An ocean breeze puts a mind at ease
Long weekends generally mean travel opportunities. It was the first weekend of September 2018 and this time I decided to go alone and explore the pristine beaches of Maharashtra. Harihareshwer, Divegar and Srivardhan were zeroed in precisely for two reasons. One, their proximity to Mumbai (220 KMs) and second, glowing reviews about the pristine nature of these beaches.
It was still Monsoon time which meant the surroundings would all be rain soaked and lush green. I love this time of the year to travel through western ghats of Maharashtra. As I made an early start, I managed to cover lot of ground before stopping at the below spot on NH-66 where I made myself some egg breakfast.
After breakfast I continued the drive and reached Harihareshwer by noon. From Mumbai, Harihareshwer is farthest of the three beaches. Besides its beach, Harihareshwer is also famous for Lord Shiva temple overlooking the Arabian sea. There is another interesting attraction there called Ganesh Gali which I couldn’t visit due to high tide. After spending few hours there, I proceeded towards Srivardhan but before that something important needed attention. Coastal food is my weakness and I spent few minutes on the internet searching for a place serving decent coastal meal. I zeroed in on Hotel Atharv where a sumptuous fish thali was waiting for me.
Hidden Gem
Post lunch, I decided to visit Srivardhan beach. Again, a beautiful beach with a newly made promenade where visitors can sit, relax and see sea waves crashing against the shore. After spending couple of hours there, I decided to head to Divegar where I was planning to car camp. The road from Srivardhan to Divegar is one of the most picturesque stretches of road that I have ever traveled on. While on this road, I came across Aarvi beach (5-6 KMs short of Divegar), a beautiful stretch of white sandy beach which had just a group of 4-5 boys playing cricket. Visiting this beach was not part of the original plan, but it turned out to be best of the four beaches that I visited on this trip. I couldn’t help but stop there for an hour and just gaze at the beauty of the sea in front. Aarvi was indeed a hidden gem!
After spending an hour at Aarvi, I continued to Divegar and went straight to the beach. Of all the four beaches, this had the maximum number of visitors, but it was still a very nice beach. Beach sunsets are the best sunsets and Divegar was no different. The sky got painted in different hues and soon it became dark. The next task was to find the right spot to car camp.
Car Camping…..did it happen??
As I was planning to car camp, I started looking for an ideal spot. I decided to settle in next to a MTDC resort in Divegar which is also next to the Sea. It must have been just half an hour that I started hearing screams which started to grow louder and louder. Soon I realized that screams were coming from an approaching car that had 3-4 guys in it and the adventurous one was perched on the rooftop and was the one who was screaming the loudest. I said to myself, alcohol indeed does wonders!
After losing this spot to the hooligans, I decided to park next to another property, but soon realized that the owner there had gotten suspicious of me. He came out multiple times and while he didn’t say anything to me, I could sense that he was not comfortable with me around. After two unsuccessful attempts, I decided to call off the car camping plan and decided to get myself a hotel room. Divegar (as opposed to Harihareshwer and Srivardhan), had plenty of staying options. Besides the MTDC resort, it had good number of hotels and home-stays. I put my negotiations skills to good use and managed to get one decent room for INR 600.
The Return and the dilemma
While going from Srivardhan to Divegar, I had zeroed in on a spot that I wanted to come back for breakfast. It was a small flat surface on a hill overlooking the Arabian sea. I parked the car there and made myself some egg breakfast again. The cool morning breeze, the vast expanse of the sea in front, the serenity of the place made that morning memorable!
After breakfast, it started to drizzle and I decided to return. However, I was unsure about the route that I should take to return. The route that I had taken while coming took me through a horrible stretch of road and I was inclined to avoid it. However, there was no guarantee that the other route which was slightly longer would be any better. While I was still stuck in this dilemma, I noticed a really old man with a stick in one hand and a big plastic bag in his other hand walking down the road. I stopped and offered him to come inside. After hesitating a bit, he stepped in and mentioned that he was returning to his home which was 50 KMs away. He was walking up to the next bus stop to catch the bus. Considering his home was on the alternate route that I was considering, I said to myself that this old man was just an answer to my predicament. I offered to drop him to his home town and this time he agreed without any hesitation. The old fellow had just helped me come out of my dilemma. I thanked him and he thanked me when he got off. The rest of the return journey was uneventful and I reached home in the evening.
sushil.is.out.of.office 