Eight turtles, six reef whitetip sharks, a pod of ten dolphins, an enormous shoal of jacks and four eagle rays, all in half an hour at a depth of less than thirty metres. According to our dive log it happened to us in the Lakshadweep, thirty-six islands of immaculate sand and coral of which ten only are inhabited, lost in that immense part of the Indian Ocean known as Arabic Sea.

Those who visit the Lakshadweep archipelago ("the thousands jewels" according to the local idiom) do it above all for the uncontaminated beauty of its diving and for its magic isolation: the atolls themselves are little more than enchanting sandbanks, colonized by a few screwpines (a robust shrub typical of the tropical coastal environment) or carefully planted with coconut palms, whose barren environment is sometimes softened by an internal brackish lagoon.

The endemic terrestrial fauna is composed mostly of rats (which were brought to the islands on Indian fishing boats), some small lizards of uncertain origin and several species of insects; during the '40s, in fact, the coconut plantations greatly suffered from an invasion of giant rhino beetles, whose uncontrolled expansion was due to a lack of natural predators. Along the beaches you can see herons, egrets and rookeries of terns.

The villages of the archipelago look like all the others in the Indian Ocean: incredibly simple, kept absolutely clean by the inhabitants and structured in parallel lines, with rows of small houses featuring two or three tiny rooms built with hand-hewn coral blocks and palm fronds or corrugated tin roofs. The locals, mostly fishermen devoted to an economy of pure subsistence, speak both Indian and Dihiveli, the language of the Maldives.

The Lakshadweep Islands have been completely closed to foreign tourism until 1989, and even today are still prohibited, on the whole, to western visitors, who can only land by plane on the atoll of Agatti. From here they are ferried in just under an hour to Bangaram, the only island reserved to tourists. Unique and exclusive as, while it is prohibited for tourists to visit the other islands, it is also prohibited for the natives to live, or even to set foot, in Bangaram.

All this according to the strict isolationist politics of the Indian Union Government, which also apply to most of the Andamans archipelago. The same, in fact, happens to the more westernized Maldives, much less liberal than one would believe at first sight. The Lakshadweep Islands are the only example of real coral atolls in all of India. Seen from the air, this string of pearls lost in the blue of the Indian Ocean looks very much like the nearby Maldives: the same immense lagoons of a blinding turquoise, the same spotless deserted beaches, the same rows of coconut palm trees and uncontaminated marine depths.

The differences, however, represent a distinct advantage for the Indian archipelago. More isolated and less popular amongst western tourists (apart from the peak season), Bangaram atoll is almost deserted. At the end of the day it wasn't by chance that, before being open to the tourism, the island gave hospitality to Rajiv and Sonia Gandhi and their family for their private seaside holidays.

Only one dive instructor is in charge of the village's small diving. Groups are minimal - seldom more than four or five people dive together. The dives - normally only one in the morning and one in the afternoon, considering the fair distance of the sites - are done directly from the local big dhonis, which follow divers drifting below. Sites, several still unexplored, present divers with extraordinary emotions: the richness of the fish species is quite remarkable, while, on the other hand, the coral formations are on the whole much less complex and spectacular than those found in Indonesia or Australia, being very similar in structure to the Maldivian ones.

The strong sea currents that, with the daily coming and receding tides, sweep the passes, limit their development: consequently the reef is dominated by more compact species, which spread horizontally rather than vertically. The vastness of the Bangaram lagoon (ten km long and six km wide) also voids any chances of crossing it after dark. It is therefore impossible to do night dives outside of the reef, always inadvisable anyway in such localities due to the currents. One pleasant destination for the daytime hours and for the snorkellers is, in the lagoon itself, a very small wreck at low depth of an Indian boat from 1881.

The wreck is a meeting place for a lot of fishes and is home to a beautiful moray eel: the ideal place for those beginners who want to get the dive licence on their holiday at Bangaram. An even more unexpected surprise for underwater archaeology lovers (but only if the dive master likes them. in fact he hasn't revealed is discovery to the Indian authorities yet, at least at the time of writing) is represented by the wreck of a galleon, probably Portuguese, dating from the second half of 18th century whose remains, encrusted in corals, are lying on an immaculate sand dune almost forty metres deep, in a locality which is known only to a very few people.

Located north of the more famous Maldives, the Indian Lakshadweep Islands nevertheless share with their more famous neighbours the same underwater distinctive features: softly sloping walls with underwater hills and valleys, few vertical drop-offs and - in general - less than spectacular coral formations. Most dives are quite shallow and often characterized by less intense currents than those experienced in the maldivian passes. Marine species are more or less the same, although the total absence of divers and fishermen allows much more frequently interesting encounters.

Big shoals of jacks, small packs of grey reef sharks, many harmless whitetip reef sharks and an amazing quantity of other species show up during most dives: lucky divers will also be able to spot leopard sharks, whale sharks and eagle rays. Spinner and common dolphins and huge marbled stingrays are also rather frequently encountered, while massive dogtooth tuna and big Napoleon wrasses often cruise on reef tops. Smaller reef fauna is just as rich and diverse and you are guaranteed to meet lots of hawksbill turtles everywhere.

The Lakshadweep archipelago includes the southern faraway outposts of Amindive and Minicoy, for a total of twenty-seven islands (of which only ten are inhabited), all being part of the Indian Union since 1956. The islands are coralline in origin and are found at a distance varying between 200 and 400 km from the coasts of the State of Kerala, in Southern India. The best time of the year to visit is from October to May, when the climate is dry and airy.

The resort is open all year round, but the diving centre is closed during the summer monsoon, when, due to rough seas, diving would almost be impossible anyway. From October to April the temperature fluctuates from a minimum of 25°C to a maximum of 35°C, thunderstorms are rare and short and water temperature stays around 27°C, allowing the use of a 3 mm wetsuit or even Lycra. In February-March, during the plankton bloom, you are more likely to meet big pelagic plankton feeders, such as mantas and whale sharks.

Since in order to visit the Lakshadweeps one has got to stop overnight in Cochin - an important and very pleasant coastal city of Kerala - why not take advantage of the opportunity? Kerala is a “tropical garden State” stretching from the coast to the tableland, and represents one of the richest havens for wild fauna and flora in all of India; the motorway network is quite good and both Cochin and the State capital Trivandrum are linked by air with all other major Indian cities.

Rich in history and culture, Cochin still hosts the most ancient synagogue of all Asia, and the Jewish district is full of fascinating antiques shops. Cochin also hosts the most important schools of Kathakali, an incredibly ancient theatrical discipline, characterized by exaggerated recitation and by the gaudy make up of the artists. Every evening in Cochin the most important drama schools organise roof-top plays for the visitors; these performances, far from being tourist traps, are in fact very good occasions to get closer to the complexity of Kathakali.

From Cochin it’s also easy to organize excursions to the numerous National Parks of Kerala (such as Eravikulam, the Wynad Sanctuary, the Thattekkad Bird Sanctuary, Silent Valley and the famous and stunningly beautiful lake Park of Periyar, one of the biggest Indian natural reserves) where it is not difficult to spot wild elephants , Nilgiri langurs, huge gaur, spotted deer or chital, pig-tail macaques, giant Malabar squirrels and a very rich wild fauna in general.