Lakshadweep

 My family and I travelled to Lakshadweep on a 5-day cruise. We embarked on the ship from Mumbai in a hot, sunny morning on 2nd January 2023.

I don't think I'll talk about the cruise much, since I want to talk mainly about Lakshadweep. 

As soon as we stepped foot on the island, we were served with welcome drinks and a folk dance performed by the locals.

7.5 km long and 3 km wide, Agatti island is a home to roughly 8000 people. There is only one road going from one end of the island to the other. 

The water was a sparkling cyan shade and it was very clear. You could even see your toes underwater! 

The beach was littered with small pieces of coral and tiny seashells. I kept collecting the pretty ones I came across in a blue bag, so that I could have a piece of Agatti with me. 

A live seashell I found. Every time I picked it up, this little guy kept sticking a claw out, as if to threaten me. (It worked on me, I was feeling extremely threatened...)

Spoiler alert, the cruise staff confiscated that blue bag because seashells and corals aren't allowed on the ship. It spoiled my mood for the entire week, and I was sulking in a corner.

 

My parents wanted to explore the entire island instead of spending our entire time in the beach only. An auto driver drove us around for an hour for 600 rupees. 

First, he took us to yet another beach. What was different about this one though, was that it was isolated. You could spot the coral reef at a distance, and huge chunks of washed-up coral were decorating the base of palm trees. We were told not to go to the sea, as the seabed was immensely uneven. 

Ignore the daring tourists at the back. The black color there is the unevenness in the seabed.
That's my dad, the amazing photographer of all the pictures here, apart from this one (obviously).

The auto driver then drove us to a very tiny aquarium. I don't have pictures for it since they strictly prohibited photographing it, which made my dad upset.

 After a while of driving around, I spotted a patch of land where some goats and cows were grazing. Since I am a big animal lover, I wanted to pet them all.

A black colored baby goat ( i prefer calling the infants of animals as baby - * insert name * because honestly, referring to baby goats as kids sounds kind of weird to me.) caught my mom's eye. She pointed it out to me, and it caught my eye as well. 

me targeting the goat hehe

I am not proud to admit that I did chase the poor kid for a good 15 minutes. Don't worry, I'll pay for the goat's therapy.

Once we were off the auto, we wanted to have something to eat. There are no proper restaurants there. Instead, the housewives cooked different kinds of dishes like fish biriyani, banana fry and so on.

 My mom and I tried a new sweet dish, whose taste resembled that of a modak. 

Jaggery was covered with steamed, mashed rice, which was wrapped up in a leaf and then steamed. We had to peel off the thin layer of the leaf to get to the sweet inside. 

Handicrafts made from coconut shells and other food stalls.

After that, we also tried fish fry and banana fry. Frankly, I was not a big fan of the banana fry. I don't like bananas. 

I spotted a basket of coconut flowers and i haven't had coconut flowers for AGES. I had 4 of them and ended it with litchi juice that I used to drink a lot when I was a kid. My nana used to buy the entire pack of them, and I used to watch cartoons while sipping it. :')

We were on the island for a few hours only. A special permit was required to enter the island according to the rules set by the government. I know I know, "A few hours isn't enough at all!" you would say, but trust me when I say, that it was more than enough.

The scorching heat and the scratchy sand between my toes made it a bit painful for me to walk. As soon as the excursion was over, I dashed for my cabin and had a good long nap. 

It is quite expensive to travel to this pristine location - believe it or not, a flight ticket is more expensive than a 7 star cruise! I enjoyed this trip with my family a lot, and a bonus point is that my parents love to travel for fun! 

I think you should consider this place for a weekend getaway. 

bye-bye <3