Expedition NW3 2014 - Day 2 & 3

Crossed Ashtamudi Kayal, about to enter Chavarathodu.

Day 2 - The next day, we woke at 4:30AM and Joseph uncle came early to see us off. He accompanied us to the nearby Kappikada for some good tea and pazhampori(The best we tasted, during the entire trip). We set off north at sharp 5 with headlamp and blinker as we navigated the waters north of Dalavapuram, lined with Chinese fishing nets on both sides. As we reached the northern parts of Ashtamudi Lake, the sun was slowly rising.  

The owners of the Kappikada

Great food, great smiles.

We entered Chavarathod with help from some local fishermen and were shocked to see the decimation mining and human activates inflicted on this stretch of the waterways. Chavara - The place derives its name from the Chinese word that means 'cemetery', and lives up to that reputation. The pollution went lower as we reached Vattakayal, further north. On the way, we stopped at a small tea shop at Kovilthottam, next to the Church, that was run by a couple. They had segregated and stored all their plastic waste to our astonishment. The food was just great, Dosha, Kadalakari, boiled eggs and hot sweet tea; to support the heat in the food. 

Entering Vatta Kayal

We were glad to enter the Vattakayal at the far end of Chavarathod and felt nature pulling us through her washing machine, for the kind of waves and wind we encountered. The Perumon Bridge at the far right reminded us about the train accident that took place, when many of us were in our teens. 

Jelly fish.

It took us another few hours of rowing to reach Alumkadavu. We were glad to see jelly fish (Kadalchori, as the locals call them) in the waterways and a few of them had small fish trapped in their tentacles. We rested near a local Kappikada and spent time washing clothes, taking bath and watching small prawn seedlings in the local jetty. The food was amazing, with fried sardines and tapioca for accompaniment. We left Alamkadavu at 4 to reach Vallikavu in an hours’ time. 

 

On trawler "Gautham"

En-route we were intrigued by the local fishing trawlers moored along the banks. One of the owners Mr Hiran Lal, invited us abroad the trawler named after his son 'Gautham". He showed us around, the engine room, the Srangu (Captain in malayalam) perch and the galley. He explained how each systems work and we had the icing on the cake when the Srangu himself came aboard, with supplies for the next day's trip into the sea. We saw a lot of fishing fleet parked all along the waterways and each fisherman/owner we met was willing to share his story with us. We halted at Vallikavu, near the foot bridge that connects to the Amrithanandamayi ashram and settled into our tent.  

We freshened up and had some amazing Thattu dosha and kallumeka fry at the local shop, run by a lady. As the tent was too small for 3 of us, one of our friends’ volunteered to sleep outside, with protection from mosquito repellent. We were shocked to see him crawl into the tent at midnight as the fishing trawlers making their way to the day’s work, were over speeding and pushing waves, beyond the retaining wall. 

Anees with "Gautham" & "Bharath".

Day 3 - We woke early to leave at 5AM and paddled north with Vetathukadavu in our mind. It was dawn when we entered Kayankulam Kayal. The journey so far took practical lessons of what we had learned at school - Land breeze in the night giving way to Sea breeze in the day time, how they both interacted to create stagnant waves  the locals calls 'Pozhi". We made mental calculations to make the best of the land breeze while crossing the Kayankulam Kayal.

Posing with "Spiders", Anees and Murgan.

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Casting the "net'

Then there were high and low tides to figure our time to a destination. The locals knew the timings of these tides instantly and even predicted the time, something we were trying to make sense using charts on the World Wide Web. There were trawlers coming back from sea and our blinking head lamps alerted them to the 3 kayakers amidst them. Kayankulam Kayal is an amazing beauty for the hundreds of Chinese fishing nets that line up on either side of NW3. Each net symbolizes one family and their means of subsistence. We were told that the nets were placed there to use the deep channels that NW3 offered. 

Bapuji, checking the newspaper for Expedition NW3

We got help from local fishermen who helped us reach "Bapuji's Kappikada". We enjoyed the wonderful food of Appam, Kadalakari and sweet 'meter' tea, before heading north. Bapuji shared his joy of our visit and wished he could give us the food free! He enquired about the trip and wanted more details as to how we could save the waterways from heavy metal contamination. We said our good byes to Bapuji and he promised to share the message with folks who visit his tea shop. We headed north and the sun was taking its toll. Kayankulam Kayal looked never ending and we took the eastern side to travel north and beat the sun that was rising fast. The water here is shallow and there were times when going too close to the bank, resulted in our paddles coming up with mud. 

We paddled on and reached Vetathukadavu at 10:00AM, to be received by Rajeev Chetan, a local leader in the community. He helped us park the kayak at the local house and get ready for the session at the local school. 

The houses were we camped belonged to a traditional Beedi maker, we were thrilled to see the skills of a trade that was once omnipresent across Kerala. 

The session at Mangalam school was refreshing for the energy the welcome, thanks to the co-ordination by Ms Amurtha Sebastian of Mathrubhumi SEED, Alapuzha. We felt it was not appropriate to keep the kids waiting and headed to the session, skipping lunch. That evening we were fortunate to get a sit-out of a house to sleep, involuntary blood donation was too much, thanks to the mosquitos we slept poorly and woke up to paddle north with the setting full moon.