ANIL'WORLD: June 2011

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

                           LAKSHADWEEP


                           KAVARATTI

                           Organized by the environmental organisation in our office we planned to visit lakshadweep.Started on 11/05/2011 7 am in the morning from Thiruvananthapuram and we reached kochi by train. From kochi we embarked our ship M V Kavaratti which is a huge ship and that was our first time journey in ship.Tickets are classified as I st class II class and bunk class. All classes have very good accommodation facilities but toilets of bunk class is sub-standard.

            Seven members of our team got tickets as 4 first class and three second class .Tickets and permission to visit lakshadweep should be booked through the administrative e office in kochi. Thus our journey to Kavaratti started by 5 pm in the evening. Very good experience of traveling first time in a ship. Interior ,Deck and cabins of the ship is neat and tidy.Top class food in I st and II nd class canteens. You will get the announcement for food before half an hour every time in each and every corner of the ship. We went to the deck of the ship in the night and view of the sea through the side of the ship with wonderful lightnings of the ship is an exciting and stunning experience.By 10 Am in the morning we reached near Kalpeni islands. Boats from the island came to carry passengers from the ship. By 2.30 Pm ship neared kavaratti, the capital of Lakshadweep.

Mr Musthaffa, the president of an environmental club at Lakshadweep,who is also our sponsor,waited at the jetty with his car. Then we went to his house took our tea and snacks and then visited the Museum and Desalination plant which supplies fresh water to all the natives of lakshadweep .Water from wells are pure but high amount of calcium contents, which caused kidney diseases to the natives and now sea water is purified and supplied through taps. Kavaratti is not a hi-tech city .Only looks like a small village in Kerala. No heavy vehicles are seen only bikes and cars roads are narrow and concreted.

                                     we had our food arranged by our sponsor, by two days of time we tasted all most all variety of food in the island except fish.Most of the food items are made of milk..Meat mostly of chicken and mutton, no beaf.

   By 5.30 Pm we planned to swim in a beach near Kavaratti Boat Jetty .Swimming there is like swimming in a lake, no waves, bluish clear water.

Next day morning By 8 Am we went to another beach and there we started our journey to the mid sea in a glass boat and after that Snorkeling and Scuba diving.Snorkeling is a very good water sport,swimming with Goggles and an air tube attached to your mouth you can dive deep into the sea and see the wonderful world of Corals .I cant never explain that scene in my words and I doesn't have a waterproof camera to take those shots .But I personally suggest that you must be a good swimmer for enjoying these things without any fear.Even though all of us moved for snorkeling for more than one and a half hours. we proffered more time because of that wonderful sight of corals just in front of our eyes through crystal clear water in mid sea ,one must go through at least once in a life time.

                                 By 4.oo pm we prepared for our return journey by 4.30 pm we embarked M V KAVARATTI, the huge ship and enjoyed our return journey.

Thursday, June 2, 2011

LAKSHADWEEP ISLANDS

KAVARATTI

M V Kavaratti

The ship is described officially as– “The Motor Vessel Kavaratti, 700 Passengers cum 200 T Cargo Vessel built for the Union Territory of Lakshadweep Islands… The all-weather passenger ship, m.v. Kavaratti, built for the Lakshadweep administration by Hindustan Shipyard, Visakhapatnam, has made ts maiden voyage to the islands in the first week of August, 2008.The Rs.173-crore ship, the largest passenger vessel ever built in India, is 120 Meter long and has a speed of 17 Knots. The ship can carry 700 passengers and 200 tons of cargo. The ship has world-class facilities like a 152-seater cafeteria, 100-seater dining hall, Recreation room, gymnasium and a very large airspace to enhance passenger convenience on-board. The ship is fully Air conditioned by centralized air-conditioning system and has been built to world class standards. The ships have cafeteria, snack bars, doctor on call, entertainments and upper-deck promenade. Ship facilities include three independent galleys, halls, recreation place with a swimming pool and a helipad.”
The passengers stay on the ship till they reach the island group, and at every night; and of course while returning to the Kochi port. The travelers board on smaller boats while going to visit the individual islands, and return in the same manner to the ship before sunset.

in front of M V Kavaratti

Second class cabin

Neat and tidy

High quality bathroom facilities

Side part of the ship

life boats are hanged here

Me and Sajeev

The Titanic

Anchor of the ship

An anchor is a device, normally made of metal, that is used to connect a Vessel to the bedf of a body of water to prevent the vessel from drifting due to wind or current.

Front part of the ship

The front of a ship is the bow. It is the point of the ship which is most often in forward motion.
It's called the bow.

Theater inside the ship

Mr Sajeev -photographing the deck of the ship

Ship- Bharatseema

Ship (Inside )

Mr Sreekanth,Saji and Hari

in Deck

View of Kochi from ship

Vallarpadam

Food -inside ship

Sunrise -view from ship

A boat nearing the ship for taking passengers to Kalpeni

Kalpeni Island

(a distant view)

Moving away in boat

Towards Kavaratti

Jetty

Main Jetty Kavaratti

A small park in Kavaratti

Entrance of Kavaratti

House of Mr.Musthaffa-we stayed here

A small variety of coconut seen in lakshadweep

SKELETON OF SPERM WHALE

in Kavaratti museum.

It is the largest living toothed animal. The head can take up to one-third of the animal's length.

The name comes from the milky-white waxy substance, spermacti found in the animal's head. The sperm whale is the only living member of genus Physeter.