At 6.30 am we were abruptly woken up when the phone rang. Kunja had just arrived in Port Blair (he was joining us a day later since there was a mix up in booking our tickets). The rest of the morning was a blur as we rushed around shopping, bolting down a modest breakfast and trying (without any luck) to activate the internet on our phones. Checking out of the hotel at 10’o clock, we headed towards Houda harbor where we saw our ship MV CHOWRA which was preparing to leave at 12. noon. The harbor was swarming with Bengalis, Tamilians and Andhrites, all with tons and tons of luggage. As I stood and watched them, I realized how people from the mainland have the luxury of traveling to any part of the globe in just a few days, In this part of the world however it’s a whole different ball game. Simply traveling from one island to another requires an abundance of patience and plenty of endeavors.
After being jostled left and right and slowly squeezing our way through the seething mass of noisy, sweaty passengers, we went through a minor security check and were finally on board – ready to embark on an epic journey to find some of the world’s unknown surf spots. The Chowra was apparently a fast vessel that was only going to stop at a couple of other islands before our final destination. Yet time seemed to slow down to a snail’s pace after a couple of hours on board. Our activity was very limited – reading, writing, listening to our Ipods, chit-chat, or watching and re-watching one surf movie after the next on my laptop. After a long day of monotony, we all unanimously agreed that it was time to hit the bed. After a long time, while listening to some Spanish lessons on my i-pod, I eventually drifted off to sleep sometime in the middle of the night.
