Lakshadweep Islands

Firstly we only heard about the troubles in Mumbai yesterday on the plane over to Kochi (various papers available in flight reading) - obviously the main feature together with the unexpected monsoon conditions in Chennai. Thankfully we missed both and as we fly out from Kochi to Hanoi tonight, as we understand the troubles are continuing we hope the flights won't be too disrupted so far south.
We are both very well and thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Bangaram. Formerly known as the Laccadive Islands we took the train very uneventfully to Bangalore and got to the airport to discover Jet had cancelled their flight to Agatti (main island). No problem they organised seats on the earlier flight with Kingfisher only for us to discover when they eventually phoned our agent that he had already done so and was waiting for us to get in touch! 4 seats for us then! Shame he hadn't left a message for us at the airport; anyway from Agatti (one runway with sea either side and an open thatched hut as the transit lounge - lovely!) there was a 90 minute boat ride to Bangaram and we saw dolphins and turtles en route. We are quite laid back these days so didn't worry when the boat conked out halfway! Soon the problem was solved with the longest screwdriver we had ever seen and we arrived on a perfect coral island in the cloud. Thunder and lightening that evening and very humid (90-100%) but food was excellent and wine was good if quite expensive! In the morning we were woken by the sounds of massive winds in the palm trees followed by monsoon type rain and the management came around to our hut with a large umbrella for us to use to get to breakfast! By midday the skies had cleared but it remained cloudyish and humid. We had a good 2 hour snorkel in the bay and saw loads of different fishes. Next day we did more snorkelling - morning and afternoon at different reefs in the lagoon and saw some 3 foot long fishes that scared Ann when one swam right under her, and lazed apart from that. Our third day dawned bright and sunny and much less humid- just like on the pictures - and we took a boatride out to a shipwreck and some further reefs. As Iain said - it was like swimming in an aquarium! We also swam with lots of turtles in the afternoon. Iain says I should be fit now for trekking in Vietnam!
We arrived back in Kochi and are staying at a lovely (but expensive) hotel in Fort Kochi right on the waterfront and with a beautiful garden and pool which we are about to go back to until we go to the airport tonight. We were just in time for our sunset cruise last night - the colours over the water were just unbelievable..... we were only out in the boat for 40 minutes but probably took as many photos!
We remembered that one thing we forgot to mention in our blog about our drive in the hills around Ooty, bearing in mind our previous comments about roads, was that a jeep overtook us too fast, got scared when a bus came in the opposite direction and went into some spectacular skids, teetering on 2 wheels and ending up on its side. We were all shocked but they soon righted the jeep and gradually everyone clambered out - just a few sore heads but no injuries - probably saved because there were so many of them squashed into the jeep and Ann's services weren't required, thank goodness!!
Fort Kochi is quite a picturesque little place with Chinese fishing nets and fish stalls but is dwarfed by the extended city of Kochi itself. Vasco da Gama used Kochi as a base and was buried here for a while, there is obvious French influence in architecture and the British did some major engineering work to make the harbour which is now being extended to take container ships and become one of India's major ports. The round the world yacht race is calling here in a couple of days and they are frantically trying to tidy up the beach and harbour area.
Anyway the pool calls so that's all for now... Loads of love Ann & Iain
PS: Hils, Andrew, Erin & Phoebe: We can't believe Phoebe is standing already - but we're very glad she's sleeping so well for you. Thank Erin for her present but if she eats them before we get back that's alright! What brand of fags does Andrew want? Is Paul okay? Also Iain - he hasn't texted us back yet? Loads of love Mum & Dad