After coming out of two dull seasons hit by the rough seas and the
incidences of attack on the sailors by
the Somali pirates Kochi international marina is all set to welcome the water
adventurers this season.
The Kochi marina is the only one of its kind facility in the whole country
but due to the Somali piracy the marina has not been able to attract many
adventurers.
Jose Varghese, Vice-President (operations), Ocean Blue (a Mumbai-based
company that operates the Marina on a three-year contract) said, “Of course,
the fall in the number of arrivals of yachts has affected the Marina during the
last two sailing seasons. But, this season things are likely to be different as
incidents of piracy are reportedly less. Besides, the climate is also
favourable for sailors,”
Commander Jose said further added, “Usually sailors travel from West to
East. As per the information, Marinas in Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan are
over-crowded. The next destination is India……Besides; the wind direction is
also favourable. These factors signals that Kochi Marine will be filled with
yachts after monsoon,”
The opening of the marina however was welcomed by the visit of yachters
from UK, US, France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland but despite that the last
two seasons came out to be very dull.
Jose also said, “At the time of
inauguration, we expected an average of 10-15 yachts a month, and the response
from tourists in the initial months offered much hope. However, the situation
turned hostile when a sailor couple were killed by the pirates in early 2011.
The incident frightened the sailors.”
Kochi International Marina was established on April 24, 2010 on
Bolghatty Island by the by the Kerala Tourism Development Corporation (KTDC)
taking into consideration the adventurous seafarers.
The marina is laden with multi
facilities with an accommodation of 34 yachts, a wonderful recreation house, a
wooden platform projecting into the backwaters for the guests to toil around.
