The Cellular Jail does a light-and-sound show at seven, and you sit in the courtyard the political prisoners used to cross. The peepal tree they planted is still there, and the narrator names men whose names are on streets in cities you've lived in. It is not a comfortable evening. That is the point.

Radhanagar runs west, which most Indian beaches don't, so the sun sets straight into the sea instead of behind a coconut grove. The sand is fine and white enough to squeak when you walk on it. We stayed until the colour drained out of the water, then walked back in the half-dark.

Elephant Beach is reached by speedboat through a mangrove creek, and the reef starts about ten metres off the shore. We saw parrotfish, a small grouper, and what the guide said was a juvenile reef shark. Too fast to tell. The water is warm and shallow and you can stand up if you need to.

The natural rock bridge on Neil's western edge only shows itself at low tide, and the guides time the visit accordingly. You walk out across exposed coral. Wear closed shoes. And the arch is bigger than the photos suggest. We had it almost to ourselves for twenty minutes before the next boat unloaded.