Think about beaches, seafood, and water sports at Maharashtra, one
can name a number of beaches; but add to it SCUBA diving and only one name
would surface your mind, TARKARLI... the pristine, white sand beach, with clear
waters.
Place: Tarkarli, Devbagh, Malvan
Where: Malvan town/taluka, Sindhudurg
district
How to reach: Accessible by road and train.
Few trains plying on the Konkan Railway route have halts at Sindhudurg
and Kudal stations, and Malvan is some 30 odd kms from Kudal station and fewer
than that from Sindhudurg.
Stay options: Resort, hotels, home stays.
Things to do: Main attraction is SCUBA diving and
snorkeling. Water sports include Parasailing,
Bumper Ride, Banana Ride, Jet Ski, Kayaking, etc. Then you have Dolphin safari. There are number of beaches in and around
Malvan and almost all of them boast of cleanliness; some of the prominent ones
are Chivla beach, Kolamb beach, Devbagh beach, Tsunami Island, Tondavali Beach,
etc. The white sand beaches are in
perfect contrast to the turquoise sea water so clear that one can see many feet
deep with naked eye. The corals and
fishes are so lively to watch.
If one is fond of
forts, then exploring the Sindhudurg Fort is something one should not miss.
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| Banana Ride |
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| Parasailing |
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| Dolphin Sighting |
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| Jet Ski |
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| Kayaking |
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| The Water Fort - Sindhudurg |
Season: October to March are the months when SCUBA
and snorkeling activities are carried out.
Else, you can enjoy other water sports and beach the year round.
Food choices: Both veg and nonveg options are available
aplenty, but sea food is their specialty.
Tarkarli is the ONLY place in Maharashtra
where you can experience SCUBA diving.
Did you know that SCUBA is an acronym and not a word by itself? We too
did not know till our friend Vaibhav told us. It stands for Self-Contained Underwater Breathing
Apparatus.
What follows is more like a diary of events of the three
splendid days of our lives. There would
be more, but this would be the firsts.
So you see, somewhere in September, our ever-enthusiast
friend Vaibhav suggested SCUBA diving as a possible adventure and we did not
waste any time giving it second thoughts; we all simply jumped at the prospect.
Soon enquiries were made about the sport, its potential cost, and stay
options. We learnt that SCUBA started
only in January that year and since we were anticipating the Goa
season to start too around that time, bookings were made well in advance. We had an enormous response of 16 friends,
which later due to varied reasons dropped down to eight.
Vaibhav did overtime this time for arranging everything
perfectly. It so happens that he has
plenty of relatives at Devbagh and we were super lucky on that part. We decided to take the Konkan Kanya Express
on the night of January 20th, 2017. It was the first time we were taking a trip of three days with friends
and add to it the fun of traveling in train.
Endless messages and chats on Whatsapp ensued. We planned to have a Barbecue Party and
duties were delegated accordingly.
After a nervous count down to the hours and minutes left, we
finally all met at Thane station, where we learnt sadly that our friend Lovelyn
could not join us due to her husband’s health, but Anagha came with her
warm smile and chocolates to wish us a safe journey. A word of appreciation for Lovelyn is a must
here as despite her personal situation, she fulfilled her responsibility of
getting the things she had promised to get for the trip. The biggest surprise was Amit and Sunaina’s
last minute decision to join us. Hats
off to the couple, who decided at the last moment to come; they just got hold
of a bag with bare minimum belongings and simply landed at CST station to take
the train.
Vaibhav was the first one to
come and soon gathered Amok, Ashwini after her dental treatment, Poonam,
Sumedh, and me. After talking for a
while and switching platforms, we bid adieu to Anagha and her sweet daughter,
Anushka; but not before Ashwini grabbed Anagha’s jacket that was presented to
her by Anushka.
Train came and we had to adjust our seat bookings. An older couple agreed to switch berth with
us and then began the beautiful journey of friends and friendship. All wanted to sleep, but no one could due to
the excitement. So we all took
photographs and some funny and different ones too. One exciting part of the journey is how we
would get down at all stations and take selfies along with the names of those
stations. Poor Amit had to sleep down as
we couldn’t arrange a berth for him due to his last minute decision, but
Sunaina was accommodated on Lovelyn’s seat.
We had a memorable time talking, playing, sharing, late night snacking, et al. Since we all had a working day that day, we
thought of sleeping for some time. But
it would be right to say we took naps, rather than slept, apart from Amok, who
just could not sleep and was watching a movie on his cell phone. We got up early around 5 am and again started
our photo sessions from Ratnagiri and so on.
Morning dawned and slowly people woke up. There were lot of picnickers and it was so
energizing to watch so many happy people.
Around 7 am, we had a breakfast of bread that Poonam brought along with
the variety of spreads brought by Amok and handed over by Lovelyn. We tried all sorts of combinations with the
spreads and dips. I even had the
opportunity to fulfill one of my desire to sit at the door and enjoy the breeze
and observe nature as it passed by, with Sumedh for company. Village after village, mountains after
mountains, tunnels after tunnels, rivers, roads, people all reeled away and the
movie continued.
Our train was delayed by an hour and finally came our
destination, Kudal. We packed our bags
and alighted from the train. Amit
revealed to us that Kudal was his native place.
Vaibhav had arranged a pickup for us and we all hopped into the vehicle,
a Xylo. Some slept, like Ashwini, Amok,
Poonam, Kavita, and Sunaina. Vaibhav and
Amit were chatting with the driver and Sumedh was busy with his favorite hobby,
photo/video shooting. Vaibhav and Amit
introduced us to the local things and how they were called. Kudal is a beautiful village, very clean with
neat, well-maintained roads. The local
trees and plantations were a delight to the eyes.
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| Fun clicks in the train.. |
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| Before we said Good Night...zzzz |
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| The Good Morning click |
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| Just how bright our morning was! |
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| The Warmth of Friendship.. our random clicks on stations |
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| Happiness Brings Positivity |
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| The Bliss of Togetherness |
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| Positive Energy is Infectious |
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| Kitna bhi nikalo mann hi nahi bharta!!! |
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| Managing to capture all in one frame!! Well done Sumedh!! |
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| Hello Kudal! Here we come... |
Midway into our journey, we came across this picturesque
river that we learned is the Karli river,
a silently flowing river with green water.
Though the sun was hot, we could not resist from clicking few
pictures. The driver told us that there
is also the Dhamapur
Lake at a short distance,
but since we were pressed for time, we left it for another day.
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| The Karli River.. how calm yet so bountiful.. mesmerisingly beautiful.. |
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| How can we miss a shot here.. the travel look |
Our stay was arranged at J P Lodge, Malvan, by Vaibhav’s
uncle, Hari kaka. A cozy hotel equipped
with kitchen, a small lawn, and a small swimming pool. The rooms were spacious and hence we all
accommodated ourselves in one room, which further had a living room, bedroom,
and some free space. VB, Sumedh, Amit,
Amok, and Ashwini went to the market with Hari kaka to buy groceries for the barbecue mentioned earlier while Poo, Sunu, and me stayed back in the room as I
had no intention of braving the hot sun.
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| J P Lodge... we stayed at the upper corner room |
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| The Lodge's Kitchen.. Only Fish.. Serving yummy sea food. |
Once we all gathered back in the room, we had our lunch of
fish thali with a variety of fishes; we had squids, pomfret, dry prawns,
mackerel, king fish, little crab gravy, chicken with lots of rice and chapati
and finished it off with a super yummy, humble, heart warming, tummy filling
sol kadi.
We lathered ourselves with sunscreen and spent some time in
the lawn enjoying the hammock and more pictures followed. Then we all proceeded to Tsunami Island
for the water sports. We had to wait for
quite some time for the bus to come to take us to Devbagh. Poor Hari kaka waited in the sun as he was the
only person who knew which bus to take.
Meanwhile, we played with a couple of kittens. The bus took us to Devbagh from where we took
a ferry to Tsunami
Island. The villages were so neat and clean, the
roads all lined up with an array of trees.
It was a marvelous experience to admire the village in its raw form.
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| Amazing shot by Amit of the Coconut tree |
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| The Beautiful Village of Malvan |
We saw the Sangam point en route, so called because that is where the
Karli River
merges with the Arabian Sea. One of the attractions of this trip and the
wonderful part for me was the boat rides; it was the first time I had done so
many boat rides in a span of two days.
Malvan is surrounded by the backwaters, rivers, and sea, so boat rides
are a thing that you can really look forward to and enjoy to the fullest.
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| From Devbaug to Tsunami Island.... the first boat journey!! |
We got down at Tsunami
Island which is the hub for
the various water sports. The water
sports are available individually and in packages too. This island cum beach was supposedly formed
during the 2006 Tsunami when tons of sand was lashed by the furious sea thus
giving birth to this awesome scenic island. When high tide flows in, part of
the island gets submerged in the water, hence ensure your footwear is stuffed
high in the shacks that line the beach.
If you leave them on the beach, it will get washed away and you might
not find them again.
We rode the Jet Ski,
wherein you ride a high speed water bike.
Just don a life jacket and experience the exhilarating ride as it cuts
through the waves. The instructors use
some tricks and make it even more exciting by swaying it randomly from here to there
and give it a bumpy effect.
Next was Kayaking. Unlike the Jet Ski, this is a lazy ride on
the river and can be done by a single person or two people. We chose the double option as every fun is
doubled when enjoyed with a friend/partner.
No instructors or life guards accompany you. It’s just the kayak, water, oars and
you. Oar yourself on the waters and soak
in the village beauty as the soft wind plays with you. Vaibhav had fun hitting my head with the oars
and we had so much fun with Ashwini and Amit on the other kayak as we bumped
into each other and had fun rowing each other’s kayak.
Then our group enjoyed the Bumper Rides. Here, you relax
on a sofa-like inflatable which is attached to a speed boat. Feel the speed and bounce along the waves as
you are tilted and turned about; and if you are sitting at the edge then the
bumps are large enough to throw you off the sofa for a second or two. But this was the most we enjoyed of the four.
I recommend parasailing with a partner as it is so calm and
quiet up there and having a partner alongside simply makes the experience more
pleasurable and you have the confidence that you are not alone. You can express your feelings and know that
your partner is feeling the same things and viewing the same scenes. We were so awestruck by the view atop, the
strong sea breeze, the water below, and the distant places we could spot. Since we had asked for dips, they dunked us
in water neck deep a couple of times, and again we soared the skies before
descending to the boat. Once your turn is over, you can enjoy the
sea while others finish parasailing.
When all were done, we were again brought back to the smaller boat and
further to the island. The amount of time you spend in the boat and
parasailing is totally worth the money you spend.
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| Moving on to Parasailing... A small boat takes you to the bigger speed boat for the Adventure |
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| All ready to Parasail.. |
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| The dips in the sea during the flight. |
When we returned to the island, it was partly submerged in
water due to the tide. We waded through
calf and knee deep water and got into the boat that dropped us at Devbagh
beach. Devbagh would translate into
God’s garden and a garden it was of coconut trees, cashew trees, and other local produce. The
sand was so white and shiny. Fishing
boats were returning with their catch. We walked lazily as the waves kissed our feet gently. We watched the
distant parasailors and the villagers as we walked to the main entrance to the
beach. Here, we had hot tea and modaks,
which are sweet rice flour dumplings stuffed with mildly spiced coconut and
jaggery and steamed to perfection. Then
we took a bus to Malvan back to the lodge.
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| Devbaug Beach.. check out the colour of sand... White sand, Green plantation, Brown huts, Blue waters. Do you need more colours? |
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| The sun sets at Devbaug |
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| A fishing boat returning home with their catch |
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| A perfectly timed shot by Amit; how much he waited for the right time!! |
We were all lulling with exhaustion from all the sports and walking we did when the bus conductor jolted us awake. He confused us with the stops and dropped
us a couple of stops before our scheduled bus stop. Our tired feet had to walk again, but no
activity is tiresome when you have Ashwini’s songs to give you company. We played Antakshari as we walked to the
lodge. Once we showered and changed, it
was time for preparing for the Barbecue.
Sunaina, Sumedh, and me marinated the chicken, paneer and
capsicums which were brought by Hari kaka while Vaibhav, Amok, and Amit set up the chulha for grilling. Hey, Ashwini and Poonam, what were you both doing?
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| The paneer and capsicums getting smoked in our first ever chulha.. |
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| The Barbecue Party is on.. |
It was a first time experience for almost all
of us and an unforgettable experience at that.
Vaibhav had bought a metal net which we placed on the chulha (built with stones) on which we
smoked our dinner. Amok threw in whole
potatoes, onions and tomato into the fire which were so tasty. We initially struggled to keep the fire
burning as the wood was not totally dry and it was very time consuming, but the
efforts paid off as we indulged in the yummy smokey chicken, paneer, and
capsicums. But fatigue was engulfing us
and it was nearing midnight. Our
patience gave way and we fried the rest of the chicken in the lodge’s kitchen. The owner and the lady were considerate to
not just let us use the kitchen, but stood with us the entire time and helped
finished the chore. After finishing off
our barbecue, we put off the fire, smoothed the sand with no traces of the
chulha left behind and we were all ready to call it a night, but not before we
danced to a few numbers. Amok meanwhile
readied up the bedding; the poor chap had not slept a wink since the previous
day. Thus, our first day came to a
fulfilling end.
Our second day started with our alarms waking us up. Today was the day for the main adventure we
had come for, SCUBA diving. We freshened up soon and Vaibhav feasted us
to his special Maggie breakfast. As we
strolled through the village we were once again blown away by the simplicity
and beauty of the village and its sparkling cleanliness. Coconut trees lined up the way and more
descriptions followed about the village.
Hari Kaka escorted us to Malvan
Beach. Plenty of fishing
boats were lined up and we saw quite a few fishes, crabs and shells on the
beach. We walked through the market area
and got into the boat that was to take us SCUBA diving. After loading in the passengers, the boat
took us near Sindhudurg fort where the diving was scheduled to take place. The water was very clear and we could see lot
of fishes and marine life with naked eyes.
The marines plants and reefs and the turquoise water seemed like a
perfect painting.
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| The fishing boats at Malvan |
The boat then dropped us at Sindhudurg fort which was next
in our agenda. The fort was built by
Shivaji Raje in the 16th century in the middle of the sea and you
will be surprised that it still houses a small village inside the fort. You will find a shrine of Shivaji which
treasures some of Shivaji’s artifacts like his sword and crown. You can also see the hand prints of Shivaji. There is a secret underwater exit inside the
shrine. A trip to the forts always gives
you a chill down the spine mixed with reverence for the warriors of that
era. It is almost a devotion to walk the
walls surrounding the fort, seeing the watch towers and bastions lining the
fort.
Exploring Sindhudurg fort is an altogether different experience as it is indeed very different from all the forts we had seen so far. The limestone walls are well preserved, perhaps due to villagers still staying at the fort. Since it is covered by sea on all sides, beauty greets you in every direction. You can even relive your diving experience as you can see the spot when diving takes place. The water as I mentioned earlier is so colourful with different tints and tones of blue, green, and grey. The view is simply splendid as your eyes are treated to a collage of colours and marine beauty. You can even spot the fishes from the top of the fort. At one side is the flag pole where you can see the saffron flag hoisted.
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| Sindhudurg.. The fort as we approach it |
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| The jetty leading to the fort |
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| The flag hoisted at the fort |
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| Beach adjoining the fort |
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| Fort from the SCUBA spot |
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| Fort Entrance.. Hurray we arrived.. |
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| Magnificent sea fort |
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| Striking a pose with Bestie |
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| Climbing up to a monument in the fort |
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| Atop the monument |
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| A candid shot |
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| As we climb down the monument |
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| An up close front camera shot... |
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| Plantation inside the fort |
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| Colour palette in the water |
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| Water so clear that even fishes can be spotted |
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| View inside the fort. People can be seen walking the fort walls. |
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| The SCUBA spot as seen from the fort |
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| Beautiful collage of colours |
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| The blue green water.. turquoise |
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| Walking the limestone walls.. spot Amok, Ash, n Poonam |
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| Trying a few group pics |
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| A frame inside a frame.. Superb photography by Amit |
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| An aerial shot |
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| Kitna bhi nikalo kam hai |
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| Beauty asks for more |
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| Some formations to compliment the structure |
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| Maharani Ashwini and her Sena |
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| And we felt like dancing |
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| Some moments spent soaking up the beauty around. |
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| No age for bacchagiri |
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| Beating the heat with sherbet, kokam, kaju, and chaas |
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| Bubbye Sindhudurg; we'll come again.. |
We reluctantly had to cut short
our exploration as it was late afternoon. Hari kaka explained that it would take 8 to 10 hours if you want to patiently explore the fort, but we could spend only about 2 hours. The blazing sun allowed us an excuse to indulge in the cool local drinks
of kaju sherbet, kokam sherbet, aam panna, and chaas. They were so yummy and pleasing to the body,
makes you wonder why our government does not endorse more of these products as
opposed to the aerated drinks we find in abundance. We clicked pictures in as many places we
could and finally boarded the boat to take us back to Malvan beach.
There, we had a lazy lunch of butter chicken and kaju curry (a local delicacy) with chapati and chaas. We followed it up by pot ice cream, tasty golas, and
sodas. We then strode through the local
market and bought savouries and souvenirs. We returned to our rooms and packed our
belongings. We bid adieu to Hari kaka,
thanking him for all the help he extended and got into the Xylo once again as
we all mentally decided to come back to Tarkarli again.
We were running late and it was a race against time as the
Xylo sped along the winding roads to Kudal station. Vaibhav bought biryani parcels for our
dinner. We were lucky the train was late
and we even got to sip tea at the station.
We boarded the train and again we were lucky to get our seats exchanged
so that we all were together in the same cubicle. We had our parceled dinner and exchanged photos
via ShareIt. After recounting all our
experiences and making laidback future plans, we all retired for the
night. After a fitful sleep, the train
reached us at around 5 am at Thane station. There, we all bid warm, loving good byes and hugs to
each other and got into our respective local trains to take us home.
We all reached home with lilting memories of the sea, boat
rides, fishes, parasails, and most importantly the warmth of friendship.
In spite of a lengthy essay, it is still incomplete with so
many memories still tugging and wanting to be written down. So I know I am
going to revisit this again and again and write down more. Waiting for more inputs from my friends to
complete this exciting diary of our first such journey.
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| Good Bye.. till we meet again |
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