Our Travels: 03 February to 07 February 2025 - Our Lakshadweep Trip

Our Lakshadweep Trip - 03 February to 07 February 2025. 05 February 2025. ( Part Two)

In part one, we had arrived at the Eastern Jetty of Agatti Island. There, we found a fleet of 8-10 cars waiting for the newly arrived Passangers.

Here, passengers are allotted four passengers per car and six passengers per Inova class to be taken from the jetty to the beach. All movements were ably supervised by the ship's crew.

While in the car, I looked back and saw one of the lifeboats making its way to the jetty with yet another load of passengers. After all, they had to ferry almost 1800 - 2000 odd passengers with only two lifeboats with a capacity of about 60-80 from the ship to the jetty. A massive task. That is as it may and a problem for the ship's crew.

We were already on the jetty and on the way to the famous White Sands Beach, where a large part of the beach is reserved for the Cordelia Cruise Passengers.

This beach is in the northern part of White Sands Beach and is located on the western side of the island. We had started from the Eastern Jetty, and as the name implies, it is on the eastern side of the Island. (It would be helpful if Google Map is kept open in another window). This means that during the car ride, we transited through and saw most of the city / Town/village or just a collection of a large number of houses built around 10-foot-wide concrete strips, which served as roads of Agatti Island.

To be frank, I really do not know what to call it, a city / a Town /a village / or just a collection of a large number of houses- so I will refer to the place simply as Agatti.

It was fun to videograph scenes of Agatti during the car ride from the jetty to the White Sands Beach.

In Mumbai, before we departed, Madhur & co had told us that to avoid initial confusion, be the first to hire an auto and go for sightseeing and look around the island.

So, after reaching Cordelia Beach, we just had a welcome drink and proceeded to where the auto-rickshaw stand was. The place was well organised. Here, your details are noted down, and you are allotted a rikshaw. A Rikshaw takes three passengers. Charges are Rs 700 for a pre-determined route covering almost all the area and points of interest on the island, and it takes about an hour. Payment is to be made directly to rikshaw drivers at the end of the trip. As we were four, we hired two rickshaws and proceeded on our tour. Tried to speak with our rikshaw driver. He knew no English or Hindi, fortunately, the driver of the other rikshaw knew tolerable Hindi. The main language of Agatti is Malayam.

The riakshw ride started on the road along the eastern coastline towards the north. ( it would be helpful if google map is kept open on another window). The first stop was at Lagoon Beach. Beautiful white sand. Receding waves did not have even a trace of any mud or muddy water. In my opinion, water looking crystal clear and not looking muddy in RECEDING waves is one of the foremost prerequisites of a beach to be called truly beautiful.

After spending some time and wetting our feet, we proceeded with the tour. Saw a couple of resorts and a few homestay facilities. Tea and snacks shacks along the roads, as any where else in India. Do not recollect seeing any big restaurant or cafe. There did not appear to be any five-star establishments around.

Fair sprinkling of regular 'Kirana" shops and at least one smallish departmental store.

The next halt was a tourist attraction a sort of Marine Aquarium. The place is actually called "Display Cum interpretation Facility For Marine Ornamental Organism" It is created and maintained by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources.

Here your details are noted down and there is also a entry fee @ Rs 50/head. We made short work of it and were out within 10 minutes. You may understand the cause of the quick exit after going through the photos. Whatever one may think, it generates employment for at least a few people of Agatti.

The Next Halt was at the gate of Agatti Airport. It is located on the southern tip of Agatti Island. A partially restored fuselage of an executive type of aircraft was put up on the beach left of the gate. Pleasantly surprised to see the propeller windmilling in the breeze It would be fun to make an approach and land here with water on all three sides.

The next stop was Anthan (Andhaan) Beach. Another very beautiful beach with white Sand. Looking around gave the impression that this was a well patronised and popular beach. Took plenty of photos.

Most interesting, I thought, were three panels that give all the relevant information; in a nutshell, all you wanted to know about the Lakshadweep Islands. Read about Agatti with interest. Check captions in relevant photos.

This was the last stop of our rikshaw sightseeing tour.

Returned to the Cordelia beach.

A video of the rikshaw ride from the beach to the first point of interest, the Lagoon Beach, was also taken. Videos taken during the car and rickshaw ride are attached.

The car ride video is tolerable. Rikshaw's video is not as good due to sitting at the back. I had extended my hand outside the rickshaw. Other than pointing it to the front, I could not really see where the camera was pointing. The result is that most of the time, only the tops of the densely growing coconut plants are visible.

These two videos, the car ride from the jetty to the White Sands Beach and the sightseeing tour of the rikshaw, cover everything worth seeing of all of Agatti.

My impressions after seeing most of Agatti.

What strikes you most when going around Agatti is the dense growth of coconut trees. They are everywhere and cover almost 70 % of the land area of Agatti Island. Another striking aspect of the island is the total absence of any kind of farmland. If there were any 'kitchen gardens', I did not see them. It was very difficult to imagine a life without farming or farm products. Come to think of it, I also did not see any cows or buffellos, though there were plenty of goats.

In the absence of any farming, one can imagine that all the human and economic activity will be directed and centered around bringing victuals, dairy products, and all the other supplies like building materials, fossil fuels, steel and other materials needed for day-to-day survival in modern times to be brought from the mainland. In return, they must be sending out what they produce from the coconut trees and fishing.

Many items which tourists take for granted when at home may not be either available in Agatti or would cost much more than what they do back 'home'. A hard life, I must say.

Mud houses with tatched roofs coexist with one and two-story concrete buildings. Most of the concrete buildings appeared to be of recent origin. The construction of lot of new buildings appeared to be a on going process. A three-story collctorate building was nearing completion near the beach. Maybe in another 6 months, Collector Agatti will be sitting in this building. Incidently the collectorate is ver close to the beachch and after one turn of the road we were back from where we had started- The cordelia Beach.

After my impressions of Agatti, back to the present.

After getting down, we went to the tents laid out on the beach and as Priti wanted to do the glass-bottomed boat ride. Contacted one of the crew of the ship, gave our Key card details. We were given tickets for a glass-bottomed boat and told that charges would be added to our bill.

It was not too far, and soon, we were looking below the boat through the glass at tree corals. There were a couple of sea cucumbars as well. The only other coral type we saw was brain coral.

All were dull and grey-looking. did not see any colourful corals we were hoping to see. Not much fun. Surprisingly, we did not see many fishes. At one point, the boatman said a School of fish. They were small and not colourful and also did not show up very well in the video taken by me. As if to make up for our disappointment we saw a fairly large sized sea turtel. We followed it for some time; it looked so graceful, sliding effortlessly through the water.

A lot of videos were taken. The quality is not good, and the patience of anyone looking at these videos will be sorely tried. After Turtle Darshan returned to the beach, located and joined our friends who were not with us on the boat.

By this time, it was almost 1:00 PM, the sun was blazing down, and it was around 35 degrees C in the shade.

Located the departure tent. A lot of people were already waiting there to return to the cruise ship. We also took our place at the end of the queue. Again followed the process of four passangers per car and six per innova to return to jetty.

We reached the jetty at 1:13 PM. Thereafter, we got in the lifeboat and left the jetty for the cruise ship around 1:30 PM.

We set foot on Agatti around 9:45 in the morning and left Agatti around 1:30 in the afternoon. As Agatti is part of the Lakshadweep Islands, I can truthfully claim that I have been to the Union Territory of Lakshadweep.

WITH THIS, WE HAD FULFILLED OUR LONG CHERISHED DESIRE TO VISIT ALL THE STATES, FROM LADAKH IN THE NORTH TO TAMILNADU IN THE SOUTH, FROM GUJRAT IN THE WEST TO NAGALAND/ MANIPUR IN THE EAST AND ALL THE UNION TERRITORIES, INCLUDING ANDNMAN NICOBAR AND LAKSHADWEEP ISLANDS OF THE UNION OF INDIA.

My take on the Agatti visit.

If you like solitude and silence,

If you like long walks on almost deserted beaches,

If you love to read a book leaning against a palm tree on the beach, If you love looking at the ocean extending as far as the eye can see. Listening to the whispers of waves lapping on the beach,If you have good friends along, with whom your frequency resonatesPlease do visit Agatti.If you are 5 star, DJ and loud music type, avoid it.See you in PART THREEFebruary 2025. ( Part Two)

We got down at the Eastern Jetty of Agatti Island. We found a fleet of 8-10 cars waiting on the jetty. Passengers are allotted four passengers per car and six passengers per Inova class to be taken from the jetty to the beach. All movements were ably supervised by the ship's crew.While in the car, I looked back and saw one of the lifeboats making its way to the jetty with yet another load of passengers. After all, they had to carry almost 1800 - 2000 odd passengers with a lifeboat capacity of about 60-80 from the ship to the jetty. A massive task. That is as it may and a problem for the ship's crew. We were already in the jetty and on the way to the famous White Sands Beach, where a large part of the beach is reserved for the Cordelia Cruise Passengers.This beach is in the northern part of White Sands Beach and is located on the western side of the island. We had started from the Eastern Jetty, and as the name implies, it is on the eastern side of the Island. This means that during the car ride, we transited through and saw most of the city / Town/village or just a collection of a large number of houses built around 10-foot-wide concrete strips, which served as roads of Agatti Island. To be frank, I really do not know what to call it, a city / a Town /a village / or just a collection of a large number of houses- so I will refer to the place simply as Agatti. It was fun to videograph scenes of Agatti during the car ride from the jetty to the White Sands Beach. In Mumbai, before we departed, Madhur & co had told us that to avoid initial confusion, be the first to hire an auto and go for sightseeing and look around the island. So, after reaching Cordelia Beach, we just had a welcome drink and proceeded to where the auto-rickshaw stand was. The place was well organised. Here, your details are noted down, and you are allotted a rikshaw. A Rikshaw takes three passengers. Charges are Rs 700 for a pre-determined route covering almost all the area and points of interest on the island, and it takes about an hour. Payment is to be made directly to rikshaw drivers at the end of the trip. As we were four, we hired two rickshaws and proceeded on our tour. Tried to speak with our rikshaw driver. He knew no English or Hindi, fortunately, the driver of the other rikshaw knew tolerable Hindi. The main language of Agatti is Malayam. The riakshw ride started on the road along the eastern coastline towards the north ( it would be helpful if Google map is kept open on another window). The first stop was at Lagoon Beach. Beautiful white sand. Receding waves did not have even a trace of any mud or muddy water. In my opinion, it is one of the foremost prerequisites of water looking crystal clear and not looking muddy in receding waves to be called a truly beautiful beach.

Took a selfie. Our rikshaw driver volunteered to take our photos. The amount of trouble he took, standing up, sitting down, taking photos from high angles and from low angles, from left and from right, I did not have the heart to delete them and have included them here. Saw a couple of resorts and a few homestay facilities. Tea and snacks shacks along the roads, as any where else in the world. Do not recollect seeing any big restaurant or cafe. There did not appear to be any five-star establishments around.Fair sprinkling of regular 'Kirana" shops and at least one smallish departmental storeThe next halt was a tourist attraction a sort of Marine Aquarium. The place is actually called "Display Cum interpretation Facility For Marine Ornamental Organism" It is created and maintained by Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and National Bureau of Fish Genetic Resources.Here your details are noted down and there is also a entry fee @ Rs 50/head. We made short work of it and were out within 10 minutes. You may understand the cause of the quick exit after going through the photos. Whatever one may think, it generates employment for at least a few people of Agatti.Next Halt was at the gate of Agatti Airport. It is located on the southern tip of Agatti Island. A partially restored fuselage of an executive type of aircraft was put up on the beach left of the gate. Pleasantly surprised to see the propeller windmilling in the breeze. It would be fun to make an approach and then land on this runway with water on all three sides.

The next stop was Anthan (Andhaan) Beach. Another very beautiful beach with white Sand. Looking around, I got the impression that this was a well patronised and popular beach. Took plenty of photos.

The next attraction on the route was Golden Jublee Museum, Agatti. Here again your details are noted down, but there is no entry fee. After seeing plenty of museums all over the world and India, I must say that a very brave attempt has been made to search for and put up the specimens and put them on display. Most interesting were three panels that give all the relevant information; in a nutshell, all you wanted to know about the Lakshadweep Islands. This was the last stop of our rikshaw sightseeing tour. Returned to the Cordelia beach.

A video of the rikshaw ride from the beach to the first point of interest, the Lagoon Beach, was also taken.

Videos taken during the car and rickshaw ride are attached.

The car ride video is tolerable. Rikshaw's video is not as good due to sitting at the back. I had extended my hand outside the Rikshaw; other than pointing it to the front, I could not really see where the camera was pointing. The result is that most of the time, only the tops of the densely growing coconut plants are visible.

These two videos, car ride from the jetty to the White Sands Beach and the sightseeing tour of the rikshaw, cover everything worth seeing of all of Agatti.

My impressions after seeing most of Agatti.

What strikes you most when going around Agatti is the dense growth of coconut trees. They are everywhere and cover almost 80 % of the land area of Agatti Island. Another striking aspect of the island is the total absence of any kind of farmland. If there were any 'kitchen gardens', I did not see them. It was very difficult to imagine a life without farming or farm products. Come to think of it, I also did not see any cows or buffellos, though there were plenty of goats.

In the absence of any farming, one can imagine that all the human and economic activity will be directed and centered around bringing victuals, dairy products, and all the other supplies like building materials, fossil fuels, steel and other materials needed for day-to-day survival in modern times to be brought from the mainland. They must also be sending out what they produce from the coconut trees and fishing.

Many items which tourists take for granted when at home may not be either available in Agatti or would cost much more than what they do back 'home'. A hard life, I must say.

A floating dock was constructed here as well to board the boats taking passengers for various water sports, although this was made of plastic interlocking blocks. Went to the boat. A family of three was already there, and as soon as we settled down, the boatman cast off, and we were off to the area of corals. It was not too far, and soon, we were looking below the boat through the glass at tree corals. There were a couple of sea cucumbars were also seen . The only other coral type seen was brain coral. All were dull and grey-looking. Not much fun.Surprisingly, we did not see many fishes. At one point, the boatman said School of fish, They were small and not colourful and also did not show up very well in the video taken by me. As if to make up for our disappointment we saw a fairly large sized sea turtel. We followed it for some time it looked so graceful, sliding effortlessly through the water.A lot of videos were taken. The quality is not good, and the patience of anyone looking at these videos will be sorely tried Returned, located and joined our friends who were not with us on the boat. By this time, it was almost 1:00 PM, the sun was blazing down, and it was almost 35 degrees C in the shade. Located the departure tent. A lot of people were already waiting there to return to the cruise ship. We also took our place at the end of the queue. Again followed the process of four passangers per car and six per inove to return to jetty. We reached the jetty at 1:13 PM. Thereafter, we got in the lifeboat and left the jetty for the cruise ship around 1:30 PM. We set foot on Agatti around 9:45 in the morning and left Agatti around 1:30 in the afternoon. As Agatti is part of the Lakshadweep Islands, I can truthfully claim that I have been to the Union Territory of Lakshadweep.

So happy.

My take on the Agatti visit.

If you like solitude and silence,

If you like long walks on almost deserted beaches

If you love to read a book leaning against a palm tree on the beach, If you love looking at the ocean extending as far as the eye can see. Listening to the whispers of waves lapping on the beach,

If you have good friends along, with whom your frequency resonates.

Please do visit Agatti.

If you are a 5-star, DJ and loud music type, avoid it.

See you in PART THREE