Planning your next trip to the Andamans? Then this is your call, in a new travel guideline, the Andaman and Nicobar government has announced an exemption of negative RT-PCR reports for fully vaccinated travelers. Here is a guide with all the information you need to know before you plan your trip during the pandemic situation.
If you’re double-vaccinated and it has been 15 days since your second dose:
- Carry your COWIN certificate with and your ID proof that is mentioned on the COWIN certificate.
- You don’t need an RTPCR test if you are fully vaccinated.
- Carry RTPCR report from within 48 hrs before starting the journey from an ICMR-approved lab. You need to show this report in the airport before you board into your flight.
- You’ll undergo a compulsory & free RTPCR test in Port Blair airport on arrival. You will be taken in a bus to the test centre from the airport.
- A single day quarantine in Port Blair is mandatory until test results arrive.
Now that you know about the entry to the islands, let me give you an insight about the travel in the islands.
Cellular Jail
- There will be limited number of tourists allowed in the Cellular Jail, you can take these entry tickets directly in the jail ticket counter.
- You will have to book your tickets online in advance to view the Light & Sound show in cellular jail. There are only limited slots for viewing this show, so it’s better you book it well in advance.
- You will need to register first using the below link and then book your tickets. Link to register is: https://www.andamantourism.gov.in/etourist/index.php/home/form
- There are two slots available to view the Cellular Jail Light & Sound show, one at 5:20 PM and one at 6:40 PM. The language used in the show is Hindi.
- The fare for this show is ₹ 300/- per head for adults and ₹ 150/- per head for children.
There is a Sound & Light Show at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose Island (Ross Island, Port Blair). You can visit that too, I won’t specify much about this as I haven’t visited this. But you can book your tickets to this show too from the above link. The fare for this show is ₹ 100 /- per head for adults and ₹ 25 /- per head for children.
Ferries
At present there are very few ferries that are operational. Two private and a few government ones. Makruzz and Sea Link are the private ferries that were available when we had visited, but there were talks that a few more of them will be operational very soon. Coral Queen is the government ferry I know about, but there are more government jetties too.
- You can book your private ferry tickets online and make sure you book them well in advance as you won’t get seats in the last minute.
- Government ferry tickets are available at the DSS Counters (STARS) at Phoenix Bay Jetty, Port Blair and CSC (Common Service Center) at numerous locations. Tickets for travel between Tuesday and Thursday are issued from Monday onwards & tickets for travel between Friday and Monday are issued from Thursday onwards. Tickets can only be obtained by queuing up at the ticket counter. You can however find ferry schedules online here and plan your travel accordingly. You can also find up to date info on schedules by calling 03192 – 245555 or 230480.
- In case of private jetty you can plan your complete trip at one go online, but in case of government jetty you will have to book it separately at every island and getting tickets is a big problem. Government jetty takes a lot more time to transfer you from one place to another than the private jetty.
- Please don’t think you can go there and book your tickets as there is high demand for these and because of this issue you will simply have to waste all your money on hotels and other stuff that you have spent money for.
- The links to book these ferries are:
Makruzz : https://www.makruzz.com/cms/booking
Sea Link : https://gonautika.com/home - You can check out the availability first and then book your flight tickets. I know that I sound weird here, but the demand for these ferries is too much that they get sold out like hot chocolates. So make sure you see that the ferries are available on the days you are planning your trip and then book your flight tickets & hotel tickets.
- If you want to book your ferries in one place irrespective of the type of ferry then visit this site: https://www.go2andaman.com/online-ferry-booking/
Activities
- There are a bunch of activities to try out here like scuba diving, para sailing, sea walking, snorkeling, jet ski and many more water activities.
- You can book these activities in the island where you want to try out itself. This is one thing that you don’t have to book well in advance.
- You can try out these activities in three locations : North Bay Island (Port Blair), Elephant Beach (Havelock Island) and Bharatpur Beach (Neil island).
- I tried all my activities in Havelock itself and it was amazing. I would suggest you either choose Port Blair or Havelock for your activities.
Timings
- In the Andamans, the sunrise and sunset take place very early, so it’s always better to plan your trips early in the morning so that you can cover all the activities without missing out on any.
- The sunrise is at 5AM and sunset 4:45/5PM. So it’s better you sleep early and wake up early to not miss out on anything. Can you believe that the above picture was taken at 5:30PM.
Hope you found this article helpful!!
Stay Tuned for more such information regarding the Andamans..
Until then Bye Bye..
See you all in the next blog!
Take care 🙂
If this itinerary appeals to you, feel free to contact Flip To Trip (Our Travel Company) to create a personalised travel experience just for you.
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