Lagoon 5 Days Cinque Island Andaman Package | Pellucid

The drive from Port Blair to Chiriya Tapu covers approximately 30 kilometres through South Andaman, taking around 45 minutes to an hour. Chiriya Tapu is the southernmost point of the main South Andaman island — the forest closes around the road in the final kilometres and the junction where the mangrove begins is where the Andaman bird life concentrates. The morning at Chiriya Tapu is for the forest edge and the mangrove belt — the density of the canopy and the birding it supports, several species specific to the Andaman Islands, in a forest that has not been cleared for resort development because there is no resort development here.

The boat to Cinque Island departs from the Chiriya Tapu jetty in the late morning — approximately 30 to 45 minutes across to North Cinque, entry permit checked at the boat, snorkelling in the reef area around the island in the midday hours with equipment hired locally. The return is mid-afternoon. The Chiriya Tapu sunset over open water to the south closes the day on this cinque island andaman package. Overnight in Port Blair.

Wandoor village sits approximately 29 kilometres from Port Blair on the south coast of South Andaman and serves as the entry point to the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park — 15 islands and a substantial area of coral reef established as a protected marine area in 1983. The glass bottom boat at Wandoor moves over the reef sections of the park allowing the coral formations and reef fish to be viewed from the surface without entering the water — the reef here has experienced bleaching in some areas over the years and the glass bottom boat presents what is actually there rather than what promotional images suggest.

The marine park context — why it was established, what the permit system protects and what the reef holds where it is healthy — gives this day on the cinque island andaman package an ecological dimension beyond pure recreation. The afternoon covers Ross Island — now Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Island — the colonial ruins, the forest reclamation and the deer. Overnight in Port Blair.

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. After two days in the south Andaman forest and marine park circuit, Havelock arrives as a shift in register — the Cellular Jail, the mangrove birding at Chiriya Tapu, the glass bottom boat at Wandoor and the coral snorkelling at Cinque have given the group three distinct marine and ecological experiences before they reach the island that most Andaman visitors see first and only.

Radhanagar Beach on Havelock’s western side — the long arc of white sand backed by forest, no commercial strip on the beach itself — lands differently when it follows three days of reef, forest and marine park rather than arriving as the opening experience. The afternoon on Radhanagar is unhurried. This cinque island andaman package uses Havelock as the beach counterpoint to the south Andaman ecology days. Overnight at Havelock.

The final morning of the cinque island andaman package is at Elephant Beach on Havelock’s northern edge — a 45-minute boat ride from the main jetty to a bay where coral formations are visible at relatively shallow depths close to the shore. Snorkelling equipment is available for hire and sea walking and scuba introduction dives are available from registered operators at charges paid locally. A traveller who snorkelled around Cinque Island on Day 2 arrives at Elephant Beach with a reference point for comparison — the reef at Cinque and the reef at Havelock are different in character and the difference is interesting rather than one being simply better than the other.

The return ferry to Port Blair takes approximately 1.5 to 2.5 hours. The Bon Voyagers vehicle meets the group at Phoenix Bay Jetty on arrival and drops at Port Blair Airport. Transfer timing is coordinated around the confirmed departure flight.