The mesmerizing Lakshadweep tales Part II… (I know not too soon, but nevertheless)
After the dramatic landing, as the plane taxied on to the runway, we saw a small structure that can be called more a cabin than a building looming in front, as the flight halted. We got off, took our luggage standing under the cargo section of the flight, and then escorted out by the same man who was waving down the flight to a halt.
We were expecting to find a taxi waiting for us to be taken into the hotel that we had checked in, but instead our escort pushed our luggage all the way to the hotel, which was about 50 meters outside the so-called airport enclosure. In short, we walked our way to the hotel from the airport.
The island was all of 3.2 square kilometers and the pristine waters surrounding it is made it nothing short of a perfect paradise. The comforting sound of the lazy lagoon lapping the shore soothed my senses in the most relaxing manner.. and followed me into my shack, which was right on the beach almost teasing the waters by staying away from its reach by just a bit. I was lulled to sleep by the rhythmic sound of the water.. being a lagoon, there were no waves.
The morning brought in eagerness to explore all that could be possibly explored. The options were galore in the no-internet, no newspaper and on television resort, naturally. From water sports to scuba to island visits to deep sea fishing expeditions to glass boat rides to snorkeling to dolphin viewing. This is when we had to make a proper plan so as to cover as much as possible.
1st day we decided to take it a little easy and explore the island and go deep sea fishing. That is when we figured that the there were no 4 wheelers' on the island, only one van which served as an ambulance for the sick. So, we hired cycles (which were available on request at the hotel itself). We leisurely cycled from one end of the island to the other in half and hour. The people on the way were so friendly and sweet as we had an added advantage of knowing the language, Malayalam.
The afternoon, had a meal consisting of delicious Kerala cuisine with a perfect balance of veg and non-veg dishes. Post that the staff informed us that it was time for deep sea fishing.. and we set off on a fishermen boat with an expert navigator into the blue expanse.. a large tuna.. it was a real catch. And at dinner table, when we complimented on the delicious dinner, the chef sent a word that, it was the result of our hard work, earlier in the day.
Post dinner, we ambled onto the porch which jutted out into the lagoon from the resort… as we sat dangling our legs onto the lagoon, our eyes caught some lights below in the water.. looked like disco lights.. inconsistent shimmering blue lights through the water.. as if by design, the porch lights went off and we turned to look at the shore line…the entire coastline till eyes could reach was a line of luminescent blue, giving an ethereal feel to the entire place as if the starts have rained down. We ran in awe to the shore and found this all around us. They were Bio-luminescence.... No words can express the pure joy that we felt that day..
2nd Day. The next day at the resort we met a couple of scientists who had come for yet another interesting event on the island - the turtle hatching. After a lot of request, they agreed to tag us along with them in the night.. overjoyed we went on with our days expedition.
This day took us to an island called Bangaram. An uninhabited island with a lone resort for international tourists.. the entire island can be completed within 20 mins by foot. It a secluded island, separated from Agatti by around half an hour by a speed boat or an hour and a half by regular boat. It was lush green and picture perfect. We spent some time in the peaceful bliss and set off to another set of uninhabited islands. The boatman too us to an island called the Crab Island - The legend goes that the crabs in the island protected a maiden from being kidnapped by pirates a long long time ago. Hence anyone with a pure heart could step into the island covered with crabs without a fear. Though petrified, I tried and can proudly say that I passed with flying colours as all the crabs stayed 1 feet away from wherever my foot fell...
Then we rowed again in another direction to another island. It was still low tide as we approached an island called Parli. And the boat hit the bed somewhere near the island. We got down onto the island and explored it and that is when we spotted another island across the ocean in a little distance, we did the most delightful thing we had ever done… we actually walked from Parli I to Parli II. We walked across islands, through the ocean…what a feeling....
Felt like singing… ‘More Than A Feeling’….
In a while, the rising tide came in and the boat magically came towards the islands that we were in, now, obviously with the happy and cheerful boatman in tow. Though exhausted with our expedition, our anticipation was still high as the night approached.
As promised, the scientists took us with them for searching the turtle nests through the night. To our greatest delight, we found many nests, the scientists marked them and we returned back hoping for it to be dawn already.
3rd Day. We were back on the beach at the first break of the day to find tiny blind Olive Ridley’s trying to find their path to the salty ocean, it was a sight to behold. The next few hours just flew past, with us trying to help as many babies we could, to reach the ocean before the gulls could swoop down on them. All were bone-tired by the time we saw to it that all the tiny ones were navigated safe into the ocean…what a feeling of achievement we felt.
We came grinning broadly back to the resort. As we were approaching the resort, one of the boat’s man beckoned us towards a rock he was walking to.. we hurried to the spot to spot a stranded octopus underneath, we quickly helped the poor creature back to the ocean and felt it almost giving us a wave of gratitude as it vanished into the blue. We were too tired to do anything that day, just lazed on the sun bath benches in front of our shacks and etched the beautiful sight in our hearts.
4th Day. This day we had our breakfast in the water.. the resort had arranged for floating trays laden with hot breakfast and early in the morning, we were in the water having a delicious breakfast. That day we decided to take the glass bottom boat and go dolphin spotting and do snorkeling.
The glass bottom boat was amazing.. we could see right to the bottom of the sea through it. The light conditions were so goo d, that we almost felt we were at the reef bed seeing all those sights. Then, left the reef to step into the real sea. To our delight we saw quite a few dolphins, though not very near the boat but happy and playful in a distance. Post spending some time just watching them make merry, we returned to the reef. That is when we were handed out our snorkeling gears. With lots of nervous excitement we got into the water, the water was surprisingly warm, for a November afternoon. And the explosion of marine life blinded me, the vibrant colours fascinated me, the darting school of fish spooked me, the beauty of the water kingdom captivated me to the extent that, I was actually expecting Poseidons’ palace around the corner. Did not really realize the laps of time once inside, as I almost reached the reef wall, swam back to the surface to see the boat long way off. I had no strength to swim back so signaled the boat, and my luck, the keen eye of the boatman spotted me and came pick me up from my spot. We were still in a mesmerized state as we climbed back to the boat and made our way back to the resort.
5th Day. We had lots and lots more to explore.. except kayaking we did not do any water sports at all.. because it was time to return back to the main land, return back to reality. It was a heart wrenching goodbye to the place. But with a promise to return, we bid adieu.
Could not have dreamt of a more perfect holiday,. Have travelled a lot of places in the world, but never had such an all-encompassing trip till date. To this moment, it remains one of the trips closest to my heart…..
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