March 1
This was the culmination of a 36 mile sail/motor from Havelock 7. It was a lovely blue-sky day with some wind in our favour, some not. This anchorage is a big, accommodating circular inlet - likely the ridges of a very old volcano. As we turned in, the wind kicked up to 15 knots (now!!?). There is a low flat rock (about 10 meters in diameter) that is barely visible above the surface and we had a visual on it coming in, but lost it in the wind-waves - a bit concerning. The rock is on the Admiralty charts, but in the wrong place by about 200 meters, so, when we eventually sighted it again gave it a wide berth and anchored in 15 meters. This is a lovely calm anchorage off a small beach that was populated by half a dozen thatched huts and a collection of cars - Sunday afternoon visitors - as this location is reachable by road from Port Blair. We didn't go ashore, but watched the shoreline activities from the boat. It's interesting watching ladies wading in sari's! One thing we noted is that in all the Andamans, no women wear anything but traditional Indian sari or salwar kameez: unlike the cities on the mainland where some women (particularly business women) have gone for western garb. One noticeable feature of the beach here was a number of very large, dead, fallen trees. These are the same magnificent trees that line the waterfront and hills of many Andaman islands. They are truly handsome and we will try to find out their species when in Port Blair. As a result of the 2004 earthquake that caused the Tsunami, the southern Andamans dropped and the northern Andamans were lifted so now the whole chain tilts, so, these trees were tipped into the ocean's edge where they lie today as huge grey-white skeletons. There has been no attempt to remove them nor saw them up. Let sleeping trees lie. We liked this anchorage a lot and look forward to a return.