This seems like a great time to visit my trip to Lakshadweep with the recent spat between the Maldivian and Indian Govt. Lakshadweep was my first trip to an Indian Island, and I must deeply say that it was a marvelous experience.
I had completed a year at a biopharma in Hyderabad when one of my friends there suggested traveling to Lakshadweep in 2009. He was a jovial person with the ability to quickly make friends and someone who enjoyed working there. With a few close friends, we decided to travel to Cochin first. We took a train from Hyderabad to Cochin and spent a day there visiting the beach. We witnessed Chinese Fishing nets and our leader bought fish from the seaside vendor which we got cooked at the nearby restaurant. It was fun!
Then we visited a small Jewish Society in Cochin and next day reached the cruise. The arrangement was messy but finally, after an hour of wait, we embarked on our journey to Lakshadweep islands. More than 100 islands together are known as Lakshadweep. On this trip, organized by the travel agent, we were supposed to visit 3 islands on a 4-day trip.
Firstly, the cruise started in the evening and reached the first island in early morning the next day. After a while on the cruise, I could only see water everywhere which was one of the scariest experiences I have ever had in my life. Being one of the largest cruises, a tide could tilt the cruise by a few degrees making us nauseous. One of our travel companions suffered from seasickness, while we were on it. I was fine and slept soundly in the night.
The next morning, we reached the island and went to the beach named “Saddam Beach”. Strange name! I had setbacks from the trip as everyone except me put on sunscreen on the beach. We mostly swam in lagoons, rode in a glass boat, and visited a handloom museum on the island. The food was all meaty and considering we were on a remote island, quite tasteful.
The same evening, we returned to the cruise and from there traveled to the second island. This was a smaller island but the water activities carried out here were different. I snorkeled for the first time and it sounded fun. While snorkeling, I could see many amazing aquatic lives with nothing of much danger. But, one must remember to pay respect to nature in order to receive the same from it. I even played soccer on the beach with some kids there.
Again, that evening we returned to the cruise which took us to the third island. During this time, curiosity got me and I went to the control room of the ship. It was damn hot but there was a young engineer (somewhat my age!) in control of the ship. I could barely spend a few minutes as it was very hot but this was his main job all throughout the day. Tough work! I briefly talked to him and went back to the open area. There I met some American Surfers who were on this cruise to surf on the third island. During this time of the year, there were high waves on the shore to help them surf better.
After reaching the third and final island, we visited a nearby aquarium where we saw sharks and other fishes. Also, here I got to try scuba diving. My first scuba dive that gave such a clear view of the life beneath the ocean surface. Then we returned to the cruise that evening and travelled back to Cochin.
The next day, while at Cochin, we went to the backwaters and spent a day in a houseboat. I ate some yummy seafood and also got an Ayurvedic massage done on the way. All in all, a trip worth remembering!