Neil Island

Neil Island is in the Andaman Islands.

Understand

The ticket (one-way) on the speed boat costs Rs.150 for a non-islander. Better to buy it at least a day before as seats gets filled up quickly. You may even try on the day of departure by arriving at the Phoenix jetty early. The road leading to Phoenix from north is dug up (2007) and that place is mess with sewage and sludge. Boats depart early in the morning, so give yourself some more time.

Neil, with its lenghty beaches is popular with "foreign tourists". There were hardly any desi tourists. Neil is quite small compared to Havelock. Its widest part is about 5 km in length. You can walk the whole island in about an hour or two. A local bus does the rounds once in a while.

Get in

Ferry from Port Blair to Neil. It takes 2 hours and costs 195 Rs. One return sailing a day. Neil Island has no ticket office, just get on the ferry and then buy your tickets on board. There's also the boat from Port Blair to Rangat which calls at Neil as its first stop.

Havelock to Neil. The Rangat ferry calls at Havelock and then to Neil. It takes 1 hour and costs 195 Rs.

Get around

On arrival, the guesthouse owners will meet you at the jetty, and give you a free autorickshaw ride to their guesthouse. The return journey will cost 50Rs.

Bicycles can be rented here for a price between Rs 50-75 per day. Though not needed they can be useful if you want to travel around Neil in a day.

You can get an auto-rickshaw and go around to see self-declared private 'resorts' to find accommodation.

See

• Natural bridge: A small strip of land that connectsthe mainland to a small(3*3)island of sorts.( not worth it but the rockpools around this at low tide are worth checking out.

• Beach #8: Snorkeling here plus a small cave to check out. Lots of shells around if you are a shell collector.

Do

Sunset point is the west most point of the beach west of the jetty which the guesthouses are on. There are ravenous sandflies, so if you're spending any time there then take a hammock. Pretty sunsets. If you snorkel directly west off the point there's some wonderful snorkelling. There's sometimes a current.

Snorkeling near beach with the caves and also off Havelock if you choose to take the private ride. Mantas to be seen on the ride if you are lucky.

Get here in the morning. check the rockpools, snorkel then bail in the afteroon.

snorkelling is also very good around the jetty at Neil. edges of the shallow reefs have some live corals, many different kinds of fish and lots of anemones with resident clown fish.

great variety of shells are available but are not supposed to be taken from the islands.

Eat

The main bazaar has a few eateries serving the usual Indian fare.

At the beach resorts, food has to be ordered generally at least two hours in advance as the "cook" travels to the market gets the supplies and prepares it.

• Green Heaven restaurant, (300 metres back towards town from Tango Beach Resort). Teh restaurant is very friendly, has great food (try the grilled fish or chocolate pancake) and the service is positively instant compared with the glacial service at the resorts!

Drink

Coconut milk.

Alcohol is also available in most of the resorts.

Sleep

• Hawabill nest guest house (IP&T), ☎ 282630. near the jetty proved to be a very decent place. The Dorms cost Rs.150 with clean, proper beds and a community bath/toilet. Good news, there were no other tourists except an occasional day tripper family. They also have a chef who can prepare the food on request.

• Tango Beach Resort, (2kms west of the ferry dock), ☎ +91 9434270454 / +91-9434270364, [1]. Tango Beach Resort. Doorless huts 50Rs. Slightly grubby rooms 150 - 300Rs. Fronts onto the beach, and at high tide you can swim here. The reef is 50 metres out and extends west (left) to Sunset Point. Service in the restaurant is glacially slow - 2 hours for an omlette!
• Pearl Park Beach Resort, (2.5 kms west of the ferry dock), ☎ 01392-0282510. 01392-233880. Another 500 metres further west from Tango and pretty much the same except it doesn't front onto the beach. Similar pricing to Tango.

Get out

Two options:

1) Leave via the ferry that got you here sometime in the evening

2)You can manage to get a private boat ride to Havelock from here for around 1000Rs if interested.For Indians this is not a problem but foreigners be aware, the police at the jetty on Havelock do check your RAP (restricted area permit) on the way out and EXPECT to see an entry number on it, which you will not have if you came privately. This is done, precisely to stop tourists making unauthorised visits to islands they should not be on and the authorities take this quite seriously so DO expect trouble if you decide to do this. (Of course if you left by the same method and went back to where you came from nobody would be any the wiser).

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