Sunset in Mayabunder and Avis Island

After a night of chilled beer and garlic chilli prawns back in Port Blair a 4am bus to Mayabunder beckoned. Barely awake, the overcrowded excuse for public transport started its 9 hours trip north to Mayabunder at Middle Andaman's most north easterly tip.

Wow. The drive was stunning - though we were both a little worried about piles - as the dirt road wove its way north through first mangroves and later rainforest. Travel was slow and painful - doc says "no piles"- as vehicles must travel in convoys to avoid trouble with spear-bearing locals dressed only in loin cloths (actually I'm making the loin cloth bit up, though we have it on good authority the Jawaras do eat each other). But it's all worth it.

Mayabunder is much like any other Indian fishing town, a dump! But we were there to see Avis Island, a small circular outcrop of rock and sand that is truly stunning.

We chartered a fishing boat and headed the 30 minutes or so east before seeing the island for the first time. Alone and in love we quickly made the island our own (it was, no other person was there) and I set about burning me goolies and Marit her bum. It was worth all the sweat (permits are required for some more remote places and some are still outa bounds) and tears - as one Indian official passed us onto the next - and for sure our highlight of the Andaman trip.