Every time we go travel, stay at places with amazing views, eat great food and have experience of a lifetime, we completely forget to think about what goes behind such experiences. Many such experiences often have downsides to it. Many of them come to us at the price of our environment or ecosystem. We learned a new lesson in travel at this eco-friendly resort in Havelock, Andaman Islands, called the Eco Villa Palm Beach Resort.
Eco Villa Palm Beach Resort is a Scuba Diving Resort, means it gives preference to people who want to scuba dive. The resort is well-known and is located on Beach No. 2 in Govind Nagar, just 3 km from the jetty. The resort is owned by a Keralite named Sajan, who is settled in the Islands for the last 2 decades.
We were welcomed by Didi (Sajan’s wife) and their 2 year old daughter. The walkie-talkie in her hand gave us a fair idea that it was not a network-friendly place. Both good and bad for us. We decided to eat something until our room was cleaned. Didi showed us around and answered all our questions about the property. She walked us to our room which faced the beach. Anniversary mode: ON! The beach literally at a distance of 50 steps from our room! We just stood there absorbing the view. The scene is still fresh in my mind.
Right from the rooms made from bamboo and plain wood, to the beer bottles used to lay the foundation, every bit of the resort is environment-friendly. You can see the conscious efforts. Why beer bottles? To bring down the quantity of cement and to make the rooms, resistant to earthquakes. The credit goes to Sajan. His vision to conserve marine life in the Island. A migrant who turned a saviour. If we start talking about him, there is a lot to say. We will definitely write an article on him.
Enter 2nd anniversary. The idea of celebrating our 2nd year differently got us to our first scuba dive ever. And we were pretty excited about it. So there we were with our diving costumes, masks, oxygen cylinders and weights around our waists, training to breathe underwater. We got a proper crash course by the man himself before we went diving. We saw a unique world of awesomely weird creatures 12 feet deep. We saw hundreds of fishes, corals that were alive and kicking and a lot of rock formations. It was difficult for us to comprehend all that, but it was an unbelievable sight! Oh! Yeah, we did ‘Find Nemo!’ and it was so unreal, it looked as if it was photoshopped or like it was an animated character. It sure was was a lifetime experience for us. I can’t swim and I am extremely scared of water, but I was determined to do it! And I’m so glad that I did it!
The view, the people and the stories forced us to extend our stay in the resort by another day. If I have to talk about food, the options are limited but it is freshly prepared and served. It used to have a full-fledged restaurant, one of the most famous joints in Havelock, but they shut it down a little more than 5 years ago. That’s a different story.
Eco Villa Palm Beach Resort is worth visiting, it is definitely worth it. But if you want to stay here, you need to be adaptive. It is not like every other resort where you can call the reception and get things done. We loved the place not only because of its beauty but for the people who own it and their efforts in running a business with minimal impact of the environment.
