The islets of Parali (Lakshdweep)

There are small uninhabited islands near Bangaram, namely Parli 1, 2 and 3 and the islets of Thinnakkara. These islands are part of the Bangaram atoll and provide additional opportunities to explore the corals and marine life. Visiting the Parli Island is an exotic experience where one can enjoy the blue lagoons, shining soft beaches and the swaying palms. It is an ideal destination for various water sports popular in the region like snorkeling, pedal boating, scuba diving, boating, sailing etc

 

We had one of the most memorable experiences visiting these islands. Hamid had made arrangements for cooking on the boat itself. We watched  him and his two colleagues fishing while we were sailing towards the islands. It was fun watching them fish. Every time they caught a fish, everyone yelled in excitement. The kids were little scared when a big fish was caught and killed onboard.

While the fish was being cooked on the boat, we swam to the island .The water was soothing cold and so clear that we can see the underneath corals. We were, however, told to be careful because the corals were sharp edged and could have caused injuries. It was just a couple of minutes swim to the island that was surrounded by white and shiny sands. After drying ourselves at the beach, we went into the island. We were the only ones on the island. We walked around for a while after enjoying the enthralling view of the sea and the Bangaram Island from a distance. Since the time was short and we had to return to Agatti, we decided to go back to the boat.

 

The return journey to Agatti was no less adventurous. While we enjoyed the smooth sail in the lagoons and the view of the adjoining coral reefs, we had no idea of what the return journey would be like. We enjoyed the fish curry with rice , which tasted so good that we still remember its taste .Meanwhile Hamid put a sheet on the floor of the boat and asked the kids to sleep and rest there with life jackets as the pillows. He told us that the voyage back to Agatti will not be smooth as this was the small boat unlike the one that bought us to Bangaram. After about 10 minutes we entered the deep sea and the sea all of a sudden behaved like a spoilsport brat. We could spot high waves approaching us every now and then and it appeared at times that the waves will go over the boat. I could see the fear on the face of my wife and the kids look scared too. To be honest, I too was a bit scared but was relaxed after a while when I saw Hamid and the other boat men smiling and talking among themselves normally. Since from their body language it appeared that everything was normal, it did gave comfort to all of us. Hamid, however, could see through our eyes the confusion and fear that we were going through. He  was quick enough to clear all suspicion and told that it was normal in high seas and that’s why he made that arrangement for the kids and asked them to sleep. Although he did admit that the sea was little more rough than expected. After a ride of about an hour, we entered the lagoon and could see the Agatti island clearly. We took a deep breath. My wife admitted that she was scared and also felt why the hell we ventured into deep sea at all.  But everything was back to normal-the turquoise blue waters, swaying palms, the innocent villagers, fishing nets –all started appearing beautiful as ever. Hamid handed over the catch to his family and invited us for the dinner. The invite was straight from his heart and we did not had the option but to accept it.

The next morning we were all set to fly back to Cochin. However, the weather god played spoil sport this time. The weather in Lakshadweep is very unpredictable typical of an island weather. Our flight got delayed by over three hours and it also appeared that it can get cancelled anytime. It was not a bad idea to spend another day at the beautiful island but we had plans for visiting Kanyakumari for which we had advance bookings . We were really concerned but the weather god seemed in a mood to appease us. The black clouds hovered again and again and our hopes of flying back were dying fast. Soon the rains stopped and the weather turned windy and we could see the black clouds flying fast. While we still sounded optimist, the Sub District Magistrate informed us that the flight has taken off from Cochin. We took a sigh of relief and after an hour spotted that tiny little aircraft landing on the airport.

That was mesmerising Lakshdweep. Hope many would be tempted to plan a visit to these beautiful islands.