Showing posts with label islands. Show all posts
Showing posts with label islands. Show all posts

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Culture Corner: The Andamans - Part II

Part II of my photos from the Andaman Islands.  (If you missed it, Part I is here.)

Who wouldn’t want to have a rest on that pillow? (Or, "Where's the Little Mermaid?")
An action shot of the moped we rented to explore the single road stretching the length of Havelock Island.  Cows were the only real traffic you needed to look out for.
The jellyfish had no idea we were in hot pursuit of hundreds of dolphins which happened by our dive boat.
The photo not so great, the silvery flashes are indeed dolphins.  Unfortunately, they wanted to get no closer to have their picture taken.  The water undulating above is like a dream.
More of the picturesque countryside...
With no idea what this is (sea urchin?), I'm left with pure visuals. Yes?
To say Andaman waters are teeming with life is an understatement.  This is only a fraction of the undersea creatures we saw.  Turtles, shrimp, octopuses, huge schools of mackerel and barracuda, sharks, and even little pegasuses were some of the other life we saw calling this reef home.
Not the last cow we would see in India, at least this one has nice grass to spend its days eating (unlike the trash its city counterpart must pick through).
A fishermen out at dusk.
What time in paradise would be complete without a glorious sunset on the beach?  Ask and you shall receive!

The End

I would like to say thank you again to the people we dove with who gave us some of their photos.  A few of those above are thanks to them.  Secondly, I would like to give a nod of respect to Dive India.  The three Vs we met and dove with (Vikas, Vinnie, and Vikram), as well as all the other instructors and guides, were all top notch professionals as well as just a fun, knowledgeable group to spend time with.  Cheers!

Culture Corner: The Andamans - Part I

Apart from a one night stay in New Delhi en route, our first week In India was spent in the idyllic Andaman Islands.  Night and day compared to our last week in India, we spent the seven days on Havelock diving, eating delicious fish, drinking fresh mango juice, walking the beaches, and just plain relaxing.  So much to see and do, when selecting photos the number quickly spilled over into two posts.  So, without further ado here is Part I.  (Part II can be found here.)  Many thanks to our fellow divers who gave us their photos when our camera could not be taken any deeper.
One of the Andamans and its reef as we flew in.

Up close and under foot a few hours later!
Diving is like heaven, sometimes.

Some of the countryside – a far cry from the squalor that infests the mainland.
A scorpion fish, just begging us to get a little closer so it can stick one of its poisonous dorsal fins into us.

Our little bungalow (on the right) we called home amongst the coconut palms at Dive India.
Undersea “follow the leader”.
Cricket is one of the few means of escape in India.  And it’s played everywhere, from the ghats in Varanasi to these, the rice paddies of the Andamans.
Some call a mansion home, others…
  
Do you really need a caption?
 
A friend we had taking care of the mosquitoes beside our table while we too ate one evening.

 End of Part I. Click here for Part II.