My younger brother is a ‘CA in making’ and trust me guys he
deserves a break after every exam he attempts. So, it was the month on November
2014 when we planned a family trip to rejuvenate and relax. My Mom, dad and bro
flew down to Mumbai from Raipur, where I dwell, work and earn just to present
myself a few Roadtrips every year.
We started off quite late as my mother was in no mood to
hurry-up, keeping it lazy is her idea of a perfect holiday. The destination we
embarked on was, Diveagar. It is a small Konkani coastal town in Raigad
district of Maharashtra state. It is about 170 km from my place and it takes
about 4 hours to reach.
A small stream on the way |
The roads are well maintained except for a few rough patches.
We halted at one of many restaurants on the highway to taste local maharastrian
food like zunka bhakar, peethla, bhakri
and matki and we were not
disappointed by any of the dishes.
We reached Diveagar and had to struggle quite a bit to find
a good stay as it was a long weekend when many Punekars and Mumbaikars
had the same idea to unwind as ours. MTDC’s Exotica resort is right on the
beach but it was a little out of budget so we took a U-turn and booked “naughty
waves resort” which is located exactly 20 steps from exotica and is 1/4th
the price.
After our evening tea and Konkani poha, we decided to hit the beach straight away.
Ready to play with dolphins |
Udne ki aasha |
Dolphin |
Impression - Starfish studded Beach |
All 4 of us were full of zeal to be embraced by nature.
While playing on the clean white sand beach, my father observed a white star
shaped impression on the sand. Taking a closer look we found out to be a
starfish. Yes, it was a starfish in my father’s hand. We were astonished to see
a real starfish for the 1st time ever in our lives. It was dead
though. There are not many exotic restaurants in the village but we enjoyed
home-cooked egg-curry, roti and dal-chawal at a local mess called Patil Khanawal.
There were zillions of stars visible in the sky as there was
no pollution like in metros.
Next morning we went on the beach at 8:00 am as we were told
by a local that dolphins come close to the beach. Boasting our life jackets, in
15 minutes we were on a boat in the middle of Arabia sea expecting dolphins to
jump out of water. And what that local said, happened so be true. Dolphins
emerged; we were numb and awestruck by the naughty dolphins. They were playing,
shouting and jumping out of water in regular intervals. The scene was mesmerizing
and it felt as they came exclusively for us just to make our trip even more
memorable.
Evening we decided to
experience a parachute ride on the beach and it was a superb experice have an
aerial view of Arabian sea while the sun was setting on the horizon.
Next moring we were on the
beach again to bid adieu to the calm, clean and relaxing town of diveagar.
While walking on the beach we observed hundreds white tiny star fishes which
were pushed out of the water by the mighty waves. Many of them were alive and
were trying to meet the water so that they can return back to there colourfull
and altruistic world and of ocean.
Total Cost is about Rs12000/- for 4 person, 2 nights
and 3 days including lodging, fooding and travel.