Tarkarli Beach
An extended weekend with holidays on Thursday and Friday between 5th-8th April 2012 was the ideal setting for the trip. 6 of us from office decided to go for this trip including me, Simon, Rajesh, Ankit, Venkat & Sandeep. With 6 really hefty guys we decided to take 2 cars, Simon's Punto and Rajesh's Accent...But, for unavoidable circumstances, Rajesh had to drop out of the trip and we were left with the 5 of us to go on the trip....So, it was Simon's Punto which was frozen for the trip...
Day 0: April 4, 2012
Much of the day in office was spend in anticipation of the trip and with plans to figure out the itinerary.... We had decided to leave for Tarkarli directly after office and thus we had bought our luggage to office itself. The travel route was decided and we left our office from South Mumbai at around 6:30 in the evening... People familiar with the traffic situation in Mumbai would tell you that it would easily take us 2 hours to get out of Mumbai....as expected we reached Panvel at around 9 PM....two and a half hours to cover 45 odd kms...phew !!!!
We decided to take a halt for dinner @ McDonald's Panvel just before the start of the Mumbai Pune Expressway. With both the car and our stomach's fuelled up we started from Panvel at around 10 PM.... Our route from here onwards was as follows:
Mumbai - Pune - Wai - Satara - Kolhapur - Kankavli - Malvan - Tarkarli.
To everyone's amazement, we made up really good time by first reaching Pune in 2 hours and then in the next two & half hours to Kolhapur..... that's no small achievement... kudos to our driver's... Ankit and Simon...We lost the route a little bit to get out of Kolhapur and move towards Konkan....there were not many people on the roads to guide considering it was 2 AM in the night... we finally met some cops and they showed us the way through Rankala towards Konkan...
Day 1: April 5, 2012
We drove all night which meant no sleeping....Much of the travel was spend cracking jokes and chatting about all the possible crap that came in our minds....To help matters we would have taken more than half a dozen tea breaks during the entire drive.... One such break was in the middle of a jungle at a sunset point @ 4 AM in the morning.... now that's something new....
Sunset Point @ 4 AM :)
After a really long travel of 12 hours we finally reached Tarkarli and with help from locals we found our hotel. We had done prior bookings at Hotel Gajanan....We kept calling the caretaker Gajanan for the first day assuming it was his name. He later on told us that his name was Raju...it was so embarrassing....A really good place, nice rooms, good food and walkable distance from the beach. Naturally, we were tired from all the travelling and we directly hit the sack once we checked in....
We hit the beach immediately after waking up.... And, I must say, the beach looked awesome....clean, serene and peaceful....we had a relaxing afternoon on the beach.... We sat below the shady areas in the MTDC resort adjoining the beach...saw an old boat and decided to climb into it and strike some Titanic poses...and to top it we had a camel ride on Tarkarli beach..... might sound childish...but it was really distressing.... away from mobile phones, emails, sms's, etc....
Relaxing Afternoon @ Tarkarli
This is one bank which seems to be bankrupt every morning.... We have become used to waking up with Simon asking for money to fund the corpus. We have fondly named him as LENA Bank :)
We returned back to the hotel and got fresh.... We had booked a Tarkarli backwater safari in the evening which includes couple of itineraries like the Tsunami Island (formed by the effects of the tsunami in 2006, the sand being accumulated near the river bed to form an island which can be accessed only during low tides; so plan your safari accordingly), sunset point, some water sports and the Sangam (meeting point of the backwaters with sea water).
We took a small boat with the 5 of us along with our guide... He first dropped us at tsunami island. It was a sandy island in the middle of the backwaters. There were some options of water sports available. We decided to do kayaking....the cheapest option....Rs. 50 for one kayak and you can go on kayaking till sunset....Venkat & I took the first kayak and were already through half way...Simon and Ankit took the second kayak and they were really struggling....it was like merry go round on water....Sandeep had to settle for a single one man kayak....disadvantages of travelling in odd numbers :(
It was real fun kayaking in the backwaters. We returned to the shore after 40-45 minutes assuming we had to go to the sunset point....but much to our surprise, the guide told us that the tsunami island itself is the sunset point :(
Oh god...we thought it might have been better to kayak till sunset and enjoy the sunset while still on water which would have been better..
Our Boat
On Tsunami Island
The Sangam
Water Sports @ Tsunami Island
Sunset from Tsunami Island
Next on the itinerary was the Sangam, nothing too great about it but a good place to spend an evening. We returned back to the tsunami island and while waiting for the sunset we tried our hand at another childish thing....Constructing sand castles...We had a cracking time passing comments on the castle more than the activity itself. Simon was really into it and continued till the end trying to create the castle....
Sand Castle @ Tsunami Island
We returned back to the hotel and got fresh. It was almost dinner time and we were all tired, so we decided to order dinner from MTDC which was very close by. The food was average and the sea food was a total letdown. We had come to Tarkarli with great expectations on having awesome seafood :( The veg food was in fact better than non veg. By the time we finished dinner, it was about 10 PM in the dinner. Tarkarli gets pretty quite and secluded by this time with not much of night life. So, we decided to stay indoors and what would be a good way to spend time than playing cards. We decided to play Teen Patti - with 2 conditions, no money would be at stake but the game will be played in true spirit of Teen Patti :)
Our tutor for the game was Ankit who boasts of some true teen patti experience from his Delhi and Dubai whereabouts....The game went on great for about an hour with jokes, chatting and pranks. Finally, Simon was the first one to pack up and he started meddling with the others acting as a spoiler....So, now that the game was no longer played in the true spirit we called it quits and decided to retire for the night since we had to wake up early next morning and go for the actual thing we had come to Tarkarli...... SCUBA DIVING :)
Day 2: April 6, 2012
We had done prior bookings with help from Raju. We left the hotel around 8 AM. We took a small boat which takes you to the main boat which conducts the scuba diving close to the Sindhudurg fort.
Everyone was looking at each other with anxiety. No one knew what to expect. The fact that non of us knew how to swim made the experience even more exciting. Though we were told by the instructors that it is fine if we can't swim and in fact they advise people who know how to swim not to try it. Enough safety precautions are taken by them to make this a good and memorable experience.
Sandeep and I decided to try first....the others were a bit more nervous. I wore the wet suit and was geared up with the air hose....we were given instructions on common hand symbols to be used under water....Excited and with a lot a butterflies in our stomach, I step out of the boat onto a staircase which is hardly 6 feet long. Once you leave the staircase, you are on the mercy of the instructor. The scuba diving is done in tandem, i.e. everyone is accompanied by one trainer who does the manoeuvring under water and gives out directions....
They start off with basics to check if are comfortable breathing under water with the air hose while you are still holding onto the staircase...Then they take you away from the boat and repeat the same process while holding onto a safety tube....Once you are comfortable and have given the thumbs up....the ride begins....
Our tutor for the game was Ankit who boasts of some true teen patti experience from his Delhi and Dubai whereabouts....The game went on great for about an hour with jokes, chatting and pranks. Finally, Simon was the first one to pack up and he started meddling with the others acting as a spoiler....So, now that the game was no longer played in the true spirit we called it quits and decided to retire for the night since we had to wake up early next morning and go for the actual thing we had come to Tarkarli...... SCUBA DIVING :)
Day 2: April 6, 2012
We had done prior bookings with help from Raju. We left the hotel around 8 AM. We took a small boat which takes you to the main boat which conducts the scuba diving close to the Sindhudurg fort.
Everyone was looking at each other with anxiety. No one knew what to expect. The fact that non of us knew how to swim made the experience even more exciting. Though we were told by the instructors that it is fine if we can't swim and in fact they advise people who know how to swim not to try it. Enough safety precautions are taken by them to make this a good and memorable experience.
Sandeep and I decided to try first....the others were a bit more nervous. I wore the wet suit and was geared up with the air hose....we were given instructions on common hand symbols to be used under water....Excited and with a lot a butterflies in our stomach, I step out of the boat onto a staircase which is hardly 6 feet long. Once you leave the staircase, you are on the mercy of the instructor. The scuba diving is done in tandem, i.e. everyone is accompanied by one trainer who does the manoeuvring under water and gives out directions....
They start off with basics to check if are comfortable breathing under water with the air hose while you are still holding onto the staircase...Then they take you away from the boat and repeat the same process while holding onto a safety tube....Once you are comfortable and have given the thumbs up....the ride begins....
Sandeep getting ready
Sandeep under water
The feeling under water can't be expressed in words. The visibility was not that clear though. But the mere thought of being under water surrounded by all the marine life in its true habitat was pleasing. The only sound in your ears is you breathing through the air hose and nothing else....Beautiful tiny colourful fishes swimming close to you, corals and sea weeds under your feet and the sun shining bright on the top of your head.....amazing !!!!
Me getting ready
Me under water
I can't resist myself from picking these lines from the movie Zindagi Na Milegi Dobaara. Just after they finish their dive, there is conversation between Hrithik and Katrina, "Diving is like meditation for me....Insaan ko apni har ek saans, har ek pal ka ehsaas hota hai.. I wish if we could live our lives like this... we would be alive for each and every moment of our life". These lines truly made sense to me.
Venkat getting ready
Venkat under water
If you are wondering why only 3 people have featured in the diving photographs....well we had some back outs too....Simon & Ankit...If you recollect the first part of my post, these were the guys given kudos for their driving skills....well not much can be said about their diving skills though :)
And we came up with these nicknames:
Sachin, Sandeep & Venkat.............DIVERS
Simon & Ankit............................DRIVERS
Venkat bought along some sea weeds from under water as souvenirs. There is a separate funny story of what happened with these later on in the post. We named this souvenir as "Hydrola"....considering our limited knowledge on Botany :)
Venkat with the souvenir
Post the scuba diving, we headed towards the Sindhudurg Fort which was part of our planned itinerary. This fort is situated off the shores of Malvan on a small islet surrounded by the Arabian Sea on all sides. It is witness to some significant history. The only way to reach the fort is by hiring a jetty from the Malvan market area or its part of the scuba diving itinerary.
It was the first week of April and it was scorching hot. As soon as we reached, we headed straight to the juice counter (these are run by locals and believe it or not they actually live in the fort in the middle of the sea). We had refreshing kokam sarbat....a local beverage considered to be very good to hydrate your body and helps in digestion. We moved around in the fort and did some site seeing. There is a temple and a museum inside the fort dedicated to Shivaji Maharaj.
We walked along the periphery of the fort enjoying the view of the Arabian Sea. I had been to this fort some years ago and there was one more attraction here. There was a coconut tree here with 2 branches. Usually, coconut trees do not have branches. But sadly it was struck by lightning couple of years ago and it is no longer standing :(
Considering it is summer with a hot blazing sun on top, sun glasses are a must. Something that Ankit would surely never forget....and we definitely did not make it any easier for him since he had forgotten to carry his pair of sun glasses. All along the trip, we kept on noticing even the locals with sun glasses and every time we would look at Ankit with a teasing laugh :)
Sindhudurg Fort seen from Tarkarli Beach
Sindhudurg Fort Entrance
View from Sindhudurg Fort
Post this we headed back to the shore and were damn hungry considering the disappointing dinner we had last night. We were looking for options, just then Sandeep who had some prior local knowledge came up with the suggestion of a place named Atithi Bamboo. After checking with some locals, we managed to get directions to the place. It had a simple setting with predominantly thali system. But natural, we ordered fish thalies since we were still craving for that authentic Malvani seafood that we have heard about so much.
And, this place surely did not disappoint us :) The thali was served with fried prawns as starters and an equally delicious prawns curry to be had along with bhakris for main course. Anyone coming to Malvan, has to visit this place if you intend to have authentic Malvani seafood. Finally after a filling lunch, we went back to the rooms and got fresh. Venkat packed up his souvenir in a mineral water bottle to keep it fresh....:)
There was no plans for the evening. So, we decided to play football on the beach and thus headed to the market to buy one. The market is well a narrow lane with shops on both side with no car parking. So, two of us got down to buy the football and the rest of us had to take a complete round to get back to the same place to pick them up. This ate up some of our time.
The evening at the beach was again eventful. Totally unplanned and pretty much everything goes. We played football till the time our lungs supported us and then decided to play kabaddi. The game of kabaddi was even more fun as the only motive of the game for us was to not let the person cross the line even if it means we are in the same team :) Everyone would just jumped on each other and rolled along in the sand. Later on we sat back and enjoyed the evening on the this serene secluded beach. The full moon that night in all its glory paid witness to our histrionics....
We headed back to the hotel and ordered tea. Tea never tasted this good when you have it sitting in the balcony, chatting with friends in the middle of a quite hamlet....The tea tasted so good that we all had a second helping and these were accompanied by the CD which had the photographs from our scuba diving experience in the morning. Tired from the activities during the day, we ordered dinner with the hotel itself. We ordered for Chicken Thalis in typical Malvani style.... The dinner was awesome....something we should have done on the previous night also...Alas, we did have a nice meal on the final night at Tarkarli.... We kept on chatting till late and then decided to hit the sack....We had a whole day of travelling scheduled for tomorrow since had to return back to Mumbai.
Day 3: April 7, 2012
We woke up early and decided to go for a walk along the beach. We ended up spending over couple of hours there. A very relaxing morning....We returned back to the hotel, had breakfast and checked out.... We thanked Raju for his hospitality.
Shades @ Tarkarli Beach
Creativity with our flip flops
After checking from the hotel, we decided to go to the market to buy some authentic malvani stuff. On the way, Venkat felt thirsty and in the haste of the moment picked up the bottle with the sea weed in it and had a sip of water. He realised it as soon as he saw the bottle and tried spitting the water out but sadly the power windows were locked. He had to frantically get Simon to unlock the windows and then spit the water out....:) So much for his souvenir....:)
We bought some malvani masala, coconut cakes and kokan sarbat syrup from the market. Packed everything in the car hood and started the journey back to Mumbai around noon. We decided to take the Mumbai Goa highway on our way back unlike the route that we took while coming to Tarkarli. We decided to have lunch at Rajapur which happens to be my native place....Now, that everyone has had their moment in the sun....it was my turn....I kept on giving directions to move ahead in Marathi....pudey, pudey, pudey and stopped at the Rajapur bus depot....Everyone blasted out laughing....how can you stop at a bus depot when we are looking out for lunch options....till date I am reminded of this by my friends....Well how else would you create memoirs if we do not have such moments :)
We finally reached Mumbai by mid night....Dropping everyone to their doorstep....This bought the curtains down on an amazing weekend we spent at Tarkarli....
Today which happens to be exactly a year after we finished this trip, it gives me great pleasure in sharing my memoirs with you guys....hoping for many such trips in future....
Do visit Tarkarli....
Many more memoirs to share....Sachin
