6 Day Archipelago Andaman Island Hopping Package | Wandering

The private ferry from Port Blair to Havelock departs Phoenix Bay Jetty and covers approximately 57 kilometres in around 1.5 to 2.5 hours. Havelock is the second island of this andaman island hopping package and the contrast with Ross Island’s colonial ruins is immediate — Havelock is alive in a way that Ross Island, for all its drama, is not. The jetty, the road, the resort signs, the sound of a working island economy.

Radhanagar Beach on the western side is the afternoon programme — the long arc of white sand backed by uncleared forest, the water shifting from pale green in the shallows to a deeper blue-green further out, the beach long enough that finding a quiet stretch is straightforward even at peak season. The island hopper who woke up this morning at Port Blair and spent the afternoon on Radhanagar has already covered more of the Andaman character range in one day than most visitors manage in a week. Overnight at Havelock.

Havelock Island Full Day: andaman island hopping package
The full Havelock day in this andaman island hopping package covers the island’s two most distinct sites. Elephant Beach on the northern edge is the morning — a 45-minute boat ride from the main jetty to a bay where coral formations are visible at snorkelling depth, sea walking and scuba introduction dives available from registered operators at charges paid locally, and the reef life of the Andaman Sea accessible from the surface without a certification.

The afternoon is Kalapathar Beach on the eastern side — rocky, sunrise-facing, quieter than Radhanagar and carrying a completely different character from the western beach. The island hopper who has now spent a day and a half on Havelock has seen its two faces and knows which one they prefer. That preference is information that the Neil Island ferry tomorrow will either confirm or complicate. Overnight at Havelock

The ferry from Havelock to Neil Island takes approximately 30 to 60 minutes — the shortest crossing of this andaman island hopping package and the shift in atmosphere is the most immediate of the three ferry crossings. Neil — Shaheed Dweep — is smaller than Havelock, less visited and moves at a pace that Havelock at peak season does not match. The natural bridge at Laxmanpur Beach on Neil’s western side is the afternoon programme — a coral rock formation shaped by wave erosion, best seen at low tide when the reef around it is partly exposed and the wave action through the gaps makes an audible sound.

Bharatpur Beach on the eastern side has calm, shallow water — good for an evening swim without current or depth to manage. The Neil Island evening is quiet in a way that distinguishes it from both Ross Island and Havelock — the absence of resort infrastructure is different from the absence caused by ruins. Neil is simply unhurried. Overnight at Neil Island.

The full day on Neil Island in this andaman island hopping package opens with Sitapur Beach on the eastern tip — the sunrise beach that most Neil Island visitors miss by not waking early enough. The reef exposed at low tide along the Sitapur shoreline carries detail that a glass bottom boat at North Bay gives only partially. The Laxmanpur natural bridge revisited at a different tide from Day 4 reads differently — the coral formation changes character with the water level and the walk back from it in the late morning through the Neil Island road gives the village market and the working pace of an island that earns its living from farming and fishing rather than from tourism.

The evening ferry from Neil Island back to Port Blair takes approximately 1 to 2 hours. The fourth island of this andaman island hopping package arrives behind as the fifth approaches tomorrow morning. Overnight in Port Blair.

The final morning of the andaman island hopping package is North Bay Island — reached by boat from Aberdeen Jetty, the coral reef closest to Port Blair with glass bottom boat rides over the formations and snorkelling from registered operators at charges paid locally. North Bay is the fifth island of this andaman island hopping package and the closest to Port Blair — a reef island in the harbour mouth that most visitors treat as a day trip.

As the closing island of a six-day hopping circuit it reads as the full-stop after Ross Island’s ruins, Havelock’s reef and long beach, Neil Island’s quiet and Sitapur sunrise. Five islands, five distinct characters, one archipelago. The Sagarika government emporium near the clock tower carries Andaman craft at fixed prices for a last purchase. The Bon Voyagers vehicle drops at Port Blair Airport.