Editor’s Letter: Island Hopping in India

Dear reader,

There is a particular feeling that arrives when the mainland drops away behind a boat. The engine noise settles into a rhythm, the water changes colour, and the list of things you were worrying about on shore starts to look a little smaller. This July issue is built around that feeling. We are calling it Island Hopping, and while the Andaman and Nicobar Islands take up most of our pages, we have also wandered to a few islands that rarely make it onto Indian travel lists at all.

India is not usually thought of as an island country, and in most senses it is not. But spend a little time with a map and the islands keep appearing: the long chain of the Andamans and Nicobars in the Bay of Bengal, the coral atolls of Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea, small coastal islands like Diu off the Saurashtra coast, river islands in Goa’s estuaries, and Majuli sitting in the middle of the Brahmaputra in Assam. Each of them has its own pace, its own way of getting there, and its own reasons for being worth the trouble.

Why islands, and why now

July is, admittedly, a strange month to publish an island issue. In the Andamans the southwest monsoon is usually in full flow by now, seas can be rough, and some ferry and water-sport operations are known to be reduced or suspended on bad days. Diu and Goa are wet and green. Majuli’s river is high. We know all this, and we chose the timing on purpose.

Island trips reward planning more than almost any other kind of travel in India. Ferries need booking, permits sometimes need arranging, and the best-value stays tend to fill up early for the October-to-May season. Reading about these places in the rainy months gives you time to decide what kind of island trip you actually want before the season’s crowds do it for you.

What is in this issue

Our existing features take you through island hopping across the Andaman and Nicobar group, the adventure and leisure options there, the food that mixes Bengali, Tamil, Burmese and local influences, and the crafts and souvenirs worth looking for in Port Blair’s markets.

Around those, we have added six new pieces. The first is a route story that follows the most common journey in the Andamans: Port Blair to Havelock (Swaraj Dweep) to Neil (Shaheed Dweep), and explains why the ferry, not the beach, is the thing that shapes your trip. The second spends three unhurried days on Neil Island, the smaller and quieter neighbour of Havelock, where you can cycle almost everywhere and the main event of the day may be sunset.

Then we leave the Bay of Bengal. Diu, the former Portuguese enclave off Gujarat, gets an honest what-to-skip guide, because many first-time visitors either rush it or treat it as just a beach break and miss its fort, churches and old lanes. Divar, a small island in the Mandovi river reached by a short ferry from near Panaji, is our quieter place of the month, a reminder that Goa still has corners where the loudest sound in the afternoon can be a rooster.

Back in the Andamans, a practical piece covers food, stay and how you actually move: government and private ferries, local buses, scooters, and where travellers commonly go wrong with timing. Finally, we spend a week on Majuli, the Brahmaputra river island known for its satras, the Vaishnavite monasteries founded in the tradition of the saint Srimanta Sankardev, and for mask-making that has drawn interest from far beyond Assam.

How to read this issue

If you are planning a first trip to the Andamans, start with the route story and the practical piece on food, stay and getting around, then read the three-day Neil piece as an example of what a slower itinerary can look like. Our older features on island hopping and adventures will help you choose between snorkelling, diving, kayaking and simply sitting still.

If you already know the Andamans, or you simply cannot spare the travel time this year, the Diu, Divar and Majuli stories are for you. None of them needs a flight to a remote airport, and each can be fitted around a longer trip: Diu alongside Somnath or Gir in Gujarat, Divar on almost any Goa holiday, and Majuli as part of a journey through upper Assam, perhaps with Kaziranga or the tea country around Jorhat.

We also want to say something about the word “hopping”. It suggests speed, as if the point were to collect as many islands as possible. Our writers kept coming back with the opposite advice. Fewer islands, more nights on each, and a willingness to let weather, tides and boat timings set the pace. An island you rushed through is rarely the one you remember.

A few honest notes

Island ecosystems are fragile, and several of the places in this issue have rules that exist for good reasons. In the Andamans, parts of the islands are protected tribal reserves and are closed to visitors; we have not written about visiting them and we would ask you not to try. Coral reefs everywhere suffer when visitors stand on them, feed fish or buy shells. Majuli has been losing land to river erosion for decades, according to many reports, which is one more reason to travel there gently.

Facts like ferry schedules, permit rules and entry fees change often, sometimes from one season to the next. We have tried to describe how things generally work rather than quote numbers that may be out of date by the time you read this. Please check with official sources, your ferry operator or your stay before you travel.

Thank you

This issue took us a long way from our usual mountains and temples, and we enjoyed the change. If you have a favourite island, Indian or otherwise, that you think deserves a feature, write to us. Some of the best story ideas we have ever had came from readers who wanted to share a place they loved without ruining it.

Until next month, travel slowly, carry a refillable water bottle, and leave the shells on the beach.

Warmly,

Khushi Anand, Editor