India Travel || Offbeat India|| Islands of India|| Cruise to Lakshadweep|| How to go to Lakshadweep|| What to do in Lakshadweep|| Lakshadweep Travel Guide|| Holiday in Lakshadweep|| Indian beach || Exotic Beaches in India|| Travel Plan Lakshadweep|| Kavaratti Island|| kalpeni Island|| Minicoy Island || Discovering Kavaratti, Kalpeni, and Minicoy Islands: A Unique Indian Island Cruise|| Lakshadweep Tour Guide: Offbeat Indian Islands and Cruise Experience
Last part was more information and I know you are still not introduced to the real Lakshadweep.. it’s ok.. we have today and it’s all about the islands.. let’s dive into it straight..
Lakshadweep Tour plan:
Day 1 was completely on the ship. We watched the sunset, made new friends, spoke so much, saw a herd of Albatrosses flying with the ship, then I also experienced mild seasickness, the initial feeling on a moving boat. I took a night to get used to it. Apart from taking a shower and sleeping, most of my time would be on the deck.. I loved looking at the sky.. realizing the no-boundary infinity of it.. looking at the dark blue water, small fishing boats at the horizon line.. how often do you get to see all these in the concrete jungle? By the way, we also had a small briefing session with our on-board manager, who helped us with the dos and don’ts of the tour and it is necessary and useful to attend.
KAVARATTI:
Day 2 was our very 1 first day for the very first island visit. We could see the island approaching. The waves hitting the boulders, the tall, white lighthouse right in the middle of the island (that’s how it looked from the ship). After disembarking (only taking our necessary belongings for the day, our main luggage was safely kept on the ship) all tourists were gathered and were asked to stand aside at an assigned place. We had a dedicated tour manager who was helping us to allot the cars to take us to the beach. The cars were reserved only for the cruise tourists. After about 5 minutes’ drive and this drive was excellent.. excellent because not just a dedicated beach, but we could get a glimpse of the island life here. We were during Ramadan time.. so we didn’t see many people during day time.. but the roads are spick and span, full of greens on both sides of the road. Even the island could be distinguished from a distance as a well-knit, bushy green carpet. And the island is so green, so calm, there are houses, so beautiful ones, everything seems so well placed, well organized. There are small shops on the island, a few small cafes cum restaurants. And there’s quietude.. birds call, rustling of the leaves and we, going in the car dumbstruck. I was speaking to the driver, and while he pointed the main town area to me, he said they have schools, colleges here.. if I am not confused with other islands, there is a para-medical college here as well. Infrastructure wise they are not lagging behind.. they are quite updated. Then we reached the beach. Oh the beach.. white sand, turquoise water, bright happy shining sun.. it was a dollop of paradise living happily here.
More closer I went to the beach walking on the sand.. the sand was so soft.. it was white and as soft as semolina.. I swear I am not exaggerating.. and the water.. pristine blue, crystal clear, beautiful, magnificent.. all these complements are too little to explain what was in front of my eyes (and I will fail for all the islands to describe them properly.. can’t help).. it was unsullied, pure beauty. Swimming in the water was salted but fresh. We went for a glass-bottom boat ride to see the underwater corals. There are also artificial coral plantations to save marine life.
One can also go for Scuba diving here (charge is around 3K per person). There are staff on the property who will help you to book. Ok.. let me give you little more here.. so when I said we went to the beach.. there is a government-run resort here, which is on the beach and we were taken there. There was a dedicated seating area for us where we could keep our belongings safely, no one would touch them. We could enjoy our time without any worry. There were staff at the property who were serving juice, water, our meals, and evening tea from time to time. The food arrangement was quite good. The same staffs would take care of all guests, their schedules, book the activities like scuba diving for them. After all these activities, they have dedicated bathing area for tourists and not only that, they will provide you with towels, bathing kit.. so, you actually won’t have to worry at all..
After lunch we went for a planetarium visit, again the local tour manager was responsible for taking us all by car/ auto and bringing us back to the beach. By evening we were called to jump into the boats and were taken to deep ocean to ride back to our ship. The transfer from boat to ship in the middle of the ocean with big waves all across was thrilling yet scary. The staff are trained, so all you need to do is, buckle your life jacket, trust the crew’s skills and be calm. It’s a piece of cake for them. The rest of the evening and dinner were on the ship. And another day was gone with more greed for the upcoming 2 islands.
KALPENI:
Kavaratti to Kalpeni is an overnight journey. We reached Kalpeni early in the morning. In the morning we could already see the island and the ship was waiting to drop us. After breakfast, we disembarked the boat. Same process.. we took the dedicated car.. actually, it was a jeep (we got lucky to get them) and headed to the beach. The island life was the same and the same mesmerizing feeling was there in me. Beautiful, quiet island town, neat clean houses, thick lush greenery everywhere, few shops, few small food joints and a feel of tranquillity. I felt so light, I was breathing fresh.. and then we came to the beach. This too was a resort, where we were spending our day. We were welcomed with fresh coconut water and I could see the beach. Light gold sand.. followed by transparent white water, then a shade of turquoise blue, then a shade of caribbean blue and then the never-ending navy blue till the horizon line is visible..
We swam, dived in the water like anything.. it was exactly what you do at the beach. We were also taken to a small islet across, called Pitti, which was visible from Kalpeni. It was mainly for snorkelling. They had guides for people who can’t swim but wish to enjoy snorkel. We could see the huge boulder-like corals, cucumber fishes scattered everywhere (they were no harm, they mind their own business keeping still in the water, just don’t step on them.)
In between we were also taken to a t-shirt factory.. we didn’t see how they are made.. we were straight away taken to the shop to buy t-shirts. They sell at a very reasonable price and these are good for souvenir purposes as you only have these to give to your loved ones from Lakshadweep.. not bad for a memory. There was also an arrangement for evening entertainment, a local dance group performed on local folklore songs and music. In Kerala such local dance performances are called ‘Parichakali’. We were also taken to the other tip of the island where the beach is equally beautiful, it was windy, hot yet so good for a thalassophile. After all these, we left for the ship by 5.
** Evening at the ship is quite interesting.. you get to gaze at the incessant clear starry sky. Then the lights of the ship moving forward, tearing the darkness, leaving blue frothy waves behind, some glowing fishes swimming across trying to find their way.. it’s exquisite.
MINICOY:
The last one yet equally a memorable one. By the time we reached the beach, we were a little disheartened.. we couldn’t directly jump into the water and swim.. this beach was more of lagoon so during low tide the water level was very low that we could walk to a good distance in the water. We did.. we walked a good distance in the water.. maybe a little more could have taken us directly to Sri Lanka!! No, we didn’t go that far!!
We were to do kayaking here but we had to wait till the water level rose.. even for this low tide they couldn’t bring the rowing boat in the water. It was afternoon by the time we started getting into the kayaks and rowed our ‘arms’ till they hurt. There’s also an option for some other water activities at an additional charge, like scuba diving, banana boat rides etc. But this resort had some good stock for ice-creams.. the lady of the house broke her records here!!
We ate, enjoyed our time here, made friends but spoke less to grab our moments. Post lunch there was an evening entertainment by a few local women. Then we left with all our belongings to visit a lighthouse. We took about 212 steps to go up to the lighthouse, the view of the island from the top was every bead of sweat worthy and it was green and blue lost in each other, beauty forfeited all meaning of definition, when heart skipped a beat to breathe more.. that’s how it was.
Later we went for a local village visit. We actually went to their common meeting place. The house we went to, was 300 years old, which is now the local office, is a meeting area for that villagers during Eid, or a village wedding, here people meet, eat together, the marriage takes place etc. The place is called ‘Abaro’. Every village on the island has their own abaro where they come together during local festivals, family gatherings etc.
And that was it, we then went towards the ship with a heavy heart as the morning next would be Kochi again.
** Next day we were shown the control room, the captain of the ship met us. And we all tried to make the most of our time before bidding adios to the ship. Nobody wanted to leave the deck, we were burnt more than our skin could take but we were unprepared to come out of the trance of last 4 days, the water, the ocean breeze, the barred out-from-the-world days, no phone buzzing.. these were some great days and nights.. a One of a kind..
TurtleGotWings 
Very nice blog author. Thank you. Keep it up.
LikeLiked by 1 person