The name Lakshadweep means "a hundred thousand islands" in Malayalam.
Lakshadweep is India’s smallest Union territory and the archipelago originally consisted of 36 islands; however, due to the Parali 1 island being submerged in water due to sea erosion, 35 islands now remain. The capital is Kavaratti and the principal town.
The islands are served by an airport on Agatti Island that is the gateway to Lakshadweep. It is connected to Kochi airport for onward flights to other cities. The arrival and departure lounge at Agatti could well be smaller than a railway station. At Agatti airport, we do not move to the baggage claim, the latter comes to us.
The main occupation of the people is fishing and coconut cultivation, with tuna being the main item of export.
The climate here is tropical and warm throughout the year with limited rainfall. October to March is the ideal time to be on the island. Underwater temperatures range from 27-30 C.
As soon as you land at Agatti, your eyes are greeted by the different shades of blue and they take your “blues” away. Your propeller plane lands on a runway with turquoise blue sea on one side and steel blue sea on the other…
From Agatti, a boat takes you to Bangaram Island, an hour’s ride.
It is the largest island in the Bangaram atoll but one can walk around the entire island in an hour. The only inhabitants of this island are the Bangaram island resort staff.
It is a cute little isle surrounded by an aqua coloured shallow lagoon enclosed by coral reef, beyond which is the sapphire ocean.
Silver sand beaches are lined with coconut palm trees.
Cane chairs and tables with umbrellas where one can sit and watch the sunrise every morning, candle light dinners on the beach and the soothing sound of waves make it a perfect getaway.
There is a helipad on the island. From the western part of the island, one can swim the shallow waters to reach a sand bank and watch the play of colours as the sun sets- just sitting there with the caressing waves.
There are no stores, shops or restaurants on the island. One can pickup some basic essentials from Agatti before heading to Bangaram.
We went to Bangaram for scuba diving.
The diving here is beautiful. Visibility is superb. Turtles, porcupine ray, stingray, lionfish,
butterfly fish, trigger fish, etc are the regulars. We saw some lovely corals too.
For details on dive sites and marine life, click on the tab below.
It was a relief to be away from ‘social distancing’ and ‘lockdowns’ and the only masks we remembered to take were our SCUBA MASKS.
Our bookings were done through the Orca dive club . We dived with an enthusiastic young group, many of whom got certified on this trip.
For non-divers, the resort can be booked through the Govt portal managed by SPORTS.
For booking assistance,
Contact: Mohammed - 82817 50487
Mohd Rasi - 94477 57006
Orca Dive Club - +91 22-24921541/ +91 22-24928175
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