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NEAR HAVELOCK ISLAND, INDIA • Our ricketyski! takes on an alarming amount of water in theroilingAndamanSea.After an hour and a half, two other scuba divers

and I arrive nearly seasick and absolutely soakedat our dive site, Johnny’s Gorge. The divemasterscrambles to tie the boat to a buoy,which is nothingmore than a cluster of plastic bottles bobbing in thewide-open ocean and anchored to a rock some 90feet below.The sea is angry andweall look abit hesitant.The

divemaster hops in to check the current and imme-diately and rapidlywashes away.This one isn’t going to be easy.We’re the only dive boat to brave these waters

today, but we shrug and gear up.We’re paying goodmoney to dive in India’s Andaman Islands, a touristdestination so remote that even someveterandiverswill never dip a fin in these waters. It’d be a wastenot to try.Once in, I kick hard for the front of the boat and

catch the mooring line with a white-knuckle grip.I shout to the divemaster that I’m going down a fewmeters—togetoutof the surf, to avoid theviolentlybobbing boat and to catchmybreath.After about 10 minutes, the divemaster comes

downalone.Heexplains—withhandsignals—thatthe other two divers were uneasy and aborted. Do Iwant to continue?The waves are so strong we have to hold our gear

bags down, the surf tosses our boat around like a

RANTOUL, ILL. • “Wow, Dad, look atthat airplane!”Dad had no time to react before his

young son took off running towardan F-105 Thunderchief, a supersonicbomber nicknamed “Thud” by thetroops inVietnam.It’s oneofmore than30 aircraft parked in the hangar and outon the tarmac that prompt shouts ofjoy — and some tears — at the OctaveChanuteAerospaceMuseum.The largest aerospace museum in

Illinois is modest compared to othersaround the country, but it’s worth atrip to Rantoul, about 20 miles northof Champaign and 200miles northeastof St. Louis. “We’ve got some priceless

pieces of history here,” says Hal Loe-bach, one of the sta! of three,whowasa B-52 bombardier in the VietnamWar.“We feel it is important that the nextgeneration get excited about aviation.”Chanute Air Force Base was founded

in 1917. It trained 110 pilots for WorldWar I and later operated a missile andaircraft technical training school. Themuseum opened after the base closedin 1993.The most poignant exhibit tells the

story of the first all-black combat unitin the Army Air Corps. The 99th Pur-suit Squadronwas activated atChanuteField in 1941 with 255 enlisted men andsix o"cer candidates who became the

core of theTuskegeeAirmen.Politically powerful individuals, in-

cluding Eleanor Roosevelt and somemembers of Congress, had forced theWar Department to form an all-blackunit. In response, the Army Air Corpscreatedwhat it called the“GreatExper-iment.” Members were to learn aircraftmaintenance at Chanute, then attendpilottraininginAlabama.Militarylead-ers believed that blacks could not learntomaintain aircraft or handle the stressof combat. Theywere wrong. The classscored the highest grade-point averagein the history of the training center.

Christmas tree worms sprout from hard coral in the reefs around Havelock Island in India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which provide some of Asia’s best yet least-heralded diving.

Olivier Baudouin (center) checksthe gear of two students as theyprepare for a Discover Scuba diveoff Elephant Beach on HavelockIsland. The island, in India’sAndaman and Nicobar Islandchain, is developing a reputationas a learner’s paradise becausescuba classes are smaller than atpopular tourist destinations suchas Thailand and Mexico.

The reefs around Havelock Island in India’sAndaman and Nicobar Islands provide clear bluewater and exotic sea life.

Clown fish guard a sea anemone at the Anemone Reef dive site.

Indian islands are scuba paradiseRemote area in the Andaman Sea has pristine reefs and beaches, but the accomodations can be rustic.

STORY AND PHOTOS BY ADAM JADHAV • Special to thePost-Dispatch

STORY AND PHOTO BY KATHERINE RODEGHIER • Special to the Post-Dispatch

Air history on display in Rantoul, Ill.

Hal Loebach, one of the museum’s staff of three,looks over a Convair B-58 Hustler at the OctaveChanute Aerospace Museum.

RIDE LIKE THE WINDMotorcycle rentals take touristsjust about anywhere. Page L2

PLACES TO SEE ON INDIA’S MAINLAND, T5.

See INDIA • Page T5

See MUSEUM • Page T4

ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH • T504.18.2010 • SUNDAY • M 1

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bathtub toy, the current has me splayedout like a flag on the mooring line. To me,a new diver, this trip seems precarious,maybe evenunwise.Then I remindmyself where I am: India,

where there’s almost no dive industry andwhere expecting everything to goperfectlyis setting yourself up for disappointment.And whatever the conditions, I trust mydivemaster,mygear andmy training.I flash a big thumbs-down, universal

dive-speak for let’s make for the bottom.After all, you only live once.

TO THE BEACH AND BEYONDI first learnedof theAndamanandNicobarIslands eight years ago. A few pages of theLonely Planet guidebook were practicallya siren song: remote, idyllic beaches far o!India’s east coast on the backpacker roadless traveled.Iwas 19and looking for aplace toputmy

feetupat theendofasolo tourof India.Butmy tight budget and poor planning forcedme to “settle” for Goa, India’s former hip-pie paradise.TheAndamanswould have towait.When I started planning this trip, I real-

ized just how far o! the tourist radar thearchipelago lies. Government figures from2007 counted fewer than 150,000 tour-ists (only about 11,000 were foreigners);Disney’sMagicKingdom,which I’ve neverseen, saw 17million visitors that year.Though there aremore than 500 islands

in the territory, fewer than 50 are accessi-ble to tourists.Asmy jetliner descends, theisland chain sparkles like a string of emer-aldsonanecklaceofbrightblueocean.Butthe capital, Port Blair — the Andamans’sea and air link to mainland India — of-fers an anticlimactic greeting: a lush butsprawlingburgof ramshackleconstructionandmountingpollutionmixedwithabitofcolonial history.Most tourists have to spend at least a

night in Port Blair because of the schedul-ing of inter-island ferries. The main at-traction is the infamous, hulking CellularJail,where the British shipped Indian free-dom fighters during the heady days of theIndependence Movement. But with littleelse (beyond some decent fresh seafood),the capital is generally just awaypoint.A day after landing, I hop a two-hour

ferry ride for Havelock Island, the Anda-mans’ biggest draw. Here, infrastructure,accommodation, foodand indeed the gen-eral vibe fall decidedly in the backpackercategory.The main road from the jetty is lined

with budget accommodations and the oc-casional mid-range resort. I spent most ofmy nights on the grounds of a dive shopin an A-frame made of bamboo and palmfronds, costing about $3 a night. SeanNordbo, manager of Barefoot Scuba, lov-ingly referred to my accommodation as a“chickenhut.”At least, ithadamosquitonet,fanandan

electric outlet.“Tourism is still pretty new here,” Nor-

dbo said.“Diving started less than 10 yearsago. Before that, the islands were reallyjust for backpackers who came looking forgoodbeaches.”Some “hotels” on the island are more

like a commune of shacks and hammocks,where the crowd is a couple bottles of rumand an acoustic guitar away from a beachparty.“The island is so relaxed,” said Bianca

Bovell, who was honeymooning in Indiaand diving with her husband. “It’s thebackpacker scene, absolutely, but then,we’re still backpackers.”Havelock does offer some higher-end

accommodations. I splurged on a plushbungalow for a few nights at $125 a dayat the Barefoot Resort (run by the scubashop’s parent company). Afternoons,I would wander 50 meters along a forestpath then emerge onRadhanagar Beach.The white sand spit is kept breathtak-

ingly clear of trash and beach hawkers. Ona good day, you can lay down a towel ina bend and see no other people, just thebright blue ocean, the even bluer sky andthe green jungle. I’ve never seen a bettersunset.Beach No. 5, on the other side of the

island, is even more isolated, and whilethe sand is not quite as clean, the water isKool-Aid blue.(Locals will remind you repeatedly that

both beaches were deemed Asia’s best in2004byTimeMagazine.)A few restaurants are flexing their culi-

nary muscles. Nemo’s is a recent hit witha menu that changes daily, a location en-sconced in jungle and car pick-up service.On Christmas Eve, the menu included hotspiced wine, tomato consommé jelly withfresh crab, pan-fried duck breast and apassion fruit panna cotta for about $33 ahead.Cheaper restaurants — often little more

than shacks thatched in palm— also serveup decent fare, and fresh-caught seafoodis on most menus. Ten dollars can get youa feast of grouper, barracuda or sometimeseven tiger prawns, crab or lobster withsides.A good bowl of prawn fried ricewitha glass ofmango juicewill run less than $5.The sea breeze, of course, is free.

BEAUTY BENEATH THEWAVESSome of Asia’s most pristine reefs awaitjust o!shore. The islands are largely underthe scuba diving radar;many fish ID booksdon’t even mention them, and dive shopshere are stillmappingmany reefs.The lower demand makes Havelock a

haven for newbies. Iwas a scuba virgin andI did my coursework with only one otherstudent. Popular outfits in Florida or theCaribbean might have a single instructorteachingmore than a dozenpeople.Also, consider that Havelock this year

had fewer than 10 dive shops. Thailand’s

touristmecca, Phuket,which is just acrossthe Andaman Sea and closer than the In-dianmainland,boastsalmost200,accord-ing to guidebooks.“There are just so few divers here,” said

dive instructor Elin Lindqvist. “That’swhat makes Havelock so great, becausethere are very few dive spots in the worldwhereyoucanberelativelyalonewithsuchuntouched reefs.”Some veteran divers say infrastructure

is still lacking, but listen to enough divestories and you’ll hear Havelock and thesurround compared to some of theworld’stop-tier sites. Juliette Odinga, an interiordecorator from Switzerland, ranked theAndamans with the Galapagos Islands.Maryland scientist Robert W. Paul saidcolleagues compared some siteswithAus-tralia’s Great Barrier Reef. English dive in-structorGill Blair said theGreat BlueHole,a famous site in Belize, is no better thanJohnny’sGorge.Which is precisely where I am, in mur-

derous current, when the divemaster asksif I want to abort. After considering it, Ifuriously say no.Whenwehit bottom,almost 90 feet be-

low the surface, I’m pleasantly surprised:the ocean is calm, clear, and nearly cur-rent-free— literally an open aquarium.We swim lazily amid giant Napoleon

wrasses, schools of sawtooth barracuda,prowling big-eyed trevally, elegant butpoisonous lionfish and all manner of smallreef fish. And as we round a bend of coral,we spot three whitetip reef sharks, eachabout 5 feet long, resting on the sandyoceanfloor.My eyes go wide and I scream a few ob-

scenities, which are lost in bubbles. Thesharks, about 20 feet away and practicallyharmless, eye us suspiciously but barelymove.And then we swim a bit closer. Again,

you only live once.Adam Jadhav is a freelance writer living in India. His blog isadamjadhav.com.

Remote islands offer beautiful challenges for deep-sea divers

A visit to India may be a once-in-a-lifetime trip. If you decide to spend afew extra days not in island paradise,here are some suggestions:• The Taj Mahal in Agra is one of theworld’s most beautiful monuments.Theword iconic isoverusedandacli-ché, but the Taj deserves it. The Agrafort isworth seeing.• Jaipur is the gateway city to Rajast-han, India’s land of forts, palaces anddeserts. It’s part of a popular tour-ist circuit and easily accessible fromDelhi.• Khajuraho is o! the beaten path.The journey will take more than afew days, but India’s complex ofthousand-year-old erotic temples ismind-boggling.• Varanasi is also further afield, butthe holy and ancient city is perhapsthe best representation of chaoticand colorful India.• Darjeeling and India’s green hills inthe northeast produce some of theworld’s best tea. Tibetan and Nep-alese cultures mix here beautifully.The city is also a jumping-o! pointfor longer visits to the Himalayas.It’s not an easy journey, but one wellworth it.•Delhi, even for a couple days, canbea good way to whet your appetite fora future Indian excursion. Skip thepopular Red Fort but wander the oldcity’s mystifying alleys in ChandniChowk, visit nearby Jama Masjid,eat great kebabs and see the historicQutab Minar and adjoining MehrauliArchaeological Park.

Writer Adam Jadhav is biased against Mumbai; “It’sa wonderful city but a little too modern, sweatyand crowded if you’re on a limited budget or tightschedule.”

When to go • The season for diving in theAndamans is roughly October throughApril or May. December and January arethe peak months for tourism (prices foraccommodation and flights go up), butsome instructors say March water is theusually the best.Getting there • Most flights to PortBlair, the Andaman capital, go throughCalcutta or Chennai, two of India’smajor east coast ports. More planesare arriving each year and there is talkof direct service from internationaldestinations such as Thailand. Severalships also sail each month, but arranginga berth requires going to a shippingoffice in India.Getting to India often requires a layover

in the Middle East or Europe, but someAmerican carriers are offering directflights from Chicago and New York toDelhi, India’s capital city. Round-trip faresvary from as much as $2,000 aroundChristmas and New Year’s Eve to less than$1,000 in March or April.Visas/permits • India requires a touristvisa, obtainable through Travisa;online application is at indiavisa.travisaoutsourcing.com.Visiting the Andamans also requires

a permit, granted free on arrival atthe airport and good for up to 30 days.Bring proof of an onward ticket; if youarrive without one, you’ll only be givena permit for 15 days, extendable byanother 15. You will be asked to produceyour permit at hotels, on ferries andelsewhere.Getting around • Travel agencies inPort Blair can handle buses and airreservations. Inter-island travel is doneby ferry; some hotels will book ferrytickets for guests, though frequently youmust visit the ticket office at Phoenix BayJetty, which can mean exasperating, wildqueues. (Consider it part of the Indianexperience.) Bring your passport, arriveby 10 a.m., grab a ticket form and lineup at a window. There is a separate linefor women. Most people book the nextavailable ferry for Havelock.Transportation in town is mostly on

foot or by autorickshaw (a sort of three-wheeled minicab), which involves a bitof haggling. Bicycles can be rented onHavelock for less than $2 per day; motorscooters run about $6 plus petrol.Information • Guidebooks provide agood starting point. I live by the LonelyPlanet, while other travelers swear by theRough Guide. The Andaman and Nicobargovernment’s clunky Web site (and.nic.in)also has information.Money • ATMs are abundant in the rest ofIndia, though the machines on the islandsaren’t always filled with cash. Let yourbank know you’re going abroad. Traveler’schecks are a backup but outdated. Biggerhotels will take a credit card.Port Blair • Hotel Sabra (+9103192233618,hotelsabra@yahoo.co.in) in AberdeenBazaar is centrally located and clean.Despite its name, Raja Monsoon Villa(+910319224133) has no villas; it isnear Aberdeen Bazaar and the mainmosque. Rooms in both range from$12 to $25. Fortune Resort Bay Island(fortunehotels.in) is Port Blair’s swankiestaccommodation. Rooms are around$125. Its deck, bar and restaurant areworth visiting if you stay someplace lessexpensive.Find great seafood at New Lighthouse

Restaurant, where a plate of tandoori tigerprawns can run $15 or more depending onweight. Aberdeen Bazaar and the surroundare filled with cheap eats; $2 can get youfantastic masala dosa and chai from theusually busy Annapurna.Havelock Island • The island’s economyfluctuates greatly; businesses close, priceschange and hotels are renovated, oftenfrom season to season.Barefoot Scuba (diveandamans.com)

and Dive India (diveindia.com) are thetwomost popular dive shops. AndamanBubbles (andamanbubbles.com) is anewer, but decent outfit. Other operatorsexist; shop around, but prices are mostlyuniform. Dive shops can also help arrangeaccommodation and even transportation.Most of the island’s accommodations

are along the road from the jetty to BeachNo. 5. Most are in the budget to mid-levelrange. Even if a hotel calls itself a “resort,”lower your expectations. During Decemberand January, prices usually go up and areservation is advisable; outside of thosemonths, if you’re flexible, you can show upand find a room.Barefoot Scuba offers A-frame huts

for about $3 a night plus upscale tentsand cottages for $50 or more. CoconutGrove (+9103192282427) has a backpackerparty scene and small cottages for$12 a night. Emerald Gecko (emerald-gecko.com) has huts for $11 a night andbungalows for about $40. Wild Orchid(wildorchidandaman.com), which also hasone of the island’s best restaurants, offersrooms that go from $45 to $85, dependingon the season.Barefoot Resort (barefootindia.com)

has beautiful environs, fantastic serviceand a location just off the best beachin India. The rooms, restaurant and bardrip with charm; the beds are fantastic;the showers are hot and strong. Butit remains a jungle resort — mosquitonets are still required and some touristscomplain that luxury is lacking comparedto similarly priced hotels in the West.Rates vary widely by season. A basic,plush cottage runs between $150 and$250 depending on the month. In the highseason, the resort’s most expensive villacosts a whopping $430.Restaurants come and go. Wild Orchid

has been getting good reviews for a fewyears; Nemo’s is a new contender as isB3 by the jetty. Lots of cheap and decentrestaurants front the main roads. Askaround for recommendations.

Diving instructor Elin Lindqvist plays with a batfish near Anemone Reef, a dive site offHavelock Island.

An empty giant clam shell sits off ElephantBeach, Havelock Island.

Top placesto see in India

Dive boats travel the water near Lighthouse Reef just north of the Havelock Island jetty.

IF YOU GO DIVING IN INDIAINDIA • FROMT1