6 Day Rush Andaman Adventure Sports Package | Charged

The private ferry from Port Blair to Havelock covers approximately 57 kilometres in around 1.5 to 2.5 hours. The afternoon after arriving at Havelock is for the mangrove channel kayaking session — a guided paddle through the interior channels on the island’s eastern side where the waterway narrows enough that the mangrove root systems are within arm’s reach on both sides and the canopy closes overhead. The kayak at this pace, on this water, in this forest gives the andaman adventure sports package its quietest hour — no engine noise, no briefing in progress, the paddle stroke and the mangrove the only things happening.

The guide leads the group through the navigable sections and the session typically runs one to two hours depending on the group’s pace. Life jackets are worn throughout. Kayak and equipment charges are paid locally. Overnight at Havelock.

Day 3 is the most activity-dense day of this andaman adventure sports package. The morning is the scuba introduction dive at Elephant Beach — a 20 to 30 minute surface briefing covering regulator use, equalisation, hand signals and the basic descent and ascent procedure, followed by a supervised descent to approximately 6 to 9 metres with a certified instructor maintaining contact throughout. No certification is required and no prior diving experience is needed. The descent into the Havelock reef on tank air in the morning is one experience.

The same reef after dark is a different one entirely. The night snorkelling session at Elephant Beach in the evening — a 45 minute to one hour guided session with the registered operator — covers the reef as the nocturnal shift takes over. Parrotfish sealed in mucus cocoons on the coral surface. Octopus out and moving. The torch beam picking up eyes at every angle. Bioluminescent plankton possible but not guaranteed. Activity charges for both sessions paid locally. Overnight at Havelock.

The morning of Day 4 of this andaman adventure sports package is daytime snorkelling at Elephant Beach — the same site that produced the scuba dive and the night session over the previous day, now seen from the surface in natural morning light. The reef from snorkelling depth looks different from the reef at 8 metres and different again from the reef at 2 AM with a torch — the andaman adventure sports package deliberately uses the same site across three different activity formats to show what a single reef location holds at different depths and different hours. Snorkelling equipment is hired from registered operators at charges paid locally.

The afternoon is the Kalapathar Beach coastal walk on Havelock’s eastern side — a rocky shoreline facing open water, a different character entirely from Radhanagar, with a short coastal path through the forest above the beach. Overnight at Havelock.

The ferry from Havelock to Neil Island takes approximately 30 to 60 minutes. Neil Island is the fifth adventure site of this andaman adventure sports package and the sea walking session here at Bharatpur Beach — calm, shallow water on the eastern side of the island — is the second sea walking experience of the six days. The North Bay sea walk on Day 1 was the introduction. The Neil Island sea walk on Day 5, after three days of progressively more demanding water activities, reads differently — the confidence in the water is different and the reef observation at 5 to 7 metres is more deliberate.

Sea walking charges are paid locally to registered operators. The natural bridge at Laxmanpur in the afternoon is the coastal walk component — a coral rock formation best seen at low tide, the wave action through the gaps in the formation audible from the path above. Overnight at Neil Island.

The ferry from Neil Island to Port Blair on the final morning of this andaman adventure sports package takes approximately 1 to 2 hours. Chiriya Tapu — approximately 30 kilometres south of Port Blair — is the final activity site. The coastal forest trail at Chiriya Tapu runs along the forest-sea edge at the southernmost accessible point of South Andaman, the tree line on the inland side and the sea visible through the vegetation at the turns.

After five days of water-based activity the forest walk on Day 6 is the land leg that closes the andaman adventure sports package on different terrain from where it spent most of its time. The birding in the Chiriya Tapu forest is good at this hour — endemic species active in the canopy before the heat builds. The Bon Voyagers vehicle drops at Port Blair Airport for the return flight after the Chiriya Tapu trail.