Though we had set our alarms for 6am, as usual we woke up a bit later than we wanted and finally were out of the hotel at about 7.30am. Surja was waiting for us and immediately told us the plan for the day. He took the brick road alongside the hotel and headed to our first destination of the day; Henry’s Island. I’m still wondering why it’s called an island. In a pure sense one might not call it an island, but the fact remains that it is disconnected from the mainland by a narrow canal of sea water which among several others, feeds this unique fishery that covers hectares of land. The West Bengal Fisheries Department has created this huge inland sea water fed fishery. It also has a couple of cottages that one can stay at. The tourist attraction is that one can climb to the top of the main building where they have a sort of tower created for viewing the entire island. So we did just that. Large rectangle water bodies all the way till the sea on one side and a vast expanse of mangrove forests on the other make up Henry’s Island.
That done, we got back on the van and headed to the next destination, which was the Frasergunj Ben-Fish pier from where we would get a boat to take us to Jambudwip. Once we got to the concrete pier along the narrow river with mangrove forest on the other side, we had to wait for enough passengers to accumulate to get a designated boat to take us to the island. So we sat on the pier under the shade of some overgrown mangroves and watched a fisherman wading through the water with his nets catching little fish among the mangroves just behind us. It wasn’t long before one group after another came onto the pier and we had quorum for the trip. The guy on the pier tried to sell us the idea of hiring the entire boat at Rs.1400 to ourselves. Did we look that rich & touristy? Anyway, it did help too as the captain of the boat quite sneakily offered us the comfort of his cabin or the “balcony” as he called it, and told us that if we enjoyed the journey to and fro, we could give him something extra. Finally after waiting in the little rooftop sort of cabin which had I’d say the best view and yet was shaded, and watching all the fishing boats of various sizes going down the river to the sea, we disembarked from the pier.
The diesel motor chugged a constant beat and the captain stood just behind us up on the deck navigating through the waters with the rudder in his hand. Everyone was instructed to sit and after some minor seating adjustments the boat came to a centre balance. We steadily headed out with the mangroves on the right and the white sandy beach head on the left. Soon I could also see the windmills just behind the beach head of Frasergunj. We were now heading out of the mouth of the river and we could see the entire length of the island, Jambudwip where we were headed. On its left extreme we could see the white sandy beach and the rest of the island was just green with the mangroves. The sun was also getting a bit stronger now and we were glad to be in the shade. As we were getting further out, the waters began to get choppier and the front of the boat rose and came crashing down into the water creating huge splashes and waves on either side. Each time that happened and it did seem with more fervour each time; there would be a crackle of hysterical screams from all the lady passengers sitting in front. The bumpy ride soon gave way to calmer waters and we sailed without much incident to the inner side of the beach head on Jambudwip.
Even before we could anchor, people just got up all excited to get off the boat and step onto this virgin uninhabited island. The boat tilted from side to side as the anchor was set and the boat was pulled to shore. The ladder was placed and only then did they realise that they’d have to climb down the ladder on the front side of the boat and wade through knee-to-thigh deep water. That didn’t quite stop them and so I waited till the excited crowd descended. My wife refused and so I went by myself. After a short walk around, I prodded and one of the boat men convinced her to join me on the beach. And so she did. That wasn’t too tough, was it now. She hardly even got water up to her knees.
So we walked along the entire semi-circumference of the beach head in ankle deep water. I realised earlier that walking on the dry white sand was like walking on a frying pan. The sand was hot as hell. I only stepped on it to read a sign board that said that this island had 20 hectares of mangrove forest. So we walked around for half an hour and the funniest part was when we asked another one of our co-passengers to click a picture of us, he assumed that we didn’t know Bengali till I spoke back to him in the language and he was quite shocked and embarrassed. We got a great photograph of the two of us. I just love being touristy!
Once back at the boat, we let the same mad crowd go up the ladders before us. And that’s when my wife went into shock. The boat seemed to have moved out further and now it was nearly waist deep till the ladder. She cursed and wondered why she ever got convinced to leave the boat. I was thrilled. We had set foot on Jambudwip, where many a tourist like us had done before. I just felt it would be such a waste coming all this way and not stepping on this Island. So she did get her skirt all wet but it was a small price to pay. We went back and settled in our little cabin, now even happier than ever because it was scorching to be in the direct sun. The boat ride back was as bumpy as we got closer to the mouth of the river, but now the reactions were a bit paler in comparison to the going time. People were dog tired I think, spending a good 45 minutes out in the sun on the island.
We disembarked, still not really knowing what the fare actually was for this round trip to Jambudwip and so as the various groups were paying their respective fares, we attached ourselves to them and got to know that it was a mere Rs.40 per person. Mind blowing! 40 bucks! We paid and gave the captain a handsome tip of Rs.20. I could well imagine if we had struck a deal in isolation, we’d have been ripped off. Actually I do take that back. I’d like to add that honesty is one thing I was one of the best things I liked about this destination. People charged a certain fixed rate for their service and did not try to make a quick buck otherwise.
So as we walked off the pier in the hot sun in search of Surja and our van, we saw a bunch of vans parked close by out in the hot sun. It took us a while to find him. In fact he found us and took us a short distance away where he had parked the van under the shade of a large Banyan tree (it looked like it was a banyan tree). Anyway, smart and thoughtful fellow this Surja was. So we got on the van and headed down another semi brick and mud road through a village. It was a fairly long and bumpy ride but most enjoyable. This was rural Bengal; Ponds, thatched huts, Coconut trees, cattle, poultry et al. I just went clicker happy, taking pictures of any and everything. I even managed to get a picture of a calf feeding and all this on the move. We finally came out on the main road at Frasergunj and again I was amazed to see the huge windmills towering above in front of us. Surja offered to take us to Frasergunj beach too, but we decided to go straight to the hotel. Frasergunj beach was just an extension of the Bakkhali Beach and on the first day we had walked half way there too. So we made a pit-stop at the Liquor Shop, picked up 4 more beers and headed back to the hotel. It was around 12.30 now and the sun was beating down on us. For his excellent service we paid Surja Rs.400 for taking us around the entire morning. The usual fare is Rs.60 per head with 6-7 people on board, but we just kept him to ourselves so it was a good deal. He had kept us engaged in conversation and told us a lot of stuff about the place, like about land prices and things to see and how this place was still not that badly spoiled by tourists and some funny stuff about the local cops who instead of keeping law and order were themselves the ones who would get drunk and get into brawls. So all-in-all, it was great sightseeing trip for the morning.
Once back in the room, I realised that my arms till the shoulders were burnt. I was wearing a sleeveless vest all morning; the price of being by the sea and out in the sun. We ordered some daal-bhaat-prawn curry-fish curry while we drank chilled beer the rest of the afternoon in the comfort of the AC room. Ghoom followed and our plan of watching the sunset was abandoned.
The evening was spent drinking some more beer and planning the next day’s adventure. We couldn’t really decide whether to leave in the morning or in the afternoon. After a Chinese dinner of Mixed Fried Rice-Mixed Chowmein-Chilli Chicken, the decision was made to check out early and catch the ferry back before lunch.
We did think of going to the crocodile farm which housed 6 crocodiles near the beach, but kept it as a might do plan for the next morning if we had time.
Thus ended day two of our holiday at Bakkhali.
TATA XENON XT 4x2 2.2 Dicor
