Light House Residency Port Blair

... both sides of the island are worth a visit, though Beach 7 is much more of a "beach" and more isolated. Chennai The first time we stayed in Chennai we had a guesthouse all picked out for once (recommended by a fellow volunteer from Sadhana Forest) but a man on the bus trying to help us out had us get off the bus too early. Since we were in the middle of nowhere we just grabbed a place and tried to fight off all the mosquitoes with a mosquito coil while we slept ...

... that the lens had fogged up as I stepped from the ship onto the outside deck. It was no wonder that the lens fogged as the outside was like the inside of a steam room. As I stood on the deck, it was evident that today would be a very hot and humid day. Looking off in the distance from the ship at the rest of the harbor and island, we saw a steam like haze that hung over the entire area like a light fog but fogs are cool and it was very hot. We had decided not take a ship tour but to ...

... its bones are made of rubber and it has a blind spot for buses. Another flea bag dog we encountered in El Dorado used to hang around the huts looking for leftovers. He disappeared one afternoon and nobody really noticed, until about an hour later when we heard some shouting in Hebrew, and saw the dog being chased out of an Israeli's bed. That's what happens when you leave the hut door open... The guy took his mattress out of his room and ...

... night in one of the basic huts. They were fine - clean and big enough, ours had its own bathroom, skeeto net, shelves, all the things you need when all you want to do is put your **** away and pass out. 500 rupees wasn't a bad deal.  We were originally planning to dive with them but they looked so busy we decided to walk up the street and see who else was going out. We stopped at Barefoot and the guy we talked to was really funny. He told us the diving wasn't that great, but that we ...

... a dive instructor. The people I'm working/diving with are amazing and we're just having a blast. I'm actually almost done with my training. There are 9 exams to take, I have about 3 left, and have gotten 100% on all of them except one (I got a 95%). My next exam is the physics of diving and I'm just hoping that I can pass with a 75%!! I have completed the diving skills portion and I ...

... the tribal population floats in and out of the non tribal areas as well, on a daily basis. LAND Total Area: 77700 hects. Forest Land: 72323 hects. Oil Palm Plantation: 1593 hects. PEOPLE The aboriginal tribes of the islands, Nicobarese and Onges live in this island along with the settlers from erstwhile East Pakistan and other places. ATTRACTIONS Little Andaman Island offers a perfect ...

... could well be somewhere in the mainland. Then, the landscape changes as we climb down some natural steps and enter a terrain of rocks and cliffs that means we are at the doorsteps of the caves themselves. Just before, we come across boards with information on limestone caves and its nature and formation. Excited and voluble, a Bengali family passes us by, apparently having been impressed with what they have seen ahead. There are guides now along the ...

... A canon pointed towards Ross Island also stands on the waterfront. An hour by ferry, this is where we have our first brush with the amazing history surrounding the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Just a minute's walk from the famous - or should it be infamous? - Cellular Jail, Aberdeen Jetty is the take-off point for Ross and Viper Islands. We pass Ross Island on our right as the boat does a u-turn around the Cellular Jail. It's a half-hour ride where we also ...

... Friday would survive but, for the last week, Michelle has nurtured her and fed her on delicacies including milk biscuits, fish curry, fried prawn heads and lobster shells. Light has returned to the little dog's eyes and she seems to be well on the way to becoming a well-trained, if a bit yappy, tourist dog as well as a mascot for Coconut Grove. She insists on sleeping in our hut at night and in the ashes of the campfire by day. The mother (who Roy said was named Mette by some ...

... This is a surprisingly spread-out market town with plenty of traffic to cloud the air. We stayed there for a couple of nights, relaxing in a luxurious bungalow with a sea view, getting over Calcutta. The British used to inhabit Port Blair and they used the nearby Ross Island as a social base. The island was abandoned in WWII and you can walk through the jungle-filled ballroom and churchyard and imagine how it would have looked in its heyday. The British left their mark on ...