The Andaman Islands

After a wacky Thanksgiving night partying at my first Indian wedding, we boarded an early morning flight for Port Blair in the Andaman Islands off the southern coast of India. It was about a 2.5 hour flight so got some decent nap time.

We went straight to the ferry landing for our 2 hour boat ride to Havelock Island where we planned to stay for 4 nights. We booked the lowest class ticket, which cost us about $4 and were put into a terrible little room at the bottom of the ship with no air, no water or food to be found. We did some exploring and found that we could go up to the top and ride with the lifeboats and it was stunning. We met some great people there and we all dug in our packs to find any scraps of food to share.

Havelock Island is very small and still pretty untouched. We stayed at a simple little "resort" called the Holiday Inn on the beach. I thought that was pretty funny. It was not like any Holiday Inn I've ever seen. The room was basically a cot and a toilet and was on the expensive side at 1000 rupies per night (about $20 US). There was an outdoor restaurant that was pretty good except it took forever to get your food.

The second night we were there we met Haemish Kane, infamous disc jockey and actor from England and his two crazy sisters and niece, Corrine. Haemish was born and raised in India and speaks Hindi perfectly. In fact, he wrote a book on learning Hindi and kindly gave me a signed copy. He is also a travel writer for Lonely Planet and gave me some fantastic suggestions and recommendations. This family was so funny and wild and we laughed until we thought we might puke. We also met Roberto, who is a doctor from Italy and is about as well traveled a man as I've ever met. He was facinating and very funny and fun to hang out with.

On the third day we were there, our whole group went snorkeling on a rickey old wooden boat that took us another 2 hours away to a place called Button Island. It was beautiful there but turned out to be a harrowing experience.

April and I had been snorkeling for about an hour and staying close to each other. When we got tired and thought we might go to the boat, we looked up and realized it was no longer there. What the hell?? There we were in the middle of the Indian Ocean with no life jackets and no fucking boat. The waves were getting bigger and we were getting exhausted and had no idea what to do. We started swimming in one direction, hoping that the boat would be there. Button Island is nothing more than a little piece of rock sticking up out of the ocean, with no way to crawl up on it, so it wasn't much of a comfort, but a little.

Finally a man from the boat came swimming by in his dive gear and asked if we were ok. Duh. No. We were not ok. He told us to follow him, but at this point it was getting difficult because we were so damn tired. The waves kept crashing on top of me and filling my snorkel with salt water. I hate the taste of salt water but swallowed plenty of it that day. As we got close to the boat they thankfully threw a rope out so I could pull myself in. My god, I was so tired. And very pissed off. It ws a long, hot, exhausting day and I'm not sure that I have recovered yet.

In spite of the crazy snorkeling experience, I loved my time at Havelock and would go back in a second. The people were very nice and the beaches were wonderful.

I'm back in Calcutta now and so happy to see the girls at Soma Home. They are very happy to have me back too. I'll stay for 4 days before going up to Varnasi to work at Buddah's Smile School. I'm looking forward to that. I'm not sure where I'll be for Christmas yet or who I'll be with, but it will be alright, I'm sure.

I miss my family and friends tremendously and sometimes get very homesick and sad and want to jump on the first plane and go home. But India and I are not finished yet. I feel like I am just starting to get my travel groove on and there is so much to do and experience here.

Someone said to me before I left "India is Everything". She was right. I came to India to find myself, and guess what? There I am.