The tide has ebbed and the beach bared her soul for all to see. The cool, soft, muddy, sandy beach seemed vulnerable.

Mangroves with their gnarled roots stand as warriors protecting a fragile place.  Pools of water with tiny fish swimming feel like an oasis in a desert. Sea shells of every color are strewn around like happy memories.

Grooves and wave patterns in the sand seem like scars of old wounds waiting to be healed. Pointed roots or pneumatophores pop out from the sand like swords and daggers waiting to attack.

Crabs scurry under driftwood and into the watery sands perhaps escaping from unknown fears.

The backwaters at Port Blair are a rarely visited place.

Andaman And Nicobar Environmental Team or ANET as it is known, is an environmental conservation and research organization. They are based in Port Blair and are happy to organize workshops and awareness programs for students about the  backwaters, the ocean and its inhabitants.

We stumbled upon this place by accident. The residents were happy to walk us around and educate us about their conservation activities.

If you have an afternoon free, take some time out to visit ANET and you might come back amazed. More info – http://www.anetindia.org/

We were taken for a short guided walk to explore the backwaters of Port Blair. Here are some pics of my discoveries.