Harnai Murud Karde

We left Harihareshwar in the evening after late lunch.

As decided we were going to move along the coast without touching NH-17 i.e. Mumbai Goa highway. We went to Bagmandla and took ferry from there. This is huge boat which can carry 2 big buses with passengers easily. We loaded out car and enjoyed to breeze on the deck.

I spoke to the captain of the ship about his job. It is quite interesting as well as difficult thing to drive this big boat. He told me that one needs to have knowledge of current and depth of the creek. During high tide water levels are high and the water is gushing in from sea, so it pushes the boat inside and hence they have to factor in this and leave a margin while taking direction. It is exactly other way round at the time of low tide however additional difficulty is that water levels are low and ship can hit rocks. It is also quite difficult to turn this big boat and put it exactly in front of the small jetty. We were impressed with his abilities, at times it is so important to have skills; knowledge alone is not the best thing to have in life.

We reached Bankot and then went to Velas to see Shri Nana Phadanavis Memorial. This village was his ancestral place, but his father migrated to Satara. In the village there is a temple for which he had given donation and his small statue. One feels sorry that about ignorance of our society, where we don’t even maintain memorial of stalwart we was one of the mail pillars of Marath Empire. His abilities were so great that there is a old saying in Maharashtra “Jab Tak Nana Tab Tak Puna”. If we build a decent memorial and give information then our kids can really experience history. This would be much better way of learning and reading books.

Road to Harnai

Anways we move on to Anjarle and Harnai. The road is not great but it is true fun with green forests around you and very few vehicles around. By the time we reached Harnai it was 5.00 p.m and we could see the fun of fish auction. One needs to see it, to believe. There are numerous varieties of fish and fisherwoman bargaining for the same. The entire process is over in an hour and half; and everybody goes back. The road passes through the market and there is little room for vehicles to go at this time. Harnai is a port from good old days and hence fisherman community is strong here. When people from Konkan used to come to Mumbai, in steam ships in good old days this used to one of the important boarding points.


By the time we left, sun was setting on the west. And the awesome look of a great beach and endless ocean in golden and orange colours was in sight. It was difficult to move on leaving this experience. So we parked car on roadside and enjoyed the view.

Sunset at Harnai

By the time reached Murud, it was dark; we found place to stay. We ate dinner and went on beach for walk. On the entire beach we could not hear voices of more than 4 people excluding us. The only company was the roar of the mighty sea.
Next day morning we got up early, actually it helps when you don’t have TV around you. You sleep early and well too and get up early.

We went to beach to see Dolphins!!!!

It was 7.30 in the morning and we walked on the road leading to beach. As soon we were on the beach we were awestruck……….

Undoubtedly this is one of the best beaches in Maharashtra. It is 7 km long and flat with white sand and crystal clear water. It can make any other beach appear to be a compromise. Alongside the long beach are villages Harnai – Murud- Karde with coconut and betel nut plantations along the coast line.

A great attraction to this place other than long quiet beach are the dolphins that come very close to the shore; sitting on beach you can spot Dolphins in the sea with your naked eyes. Such a sight is rare at most beaches in India. If you are travelling with kids especially in winter; make it a point to experience the Dolphin Safari ride in boats in the morning. Best time to see Dolphins is around End Nov to Mid Jan. It is worth travelling extra 70 to 80 km on NH17 and reach here to get all this and more.

Murud Beach

We met Jayesh Nagavekar over there. He was among the most dynamic and energetic person I met in my tour. He has bought a speed boat for Dolphin safari. Rarely people have taken such initiative to mate travelling experience rich. We waited for Dolphins to come near the coast, had tea with Jayesh and spoke about tourism business in the village. He was extremely motivated and clear about promoting this industry as means of additional income to villagers. It was 8.30 and we could see some tails in sea at a distance.

Jayesh started the boat and took us less than 1 km inside. The dolphins were really close now, he switched off engine; so that the dolphins coming close do not get hurt. We kept following them for almost an hour, it was really pleasing. We were jumping, clapping and happy like a child.
We came back took bath and visited Durga temple. It is nice temple with typical rural interiors and big hall. Murud is also birthplace of Bharatratna Maharishi Karve with his memorials. Maharishi Karve was a renowned social reformer who pioneered the cause of girl education in the country. Howevere, there is no memorial for him. There is one statue and nothing else. It again shows apathy of today’s leaders towards promoting good. On every corner of the streets of Mumbai, one can find hoardings for Birthday Greetings dedicated t o some god forsaken local nut, but when it comes to people who have done great job, there is only a chapter in history books.

Durgadevi Temple

Post lunch we moved on to Karde, where we met Mandar Rumde, he has also bought a speed boat. He returned to his village after running a small business at Mumbai. He told us that he was happy to return back and moreover he was making more money here.

Murud Karge Marine Drive

There is one more, funny thing that happened with him. The beach here is flat, so it takes some 5-6 persons to pull the boat on the shore. So he bought a pair of bulls to do this job. Now that he had that pair which had no work but for some occasions; he bought a second hand bullock cart and started new business i.e Bullock cart ride on the beach. We laughed heartily on this, enterprise is sometimes born out of such instances as well.

Karde Beach

We spoke to homestay owners at Karde, all of them have houses facing beach. But they don’t have bigger lands. Still the beach is nice and their eagerness to do business is very high. They are learning this business slowly from their customers and I am dead sure that they would make it big in next 4 to 5 years.

We came back to Murud and stayed for the night. The next day we finished some work at
Murud. We met Mr Pendse, he left a cosy job with Bombay Dyeing and returned to his village. His homestay had really sophisticated interiors, which reflected his background from Mumbai. I was pleased meeting him, he has lots of wisdom in his words.

We then moved on to our next destination ……….Guhagar.
Again our mandate was to travel by coast. So we moved on following route

Murud--> Karde -->Ladghar-->Karajgaon--> Burundi-->Kolthar--> Dahol

This route is picturesque with Sea Coast accompanying you at times and greenery around you all the time. The road is narrow but there is hardly any traffic. We reached Dabhol and took ferry, loaded our car and moved on to other side to Anjanvel….

Dolphins and fantastic beach made this journey really memorable. Wehighly recommend this place as a get away destination for those who want peace for few days away from the daily grind of the city. A stay for 3 to 4 days (either Murud or Karde) can make you re- energize to go back and take on the world.

The more I travel the more I am convinced that the business of Homestays is ideal for rural development and to make travel enriching experience….

For great option of Homestays across India visit www.mygreatstay.com

And now I can see Anu following my blog…Anu hearty welcome to you !!! Please comment if you find some mistakes or short comings; as I am not a great writer but you can make me one………you are the first person to follow this blog and it makes me excited to know that somebody really wants to read on travel……..

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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

for interesting homestay options in virgin areas : visit www.mygreatstay.com.