Amazing Lakshadweep

Magical !!!

This could be the best possible single word description of Lakshadweep islands..You just cant stop saving the whole atmosphere in your memory for a split second too..Only on national geographic or on discovery channels, we get to see thsoe blue waters n lagoons n white beach sand..

It all began with our train journey from Pune..It took some 38 hrs to reach Ernakulam stn (Cochin)..But it was fun with lotsa friends..The next day, we had to catch a ship for Kawaratti from Cochin..When they told that it'd take around 16 hrs to reach Kawaratti, पोटात गोळा !!!

"Tipu Sultan", our conveyance to Kawaratti, was a huge vessel..n as they started to unfold its mysteries, we couldnt do anything but to panic more n more every second..That ship's expected life had ended 15 yrs ago..It had caught fire 'n' no.of times; the latest being just 6 months back..we had company of 500 odd people on that ship..n lots of cargo too..Tipu Sultan is the largest n oldest vessel that plies between Lakshadweep islands to Cochin..Kadmat, Agatti, Andrott, Bangaram, Kalpeni, Minicoy are the other main islands in Lakshadweep..Kawaratti, being capital, doesnt have an air strip though..The only air strip is at Agatti..

We could see lotsa dolphins as we were entering the main sea waters..We all had to sit on the deck area, n that too with plastic bags in pockets..Atleast, the constant breeze of fresh air eased the dangerous phenomenon called "sea sickness"..Canteen was a floor down..With no supply of fresh air in canteen, many of us had the first experience of puke on the ship..We ran off to the upper deck n did spend all the remaining time there only..Dumb-charades, antakshari, jokes can pass any amount of time really well..

After the dangerous stunts of dis-embarking, we reached Kawaratti by small boats almost 18 hrs after we had left Cochin..Kawaratti is a very beautiful place..Clear blue waters, white beach without any plastic scrap is surely a rare sight in India..We visited a factory in which the local public make a lotta things from coconuts..Yeah, only coconut products are made in Kawaratti..All the other things are shipped from Cochin..So we had to be very careful using the resources..Electricity, paper, n even a match box too..

The next day, we went for Scuba - diving..I could go upto 35 ft. max. down the sea level..After abt 25 ft down in waters, your lungs really start to get exhausted..I could see various kinda fish, turtles, corals (most dead but a few live ones too)..The whole experience of scuba was really amazing..

I tried my hand at water - skiing, kayaking, snorkelling too; water - skiing being the most tiring..After water - skiing, there wasnt any body part which didnt pain..But it was an experience !!

We cycled n roamed around in that small place of Kawaratti..View from the light-house was simply fabulous !!! We did celebrate one of our friend's b'day there with a great party..
We had a helicopter ride schedulled too but we had to cancel that plan as our ship back to Cochin, was preponed by 12 hrs..Fortunately, this time the ship, "Amindivi", was quite new n was lesser crowded..It had nice seating arrangement but i preferred the deck area for the obvious reason.. Cochin->Kawaratti->Kadmat->Bangaram->Agatti->Cochin was the route to be followed this time..So needless to say, we were bound to take more time to return back to Cochin..30 hrs, to be precise !!!

After dis-embarking at Cochin port, we hurried to catch our train back to Panvel..Journey to Panvel in superfast Netravati exp., n through all the backwaters, coconut n cashew n supari trees, greenary around was really a pleasure..