Enchanting Islands

Islands are magical. They often are quirky, funky, wilful, eclectic and more. Islands are never insular even when isolated. Vibrant, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual or pidgin, multi-cultural in a way mainland can never be, islands are the stuff of legends and lore. They are too independent to be owned by any one. Often the product of volcanic eruptions, islands are also hardy. They are often laboratories where nature conducts her whimsical experiments. Their intimacy to the sea endows them with an aura unmatched by mainland.

Dive aboard and lose sight of the shore as I lead you through some stunning islands on our planet – the Galapagos, Bali, Zanzibar, Victoria, Sicily, Gibralter, Suomenlina, Lady Elliott, Bet Dwaraka and many more.

Bali -Tropical & Timeless (2007) - For those of us who’ve glimpsed the cavernous, dust-filled and eerie crater of Mt.Vesuvius, Bali’s volcanoes come as a delightful surprise. They are as green as they come, their slopes, once overrun  by molten lava, are now robed in chequered  emerald rice paddies swaying  gently…

Dive into the Pacific at Lady Elliott Island (2016) - Lady Elliott Island, a tiny coral cay in the South Pacific is not on the tourist radar, at least not yet. But it will soon be, when word gets around that this is the favourite location of Manta Rays, those gentle giants of the ocean…

Diving in the Great Barrier Reef (2016) - His beady eyes seem to size me up as he weaves circles around us, each circle nudging closer and closer until his body brushes against my hand.  He seems friendly enough.  I put out my hand gingerly and pat his slippery back. There is a…

Galapagos – Still Evolving (2013) - Charles Darwin, all of 22 years old in 1832, stumbled upon Galapagos Islands, partly to escape his persistent seasickness while on a five-year voyage on HMS Beagle. At the end of just five weeks’ stay on the islands, he collected enough specimens of both flora…

Lady Elliot Island - WITH wildlife habitats shrinking rapidly, we are hardly surprised when wild elephants raid villages for water or noisy red-wattled lapwings choose urban rooftops to raise their fledglings. But it takes some time to get used to the reality of an oceanic turtle getting up-close to…

Sicily – Palermo, Feisty & Aloof (2009) - The receptionist at the hotel in Palermo cannot find our bookings. He fingers our passports nervously and fumbles with the keyboard of his computer.  “India? Is it near Sri Lanka?” he asks gratuitously, adding insult to injury.  This must perhaps be the first time anyone…

Victoria – Rainbow Island (2010) - The Clipper ferry from Seattle splices the mist and shoots through the bay like an arrow. We’re headed towards Victoria in Vancouver Island, which can well seem like the edge of the earth! After all, it is the last inhabited island in the Pacific Northwest…

Zanzibar, Tapestry of Cultures (2014) - Zanzibar sounds more exotic than it actually is, especially for those of us hailing from the Indian subcontinent with its rich tapestry of cultures and ethnicity.  This island off the coast of east Africa has been a melting pot of many cultures for centuries –…