Tuesday 28 October 2008

Lakkadives






Vacation cannot do without a little beach and swimming :-) Lakkadives Islands were our escape.

Lakkadives are in the South west side of India, about 1.5 hours flight from the main land in the Arabian Sea. And yes... we imagined Arabian Sea being turquoise color and it really is... difficult to describe.

Indian government strongly controls access to these islands and only three of them are open to foreigners and it is necessary to obtain permit from the government before going there. We were one of the 30 visitors allowed on the island of Agatti, along with the 6000 inhabitants.

Islands are the most pure lagoons we've ever seen with the most preserved marine live we can imagine. Immediately we were surprised to see the 2 meter big turtles swimming just in the shallow water on the beach... and not only... the sea turtles are so comfortable around us human swimmers... that they allow you to swim next to them, touch them, swim with them. It is amazing.

The sea life has the most variety we ever seen. We joined a German group for a day of deep water diving.

The place to stay in the island is very basic but when you open the eyes in the morning and see that pure beach, turquoise water... and find yourself surrounded in all these coconut trees... you don't need anything else :-) For sure the little village of Lakkadives is a proof for it. We were welcomed by the villagers in their houses wherever we went. We had really home made delicious coconut baklava in one house. It appeared that each household had its goat, chicken, enough coconut trees, and good fishing and octopus hunting skills.

I guess the best part of taking this escape in the Lakkadives was finding ourselves in a very cozy group of friends from different countries (Canadian, South African, Polish). Some of them live in India and others were driven by curiosity like us. We could go on for hours sharing stories and experiences. We felt like we got some of our questions regarind the odds of India answered... others will just have to be mystery :-)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is amazing, once again are all the photos taken by you?  amazing! Both of you look very relaxed , in love, as if India is the seventh heaven for you Guys. :-)I’m so happy for you! Enjoy…this would probably be one of the most memorable trips in you lives!

/Bise

Deklovski said...

Unfortunately the best photos are impossible to take and will have to stay in our minds only... the rest of them we'll publish on shutterfly when we return :-) Hugs

Anonymous said...

who is the monk with a shaved head that seems to be following you everywhere, Sanja?
very nice pictures!!!
Antoine & Cath