Havelock is a beautiful island in the union territory of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. It is a paradise for beach bums and the most popular destination in the Andamans. Undoubtedly, Havelock’s most popular beach is the Radhanagar Beach (Beach No.7).
A stroll to the beach through a dense forest leads you through to the sight of white sand and crystal clear blue water. There is a restaurant serving light meals and cold drinks behind the beach, as well as a few market stalls set back from the beach selling fresh drinking coconuts.
The sunset on Radhanagar Beach is also not to be missed.
Scuba diving is the main activity here other than chilling out, lying on the beaches or hammocks and eating plenty of food. The blue sea with crystal clear water makes it a diver's paradise. I stayed at Emerald Gecko and dived with Andaman Bubbles. Rest assured, I got my money's worth and more.
I was picked up early morning and taken straight to the dive site. After a round of introductions, all of us (I was going to dive with 4 girls in the morning session - the non swimmers group) put on our body suits and we were briefed by our lovely instructor on the do's and don'ts for the dive. The oxygen tank was heavy and it took some time for me to get used to the weight. The toughest part for me was to learn to "equalize" - breathing through my mouth instead of breathing through my nose.
After some time of trying to dive in the shallow waters, I was not able to get it right at all. So, my instructor decided that we should just dive in deep waters and take it from there. And, I had to agree as I was making a mess of myself in the training lessons, so it was better to mess it up in the actual waters and see how it goes. We were going to dive to a depth of 12 metres and then come back up.
But, on my first dive, I panicked and got some salt water into my system as my face mask slipped and I inhaled some water through my nose. I tried to relax and on my second dive, I did not make a mistake but after reaching 6 metres, I felt some pain in my head so we had to abort the dive and come back up.
After debating with myself on whether to continue or not and some gentle cajoling from the most helpful of instructors, I decided to give it one last shot. And, boy, am I glad that I gave it a go !
This time, she led me to a depth of 12 metres and from there, we just floated in the waters and it was one of the most wonderful experiences in my life - a closeup of the corals and the marine life swimming past me has to be one of the most amazing sightings in my life. Now, I was comfortable enough to pose for photos and give a "Thumbs Up" !
I was mighty impressed with my instructor, who had been scuba diving in places like Thailand, Portugal, Australia etc. and who saved my life more than once. I am sure it is frustrating for people like her to deal with non-swimmers and first timers like me.
After having a whale of a time, we got back to base and spent the rest of the day recollecting our experiences and talking about pretty much everything under the sun. I did not feel like leaving the office of Andaman Bubbles just yet but hunger pangs forced me to go back to my resort. On the way back to my resort, I kept wondering whether I would come back to Andamans again for another dive !
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