Walk on the beaches

Away from work, out of reach, you will always find me at a beach.

My favorite destinations for travel is always beaches. Apart from swimming, building castles, playing cricket, eating fish, waking up early and walking alone listening to the music of waves I try to learn something from each beach.

Each beach and its sea have a story to tell. It’s about the flora and fauna, the land and rocks undergoing formations, volcanoes buried, cities washed away, ships and treasures, warships and battles, loved ones united and separated, lives lived and lost.

I have always been intrigued by large water bodies and being a Mumbaikar beaches have a special place in my heart. My first memory of beach is Madh Island and dried fish 🙂 The Arabian sea to the west and Malad creek on the east. Born and brought up in a suburb, known popularly for its salt pans makes me feel I am my happiest near seas.

Over the years I have had the good luck of visiting multiple beaches around 3 Continents and each beach carries a special memory. This is my attempt to share experiences of some of the beaches I have come to love the most due to their beauty, cleanliness and of course the memories.

I don’t recall the beach name but it is definitely close to my home in Connecticut. It was the first time I had gone out to any beach in US and though there wasn’t a camera with me then, the beach gave me a memory of lifetime clicked in my mind. One day I will go back with my kids to that beach and share it with them. Am sure it’s a story they will pass on ….

Konkan beaches are ones I keep frequenting a lot. Few favs. mentioned below.

Murud Harne is a small village in Ratnagiri district. It is a very safe beach with soft black sand. It is an interesting destination for those who want to know the birthplace and life of Maharshi Dhondo Keshav Karve. A museum houses his rare photographs and articles, maintained by Vaze family I guess. The place we stayed was quite close to the beach and served amazing food. Thought we couldn’t visit it, I have heard the Durga Devi Mandir nearby is beautiful with pillars and roof carved out of wood in sophisticated figures.

There is a huge metal bell displayed which is said to be brought by Chimaji Appa from Vasai fort. Don’t miss on visiting the Harne Bandar in early hours of morning for the first fresh catch of the day and then savor it with you family and friends.

The first time we visited Murud Harne, it was with two of my best buddies and DH. We swam in the sea, drove on the beach (I don’t think it’s nice to do that though), chatted for hours and ate sea food. The resort we stayed at (Naad Beach resort) was a stone‘s throw away from the beach. We sat on the beach till late in night, taking a slow walk across the beach in pitch darkness with lots of crabs and a snake crossing beneath our legs. Scary and fun 🙂 Few pics from the trip.

Velneshwar is a nice little village in Ratnagiri district. There is a beautiful Shiva temple in it. Legend says a fisherman found the statue caught in the net and after multiple failed attempts to return it to the sea finally set it up in a small temple. The MTDC resort at Velneshwar offers an awesome view of the beach and the sea due to its location on a hill. Few years back there was no other facility there apart from Lodging. Do check out what they offer now if you decide to book it. Post Velneshwar we took our car in a boat ride Tawsal to Jaigad Jetty and reached Ganpatipule, again in Ratnagiri district. The drive from Jaygad Jetty to Ganpatipule is along the sea and very scenic. Ganpatipule is a beautiful, clean beach but is rocky and very crowded with its different rides. It’s not very safe for swimming. There is a Swayambhu (Self –originated) Ganpati Mandir at Ganpatipule and its well managed. The idol faces the west side and said to be guarding the western gates. The temple is at the base of a hill and a pradakshina (circle walk) around the hill base is a must. The place has some lovely mangroves too.

We tried to do was to setup our tent on one of the beaches towards Ganpatipule. But while doing that a local fisherman told us not to enter the waters since it had some stingrays and showed us one big one he had caught that morning. So, we gave up our idea and instead just drove off to Ganpatipule. We stayed at MTDC resort but I found it to be very costly and quite commercialized with its adventure rides. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any snaps on the trips as I was too excited with the whole car drive in jetty and then the scenic beach drive. Also I drove a few kms which made the task of taking snaps a bit risky :p Anjarle is a village in Dapoli taluka of Ratnagiri district. The first thing you notice from the beach at Anjarle is Suvarnadurga fort. The fort is located on a small island in the Arabian Sea. It was built purely for defense purposes against colonialists and apparently also had a ship building facility. Though we were allowed to take a ride around it we could not visit the fort inside since it was raining heavily when we took the boat ride. Just read on the history of Kanhoji Angre and one can experience how well the Naval army was built.

Kadyavarcha Ganpati near Anjarle is a temple which has been shifted to the hillock. One can take the steps through the Anjarle Village to reach it or take the bridge which allows you to take the car right till the temple entrance. The Ganesh idol is beautiful and is right- sided (ujavya sondecha ganpati). It is very rare. The temple has a small pond with turtles and small fish. It’s a treat for the eyes. There is also a Shiva temple near the Ganpati mandir. One can buy a variety of kokani delights like amba vadi, phanas vadi, sarbats, papads, kurdais etc. near the temple premises. The temple campus also has a small place where it is said the baby ganesh footprint is present. Though every time I visit it, I wonder why the footprint is above the rock and not imprinted inside it like a footprint normally might be. The temple premises offer a breathtaking view of thick coconut and beetelnut tree plantations, fishermen colonies, surrounding hills and Suvarnadurga fort. A must visit !!!

Anjarle beach is a clean, unspoiled beach with nice white sand. During our first trip there we were lucky to see turtle breeding done near the beach by a local boy. Early morning during a walk on the beach we got to see the baby turtles being released to the sea. Natural instincts directing them to the sea inspite of them being used to moving around in a sand pit. As if turtles weren’t enough we also caught site of Dolphins jumping in the sea from the beach. The resort we stayed had hammocks right next to the beach. I was listening to the sea waves when all of a sudden there they were jumping around, playing. Would never ever forget the site.

Recently when we went to Anjarle, the sea sand had turned blackish and the sea had come quite inside. The next morning, I and DH climbed the hillock located right next to the beach and while coming down I got the honor of having my leg right into the cow dung. Though it was quite yukkish it was fun to do the small hike and see a different view of the sea from the top of hillock. Another thing which I loved doing was the koli dance on the beach. It must have been after 2 decades that I actually danced to a koli song on a beach. As luck would have it DH didn’t capture the entire dance on camera but the moment is treasured in my mind. Next time I hope I wear a sari koli style and dance :p. I was also lucky to get hold of some calcites, quartz on this trip. My mother who I call dearly a dagdologist (aka geologist) knows them inside out and keeps sharing her knowledge with us about them.

A trip with my best buds to Nagaon, Shintrewadi is best remembered for the beach, playing in sea, building castles, savoring fish, chips and playing endless games of Canasta and Vakkhai. The resort is lovely, food nice and like I like it, located right next to the beach. It was holi time and the entire village was celebrating it. The wadi has the best collection of flowers from lilies, Hibiscus, Jasmine,Branhma Kamal, Krishna kamal,mogra to trees of mangoes, guava, coconut, betel nut, banyan, jack fruit, spices etc. There is also a big turtle shell hung up on one of the walls. We were lucky to catch some local fisher-women who showed us Surmais which measured the same as my little friend’s height.

Pondy trip apart from bike rides, Auroville, walking down roads and lanes, eating some really cool food was filled with a nice boat ride to a beach followed by playing in water, drinking coconut water and simply lying down on the sand. The beach had soft white sand with small huts. It was a short 2-3 hours visit but I enjoyed it a lot.

Though folks say Goa has the best beaches I tend to differ in my opinion. For me Nivati and Seven sisters are the best ones so far.

Nivati is close to Vengurla and it takes almost 9 hours to reach it from Pune. We stayed in a fisherman ‘s cove, had some of the best fish I have eaten till date. Apparently, the sea near this beach had some English ships buried which were dug up in recent past.
While we were swimming in the sea apart from us there were shoals of small fish swimming. It was a lovely company to swim with. 🙂 There is a fort near the beach which is now in ruins and we went to explore it for few hours. It had some beautiful views of the sea color. The beach has soft white sand and lot of crabs. There are such small beaches on the entire coast line of Nivati, sort of like private beaches. Though Tarkarli is a hotspot nearby I enjoyed this beach since it’s not crowded, has crystal clear water and has no beach sports.