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.

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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