At the risk of sounding like I am endorsing these guys, DiveIndia is possibly the most genuine resort in Havelock, no frills - what you see is what you get!

ANYTHING ELSE I SHOULD KNOW?

If you dig the peace and quiet, and/or an avid diver, you'll love Havelock. There are no malls, no cinemas, no traffic and hardly any phone reception. A perfect getaway.

However, IF you find yourself getting sick of curled up in the hammock with a book, taking long, quiet walks on the beach - then fret not, there are other things you can do: Rent a cycle and go to Beach No 7 (beautiful dense forest by the beach!), kayak amongst the mangroves or take a jungle walk. There are a few bars too, if you fancy a watering hole.

When to go? Brochures say the best time to go is November-April, when it is sunniest. Many shun the islands during monsoon, but when I was there in June, it was so peaceful and lovely overcast weather. It wasn't even raining that often! There are showers, but it isn't pouring heavily. I'd say even try to come in June or July - make the most of the quiet season and enjoy the less scorching weather.

Hope this helps. For more information, read Vinnie's version of travel FAQs (http://www.islandvinnie.com/trip.html)

Hurry, the tropical island awaits!

For information on how to apply for an Indian tourist visa (for Malaysians), click here.

Frolicking Phuket

Short trip up north. Blog is dead. Filler post to silence the crickets.

Marketplace. Heh bi. Ikan bilis.

And nui.

Hark, who's that?

With an anti-climax photo of yours truly. Processing photos for Namibia. Will be up soon!

A Havelock Respite Revisited

Whoaaa. 2 posts in January and then 1 post in March. It almost felt like I'm neglecting my little pet project but swear, I'm not! Have been away from proper Internet connection for the last three weeks - tucked in the quiet and isolated Havelock.

First class India diving experience ;)

Havelock is a painful journey to get to - 4.5 hours of flight from Singapore to Kolkata/Chennai, then over two hours flight to Port Blair. Depending on availability of flights, you may end up spending a night in Port Blair to catch the early morning ferry (2.5 hours) to Havelock island.

Still, it's worth it. But I must admit it should have been highly unlikely for me to return so soon if it hadn't been for Mr K.

The Beach Life is the kind of routine you won't mind falling back on, day after day. On days that I don't dive (which is the majority, btw), I get up in the morning (hardly can sleep in as it gets warmer in the day), shower and head out to the cafe by the beach for an hour-long breakfast affair. I'll have a fan turned on while I wrap myself on to a comfortable armchair, or tuck myself into a hammock, stopping occasionally from reading to take in the beautiful beach. Life is good.

Some days I get a treat and we go on a different beach, another restaurant or something highly exciting like night kayaking and night jungle walk. Coz that's the kind of place Havelock is, quiet and unassuming. 

Night kayaking in Havelock is something entirely different. We head out before dusk, armed with oars. Paddled from the beach 800m out to where the thick mangroves action are at. The low-hanging trees certainly add to the mystery - which did not help matters when Tanaz, our kayak organizer, announced for us to not panic if there are snakes or birds that hang on to the branches....

Digressing, news of crocodile sightings sprouted a couple of days before our little kayaking adventure. Needless to say, all of us were on our toes, eyes open wide for any suspicious log-lookalike, hehe.

But we all got to a clearing safe and sound, the night is still and silent, millions of starts dotted the night sky and the phosphorescent plankton glittered when our oars brushed the waters. Beautiful....

The night jungle walk is another creepy affair. We headed out at 8pm (which is really 10pm, geographically) and got on to the forest trail, each carrying their own torch lights. After a short walk, I noticed drops of blood on the trail - they looked wet, fresh! That can't be good. We walked on, carefully landing on the slippery moss-covered stones. Then what we saw before us was mind-blowing beyond reason. 

A fallen tree covered in blood, appendages of a carcass lay before us, along with two sets of flip-flops, a machete and two bulging plastic bags. Unanimously, we decided to head back, pronto. That was an eerie sight, and knowing that the poachers were probably hiding and spying on us!

Meet Buffy - the menace.

Sam the gentle giant. This is one of his unusual poses. Usually he is found lying on his back with all  fours in the air, an open invitation to rub and scratch.

:)

And Frodo the Loyal. He is utterly attached to Vinnie, follows him everywhere like a shadow.

Buffy looks a little retarded here, but then again, she always is the odd one out, heh.

Surprise, surprise, the only food porn photo I've taken this trip. A South Indian breakfast of dosa in a little, run-down eatery where the cook bustles about in a longyi and singlet. While we munch on our breakfast, a juvenile goat strolls in and pokes its head into a carton of tomatoes. It got shooed away at the first tomato, but is unperturbed. When our longyi-clad chef disappears into the kitchen, the little kid trotted purposefully to the next basket full of okras where it happily chewed at least a dozen of them, heh.

Sun, Sea & Sipadan

Spent four days diving off the Malaysian Borneo - an island noted for its pristine beaches and thriving coral reefs. Sipadan island -  Peggy organized the trip; so it was just pay, pack and go.

It was great fun meeting up with the bunch of ex-LGs. Lame jokes reigned and mostly targeted at Ying Chye, my ex lifesaving instructor hehehe. There were quite a number of us - TY, Jao, Peggy, LuPing, KeenMun, JweePin, RuoWen, WeiInn, PoKoon, Ken, YingChye, BeeHua, and Hendra. Dinner on the first night in Semporna was RM800 for 10 of us LOL.... I remembered back in the Kota Kinabalu days we ordered a steamed fish which cost close to RM300. Justification: holiday is also when you splurge, right?

Top two sunset photos taken in Mabul, photos not quite chronologically arranged here. Mabul was where we stayed, but before that, we were in Semporna, which is in mainland Sabah.

Ingenious way of hanging fish to dry right where the air-conditioning vents are.

Evening market of fresh catch from the sea.

Next morning we took a boat out to Mabul island, where we spent the next three nights in Big John Scuba, Mabul. Oh my. It felt like a wave of deja vu upon arrival... The bad sort. We were booked into a dorm which felt stuffy and beds were hastily strewn on the floors. Some sheets and pillows had a damp feel to it and best part was there were 13 of us in that dorm, with only two toilets to share!

I was feeling quite stressed out, didn't like the place, didn't like the toilets (cannot lock; cannot flush - must use a little pail and patiently fill it bucket by bucket, dump into toilet bowl to flush). There was barely place to move and as I was one of the last few to enter the dorm and chope bed; the last couple of 'beds' available are strategically located in front of the toilet .

Anyway I later found out that we were being charged RM70 a night per person for the dorm (regardless how many people are inside that miserable place), whereas if you had opted for the private rooms, it's only RM90 per person (again, rates per pax, not per room, which makes zero sense!!). So I thought, why the hell would I want to save RM20 and get so miserable? I requested for my own room - it wasn't anything fancy but at least I have a bigger bed and my own toilet!

By far, it was the worst dive operator I've ever had the misfortune to spend my holiday with. On all our boat dives, the boat was crammed to the very limit: 13 of us divers plus an additional 2 other divers plus 5 snorkellers; on a 4m boat -.- It's unabashedly profit-oriented and not to mention a downright inconvenience for us to move around in what restricted space available on the boat, especially when gearing up!

Pfft... On the plus side, the diving was pretty cool. Visibility wasn't that great but as what a fellow diver said; poor viz is like a covered woman. Mysterious, it can be sexy as she slowly unveils what's beyond the unseen. Great vis of 40m and more is about as sexy as a completely naked woman; you see everything within a glance and take it in as it is; without anything left to the imagination. Fhwoar....

Anyway we met another diver who said that she's had viz as far as 40m, but during May-July. Hmm... Sounds like another invite to Sipadan, eh?

Really, really pleased with my secret photo editing tool. Pictures are quite blue from the settings and also the 'sexy visibility' but with my powerful weapon; pictures are presented the way they should be; with justice!!!

Top and bottom shots - one day in Sipadan.

Permits into Sipadan island is limited to 120 divers a day, as a control measure by the government. Finally they are doing something right Out of the four days of diving, we only get a day's permit to enter the Sipadan region and dive there. Not saying that the other dive areas surrounding Sipadan island are not nice, they're just equally beautiful, if not better!

One of my favourite shots:

Nudi branch :) (don't ask which species; slap u)

One of the dive sites we went to is called the Barracuda Point. And my, strong currents we have there. My mask was vibrating hard and I was clinging on to my pointer as hard as I can without slipping. Another diver had to hold on to support me as I tried to take pictures hehehe. The other time the current was harder than this was when I dived in the Anambas islands. We went down with a rope attached to the bottom and that felt like we were riding motorcycles, with our hands tightly clinging on to the rope; current pushing strongly against us. Would be a truly scary moment if you get dragged off by the current.... Great memories -.-

But amidst struggling with the current, we were rewarded with a great view of a gigantic school of barracudas. I had the trickiest of a time twisting my arm around to take a shot while holding on to dear life.

Bunch of local children are quite a menace in the vicinity. They come floating in two little boats and pretended to sell all sorts of useless things like fishes, tissue, etc. They refused to go away and when you decided to give them some food/ money, the children in one of the boats take them and then scoots/paddles off while the remaining children will wail their hearts out in frustration to the world's unfairness. It's actually quite amusing to watch them when they perform the bail. It's obviously fake and you catch them sometimes steal a look in between wails.

Serenity.... View through a real-life aquarium.

An ex-jack up oil rig in the middle of the ocean. It has now been converted into a resort, with its star feature a platform lift that lowers the diver (all geared up) into the water. Which is pretty cool, minimum effort trying to lug your equipments to the boat, gearing up while the boat sways side to side (sometimes vomiting in the process). I'd like to come back and stay at this rig next time .

Hehe... Had some fun with the photo editing tool :P I don't think it's very obvious, aye?

My preferred subject to photograph are small little things (hopefully the type that don't move too much too!). Definitely seriously thinking of getting a macro wetlens, just to get better resolution and easier focusing too. I think I said the same thing the last time I went diving though. Ok, die die have to purchase one NAO!

This is a Pikachu nudi branch. Well, here are a few Pikachu nudibranches. Three to be exact, spotted on three separate dives. Po Koon was quite upset that she missed all three sightings! Lol. So, just to rub it in, I compiled all three separate finds on a picture and tagged her hehehehe. Needless to say, she wasn't very pleased.

Now, if I have a macro wet lens, I needn't have to zoom, zoom, zoom and crop, crop, crop!

And last but not least :P, one of my favourite dive sites around Sipadan - the Mataking islands:

Even before diving in, the clear waters took my breath away - reefs are shallow enough for snorkelling.

Did a wreck dive, approximately 20-27m deep.

Place where they used to poo-poo before the boat sank... I actually would really like to dive a big, massive wreck (I hope you hadn't been expecting me to dive a massive toilet). Like one of those gigantic cruise ship where you can go into the cabins, explore the insides of the ship and to imagine yourself in the midst of the past grandeur of it all. I think that would be really cool :)

Peek-a-boo!

Tiny little shrimp resting on corals. Photographing wee shrimps are fun too. Much more features to focus on. But garh! MACRO LENS!!!

The usual lobster-red faces and bodies usually evident on Day 2. But this is Day 5 already kot.

Before the start of our third dive, I spotted this giant fish underwater (bottom photo, we were still floating on surface, just about getting ready to dunk). It seemed to be a reef resident here, haha. 

Finally when we were diving, we spotted the giant barracuda. It's at least one meter long and it's quite strange for barracudas to be on their own, as they're usually in a school. As in a school of fish, not a school, school. Erm. Right.

I am quite proud of myself this trip, truth be told. I realized that I have somewhat obtained a rare gift of spotting small sea creatures . I spotted a number of nudi branches and this top spiny leaf fish. It wasn't even moving and looked like debris. I did a double take when I saw this obscure little thing (only 5cm long).

One of my favourite shots in Sipadan - well the whole lot are my favourites, otherwise they won't be making an appearance here.

And finally, just the one photo of Big John scuba from the front. One the left is the boat landing area - the high and low tide differs as much as 1 meter here!! Then next to it, a chinchai place for hanging your wetsuits, etc. The right section is where we dine. Food here is not bad, but not great either. 

Breakfast is usually some fried mee with fried sausages and some fried eggs. Kopi bancuh sendiri. Lunch is an economy rice affair, fried fish, stir fried vegetables, pieces of chicken, etc etc. And I always have mine with some cili padi with dark soy sauce, lime and chopped onions yum yum yum .