First Glimpse of Kavaratti

Tossing and turning all through the night, I somehow managed to spend that night in that hot and humid ship cabin. Ship’s air conditioner was still not repaired. As the early morning sun peeped through the windows I went up to the deck and was greeted by a great sunrise together with nice sprinkle of clouds. Passengers Kavaratti already started disembarking from the ship.

Cloud Cover

Far away in the horizon we could see the island of Kavaratti. After breakfast we boarded the ferry which took us to the capital of Lakshadweep, Kavaratti. The water was crystal clear & we could clearly see the bottom.

Blue Sea

Boats at Kavaratti Harbor

Just like other islands everything started with welcome drink of coconut. The beach was again amazing with white sand. As we spent waiting for the tide to raise so that we can go in the glass bottomed boat ride, our team elders and kids had great time building castles & dungeons in the white coral sand.

Caves & Castles

Then it was time for a glass bottom boat ride. The water is absolutely crystal clear. You could clearly see the aquatic life and the corals from the bottom of your boat. There were live coral, marine ornamental fishes and associated flora and fauna all under us visible through that thick glass at the floor of the boat. Here are few photos (of the 1000+ photos) I took from the boat through that thick glass. Uneven thick Glass has resulted in distortion as well as chromatic aberration which I was unable to correct.

Corals from Glass Bottom Boat

More corals

More corals

Amazing Variety

Brain Coral

It was sight of our lifetime. Live coral species in the lagoon, besides shoals of different species of marine fishes, a large number of sea-cucumbers of varying size, turtles, sea anemones. Around 30% of the corals were live and the rest were dead corals. Patches of sea grass and sea weeds were seen in some shallow water zones.

Powder Blue Surgeon Fish

Corals

Black Surgeon Fish

In the lagoon area we could see patches of different coral species including live finger corals, Brain Corals, Porites sp., soft corals and other animals, besides the algal assemblages on dead corals. Everybody in the boat were screaming in joy at the sight of colorful fishes & corals and sea turtles.

Variety of Sea life

Finger Corals

Maldive Clown fish with Magnificent Anemone

Final part of the joy came in finding Nemo, the clown fish & sea anemone symbiosis. We could also spot different varieties of Surgeon fish among those corals.

Once back, we lazed on the beach again. Unlike in Kalpeni snorkeling was not free here. On payment of 200 bucks, you can get to go snorkeling. Initially I was reluctant to go snorkeling here because I had done it in Kalpeni, but the corals and marine life seemed better here, so took a shot.

The instructor Mr. Bashir was really helpful in explaining technique of snorkeling. We had great set of life jacket & snorkeling gear. Here snorkeling is in deep sea. He showed us how to do snorkeling in deep waters even though I was not a swimmer. The fascinating marine world really opens only after we learn how to do proper snorkeling in this deep coral filled sea. We were thrilled to see the colorful fishes, corals & fauna. They live their own sweet tiny little world. We saw fishes of all colors, shapes & sizes zooming past us. Amazing variety of sea life which I was unable to capture but my friend Prasanna who purchased Panasonic waterproof camera just for this trip has shot beautiful underwater shots which you can see in this Picassa album.

Life jacket helped me to stay afloat and correct technique of snorkeling he showed me it was breeze to learn and enjoy. The snorkeling at Kavaratti is a must-do. There were few from our group who went for scuba diving. Since I had opted for snorkeling instead of scuba I missed that. After an hour of snorkeling, I came out tired, then the lunch was served. The lunch was good here.

Folk Dance

Local Ladies

Post lunch, we had usual cultural entertainment in the form of folk dance. We also visited an aquarium and museum of Kavaratti. A large sperm whale skeleton, several shells and varieties of fish, sea creatures preserved in formalin were there for display. Marine aquarium featured of few reef marine life. We could spot some species which we saw in the morning during our snorkeling trip.

Yellow Box fish in Aquarium

Kavaratti is the capital of Lakshadweep. It is also administrative center for all the islands of Lakshadweep with several Government offices. The Island land area is around 3.63 sq.km, with a population of 10,113 (2001 Census). Kavaratti has a lagoon on the west coast, which spreads to around 4.9 sq.km.

Rock Lobster in Aquarium

Due to some unknown reasons we were not shown the following two must see attractions of Kavaratti even though they were mentioned in the web site. First was the desalination plant set up by the National Institute of Ocean Technology which is based on pressure and temperature differential in the seawater and not on membrane (RO) technology. The plant was the sole source of drinking water being piped free of cost to every household in the island.

Critically Endangered Hawk bill Turtle in Marine Aquarium

Second was Ujra Mosque is the most beautiful among the 52 mosques in , Kavaratti, the capital island of Lakshadweep. The Ujra mosque is known to have been built by Sheikh Mohammad Kasim in 1670. The skill of Kavaratti’s craftsmen can be seen in the Ujra Mosque, the most outstanding of the 52 mosques of this Union Territory. The ceiling of the mosque is made of driftwood and ornately carved and painted in complementary shades of green and red.

When we asked the tour conductor they said the present itinerary of the Kavaratti trip did not include those two items. Since the time was running out we decided not to take risk of venturing in the island on our own and decided to take ferry back to our ship after the mandatory group shot at the beach. That was last island of Lakshadweep Atolls we are supposed to visit in this trip.

Our group

With heavy heart and sleepless eyes we bid farewell to the beautiful island. When we reached the ship we were in for a surprise. Ships engineers had repaired the air conditioner and we sighed a sense of relief. As the sun dipped down in the sea near Kavaratti ship started to sail away. Sharp 8 PM dinner was served after which we settled in our cabins for a well deserved good night sleep.

Setting Sun

Peeping through the clouds

Goodbye Lakshadweep

We were to reach Kochi harbor next day to conclude our 5 day journey.

You can check the other parts of this series here.

• Nir-Laksha Dweepa-Day1-Kochi
• Nir-Laksha Dweepa-Day2-Kalpeni
• Nir-Laksha Dweepa-Day3-Minicoy

Boat Jetty at Minicoy

I was rudely woken up at two o’clock in the morning to find out that air conditioner of the ship had stopped working. AC did not restart at all. It was getting hot and uncomfortable in the room. Even the tiredness of Kalpeni’s long snorkeling trip did not help me to get back to sleep. There was no way I could open the window as it was blocked by life-saving raft. The fan in our room was so tiny and inefficient. So I spent rest of the early morning hours tossing and turning in my bunker bed till rays of the morning sun started peeping through the window.

I grabbed a cup of tea from the cafeteria and rushed to the deck. I could see many people who had a very bad night’s sleep wandering on the deck like zombies. Early morning sun was still below the horizon covered by clouds. I could see a faint glow of light from the lighthouse of Minicoy. Our ship was anchored quite far away from the island.

Ground Level shot of Boat Jetty

After breakfast we all disembarked and were taken In smaller boats to the island. White sand beaches were visible from a distance. The lighthouse made a perfect setting too! It was a long journey of over 40minutes to reach the island. The boat jetty(pier) was a long and beautiful one leading us into the island. At the other end stood a majestic fish canning factory for canning tuna fish. Outside the fish canning factory stood our transport which was a mini tempo rickshaw.

Tuna Canning factory

We were soon taken to to Minicoy SPORTS resort. As always there we were welcomed on the island with tender coconuts.

Welcome Drink

We then left to see the nearby lighthouse. This a historic lighthouse, very well constructed by British long back in 1885. It has withstood time and weather till today. Even though you would need to climb about 200 spiral stairs to reach the top, we were glad we did it. Those were the best views of Minicoy island. The island had already amazed us, but the all round view of the white sand beaches along with the carpet of coconut trees are too good a sight to be put in words.

Lighthouse

Minicoy island assumed a great importance by virtue of its strategic location after opening Suez canal 1869 which shortened the sea distance between Europe and Far East by 4000 miles. The British government in consultation with Lord Rippon, the then Governor General took a decision in 1882 to construct a Light House in this Island. As this Island was full of coconut trees it was envisaged to construct 49metre high Light house tower to provide around visibility.

Grey Heron with Cattle Egret

The tower was constructed in brick masonry and the black bricks used was as hard stone , which was specially brought from “Birmingham of England and special adhesive compound from Holland”. The construction of Light house was completed in March 1884 and lighting equipment consisted of a kerosene wick lamp enclosed by a lantern was installed in December 1884 by a skilled mechanic from London The light house was formally commissioned on 2nd February 1885. In 1928 the wick lamp was replaced by Petroleum Vapor burner increasing luminous intensity considerably.

View From The top of Lighthouse

British Government did not transfer the administration of Light house till April 1956. The De-jure transfer of administration to the Government of India has to wait further till 19th September 1963.

View From The top of Lighthouse

After the Light house was taken over by Government of India plans were drawn to improve equipment. Department of Light houses and Light Ships under the Ministry of shipping and Transport modernized the Light house Equipment by Installing 85 mm vapor burner with revolving lens apparatus of first order large (920 mm focal length ) was installed in 1968. The light had an Effective beam intensity of 1.2 Million candelas with a range of 26 Nautical miles. A powerful medium frequency marine Radio beacon with effective range of 400 Km was also installed in 1982 to provide increased navigational Guidance. A Radar transponder RACON was also commissioned in 1985 as an additional guidance to the Mariner.

Spiral Staircase of Lighthouse

As the technology developed the old Petroleum vapor burner was replaced by Metal Halide Electric Lamp controlled by electronic circuit. The Light house range was then leaped to 50 miles from 26 miles of kerosene lamp. The new generation of Maritime system of Satellite communication Differential Global Positioning System(Latest in India) installed in 1998. The Light house renders a vital navigation guidance to ships in international lanes from Aden to Colombo, Suez to Singapore and Far East.

Mini Lagoon of backwater

Enough on lighthouse history let us get down to Minicoy island. Back from the Lighthouse we were thirsty again, but the much needed tender coconut was now on sale. Tour planning had totally missed this thirst factor. If we had not given that welcome drink earlier but provided it at a later time it would have been nicer.

Thirsty again

We spent the next few hours on the beach sea bathing and swimming in the ocean. Snorkeling was not much fun as there were no large corals but a quiet salty pool with sand made of powdered coral. We swam and kayaked till afternoon. Few of our friends were able to spot few sea turtles deep in that salt pool. The scene was beautiful but the sun was harsh. We missed the cloud which helped us at Kalpeni. Soon we were tired and sunburnt and came back to freshen up and have lunch.

Clear Blue Lagoon

Under the Shade

Serenity

Swimming & Kayaking at Minicoy

Panorama by stitching two images

Bright Blue Beach

Lunch was served in the resort and was followed by so called folk dance which was customized for us. It consisted of some filmy dances and other similar tunes. This was a pretty unimpressive staple they were trying to show us as their folk dances. We later found out that their original folk dances which consist of Lava, Thaara, Dandi, Fuli and Bandiya nowhere resembled these. We also found out about language and culture of Minicoy Island.

Folk Dance!

Folk Dance!

Later in the evening we were taken around the island to see one of the villages and interact with the people of Minicoy. We were served evening tea by the local ladies. In that shed we saw colourful and elegant race boat known as Jahadhoni used for race, reception of dignitaries and for annual picnic to Viringili islet.

Jahadhoni - Racing Boat

Here is brief what I found out about Minicoy. Minicoy or Maliku as they call their island, is the southern most island in Lakshadweep. Among the islands of the territory, it has perhaps the oldest recorded history. Marco Polo referred to it as the female island. Ibn Batuta, the African Globe trotter who visited Maldives in the fourteenth Century, mentions about this beautiful island Muluk, from where he married two women during his short stay for seventy days.

Hermit Crab

The island is crescent-shaped, and more than 10 Km in length from end to end. The lagoon is large and deep enough for small ships to enter. There is a small island at the northern tip of the main island, known as Viringili which was used by the people for isolating small –pox patients in olden days, and therefore is also known as Small Pox island. Within the lagoon, the reef dries at low tide at the north-western entrance, constituting an ideal place for marine collections.

Children of Minicoy

The Minicoyans are children of the sea. In olden days their vessels went far into Arabia, the Maldives, Andaman, Bengal and Burma. More than half of the inhabitants of working age are employed as seamen in ocean going vessels all over the world. The islanders have their own Seamen’s Associations at Calcutta and Bombay, which provide employment opportunities for prospective young men. The profession of the seamen, which make the ordinary Minicoyan a globetrotter, and has also helped him to embellish his household with articles found the world over. He uses exquisitely painted china wares and his beds are spread with silks brought from abroad. The cloth for this turban and Haryal are still brought from Calcutta. So are the Libba cloth for women and the fine laces that decorate the clothing.

All sizes of nuts

Among the many foreign influences which the islanders have adopted may be listed the duodecimal (also known as base-12 or dozenal) system of numerical notation. This is however almost extinct but with a few very old people, who still use it for counting coconuts.

Houses in Maliku are the property of the female line. Men, throughout their lives, have the right of a kot in their mother’s house. Members of the house are the siblings and the children of the sisters. All the members carry the same house name throughout their lives. Persons with the same house name are prohibited from marrying one another. At the outset, marriage is a visiting marriage. Ideally, husbands come after dinner and leave their wives’ house before breakfast. During the daytime, they come for tea in the afternoon. They take the rest of their meals in their mother’s house. As a couple grows older a husband spends more and more time in his wife’s house until finally the daily rhythm is reversed: he takes his meals in his wife’s house and visits his mother’s for tea in the afternoon. But, at least once a day he has to visit his house, even if his mother is no longer alive. Discontinuing visits to a house is a definite sign of being ruli (angry), that means breaking a relationship.

Ladies who served us tea

The main attraction of the island is its carefully arranged villages, known as Athiris. Each Athiri has its own internal organization headed by a Moopan, around which the life of the community rests. They have their own village house, their own streets, bathing tanks, places of worship and burial. The public clubs for men and women which were the centers of a day night life in olden days are extinct now, but the buildings are still maintained in tact. Another curious remnant of old life in the island is the sheds where profligate men and women were exposed to communal punishment.

Village House

The cultural traits of Minicoy differ from those of any other island in Lakshadweep. Manners, customs and food are similar to those of the neighboring Maldives a dialect of Dhivehi or Mahl, is the language spoken on the island. This language employs the Ta-na script, written from right to left. The 9500 inhabitants of Minicoy were Buddhist before, but now are mostly Sunni Muslims.

Sunset from minicoy

The houses, which stand in their own private enclosures, are arranged in streets. All the houses have a swing cot made of wood which is beautifully furnished and painted in different hues. In Minicoy there are 10 villages in the island. Each village is headed by a Bodukaka (big brother) and a Bodudatha (Big Sister) assisted by a 2nd Bodukaka and a 2nd Bodudatha. First Bodukaka looks after the internal matters of the village and 2nd Bodukaka the external affairs.

Glowing ship

Each village has a village house where baemedu (assemblage of villagers) is held. The assemble of people from all the villages is known as havaru. As source of income a village has fishing boats, country crafts and coconut trees. Common feasts are conducted at the village house during the celebrations of Eid and other festive occasions.

Afterglow

Once back on the ship, the journey resumed, we realized that ships air conditioner was still not repaired. We wondered how to spend without air conditioner. Later during the dinner we met the chief engineer of the ship who promised that the AC will be repaired in an hour or so. We went to bed hoping the AC will be on soon. But our hope remained just a hope and the room remained just as hot and sultry till we reached Kavaratti Island next day.

End of a glorious day

Glorious Sunrise from the Top Deck of MV Kavaratti

The ship was still swaying. A green line of land is visible through the cabin window. Clockwork flashes from the light house illuminate the pre-dawn blue sea. Public address system told us that the passengers to be ready to disembark at Kalpeni. MV Kavarathi is anchored a mile or so off the coast, from where mechanized boats dart towards the ship. As the comforting air conditioned cabins of MV Kavaratty were lit by early morning sun I rushed after grabbing a quick morning tea to witness my first sunrise inside the sea. It was quite disappointing initially due to dense cloud covering the raising sun. Soon the disappointment vanished as the sun rose and lit the very dark blue Arabian sea all around us.

Dark blue water and Grey clouds

After leaving Kochi late in the evening this was the first glimpse of the sea. The color of the sea was just incredible. It is difficult to capture that color in photography due to limitation of sensors and monitors. That is why I recommend you to experience it live at least once in your lifetime by visiting these places. I have used High Dynamic range (HDR) photography to get you close to the feeling what I saw that day.

Map of Lakshadweep islands

We disembarked the ship around 8 AM through smaller boats to reach the jetty on the eastern side of Kalpeni Island. Kalpeni is more known for its three satellite uninhabited isles named Tilakkam, Pitti, and Cheriyam. Kalpeni is 2.8 Km in length and 1.2 Km in width with Cheriyam island on the north, Tilakkam and Pitti on the south western side. Kalpeni has one of the largest lagoons in Lakshadweep archipelago. It is also quite shallow which makes it splendid for all kinds of water sports. Kalpeni has the distinction that it was the first of Lakshadweep islands where girls started going to school.

luxury transport vehicle

After stepping on to Kalpeni we were greeted by strange transport vehicle to take us to the SPORTS resort on the south western side of Kalpeni. These were small Piaggio Ape 3 wheeler pickup vans. Put 2 wooden benches on these pickup and this coconut carrier becomes luxury transport vehicle for us. The roads are narrow but fully concreted and runs along the length of this narrow island snaking their way though the coconut trees.

Welcome Coconut drink at Kalpeni

At the resort we were welcomed to the island by SPORTS guys with fresh and rejuvenating coconut water. This is a ritual they follow in all the 3 islands without fail. What I fail to understand is that this coconut is most welcome when we are really tired and thirsty, but is offered early in the day when we had our sumptuous breakfast in the ship.

Tilakkam Island from SPORTS resort

Anyway it was no place for logic, so kept all my thoughts aside and wandered (wondered) around huge pool of very shallow water full of broken coral and sea life. Tide was very low and the boats were anchored almost in the middle of this lagoon and they made us wait for the sea to raise.

Brown Sea Cucumber & broken coral on the boat

Tilakkam Island

Snorkeling in shallow waters, Pitti Island is far away

When it was sufficiently high they took us across to Tillakkam island for kayaking and Snorkeling. On the way to the island was quite interesting with several Huge black Sea cucumbers on the way. The huge lagoon was quite shallow (2-3 feet) and full of corals and rich in marine life and coral reefs. Since I lacked underwater camera you will miss that view I had in snorkeling. They give you the gear which can be used for snorkeling. We did it for almost 4 hours, there was a huge variety of corals and fishes. The life under water was just incredible. Water was crystal clear. there was no sand or rock what was underneath was powdery corals and broken corals in various shapes and sizes.

Boat to take us to snorkeling

The Blue Lagoon

Initially I was overawed by he size of the things in water, and I swan cautiously, but as the first hour passed, all the cautiousness turned into curiosity and I was moving away with ease on the surface exploring the coral reefs and the marine life. I was overawed by the sight of ocean grass and corals spanning over large tracts of the ocean floor. initially all that looked scary and I stopped every now and then and stood on my feet.

Black Sea Cucumber Photo taken from above water

If you know to swim, then you are at ease. If you don’t know how to swim, then make sure you walk on the white sand and only put your head in water when needed. Make sure you are around the instructor at all times, so that he can spot you in times of distress. There was plenty of refreshing lemon juice which rejuvenated us to explore more.

Kayaking the lagoon

Around 12:30PM water started raising quite high as high tide was setting in. The pool slowly turned in a lake then almost became sea. We were feeling the tide and the wave along with current was pushing us around. The guides who were around us informed that it was time for departure from this lovely water heaven. With deep heart and sun burnt body we left the lagoon to have a lunch consisting of guess what Lagoon fish. I don’t know what grass eaters had but I sure know they missed lagoon fish which was yummy.

Local lady who prepared food for our lunch

Parichakkali and Kolkali dance

After lunch there was folk dance show conducted by the same set of guides who helped us in the morning. This was a dance of traditional Parichakkali and Kolkali dances of the Lakshadweep probably toned down to the tourists. After the dance we were taken on tour of the island. First stop was Government Hosiery factory where they make cotton vests. Isn’t it ironical as the word hosiery refers to leg-wear and what they sell are banyans (which was originally the name for loose nightgown of 18th century not the vests we wear under our shirts) We had a look at the rickety but still working knitting machine which produced yards of cotton material. Most of our co-passengers almost looted the whole place as the price was unbelievably low. I was left out of the crowd of buyers as they had never heard of XXL size T- shirts in those islands

Ancient Vest machine in Hosiery factory

I asked the our guides to show a Masjid which was supposed to have been built by fairies. The story of this mosque goes like this: Long ago, people planned to construct a mosque here. They dug up the place to construct the basement. When the workers returned the next day they found the mosque at the same site. It was built overnight by the djinns, Miracles don’t end there. Of the seven ponds surrounding the masjid, one provides drinking water despite its proximity to the sea. Unfortunately they denied to show us as it was not part of our itinerary. What I was fortunate to find was one such fresh water pod nearby.

Fresh water pool

Kalpeni Main Road

Later they took us to the north tip of the Kalpeni where we could if we wanted walk along the coral debris to the northern most uninhabited island Cheriyam. Cheriyam was once a part of Kalpeni and today is connected to the main Kalpeni by a bank of sea coral debris. The devastating storm of 1847 is said to have reshaped Kalpeni island and broke away Cheriyam from Kalpeni. And due to the storm Kalpeni has the distinction of not having a beach. We were exhausted by the swimming, snorkeling and kayaking for whole morning and Cheriyam did not look that attractive for our burning backs. So we took a small walk towards it and since the tide was high we returned back to the resort for a well deserved evening tea.

Cheriyam island with Coral Debris

After the tea it was time to reach back to our ship. When we reached the jetty for the boat we could see a huge rush of passengers who want to travel in our ship to other islands along with us.

Waiting for the boat

Before we caught the boat we took the mandatory group shot. Here you can see our whole group of 21 standing along the huge concrete boulders of the jetty and the MV Kavaratty in the background around a mile from the island anchored in the deep sea.

Us with our ship

Ship among Boulders

Golden Glow

We reached the ship just in time to capture the setting sun and I had a blast with some beautiful sunset and post sunset shots which included the glorious sky with light from the lighthouse and crescent moon.

Last boat before Sunset

Lighthouse

Vibrant Sky

Ship bidding adieu to Kalpeni

Last glimpse of Kalpeni before lights fade

After a hearty dinner we left for the island of Minicoy. We were in for a surprise in the early hours of the morning next day. But that will be a suspense I’ll reserve for the narrative on Day 3.