We wouldn’t call our journey through India a vacation. Perhaps an experience or an adventure, but not a vacation. Once we reached Havelock Island we were ready for a vacation from our journey! It was perfect timing for some well-needed rest and relaxation.
The first day we arrived in the late afternoon. We found a hotel on the beach, ate dinner at a nearby restaurant, and then took a walk on the beach as the sunset. Ahh, how nice it was be on a tropical island!
The next day we chose to venture to the other side of the island, to Beach No. 7, which is considered the best beach on the island. There are rickshaws that will take you for 300 rupees ($6.67) round-trip, but that was way more than we wanted to spend. Our first thought was to rent a motorbike to ride across the island. George took one for a test spin, but wasn’t too steady on it, so we decided just to rent bicycles instead (for 50 rupees per bicycle per day). We asked a couple ladies staying at our hotel how the bike ride to the beach was, and they said it was hard, especially because there was a hill. We’re always up for an adventure, though, so bicycles it was!
First we rode to the ferry dock to try to purchase our tickets to Neil Island, but found out that you can only buy tickets between Havelock and Neil Islands on the day you are traveling. So back we went towards town, stopped off at a road side restaurant for lunch, and then from town headed on the 12km road to Beach No. 7. It was hot, we were dripping with sweat in the humidity, and 12km felt like a long way. The hill was near the end of the road, and we had to get off and push our bikes for most of the uphill. It took around an hour for us to reach the beach from town and when we got there I was completely exhausted! It felt like it took half an hour for me to catch my breath.
We really worked up a sweat on the bike ride, as you can see in the photo below :).
We went for a swim and then relaxed on the beach. George made a nice little couch for us in the sand, which the dogs were very envious of. They kept wanting to join us, but I shooed them away.
We stayed almost until sunset, but I knew we still had the bike ride ahead of us, and was eager to get back.
On the way back to our hotel it was much cooler, but the mosquitoes were out and it got dark very fast. As we headed up the hill I didn’t think I could make it the whole way back, but somehow we managed. It was another adventure to add to our collection, but in the end, I would not recommend riding bicycles just to save $4.44.
The next day I just wanted to take it easy, so we stayed at the beach near our hotel and I slept under a shade tree. That’s my idea of a relaxing day.
You may also want to read our post about Purchasing Ferry Tickets from Port Blair to Havelock Island.
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