TRIP TO MALVAN

 December always has an different plan every year for me and my family. Two birthdays at home one after the other have an pleasant atmosphere. But this is not always the case. Sometimes you have to spend most of your time to keep others nose happy. Me and sneha wanted  to celebrate Shravasti's birthday at our native place but due to uncertain circumstances this was not made possible by some internal forces.

Then me and my wife planned a sudden trip to Malvan which was decided in one go and was executed as per the speed of thought. The day was 11th of December, 2020. 2020 being the year very cautious for moving out of your house. Infected  by virus corona the whole world is at the bay. But we were bored at home and  need some fresh air which was found to be in Konkan.

 Konkan is no new place for us Sneha belongs originally from here so spending time here was not an difficult task. Atleast we were not tourist for the place we were locals. But we wanted to enjoy like tourist. So we headed to Thane railway station on the Friday morning from Mulund were me and my family is residing. 

Madgaon Festival Special train number 01113 was scheduled from Thane we boarded 3B bogey. But problems never end they follow you wherever you go. I think problems can't live without you, they feel if problem is there you have to be there. Our sitting arrangement was the worst side  upper berth and upper berth. O my gosh! what was this how to get adjusted we curse railways  for giving us such bad berth. Our AC tickets were of no use to us ........means  travelling via konkan railways and you do not have window seat is a sin in itself. 

Sneha and shravasti made comfortable on the lower berth by seating but people around you are not always cool. They can be hot as well. The couple with us on the seat was travelling first time in the AC coach may be first time they were reserved there mobile communications can clearly make it visible. Any ways we had our seats allotted so we can't force someone to adjust there seat. But heated arguments between Sneha and the other lady could not change anything. Some good men adjusted for us and we were happy travelling konkan scenic view Leaving behind the green trees and tunnels.

We reached Kudal railway station around 5 pm we were late. Hotel booking done and we reached our stay at Anant Muktai which was a good stay with good food. We had site seeing at Kudal's market place temple and good chat corner. A dinner at hotel and good sleep. Morning was as pleasant. Search for breakfast landed us in small hotel named Sandesh. Puri bhaji was extremely delicious we had three a shira tea and we were full. 

Amit reached kudal bus stand morning, he boarded bus earlier evening. We all 4 started for Malvan by State Transport and enjoyed travel locally. Reaching malvan bus stand we reached our hotel Pride and our trip for malvan started.

First visit was Sindhudurg fort which is an obvious first destination who ever comes to Malvan. The fort is identity of malvan area. From jetty to the fort a ferry boat is hired and ride begins. On ferry some naughty young boys from Kolhapur were pulling the leg of the ferry driver in the own tone. Listening them is funny but situations wasn't funny in the middle of the water some few meters deep no one would like to have fun with the  ferry driver. But some things are to be ignored. 

On reaching the fort jetty Photos taking on mobile phones was like competition. Visitors dressed in fancy were clicking in different poses looks funny but everything is fare. We started the fort tour by ourselves. Large boulders sharp cut stones properly setup how highly engineered people lived in Chatrapati's court. The fort itself is a marvel and a single day is less to understand the history of the complete fort. 

Landing on the main land and observing the sunset is meditative moment capturing it into the cell phone and eyes is the event not easily forgettable. Dinner at the Hotel and a sound sleep is all we want and had. Next happy morning and we packed ourselves for the next location which was suggested by sneha and she was pretty excited about it.

Breakfast at the small local outlet and shravasti did something about which we had no thought. She omited all her breakfast and now she was feeling very low. We were worried and then we got an idea to hire bike. We hired two scooters for two days and that is were we entered the door of fun in Malvan.

Depending on local transport for site seeing can be very tedious and costly affair. I suggest if any one wants to explore Malvan rented bikes are the best option. Then our real journey to the interiors started we visited  sneha's native place. Village god of hers lord Vaitoba has a wonderful old style temple typically suited to hindu architecture in Konkan area. Other small temples and Shravasti had new friends in local dogs and langurs. We proceeded further to Walaval were sneha's maternal uncle resides. 

The route to village was extremely scenic trees alongside of the narrow road meandering in the green jungle gave us a deep feeling. Road was ok you can drive a vehicle. We had a pit stop at Mauli Mandir were there is a belief that if you asked the goddess for any material pleasure you have to present her in wooden form after your demand is fulfilled. We headed to the maternal uncle's village and finally after reaching there had a clean and fresh environment. 

Some political function was going on at the village temple. We headed to the local jetty clicked some beautiful snaps and left for return journey on the same track. 

It was near to evening we reached Nivti fort close to nivti beach. White sand clean water fresh air and scenic view what else a normal city person wants in life from nature. Me and amit decided to dip into the salty water. We in swimming clothes started but could not enter water too far as there were sargassum floating every where in the water. Sargassum is a macroaglae inhabit shallow water. We could not swim and finally we gave up the idea. 

Krushnai resort was our stay that evening. Good resort 5 minutes from beach. Built in the trees had a wonderful stay. We spend sometime at the beach late night but it started raining. Good food at the dinner and good sleep made us feel happy. Early morning sneha and amit were at the beach then me and shravasti were also taken to the beach by sneha. 

At the beach white sand splashing huge waves cool morning breeze salty showers happy sun seems like everything is a dream. We were at triangle point from were river karli enters the ocean forming an estuary. Devbagh beach close to the estuary on the other side of our triangle point can us a deep oceanic feeling. We spend good time on the beach and then returned to our rest house for getting fresh. Breakfast complimentary with the stay and fruits  brought by us had fruitful morning. 

We then headed to malvan again were we had planned Scuba parasailing water sports. This time we planned to stay at local homes and not at hotel. We booked local homestay named Nisarg which is a house with stay rooms for guest made at the top floor. Good stay room were clean and gave us feeling like home. That day we roamed on bike to local areas like Sarjekot fort estuary of river gad. Scooters were our friends so we roamed were the road took us. That was the last day of the scooters with us in evening we have to hand them to the owner. 

So we enjoyed roaming like anything local beaches other sites. Dropping sneha and shravasti amit and me asked for one more hour with  the bikes and owner agreed. We kicked and headed to Tarkarli beach we rode along the beach but it was dark and could not reach the beach. We headed to Caveli beach and here we clicked some snaps in the moon light and returned to hand over the scooters  to owners. Landed at he homestay and told sneha she was like eeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Next morning home made breakfast near homestay and we left for water activity. We paid for our enjoyment and started in the boat for scuba. It was me to get into water first so was preparing on the boat. Entered ocean water after long time it gave  me goose bump. I was not feeling comfortable with the scuba breathing this time. I am not doing this for first time but i was doing after long gap. I felt like  something heavy is tied up on my chest and was feeling drowned. But still i managed to be under the water for sometime until the diver recorded my video but then i felt like my lungs and my head is feeling pressure and came out. I will always regret this until i do it easily next time. 

Under water fishes corals murky water and the diver were all visible and felt that i could do more than  this but can't due to some ill effect on my lungs. Sneha did the good job without getting scared and she had a good video taken underwater for the first time in her lifetime. Amit disappointed and could not get into the water as he found difficulty breathing due to his large belly. Sometime in water and then we headed for parasailing. It looked like scary but once when you are in the air hanging to the parachute and sailing over the blue water it is mesmerizing event. We three did it and recorded for future. Then we had water sports activities for only a minute which was disappointing. We wanted more activities but shravasti was sitting alone on the beach shack waiting for us. We winded up reached homestay got freshed lunch was ready had it and left for last destination kudal railway station. 

Trip was great so was the team. We had enjoyed a lot ate some good food. Rode on the bike saw scenic views capture good photos and lot of memories. Hope to see soon again. 

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