Boarded by police (again!) at Little Andaman Island

We were only the second group of yachts to arrive at Hutt Bay in Little Andaman Island in the past two years – the first group being Quintessa and Beach House, our erstwhile travelling companions, who had visited just two weeks earlier before we met up with them in Port Blair.

Little Andaman Island Mr Fixit, George, was at hand to assist us having been primed by the other boats to expect us and amongst other things, organised a car and driver to take us on a trip to see some of the sights around Hutt Bay.

Some magnificent trees in Butler Bay Beach

Our first stop was Butler Bay beach, a sweeping bay which had much darker and coarser sand than many of the coves and beaches we had seen in the rest of the Andamans. It was a stunning beach with a bit of a surf which we imagined would be pretty good later on in the year.

Our next stop was Kala Patar – a delightful little cove which reminded us of the hongs of Thailand as there was a beautiful lagoon encircled by rocks.

A beautiful cove reminiscent of a Thai hong

In rocks at one corner of the bay we discovered a kind of blow hole where the incoming tide was sucked up through a hole in the rock and the water surged into a channel below.

We met a lovely family on the beach who we had originally met on Neill Island, and who were on holiday from Chandannagar, a European settlement near Pondicherry. Part Dutch, part Israeli, the mum had been born in New Zealand. The family were finding Little Andaman Island a bit too quiet for their little family and the snorkelling disappointing, so were planning to leave early.

Our next stop was a beautiful waterfall about 6.5 kms from Hutt Bay – there was a short walk to the falls which was very pleasant and well maintained. The Smarties jumped in for a swim and the rest of us cooled our feet in the refreshing but ice cold water.

After a very good lunch at George’s restaurant we all went back to rest before dinner – an excellent Chinese meal, again at George’s, cooked with an Indian twist by a Tibetan chef!

Our private dining room in the tower at George’s restaurant

The next morning, before we took off (a day earlier than planned) for Sisters Island, we were boarded by police for the second time since arriving in the Andaman Islands but this time was a little different to our last experience (see https://dotsailing.wordpress.com/2017/04/16/straight-down-the-strait-and-boarded-by-police/).

This time we had an obligation to fulfil. The local police chief had never been on a yacht and was desperate to have a look at one and see how we lived. So at 7am sharp two dinghies went to meet the police on the local beach (famous for crocodiles as its near the island’s fish market!) and after a good bit of hanging around ended up bringing the chief and three of his men to take a look at the boats. They were quite amazed with it all – the water makers, the showers, the cooking facilities etc.

One of the local policemen examining our navigation app

We offered to take them for a sail and suggested that the police launch (a good sized ocean going vessel that we had been walking over each day to get to the jetty) could come and pick them up.