Trip to Sindhudurg

DAY 1 :


Trip from Pune to Tarkarli, Malvan.

  Start time: 05:00                Reached Location: 13:00

Final Location: MTDC Tarkarli, Malvan

We started from house at 5:00 am.  Road taken is as follows:

Pune (Mumbai-Banglore Highway) – Kolhapur – Nipanni (Right turn towards Sawantwadi from highway) - Sawantwadi – Malvan – (MTDC Resort) Tarkarli

Tarkarli has a very beautiful beach with a white sand and clear blue water. 

MTDC has three types of accommodations,

1. Bamboo house

2. Konkani house and

3. House boat

We were staying at Konkani house (non AC). The rooms are good with fan, a TV, dressing table and a cupboard. All the Konkani houses are facing the sea which is really good..

The boat house move to two locations during the stay. Two boat houses have been bought by MTDC from Kerala. The per day rates of the boat houses is about thrice the rates of the Konkani house.

The food in MTDC is not up to the mark. The Malvani curry is the only plus point. There are many places nearby to have lunch and dinner and where the food quality is excellent. Also we can order the local delicacies like ukde modak (which are prepared only when order is placed).

There are a number of different coloured sea-shells scattered on the beach. Also there are many star-fishes on the beach.

Fish in a shell

Tarkarli beach.

 MTDC Resort

Camel ride on Tarkarli beach

 

Star-fish on Tarkarli beach

Waves...

Fishermen

Starfish

Shell-fish

The beach

Beach photography

Konkani houses

Konkani houses

Day 2:

Today we had planned to go for a boat ride. The boat takes us to various spots such as Tsunami Island, Crocodile point, Black rock-Golden rock beach, Dolphin point.

Tsunami Island: It is an island formed at the estuary of the river Karli due to the tsunami in Indonesia. This island is formed due to the sand carried in due to the tsunami. The island is fully under water during high tide, however during low tide local people from Dev-baug bring breakfast to this island. Also there are various water sports.

Tsunami Island

Water Sports

Breakfast stalls and water sports

Kayaking

Crocodile Island: This island looks like a crocodile from far away.

Crocodile Island

Black rock-Golden rock: This beach has black rock on one side whereas golden rock on the other side.

Black rock on the left side and golden rock on the right side.

Dolphin point: This is where we got to see dolphins (I'm not quite sure whether they are dolphins but at least the locals said that they are dolphins).

Dolphins

Dolphins

Day 3:

Sindhudurg fort, snorkeling, rock garden and Ganesh temple.

Sindhudurg fort: This fort is situated on a rocky islet. The main attractions of this fort are: Shivaji Maharaj's temple, sweet water wells, a coconut tree with a branch, under ground (under-sea) secret escape route, hand-print and foot-print of Shivaji Maharaj. The first sword used by Shivaji Maharaj is kept in the temple along with a replica of his second sword. There is a secret underground passage on the fort which leads to the shore, which was used in case of an attack on the fort. However we couldn't find this passage. There is a coconut tree with a branch and it even gave coconuts from both the branches until recently when it was burnt due to a lightning. There are a number of sweet water reservoirs on the fort. There are hand-print and foot-print on Shivaji Maharaj near the main entrance of the fort.

Snorkeling: There is a place very near to the Sindhudurg fort where there are corals and many different types of fishes. The corals are about 400 to 450 years old and they grow at the rate 1 cm per year. Also there are many beautiful fishes like Zebra fish, Parrot fish, Glass fish, Golden Zebra fish, etc. There are various sea weeds which are found only during the months of December and January. The instructors take us personally to the corals and give us the details about each fish, corals and plants.

Ganesh temple and Rock garden: The Ganesh temple has a idol made with pancha-dhatu and gold plated. The rock garden is a garden which is artificially constructed over a very rocky patch very near to the sea.

Day 4: 

Last day of our trip. We started for Pune at 06:00 and reached pune at 16:00 with a halt at Sawantwasi for breakfast, at Kolhapur (at Mahalaxmi temple) and a halt at Satara for lunch.