10 replies to this topic

[nikk]

I have been away contemplating my navel for a while and have been catching up with all the new posts on SD since I got back this morning (yes, I did manage to get SOME work done too!). I particularly enjoyed reading Happy2Dive's Red Sea trip report. That made me think of posting my experiences on my last trip to Kadmat, in the Lakshadweep Islands of India. The Lakshadweep islands are, in fact, the northern-most group of the Maldives and the flora and fauna is very similar. The only difference is that yours is the only dive boat to be seen in the gin-clear waters!

I try and get to Kadmat at least once every year. This year I managed that very early- in January, in fact! Getting there is quite an exercise. I flew from Mumbai (Bombay) to Goa, then changed planes to an old 12-seater prop job to fly to Agatti, the main island in the chain. From there it’s a six-hour slow boat ride to Kadmat. It did not help that a stiffish breeze blew up as we set out and, by the time we arrived in Kadmat, I, my gear bag and all its contents were entirely drenched (so much for taking my mobile phone so that I could be in touch with work!).

The accommodation in Kadmat is, well, basic. Government-run concrete beach shacks whose only saving grace is that they are air-conditioned! The food is equally modest with a single cafeteria-style restaurant serving Indian food. All of this however fades into the background when you step out onto the wooden jetty and look around you at a crystal clear lagoon with white, white coral sand and seemingly limitless visibility.

My last trip to Kadmat had been a few months earlier to get my CMAS2* qualification with Laccadives, the local dive operator. I had done this course with two of the trainee divemasters, Rozan and Seemant. Both of them were now leading dives and, as I was the only customer for the next couple of days, we decided to try out some of the more remote sites for the first few days. Day one therefore found us at the Wall, on the North side of the island. For the first dive we decided on a maximum depth of 21 metres, ascending up the wall till we hit 50 bar or one hour, whichever came sooner. I have never seen so many Hawksbill turtles in one dive ever! Every ten metres or so, as we drifted lazily along the wall, a ‘boulder’ would suddenly detach itself from its resting perch, slowly swim out over the blue and peer at us intruders. They seemed quite unafraid and allowed us to come within a metre or so of them before swerving slowly away and descending back to their resting places.

We started working a rhythm, with either Rozan or Seemant leading the dive, myself and, at most, three other divers accompanying them and doing two dives a day, each one an hour-long dive with perfect visibility and great fish. Amongst the fauna we saw were schools of tuna, jacks, wrasses by the dozen, parrotfish, spotted rays, eels and nurse sharks. The coral in the Lakshadweep is not great, having suffered extensive bleaching during the El Nino of 1999. Some of the soft coral is making a comeback now though.

My last dive was also my most memorable. Again the resort was deserted and I was the only paying customer. Rozan decided not to dive which left just Seemant and me. We decided to try “Twin Reefs’, a new site discovered by the boat crew. Twin reefs, as the name suggests is two parallel reefs with a deep 40 metre deep sand bed between the two of them. We planned to dive to 30 metres and then shallow out, following the reefs north. As we headed out of the lagoon we saw spinner dolphins in the water ahead of us. I had never dived with dolphins before and hoped that today would change that. Twin reefs was a fantastic dive. Just seeing the two reefs with a broad strip of white sand heading north like a highway was quite a sight. And then the marine life – two eagle rays flying about five metres below us, a large nurse shark, on the bottom and, best of all whilst we were doing our five metre deco stop, twenty or so Spinner dolphins clicking and chirping at us as they caroused right by no more that five metres away!

Sadly, I had to leave the day after that, but I am plotting my return to Kadmat in October, this time for three weeks to do my CMAS 3*!

[Bubble2Bubble]

Thank You Nikk
For your dive report
Sounds like you dove with alot of differant kinds of fish and sea creature's.


Mike

[Blublood]

Great stuff Nikk!

[coppermaus]

Great report, Nikk! Beautiful description of your dives. I almost feel like I was there. Feel like I have to go there sometime, too.

[mischievous]

wow! just reading that made me feel so relaxed and tranquil. suh-weet! (yes...totally opposite of my unzenlike post... ).

[fbp]

So Nikk,
Great report, is there a website or something with info on it...

I was going to do the Maldives last year but couldn't figure out which is better...
Live-aboard or resort...

I'm going to Sulawesi in '05 and need a 2nd & 3rd destination to go to. (what's the point of going all the over the for 1 week?? -eh? )

Any info would be helpful and hopefully you have some pictures??

Departing from Bombay, is that about the only way to get there... I was thinking of departing from Singapore... direct to Maldives... somewhere around there I guess?

Thanx for anything you can toss this way... websites etc...

[nikk]

fbp

To get to the Lakshadweep islands if you are a non-Indian is a bit of a pain in the a**. It can be done but you need to plan it well in advance with one of the dive operators. Also the only flights in to Agatti (the only airport ) are either from Goa or Kochi (both in India - Agatti is not an international airport). There are two dive operators on the islands. One, Lacadives http://www.lacadives.com/ operates out of two resorts - Kadmat, the spartan one I described in my report, and Bangaram, a more up-market eco-resort. The other operator is Goa diving, run by an expat Scotsman, Willie Downie. http://www.goadiving.com. His operation is on Agatti island itself, so you save yourself the six hour boat journey if you dive with him.

I have never been diving to the Maldives but I am in the process of fixing that - going there early next month! I am trying a resort called Soneva Fushi, which, I am reliably informed, has great diving (http://www.sixsenses.com/soneva-fushi/). The other option, as you mention is the liveaboard one and from all I have heard, the M.V. Manthiri is one of the best there (www.manthiri.com/).

I will of course come back with a Maldives trip report next month

Hope that helps

Nikhil

[fbp]

Heheh.... Thanx much Nikk......

I'll check them out...
Geesh... you just get back from one exotic trip, just in time to pack for the next one... you should try our Exotic Dives over here.. Joking of course...

Thanx for the info..... so many places, so little time...

Hava good trip... at the Maldives.. it's on the list

[nikk]

fpb

for me, diving in the PNW (COLD!) or among the NC wrecks WOULD count as exotic!

[happy2dive]

Thank you Nikk for the wonderful report.

I was wondering if it is possible to reach the Lakshadweep islands via Male. From my area the route would be Amsterdam-Dusseldorf-Columbo-Male and then further by seaplane or boot. I looked up Lakshadweep islands and they're not listed in the destinations list at the diving holidays operator I know. Is the only way there via India?

[nikk]

actually, h2d it was your Red Sea report that prompted me to post this one!
sadly, as far as i'm aware, the only way to get there is via India. It does seem a bit silly given the closeness to the Maldives but then, that is Indian beurocracy at its finest!