North Bay Island sits a short boat ride from Port Blair, facing the historic Ross Island (now Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Dweep). Today it is one of the most visited marine activity spots in the Andaman Islands. Yet its appeal to travelers is inseparable from a layered history of navigation, empire, war, and post-independence policy that gradually transformed a working maritime landscape into a leisure seascape.
Positioned across the harbor from Port Blair, North Bay forms the northern arc of a protected bay system that includes Ross Island and the Port Blair shoreline. Its gently shelving beach, fringing coral reefs, and a hilltop lighthouse offer a combination of easy access and panoramic views over the capital, Mount Manipur (formerly Mount Harriet), and the channel that ships use to enter the harbor.
Long before colonial settlement, the Andaman Islands were home to Indigenous communities such as the Great Andamanese, Jarawa, Onge, and others who maintained deep relationships with coastal ecosystems. While North Bay itself does not feature prominently in recorded precolonial settlement patterns and appears to have been uninhabited, its reefs and nearshore waters would have been part of traditional foraging and fishing grounds within a broader maritime lifeway. This Indigenous ecological knowledge underpins the very coral gardens that modern visitors come to see.
In the aftermath of the 1857 uprising on the Indian mainland, the British consolidated Port Blair as a penal settlement and naval outpost. Ross Island became the administrative headquarters, while Viper Island hosted early jail facilities, later eclipsed by the Cellular Jail on the Port Blair side. Maritime safety around the approaches to the harbor became critical. North Bay’s headland, guarding the northern side of the entrance, emerged as a logical site for signaling and, eventually, a lighthouse to guide ships through the channel.
Beyond navigation, the calm waters and proximity to the administrative hub made North Bay a convenient recreational shore. Colonial officers and families took to picnics and boating excursions on quiet days—a pattern that foreshadowed the island’s later role as a leisure destination.
The early 1940s shook the archipelago. A major earthquake in 1941 damaged infrastructure on Ross Island, and the Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945 disrupted civil administration and maritime operations. Navigational aids around Port Blair, including the North Bay lighthouse, were affected by wartime conditions. After the war, administrative functions shifted decisively to Port Blair proper, and navigational infrastructure was rehabilitated to support renewed shipping and governance.
North Bay’s lighthouse acquired a cultural afterlife beyond its practical purpose. The scenic composition of lighthouse, reef, and channel—often viewed from the heights of Mount Manipur—became emblematic of the Andaman seascape. The lighthouse motif is widely associated in popular memory with the older series of the Indian ₹20 banknote, helping embed North Bay’s silhouette in the national imagination and boosting its tourism cachet.
For decades after Independence, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands remained relatively closed and closely administered. Gradual policy shifts from the 1960s onward saw controlled openings to domestic tourism. Improvements in sea links with Chennai, Kolkata, and Visakhapatnam, the development of Port Blair’s airport (now Veer Savarkar International Airport), and basic visitor infrastructure allowed short boat-based excursions to take root. By the late 20th century, the Ross–North Bay circuit had become a classic half-day outing: heritage ruins on Ross paired with reefs and beach time at North Bay.
The early 21st century transformed North Bay into a hub for marine recreation. Licensed operators introduced snorkeling, scuba diving for beginners, glass-bottom boat tours, and eventually sea walking—a helmet-based underwater experience suitable for non-swimmers. The 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami altered reef structure in places and forced a rethink of mooring and anchoring practices. Over time, authorities and operators adopted measures such as fixed mooring buoys, designated swim zones, and stricter safety protocols to reduce damage from anchors and fin kicks, reflecting a shift toward more responsible marine tourism.
Most tours depart mid-morning from Port Blair, first stopping at Ross Island for an hour or two among banyan-clad ruins and deer, then crossing to North Bay for reefs and water activities. Visitors often ascend to the lighthouse after aquatic sessions, timing the return boat to catch late-afternoon light over the harbor.
Local boatmen often recount the wartime interlude, the 1941 earthquake that hastened Ross Island’s decline, and the “banknote lighthouse” lore. These narratives stitch together memory, landscape, and nationhood—turning a simple beach outing into a layered encounter with place.
North Bay’s future as a tourism site will likely blend improved interpretation—signage, guided heritage talks, and reef education—with stricter environmental safeguards. Initiatives such as citizen-science snorkel trails, fixed mooring networks, and community-led clean-ups can ensure that the lighthouse continues to guide not only ships, but also more thoughtful ways of meeting the sea. In this sense, North Bay’s history is still being written—each visit adding a line to the evolving relationship between people, heritage, and reef.
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