India, Oct. 7 -- On my second visit to Andaman, I decided to do things differently. Instead of spending time in Port Blair and Havelock again, we planned and added two days and two nights on Neil Island, now officially called Shaheed Dweep. It turned out to be one of the best decisions of that trip.

Getting there was surprisingly simple. We asked our hotel in Port Blair to arrange the ferry to Neil Island and then asked our Neil Island resort to arrange the onward ferry to Havelock. We had booked the same resort group across all three islands, so everything was handled through one reservations desk. That made the island hopping part almost ridiculously easy.

Port Blair works brilliantly as the practical hub of an Andaman holiday, while ...