light, a light house and radar at night should be used in association with GPS. In the first twilight we could see the island on our starboard side. Kadmat was 20 nm from here, thus we guessed that we would be there at around 09:00 considering our speed of 6 to 7 knots. In the morning I matched increasing wind with less sail by reefing to keep our boat at a safe speed in average wave heights of 1.5m. Golden Cat was hitting the waves with great power and speed, spraying water on us. We were enjoying the moderate breeze after waiting for 9 days.We sighted Kadmat Island at 8:00. We anchored in the western side, leeward side of the island, and called up the port office for permission and direction to enter the port. They said that we didn’t have permission to come into the atoll (inside reef barrier) for anchorage. Ashutosh talked to them and informed them that we had the permission from the administrator and the tourist department, and that the papers were with them. After a delay we were cleared and were asked to sail on the eastern side of the island, where there was a marked channel. A police boat arrived and a very fit, young and handsome police inspector came aboard along with two constables. He asked us to follow his boat, but the channel was narrow therefore I wanted to motor so that we would have full control. It was advisable to motor a sail boat when you are entering a narrow channel or a crowded anchorage because you can maneuver in any direction, stop and reverse. I pulled the starter string and the OBM fired up, but it stalled immediately when the gear lever was shifted to forward. Ashutosh said that we were going to sail with wind propulsion, but the little voice inside me kept telling me “no”. Ashutosh had sailed a lot on smaller boats, but that was many years ago. Secondly, managing a 20-24 footer sail boat is different than a 34 footer cruiser; therefore I didn’t think that he would start sailing in the channel without motor, without planning, without briefing the crew and without informing me – the skipper. By protocol, it should be the skipper who should take charge when sailing inside a harbor, but than there was confusion in authority here. Ashutosh has been captain on Coast Guard ships and had more sailing experience than me but had forgotten that handling one boat is different than the other. He had not maneuvered this boat before, but he had entered the channel and started shouting to trim the sail as soon as we started drifting outside the channel. I started the engine half a dozen of times, but it would stop as soon as I would shift the lever forward as a rope had wound around the propeller a dozen times. I left the OBM alone and ran for help. Before I could understand the situation, our boat hit a rock on the starboard side and the steering became jammed. Anand rushed to shift the rudder by hand thinking that the steering cable might have broken again but he could not move it. We dropped the anchor mid way into the channel and requested that the security boat provide us a tow boat. A small fishing boat arrived and towed us into the safe anchorage where we would assess the amount of damage. I thought that it was the end of our journey as she may be beyond repair if the hull had cracked and had started leaking. First Anand dived in with his snorkel and reported that the hull was not damaged but that the stock of the starboard rudder had bent. To reconfirm, I swam across the whole hull with my snorkel while sliding my palm over the starboard side of the hull from bow to stern to feel for a crack or an uneven surface. I also checked inside the bilge for leakage. I took a deep breath of relief when damage to the hull was ruled out.We dismantled the rudder and took it to the shore after lunch. We were met by the police constable, who volunteered to take one of us to a workshop on his bike with the heavy rudder. Anand being the strongest man on board decided to go on the bike, while Ashutosh and I walked around the island. We were thirsty, but couldn’t find a place to buy a soft drink or packaged drinking water. Suddenly, we thought that this is a place full of coconut trees, thus we should be drinking coconut water. We entered a small dhaba – a restaurant – and ordered coconut water. To our surprise we were declined, but in a short time a man appeared and asked us to follow him to a group of coconut trees nearby. A very masculine man came, put a small piece of rope around the tree and climbed the 15 meter tree at lightning speed. In a few minutes there was a rain of coconuts. The same man, after descending, chipped the coconut top, made a hole and gave it to us to drink. Each one of us drank 3 in a row without a straw to quench our thirst. We wanted some more for our friends therefore he climbed another tree and we had some more in a short time. Now, we had a heavy jute bag full of coconuts to carry to the boat. We requested if the same guy could drop the bag near the jetty from where we would pick it up. We paid him to see if it was enough, he gave us a smile. These people were not greedy; they had neither learnt the art of marketing nor cheating but I felt bad for paying so little compared to the mainland. I believed that the majority of us must have been like this at the time of independence in 1947 – straight forward, naïve and satisfied.We walked back to the dak bungalow – a government guest house – where we had booked two rooms between the five of us. We requested to keep one room for Gita and Bipin as three of us had opted to sleep aboard.We were still anxiously waiting for Anand to give us news on the bent stock. After some time he appeared with a clean haircut. I wondered whether he went to fix the rudder or get a haircut. He said that the rudder stock was straightened with some difficulty with help of a hydraulic press which was not expected on this small island. We went to the boat with the coconuts which were left for us at the jetty as promised. We installed the rudder and found it as smooth as before. It was evening and time to celebrate our crossing of Lacadive Sea safely and the repairing of the rudder. We had sailed almost 150 miles in 40 hours.We laughed over the story of Anand’s haircut. The constable who took him for the rudder repair was requested by Anand to take him for haircut. He took him to a local hair saloon, but the barber was not around. After looking around, he picked up a pair of scissors and a comb. Anand got a shock of a lifetime, “Are you going to cut my hair?” He said, “Don’t worry. I know how to cut hair.” Most of the conversations were made in English as they were more conversant in English than Hindi. We went to the boat after dinner.

 

 

Jan 19/ Day 12/ 30 nm/ departed Kadmat Island:

 

 

In the morning we went to the dak bungalow and were met by Bipin, Gita and the deputy collector of the island. After exchanging dialogue and a few photographs we finished our breakfast and got into a waiting minibus which took us to the peninsula of the island. A government owned resort stood there with a stunning view of turquoise blue water. We were met by a scuba instructor who led us to the scuba center. We filled up a form and picked up snorkels and flippers. We were told to wait as it was planned to go diving after lunch when we met an old man from the tourist department who came around to make sure that we were taken care of. He told us that he had sailed in a sail boat 30 years ago from the mainland when there were not many power boats around.We were in seventh heaven as soon as we went under water. In 1994 I had dived at Bungaram Island for the first time in my life after which I had never had a second chance until this day. We went back to the jetty after spending the whole afternoon doing scuba and snorkeling where we were met by the smart police inspector who had received us the previous day. I gave him, the constable and the rudder repairer a souvenir of textiles made in Surat. Initially they resisted, but on my insistence they accepted. We went to our boat in Zodiac and started preparing to leave. Suddenly the inspector climbed the ladder from nowhere. We had invited him to see our boat earlier, but he was tied up with some work. As soon as he found time, he swam to us and asked us to leave immediately as it was getting dark. He said the inter-island ships had not resumed operation that day because of rough water. Despite his warning of rough conditions, we left for Bangaram Island. The wind was still blowing at about 15 knots and there were many white horses, but I thought that it was an ideal weather for sailing. The Golden Cat sailed quickly towards the island.Ashutosh and I discussed the approach to Bungaram. Our estimated time of arrival (ETA) was 02:00, but she would not be able to enter the western side of the lagoon at night as marking buoys were neither lit nor accurately charted. The water inside the reef is infested with many reefs and rocks: we could hit another rock or a coral if we tried to enter at night. To wait for daybreak on the northern or western side was not advisable due to the rough conditions in the NE breeze. Ashutosh suggested that we sail on the southern side so that we would be on the leeward side of the island or in the wind shadow where we would wait for daybreak. We wouldn’t be able to anchor on this side as the next contour after the reef was more than 200 meters deep. He suggested that we keep sailing to and fro on the southern side until morning, and then go onto the eastern side between Agatti and Bangaram Islands to meet the pilot boat that Ashutosh had arranged. His suggestions were not only convincing, but his local knowledge was very much appreciated by me. He had sailed in this area on Coast Guard ships, and knew what he was doing. I could have made a fatal mistake without him; teamwork and discussion were extremely important in sailing. Anand and Ashutosh sailed towards the island after we finished dinner made by captain cook.

 

 

Jan 20/ DAY 13/ 14 nm/ Arrived Bangaram Island:

 

 

From 02:00 onwards Bipin and I took charge and kept sailing to and fro on the southern and leeward sides of the island waiting for daybreak as planned. Although we were about 2 miles away, my depth sounder didn’t have any numbers which meant that it was too deep for the sounder to measure. The sea was quiet as the island provided protection from wind. I was tired due to the scuba and snorkeling on the previous day. Bipin agreed to manage the boat on his own so that I could catch up on my sleep. The boat sailed on auto pilot towards Agatti lighthouse while Bipin kept watch. The lighthouse was a perfect landmark towards which he would continue to sail safely, but he must wake me instantly if the bearing changed as we were not too far away from the dangerous reefs around the island.By the first light break, we were all awake. We followed the pilot boat in a zigzag path, avoiding rocks and reefs inside the atoll. It took us almost an hour to sail to the safe anchorage and find a permanent mooring buoy on which we moored our Cat. Mita, Rajita, Archita and I were on a family holiday here for 10 days in 1994. There was a German diving instructor on this resort at that time who taught me diving along with another visiting German couple. I loved it so much that I promised myself to return one day, and here I was 18 years later. Collector Shri Vasanthkumar arrived with his wife, young son and his pretty sister-in-law visiting from the USA. After a quick lunch, we proceeded for another shallow water scuba dive. Bungaram is the only island where consumption of alcohol is allowed. We had dinner, which included fresh fish which we all enjoyed. Late at night after a long conversation with the manager of the tourist department, we went to our floating home in the RIB.

 

 

Jan 21/ Day 14/ 10 nm/ Bangaram Island to Agatti Island:

 

 

We sailed out of the lagoon of Bungaram behind a pilot boat. After a brief sail we were near the Agatti Island entrance. Another pilot boat arrived to take us into the lagoon of Agatti through the channel marked with red and green buoys. We were met by Mr. Jaffer - a handsome, tall, street-smart and a muscular local from the tourist department who spoke fluent English.This was the only island with an airport. Two commercial airlines operated daily flights from Kochi but Kingfisher Airline discontinued operation as she went bankrupt and Indian Airlines stopped its flights as the government refused to subsidize this loss making route. Ship was the only mode of transport from the Mainland.Mr. Jafer had hired a taxi to go to the dak bungalow and than to a rest house where we rented a room for Gita and Bipin. In the evening we walked around the market and were met by an Indian Airlines booking agent, who also arranged home stays for tourists. He wanted to show us homes where we could stay if we came next time or wanted to recommend to other friends.We were met by a deputy collector of the island in his office – a kind man and a thorough gentleman - who came to see our boat in the evening. We had impressed upon him that this was one of the first sailing yachts built in India and we could help them build more for inter island transport and tourism. They would be cheap to operate as they were wind powered. Thirty years ago, the islanders were traveling, exporting and importing goods from the mainland by sail boats. Sailing was a forgotten art after the introduction of motorized boats and ships. The deputy collector and others were amazed when we demonstrated the massive spinnaker which they had never seen before. We anchored about a mile north from the main jetty near a secluded beach. In the afternoon Jaffer arranged lunch and dinner at the dak bungalow. The next morning we planned a visit to a nearby island by dinghy where we would snorkel. We told two locals guides to be there at sharp 08:00 hour as we didn’t want to waste any time. We sang a few old Hindi songs on the foredeck trampoline before hitting our bunks. On a catamaran, the trampoline is the best place to socialize.

 

 

Jan 22/ Day15/ Agatti Island:

 

 

The next morning plans were delayed as we woke up late and also the guides showed up after 08:30, but it was a blessing in disguise. By the time we were preparing to leave, Bipin came over unexpectedly and gave us the bad news that Gita had broken her wrist the previous night as she had slipped in the guest house room. I had gifted Bipin a water proof pouch in which he could carry his belongings in the Dinghy so that they could remain dry and safe. Unfortunately the sack was leaky and water had seeped in and all his belongings, including the video camera, were wet. Inside the guestroom the water dripped out forming a small pool near their bed. In the middle of the night, Gita stepped on the water and slipped, breaking the right wrist. Bipin opined that they would have to go to the hospital and then return back to Surat as it wouldn’t be possible for her to sail anymore. Among the group of Lakshadweep Islands, Agatti was the only island which had a fully fledged hospital with a qualified orthopedic surgeon. I decided to go with Bipin to the guest house and then to the hospital to find out the gravity of the problem. Bipin had come on a motorcycle with the guest house manager as he had no time to wait for the taxi. Now we were three and one motor cycle, and no other public transport was in sight. The manager was driving, Bipin sat in the middle and I was the last man hanging and holding on Bipin as there was hardly any space left at the back of the seat. We often see three people on a bike, but this was the first time I experienced it myself. Anand and Ashutosh had a big laugh at it when I described our triple savari –ride after a couple of days. Anand thought that he had missed an unusual chance of taking a picture of us.At the guest house I was shocked to see Gita in severe pain as Bipin could not administer Brufane for the whole night as the first aid kit was on the boat. The severe and prolonged pain had put her into shock. He immediately administered the pain killers brought from the boat and we called a taxi. In contrast to all the public hospitals, this was not crowded at all. She was taken to the casualty room where the doctor came promptly to examine her. After looking at the x-ray, the doctor recommended that the broken wrist would have to be set under general anesthesia (GA), which couldn’t be given until 12 noon as she had taken some food at 08:00. We were in a debate as we had 3 options. The first option was to undergo reset of the bone without GA if they wanted to leave for Cochin by ship departing at 14:00 hour. This was ruled out as she refused to tolerate any more pain. The second option was to travel without reset, but in this case the pain would continue for 36 hours until they would reach Surat. She would have to undergo surgery as the bones would partially heal and the reset would not be possible. The third and the last option were to delay her return trip by a day so that the doctor would have sufficient time to do the procedure under GA. We opted for the 3rd option after a long discussion, which was a correct decision in the end. She was greatly relieved of her agony after the bones were reset into the original place. We took her to the guest house where she rested for the night.We had asked Jaffer to buy their ship tickets for Cochin in a captain’s cabin soon after reaching the hospital, but after deciding to stay overnight; we cancelled their tickets. A set of new tickets were purchased on the ship departing the next day.At night Jaffer had arranged for a BBQ on a secluded white sandy beach, where there was not a soul as far as we could see. A big fish was being cooked by the time we arrived by a local expert. Anand, Ashutosh, Jaffer, a scuba instructor from a scuba school and I had a late night party. We learnt about the local customs and politics from the two locals. The big fish was served with dried coconut pieces and sweet coconut Tadi extracted from a trunk of a coconut tree. We all had a big local meal and drank the Tadi to our hearts’ content before going to our floating home for the night.

 

 

Jan 23/ Day16/ 40 nm/ Agatti to Kavaratti Island

 

 

In the morning we sailed north near the town center and to the jetty. Gita had slept well in the guest house and was relieved of her pain as the bones were in their original place. The taxi arrived and they departed for the jetty from where they would embark on the ship for Surat via Cochin while we went to our boat. We separated with heavy hearts after having a great sailing adventure during the past 2 weeks.We called the port office on channel 12 of the VHF radio for clearance and quickly departed as needed to reach Kavaratti Island - our next destination - before dark. The wind was fair from the north, perfect for our symmetrical spinnaker as we were sailing SW. The Cat zoomed at 8 knots and we were there before dark. We had sailed 40 nautical miles in just 5 hours - our fastest pace in the whole trip. Ashutosh was holding a sheet of the spinnaker all the time to trim the sail to perfection. We were again met by a pilot boat at 18:30 which led us inside the lagoon of Kavaratti where we tied her to a large mooring buoy very near to the sports center. A mooring buoy is a permanent anchor with one end of thick nylon rod tied to a large floating buoy and another free rod with which you secure a boat. This is a capital island with an administrative office and the greatest population among the group islands.We went ashore to the sports center where we were met by scuba school officials. We completed all the paper work so that we could start our scuba lessons from the next day. We went to a guest house of the coast guard in an auto rickshaw where Ashotosh had booked two rooms. Out of the two rooms, one was already occupied by another officer therefore we were left with just one which we three shared for the next 5 nights. There was a double bed and a bathroom with a water heater. We took turns to shower before going to the dining room where our food was waiting for us. It was 22:00 hour, but the staff was still there to serve us hot meals. Ashutosh and I shared the double bed while Anand volunteered to sleep on a mattress.

 

 

Jan 24/ day17/ First day on Kavaratti Island :

 

 

After having a delicious Idli for breakfast, we went to the sport center where our scuba class began. We were made acquainted with the scuba equipment. In the afternoon was our first diving session which lasted for three hours as our instructor, Linhare Denzel, clubbed two classes together to speed up our learning. All of us had dived a few times in the past therefore this was a chance to brush up on all the basic techniques that we had learnt earlier. We were taught to retrieve our masks in the water, share oxygen with our buddies, balance in the water and many other points as per the book of PADI.COM. The sports center was quite well organized. It had a classroom, where a director from PADI was preparing locals to be scuba instructors. The idea was to develop these islands for scuba tourism. Maldives, the neighboring island country, had been well developed as super luxury tourist destination because besides fishing this is the only industry to support their economy. Fisheries accounted for 2/3rd and tourism accounted for 1/3rd of their economy. In contrast, Lakshadweep had not developed as a tourist destination because the islanders, politicians and administrators were not in favor of bikinis, nude beaches, bars and restaurant. The majority of the islanders’ needs were subsidized by Indian Government; therefore western style tourism was not a necessity for their survival. Bungaram was the only island which had opened for tourists with a private hotel, but a legal dispute had put its development in the doldrums leaving about 50 people jobless.

 

 

Jan 25/ DAY 17/ Second day at Kavaratti:

 

 

We had two open water dives – one in the morning and the second in the evening; both up to 12 meters. I still had problems staying in the neutral position as I kept going up and down, but Anand and Ashutosh were doing better because they had dived in recent years whereas my last experience was 18 years ago. Lead weights were added to our gear so that our body buoyancy would be in equilibrium; otherwise it would be impossible to go underwater or sink. Once in equilibrium, we could go down or up by controlling our breath. We must reduce our buoyancy by breathing out to go down, breathing in to increase buoyancy to come up, and breathing normally to maintain equilibrium or maintain the same depth. After the morning dive, we were served a hot meal on the beach. We also started reading a 250 pages PADI book, which we had to thoroughly study for a written test at the end of the course.A lot of activities started taking place on the beach to prepare for the celebration of Independence Day. A large stage with a canopy was being erected for VVIP as both the celebration of Independence Day and the opening of the sports center were to take place on the next day. We were also requested to participate with our Golden Cat by sailing in front of the spectators. In the afternoon, the administrator Rajesh Prasad IAS visited us, whom we took for a short sailing trip with his friend from the USA. He wrote in the yacht log book, “I had a wonderful experience of sailing in the boat, which was first of its kind- unique experience of my life. I wish best to the sailing team.”

 

 

Jan 26/ Day 19/ Third day at Kavaratti Island and celebration:

 

 

In the morning, a large group of people started gathering along with many dignitaries. All of them had great interest in us as people rarely sailed from the mainland. Very few people have sailed to these islands in a sail boat and none in the last few years. We were probably the first ones to do so in an Indian made yacht, which should go in the annals of Indian yachting history according to Arjun award winner Gulshan Rai.During the celebration, hundreds of children participated in a bubble making game as they wore oxygen tanks and made bubbles under water. There were jet skis, windsurfers and speed boats. Anand showed his water skiing skills in difficult and choppy conditions. Ashutosh and I sailed the Golden Cat with the colorful spinnaker. It was greatest water sports show we have ever seen in India.In the evening, we were invited by the administrator to his residence for high tea. The location was stunning, overlooking the blue water from a height, and the people were friendly. We were a big party – a crowd of bureaucrats and politicians who had become our comrades for evening talk. Surprisingly, the place had no pretensions but the sea food was incomparable. There was no liquor as this is a Muslim territory. Their questions were, “How was your sailing? Did you have any difficulties?” Our questions were, “Do you intend to develop these islands as a tourist destination like the Maldives? What is your vision for the islands?” We had an interesting chat with the administrator, the collector and the Member of Parliament. The beautiful sister-in-law of the collector asked, “Where is the guy who was water skiing at the show?”We started reading the scuba book like any other good students after coming back to the guest house. I had thought that it would be easy to finish the book in a few hours, but to contrary of my belief it was very lengthy as there were many new terminologies and procedures to memorize. Every day, all of us would study the book in the evening until we fell asleep, in the morning as soon as we woke up, and in between our scuba dives.For the last five years between 2008 and 2012 I had studied volumes on sailing. I passed the RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Coastal exam in April 2012, after a number of other RYA exams such as Competent Crew – a basic sailing course, Day skipper, Coastal Skipper, First Aid, Radar and VHF radio and weather and meteorology. I had thought that I was finally done with studies, but here I was doing it again – a never ending studying and learning process. Learning is a life time continuous process for all of us, but to be involved in serious study for examination is different. In the last five years I had studied and accumulated volumes of sailing books which was more than I had done during my M.Sc. or M.B.A education. We couldn’t do any dives today because our instructor was tired at the end of the day after organizing bubble making for almost 50 children.

 

 

Jan 27/ DAY-20/ Fourth day at Kavaratti:

 

 

In the morning we finished our remaining two dives with a gap of one hour. By mistake, I swam on top of a large bull ray and upset her. I was called back by the instructor with panic signs when the bull ray with a wing diameter of 2 to 3 meters rose like a giant cloud and passed very close to us. We took a deep breath of relief. The underwater corals and sea life were so much in abundance and rich that I would not able to do justice by describing it here. One must come here to personally witness and fully appreciate it. In the afternoon Shri Hamdullah Syed – M.P. Lakshadweep visited Golden Cat. He wrote in the log book, “It was wonderful and excellent experience getting into the yacht. I extend my good wishes to the sailing team.” He enjoyed chatting with us so much that he spent almost four hours chatting with us. Next day he sent coconuts as a present.At night we had planned to study our PADI book but we had a dinner invitation from the coast guards. They had set up dinner for us on their beautiful private beach. We were then taken to a gazebo where the meal was served to us in great style, which was possible because of Ashutosh. We were given an advance invitation to stay in their new guest house under construction in a location that we all envied. We thanked the officers for their hospitality and returned to the guest house determined to return to the island soon.