Two very beach-y stories
December 2023 was a month of beaches, vacationing, adventuring, making friends, solo travel, family travel — what I am describing are two very different beach stories — one story begins in the beginning of December and ends in the islands of Andaman and the other story is about relaxing in the fancy Maldives.
Story 1: The Andamans
I associate the Andamans with history, island hopping, beach time and friendships. Let’s start with history — Kala Paani Jail — named so because of the ultimate doom (kala) of the prisoners who were sent here, to a prison in the remote parts surrounded by just water (paani). I recently watched a movie “Swatantra Veer Sarvarkar” and it took me back to my visit to the cellular jail seeing the construction and watching the light and sound show. The amount of gratitude I felt for living in this free country free of war.
The island hopping — my favourite was Ross island — hanging out with deer (who needs to go to Nara?), doing a short hike to the lighthouse and checking out multiple sunsets! Another highlight was waking up at 5am to go kayaking in the mangroves, what an amazing arm workout — we saw bioluminescence, mangroves, night sky and a wonderful sunrise.
Beach time — so many beaches and sunsets, the highlight here was the Glass Bottom boat ride, where we could see the wonderful corals from the boat without getting wet. Goa has shells but Andaman has corals and the glass boat ride is a must for all ages.
Friendships — I went on my first solo trip in India with “Wow Club” and it was truly an amazing group of friends I made who I plan on taking trips with in the future. We had a “Pink Night” which was such a wonderful way to get to know each other and dance the night away, despite our tight schedules!
Andamans marked the beginning of many more solo trips to come!
Story 2: Maldivian vacay
While Andamans was an adventure, Maldives was a getaway to relax and unwind. We started our luxurious journey in lounges and sea plane to our fancy Westin Maldives Miriandhoo Resort, nestled in the UNESCO reserve Baa Atoll area.
In our 5 day stay we only used our brains to decide what we would eat and where would we eat. Fruit platted and eggs benedict everyday for breakfast — yes please. Ice cream for lunch — who could say no? and fancy dinners at their 5 course Japanese restaurant, give me the menu already!
All this time in the pool, the beach and the restaurants — I realised I am not a sashimi person and I regret not trying the octopus for dinner in one of Westin’s nice restaurants — something for my next beach vacation. What I cherish are the wonderful moments I created with the family during the Christmas celebration evening catching the sunrise and drinking mimosas.
All said and done these vacations were very different, I enjoyed both of them thoroughly but I wouldn’t go to these places again. I wish to keep my memories intact of these beach vacations and look back at the photos to cherish the moments of fun, adventure and relaxation from the Andamans and Maldives.
