5 Things You Must Know About The Red Skin Island

The Andaman and Nicobar islands is a conglomeration of around 572 islands, being the largest group of Islands, which also happens to be a part of the Indian Continent. Of these 572 islands, only 36 are inhabited by humans while the remaining 536 islands are almost completely uninhabited. But quite a few of them are quite popular in spite of having no human population. Local people only visit the island to earn money through tourism and by helping tourists with different water sports activities.

One of these barely inhabited islands is the Red Skin Island, located within the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park, right next to the Jolly Buoy Island. Although the latter is much more popular than the former, the Red Skin Island has its own charm and activities within it to make it stand out from the Jolly Buoy. During the monsoons, the Jolly Buoy Island becomes quite unsafe for travelers, which makes Red Skin Island, the next best option to visit in this season.


The Red Skin Island derived its name due to the abundance of red corals lining the coastal area of the island. The sea water appears reddish due to these corals and can be best seen on a glass floor boat, which make the journey to this island worthwhile.  The island is a very small and has an extremely narrow beach which can be conveniently reached via a jetty from Wandoor, which is only 40 minutes away from Port Blair. The first jetty leaves at 10 am and if you are visiting the Andaman during the peak tourist season, then a tour to the Red Skin Island is not recommended, since it becomes extremely crowded due to the abundance of visitors.

The most appropriate time to take a trip to the Red Skin Island is the off-season, although during the monsoons you can avoid the scorching sun and excessive humidity, but the trip won’t be enjoyable if the island is overcrowded. So to make it easier to glide through this small and gorgeous, uninhabited island, and enjoy the red corals, is to ensure that there are barely any other visitors during that time of the year.

While visiting any island of the Andaman, there are a few essential things that must be known by every traveler, so as to add to the fun of the trip. These essentials include-

a) Nearby Places To See
b) Nearby Places To Shop
c) Nearby Places To Eat
d) Nearby Places To Stay
e) Nearby Airport or How to reach

In case of Red Skin Island too, the same is applicable. You must know the transportation available while traveling to a new place to avoid getting lost or being cheated. You must also know where to have fun and make your experience memorable without facing any troubles or ruining your trip or burning a hole in your pocket. The necessary details about the Red Skin Island are mentioned below as:

5 Must know things about Red Skin Island for tourists

Nearby Airport or How to reach: We are starting with this, since to experience the joys and follies offered by a place, you need to reach there safely. So the nearest Airport to the Red Skin Island is the of course the Vir Savarkar Airport, that is around 3.3 km from Wandoor, near Port Blair.

Nearby Places To Stay

The Red Skin Island, although small, has several comfortable places to stay in, so that tourists can spend at least a day at the place if they intend to. The following are the hotels and resorts available nearby with their distances from the Wandoor Jetty area.

• Rose Valley Port Blair Island Retreat located about 5 km away from Wandoor
• Hotel Shompen, about 4.8 km away
• Hotel Shreesh, around 4.3 km away
• Hotel Diviyum Manor, which is about a 2.9 km drive from Wandoor
• Classic Regency, which is the closest, situated at a distance of 2.6 km

Nearby Places To Eat

The Island has many restaurants, serving the local delicacies and complete cuisines with a variety of other cuisines and sea food. The biggest advantage of these eateries is that they are all located within the Red Skin Island. Some of the popular ones are listed here:

• Full Moon Café
• Lighthouse Residency
• Icy Spicy
• Kattabomman
• Annapurna

Nearby Places To Shop

Although the island is small, it still has a few local shops and a market for local apparels and accessories for tourists, some of which are located on the island while some are at Wandoor. The list of the places where you can indulge in shopping are as follows:

• Sagarika Government Emporium-For those with a love for local artifacts and accessories, sea-shells and conches
• Government Emporia-With unlimited local accessories, apparels ad artifacts
• Aberdeen Bazaar: Located about 5.4 km from Wandoor, this is the closest commercial hub to the Red Skin Island

Nearby Places To See

There are several places that can be visited easily after spending some time at the white sandy beach of the Red Skin Island and its gorgeous corals. These places are easily accessible from this island and can be reached via the jetty as they are located on the surrounding islands.

• The historical Cellular Jail which is only 6.2 km via the jetty
• The popular Jolly Buoy Island, which is barely a few meters away from the Red Skin
• The Ross and Smith Islands that is just 7 km via the jetty
• The amazing Anthropological Museum, located only 5.1 km via jetty
• The adventurous, North Bay Island at a distance of 5.6 km

Although the Red Skin Island itself, may not have ample attractions, apart from the narrow stretch of the beach and the red corals, the island can surely be a hub for tourists to lodge in and travel to various other sections of the Andaman and Nicobar Group of Islands, conveniently at a very reasonable price. So do not miss out on this island if you love the serenity, peace and quiet of uncrowded, virgin places.