When I hooked up with school friends for this maiden trip to the beautiful islands of Lakshadweep, didn’t think it
would be a race to book the seats before they fill up lest we lose a chance to get to the islands we’ve been dreaming for months. Lakshadweep tourism LD SPORTS conducts a 5-day tour to the island in the Samudram Package visiting 3 islands in 3 days and rest travelling to and fro Lakshadweep in a 700 capacity ship M.V. Kavaratti which leaves from Kochi. All rooms are air-conditioned and have attached bathrooms and bunker beds 2 or 4 depending on selection, along with a wardrobe, table, a 20 litr filter water bottle jar and equipped with a fan and a speaker for announcements. Morning tea, breakfast and dining is on board the ship, while lunch and evening tea is served on the respective islands. The package included one complimentary water sport on each island and the rest of the water sports were chargeable. Alcohol is strictly prohibited on the ship and the islands, better practice teetotaling;) The whole experience is well planned and seamless and brings the wonderful islands to the tourists in a professionally conducted tour by the Tour manager and the team and the specialists on the islands that conducts the water sports. For the non-starters, to know swimming is an asset, but not a necessity as there’s plenty of help around.
Pristine white sand beaches with puffy white clouds on a sunny blue sky along with crystal turquoise sea and the magnificent corals and swimming with the fishes in the lagoons makes these islands simply awesome! Visiting the the 3 islands of Minicoy, Kavaratti and Kadmat filled up quite a bit of that.
Thank you for sharing these great images from Lakshadweep islands. The place looks amazing!
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Oh yes absolutely @MortenSI , it is indeed a paradise for not only snorkeling and scuba- diving but also glass boat rides, para-sailing, water skiing, knee board rides, etc. I love jet ski but the machines weren’t working. Our tour also included visit to the lighthouse, a planetarium and a dessicated coconut factory, one in each of the islands.
Since I was scuba-diving for the first time, I didn’t want to go very deep in the open sea. So the area they took us was between 5-7m deep which was perfect. Also quickly going through the training with the instructors helped in breathing right. Incidentally, this was also the first time I took my GoPro Hero3+ underwater, strapped on my wrist and was absolutely thrilled to see the results. The 4k video output of the GoPro have such a distinct clarity and sharpness , especially with the dappled light falling on the corals. This was the other reason not to go deep as it would be darker. My instructor was also constantly guiding me as to where to go to take the best shots. I used a OnePlus for all my landscape pics.
Your post takes me back to my first time diving @Prodeep . I remember especially how weird it felt to breathe under water for the first time. It took some getting used to, but I must admit I almost panicked a bit at first.
The shallow waters like where you were is perfect for getting great photos. I tried photographing at 12 meters and the dark blue took over most of my footage, so I think you made a good choice of staying at 5-7 meters.
If you can recommend strapping the GoPro to the wrist, I think I will try that. I used to hold a stick with the camera attached, but then I couldn’t use that hand for anything else.
@MortenSI@user_not_found 12m sounds deep but yes there would be lack of light unless using a headlamp. My instructor did 40m max.
Yes, getting used to breathing through the mouth was initially weird but quickly forgotten once you start seeing the coral beauty. Also since I had a dive assist, getting used to the pump to inflate and deflate to rise and go down further was not worrisome.
Using the GoPro wrist-strap was as convenient as wearing a wrist watch. Except while shooting, pointing on the subject without a visual feed ( in my case) needed attention. I had contemplated using head band but didn’t do because of the visor.
Wow @MortenSI that’s a beautiful shot and a big one too! Yeah its hard to swim with such a size;) Did manage to spot a small one though but couldn’t pic it. At Minicoy island, as soon as we came out of snorkeling, we spotted a big sting ray floating in just below the surface. Kinda reminded me of the Steve Irwin incident…
So was mine! Well guess what @PriyankaU I haven’t ticked it off my bucket list yet, as I plan to go back to do three more islands. If you plan your trip with a group you will certainly enjoy better. Also sailing by ship from Kochi is awesome though there are other options of flying down from Kochi to Agatti island and then doing day trips but may cost more.
