Vengurla and Shirda - The last on Maharashtra Coast

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Towards the far south of Maharashtra are Vengurla and Shiroda. Vengurla has Sagareshwar beach which is close to heart of the town. There are others like Mochemad and Sagarteerth close by. However the town is not really a tourist destination may be because it is too close to Goa. The language and cuisine here is also closer to Goa (not the Portuguese cuisine but south Goa cuisine). The town has crowded and chaotic roads. But once you cross it; you reach Sagareshwar beach. There is a light house on the hillock towards your right overlooking many small islands in the sea.

Sagareshwar Beach

Sagareshwar Beach

This is mainly a trading town where you would find numerous cashew factories on the way. The cashew here is of really good quality.

To the south of light house is the Beach stretching almost 2 km with white sand & clean blue water. Entire area is calm and quite so if you wish privacy Vengurla can offer it to you besides the fact that it has facilities of a town. Few beach side resorts are present along with MTDC tent resort.

Further down south is Shiroda; which has probably the most isolated beach with almost 3 km long straight stretch of sand and amazing tranquility. The area is so quiet that it makes you introspect. If you wish to sit at a place and think about life or meditate then this is the ideal place. There are few homes where; you can stay. Shiroda is ideal for painters, writers and honeymoon couples who want privacy.

Shiroda Beach

This was our last destination on the Maharashtra coast and we decided to move down to Karnataka. We did not intend to be at Goa as it is too well known, to be explored.

We tried to find out reason as to “why tourists do not come to Shiroda or Vengurla from Goa”; especially the foreigners. And we found that Maharashtra is too expensive as compared to Karnataka. This being a more developed state; labour costs are high and even property costs are also high. People normally believe that Goa is glamorous because of presence of foreigners. However, the foreigner who come to Goa are mainly budget travelers and backpackers. They stay for weeks or months and they have shoe string budgets. They spend much lesser than Indians.

There are many retired Europeans who come to Goa during the month of September and October. They anyway are struggling to make both ends meet with their meager pensions. So they come to Goa during winter; to avoid depressing Europe weather and enjoy pleasant India winter (which is as good as summer for them). They typically take a room on monthly rental of Rs 15000/- and equal amount they spend on food. Thus they end up spending not more than $800/- per month. They stay for 4 months or so and save money form their pension to go back to Europe for summer.

We then decided to go to Goa and find out whether this is true. We reached Goa by evening and stayed at Homestay called Villa Ludo Vici. It was a big nice Portuguese house with open area; located very close to Candolim beach and host lady was really nice and caring. Throughout the next day we met lot of Homestay owners; to find out whether they were interested in promoting their business. We got consistent reply that they do not want Indian tourists; they would rather prefer foreigners who stay for months together. The main reason is that they don’t want hassles of giving service; foreigners do not expect service as they are not used to same; on the other hand Indians demand service.

We were not much interested in spending time at Goa so we decided to move on to Gokarna in Karnataka.

This brings to end our journey of Maharashtra coast.

On the closing note I would like to mention interesting facts about Maharashtra;

From north to south every stretch is famous for certain agricultural product. Starting from north Bordi is famous for Chickoo, Kelwe for betel leaf, Palghar for Jamun(Jambhul), Dive Agar for Betel Nut, Ratnagiri for Mangoes and Vengurla for Cashew. Besides coconuts are there every where. So when you travel to these places please try these products.

Tourists typically go to places which are close by but they are not necessarily the best ones. Now Konkan railway is available so while making plan; make use of this new connectivity to the fullest and you can find really interesting places.

Tourism revenues are mainly come from Mumbai and Pune and thus locations, which are distant to these towns, are not really explored.

There are awesome beaches like Shiroda, Harnai Murud which not many people know. So if you plan to travel next time; try and visit them rather than the usual ones.

Homestay food is excellent especially fish curry; so even if you stay at resort try at least one meal there. There locations are excellent; however rooms are simple. On the whole however the experience is much better than resorts.

While talking to people I found that the less educated a persons listed to you as they do not a carry ego. They also trust you more. So talking to villagers is enlightening.

While we all know about beaches there are mountains of western ghats; which are equally beautiful but nobody has tried to promote them. Ghats of Amboli and Kashedi have tremendous potential for tourism.

The coastal roads are isolated and have nature around at its best so try them at least once. Most recommended is the Murud Janjira to Harnai Murud.

Thanks for reading …

Coming next Gokarna, Murudeshwar and the rocks of Yana…………

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Guhagar Venleshwar Hedavi

We moved on from Murud in the afternoon post lunch and again we decided to move by coastal road. We went to Karde ->to-> Ladghar –>to-> Karajgaon->to-> Burundi –> to-> Kolthar –>to-> Dabhol.

Ladghar beach

The jouney now was deep in Konkan region and signs of modern development had vanished. The beaches of Ladghar and Kolthar are nice and secluded but they are not huge in expanse like Murud. For a traveler who is seeking total peace and privacy this can be very good experience.

We reached Dabhol in the evening and straight went to ferry. There was some more time for the ferry to come so we had nice hot tea and had a stroll in the town. It has significant population of Muslims and hence has big mosques. There is one very old mosque but it is in bad condition. Unfortunately there is a board of Archeological Survey of India stating it is protected monument. Neither, I could see any effort from them to restore this building and nobody else is allowed to touch it. Few religious men were present there to offer evening prayers.

The town of Dobhol is relatively big but is pretty sheepish without much of activity. May be this was due to my image of the town. The image of this town in mind was due to issue of Enron power project; when this town was in news for quite some time. The magnitude of issue was probably overriding on my mind while I was looking at the town and hence found it too small.

Dabhol Creek from Jetty

Interestingly the power plant is not in Dabhol town; but is on the other side of creek. We boarded ferry and reached Dhopave- Anjanvel on the other side. By then it was dark, luckily we got great view of sunset from the ferry.

Dabhol Power Project

We headed straight for Guhagar, found Rajgad Kutir and stayed there. The next day morning we got up early to have a stroll on the beach, which was close by. The beach is long with white sand but at places it is slightly risky as the depth of sea changes. This has happened in many towns as people have removed sand in bulk for construction, making a pit under water. Visitors therefore should be careful while venturing in sea and should ask for guidance from locals.

Guhagar is relatively bigger town along the coast; hence you can experience buzz on the beach with; lot of vendors selling refreshments. The main road in the town runs parallel to the beach and it has many restaurants and shops.

Guhagar Beach

Old Stone Constructed wells

We came back and post lunch finished our work. By then it was late in the evening. The next day was for sightseeing. We saw grand old temple of Vyadeshwar in the center of the town. It is an ancient temple with really beautiful complex with carvings on stone.

Vyadeshwar Temple

Vyadeshwar Shiva

We then went to Durgadevi temple complex. This is a very beautiful complex with a lake inside. The temple has beautiful wooden pillars, with marble statue of the goddess. If you visit Guhagar and you have some free time in the afternoon, this is a good place to visit and spend some time.
Post lunch we again went to the beach and enjoyed sunset. Came back tired and slept.

Durgadevi Temple

Next day morning we went to Velneshwar, which is named after famous temple of Velneshwar (Shiva) which is Kuladaivat (deity of the clan) for over 24 clans in Maharashtra. The temple is old and with spacious complex constructed in the stone. It is a quite and serene place where you can plan to stay for few days if you wish to re-energize yourself. It is also a great place for people with Kids to stay for few days and experience nature and village life.

Chief attraction is the fact that at Velneshwar the hills come close to beach. This is probably the best combination of serpentine roads, hillocks, great greenery and nice beach. It is delight to see Dolphins that come very close to the coast and you can spot them play on the tides sitting on the beach. At the south end of the beach there is fisherman village. At night when the fishermen head towards deep sea in their trawlers or small boats with lights on; it is worth a watching them disappear in the darkness before you fall asleep.

Velneshwar Beach

Velneshwar Beach

We stayed at Velneshwar and planned to go to sea in one of the fishing trawlers. So we found the head fisherman (Tandel in Local Language) and spoke to him about our plans.

From him, we learnt some interesting aspects of fishing. He told us that they going to start their voyage early morning the next day. We would be taken in small boats at 10.00 p.m. to the big trawlers anchored at 1 km in the sea. We would sleep that night on the trawler, which meant sleeping on wooden plank with ship rocking all the time.

Velneshwar Temple

Velneshwar Shiva

We would start at 4.00 a.m. and would be back the next morning. Our idea of venturing in the sea vanished with this plan. It is difficult to sleep on the ship and also difficult to manage morning chores. On the other hand these tough and brave men of sea; do this day in and day out.
They also follow certain rules, they don’t catch very small fish which is not fully grown. They never kill dolphins because there are stories where dolphins have helped human beings. There is a standard procedure for division of catch with the owner of the trawler, head fisherman and the sailors.

We dropped the idea of going to sea, but we kept awake till late in the night watching twinkling lights on the boats in sea. We had a great time.
Next day morning we headed for Hedavi, and reached at 11.30 a.m. Hedavi is destination for all Ganesha followers as it is believed that praying here results in fulfillment of wishes. The deity here appears different from its normal self with Dhashbhuja (10 hands). The temple was constructed by Kelkar swami with donations from the Peshwas. The statue is constructed in stone with look of Ganesha as warrior.

Hedavi Ganesha Temple

Hedavi is also on the coast but the beach here is not great. It is small and rocky. So we decided to keep going and take a break at Ganapatipule. We again decided to follow coastal route, we crossed bridge at Bhatgaon and moved on towards Jaigad.

Murud to Shrivardhan and Harihareshwar, Dive Agar - Journey for Bikers, Motorists and Nature lovers

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Journey : from Murud to Shrivardhan & then Shrivardhan, Dive Agar and Harihareshwar.

If you wish to travel to Shrivardhan either from Mumbai or Pune, the commonly used route is to first reach NH 17 at Kolad via Roha and then go to Mangaon –> Goregaon and take right turn for Mhasla and then to Shrivardhan.

However we decided to take another route which goes along the coast through villages, the road is narrow and not in great condition, but it is unbelievably beautiful journey. We, set on course in the afternoon post lunch. We drove towards Janjira fort and half way took left turn to Agardanda.

Once we crossed Tokerwar, our one of the most spectacular journeys along side Arabian see began. Interemittantly, we were seeing creek on the right side where as lush green hills on the left hand side. It is very difficult to believe that such virgin and unexplored area exists; so close to Mumbai and Pune. If you are a nature enthusiast or you like driving or you are biker - this is the most recommended route by us. It may take more time but the experience is amazing.

We crossed following villages on the way

Tokerwar

Savli

Bhalgaon (after this village is bridge over the creek)

Mandad

Rovla

Varal

Tamhane

Kandalwada

Nigadi

Pabhare (the road goes thru the village so don’t get confused)

Khargaon – Budruk

Surai

Mhasla (From here turn right to Shrivardhan approx 18 km)

At Mhasla, you can decide to either turn towards Shrivardhan or to Dive Agar. We had decided to go to Shrivardhan as we had to meet Mr Bhagat or Bhagatsir (he is a teacher) over there. We reached in the evening, and located him.

Towards Agardanda

Savali to Bhalgaon

Rovla to Varal

He was one of the most impressive, knowledgeable and outgoing personalities that I met in my journey. Given the fact that he is a teacher; he had knowledge of grass root level issues and realities. We kept chatting till it was almost 9.30 p.m. We discussed many topics;; right from 1993 RDX landing at Shekhadi (its pretty close to Shrivardhan), to social issues involved in homestay business, to education to governance etc. His energy levels and would put a 20 year old young, to shame. Especially Ali had a special liking for him (because of ali's pseudo-socialist inclinations !!!!).

We then ate dinner and slept.

The next day morning we surveyed the whole town.It is a very interesting town which has great blend of modernity and tradition. It being a Taluka town there is trade and commerce,, which makes it cosmopolitan at the same time town also has historical importance. It is birthplace of Balaji Vishwanath, the first Peshwa of Maratha Empire. He was the first person to expand empire much beyond Maharashtra and bring unity across factions.

The town thus has significant population of Brahmins and they stay in a particular area ( named as Brahman Aali). This has added some colour of tradition, which make festivals very vibrant in the town.

The town is situated on coast and has very good beach, but access to the beach is a problem, you need to really look for access road. However, if you are travelling with family and want to experience traditional flavour this a place to be. With one of the persons here, we saw Dolphin and whale skeleton for the first time. It was interesting to see skeleton of huge whale, it is simply huge and strong.

Do not miss to see Jiwaneshwar Temple here at Jiwana Jetty. It is fabulous as not many people know about it. Wooden carved pillars are awesome. Also there is Laxminarayan temple in town which is really famous.

Jiwaneshwar Temple

Jiwaneshwar Temple - Wooden Pillars

Shrivardhan Beach

Balaji Vishwanath Statue

We spent day meeting people in the town and stayed overnight. This town has some natural advantages to develop tourism, being a big town access by public transport is easy. It is also possible to develop more restaurants over here and also activities on the beach. However there is general apathy in the governing bodies. Even the memorial of Peshwa is in real sorry state of affairs. We will have to wait till some other organization takes up the cause. In fact I would like to appeal to organizations of Chittapavan Brahmins to take first step in this direction.

The next morning we moved on to Dive Agar. This journey was also equally picturesque along side coast. You would see folllowing village en

Valvati
Aaravi
Shekhadi (known for RDX landing in 1993 Mumbai bombings)
Bharadkhol

Near Aaravi for the first time in my life I saw Dolphins while sitting in car and driving. They had come so close to the coast. Seeing them got down, and jumped like small kids. We spent almost 20 mins watching them and then moved on further

Dive Agar is a really interesting town, in fact its a village. It was a sheepish village, with progressive farmers growing Areca nuts, coconuts etc. The village has significant population of Brahmins. It also bear distinction of having its educated sons(they are educated in Pune and Mumbai) returning back to village to cultivate farms. As a result the village is very progressive as far as farming in concerned. It shot to fame in 1997, when a lady from the village by the name Mrs Draupadi Dharma Patil found a copper box in her fields while digging. When the box was opened it had a mask of Ganesha, made from pure gold. It is estimated to be 1000 years old, the quality of gold is superb and it weighed 1.3 kg.

As the news spread, the tourists thronged this place in hordes. This spirituality of tourists with consumptions of spirits disturbed the peace and serenity of the place. Thus in initial few years there was a lot of resistance towards tourism. However over a period of time things settled and now its a destination place.

Suvarna Ganesh

We met Mr Uday Bapat, Sarpanch of the village, he was nice person with lot of knowledge. That day was also a very interesting day, it is called World Hand Wash day. Staying in Metro I never realized that there are days like these, as well. This day is to increase awareness about cleanliness and sanitation among children. All the schools were having some program or contests to make kids aware; that they should wash hands before and after eating anything. I realized that to bring change such small initiatives are important, also there are people who are trying to do something. In Mumbai I had seen a lot of empty talk and celebrity buillshit on women's day and children day and all sorts of days in media, It had almost no relevance to reality. However at grass root level people are working with honesty and integrity for benefits of society, we are far away from such realities.

We tried meeting President of the Homestay owners association here but he could not give us time. We also discussed tourism initiatives with many homestay owners in the town. In the course of discussion we realized that this has social dimension also.

Every village is more feudalistic in structure either economic or social; as compared to indstrial socities. And thus there is a lot of gap between rich and poor, the landlords and small farmers or farm labours. While we asked people why cant you join us so that we increase business, the small operators told us that we need to go thru the association. It is controlled by the rich and famous here, they would not like us to come up in life, else their social dominance would be questioned. Hence nothing would happen thru the association.

My experience of cancelled meeting with president, was compelling me to believe them, but my progressive mind was not willing to agree. Later in my meeting with Mr Bapat, these doubts were cleared he promised us to hold a general meeting of homestay owners.

Dive Agar Beach

Dive Agar panchayat is doing a lot of efforts to promote good for the society. To mention specifically we found ladies employed by Panchayat cleaning the beach, this is not done even by Zilla Parishads at other places. Though we did not achieve a single tie-up we appreciated work of Panchayat a lot. We felt there was not much merit is waiting for another day here, and we decided to move to Hariharshwar and visite Dive Agar again on some later day. My pesonal opinion is that there is a lot that can be done to promote tourism here. However people in general and association in particular need to look at Marketing as Revenue Initiative than cost. As of now everything is literally "god given" and if efforts are not made this place would become full of lodges like Shirdi or Ganapatipule.

We reached Harihareshwar in the night.

Bhairav Temple

Its a nice small place with hills coming closer to coast. It has famous temple of Shiva in the form of Harihareshwar. The beach near temple is rocky and risky so swimming here is not possible. However very few people are aware that just 1.5 km ahead are the beautiful coconut plantation stays. The beach here is safe and you can enjoy your stay while being on Pilgrimmage.

Typically, places which are famous for temples rarely have good stay options e.g. Shirdi, Ganpatipule, vaishnodevi, guruvayoor etc. The reason is that most of the owners of hotels or homestays do not really need to focus on service and experience to gain business, everything is literally "god given". However, at Harihareshwar we could locate few homestays which were really nice. We listed them and moved on.

The next stop for us was even more interesting: We had decided to move in a ferry across creek with our TOYOTA INNOVA loaded with us ......................................coming shortly

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