The Spirit of the Western Coast - The Konkan Log - Episode 6

Episode 5 : Shrivardhan (Previous)

Chapter 7: Aravi Beach – One of the Best Beaches in Konkan

From Shrivardhan, driving towards Diveagar through the narrow village roads and through the magnificent coastal route, took us to the unspoiled and virgin beach of Aravi. The beach does not boast of any resort, no hotels and absolutely no form of unnecessary commercialization.

A tarred motorable path separates the Aravi village from the beach. We parked under the shadow of a tree, and went on the beach through a series of stairs.

It is almost stretched to a mile and one cannot miss this while driving through the road. The beach, from a distance, looked like a white sand beach but a closer inspection confirmed that it also was a combination of white and grey sands, but more white than grey.

Like a typical Konkani beach, as I noticed earlier with the other beaches, this one was also surrounded by hills.

The village was full of greeneries in the form of coconut and palm trees, the combination of blue sky and the green array of trees along with the whitish sand was too picturesque to be missed.

The above is an example of co-existence of a typical Konkani village and the beach.

Walking up towards the hills through the beach filled our minds with joy and peace. We only watched this kind of spellbound beauty in the Hollywood flicks. The coastal route penetrated the steep hills with a seemingly dangerous inclination. As I said in the introduction, India is truly a place with the most diversity.

A closer look on the hilly road is below.

The place where the inclination ended in a flat stretch of a valley and the hill and beach became one, we found there are some reefs formed by the salt and water dumpings from the sea waves on the rocks. This was the speciality of Aravi beach.

The rocky beds surfaced from beneath the water and held their heads high against the waves – a perfect romantic place for the couples who would like to spend a quality time in serenity with each other. But bathing may not be ideal and suitable at this side of the beach.
 

The village seemed to be far far away from this side. I was so over-enthusiastic I went into the water to click the following snap.

We walked through the beach for a long time, to and fro, many times.

My wife, as per her usual custom now, indulged herself on collecting the shell-souvenirs. Unlike the famous tongue-twister, she will never sell the sea shells on the sea shore, or anywhere for that matter.

The sea shore was not completely devoid of human soul. The villagers, mostly fishermen, were busy fishing, children were playing on the beach and still it looked fully secluded, perhaps because of the absence of the urbanization. I doubt how long Aravi can sustain its purity.

The snap below is one of my personal favourites.

Bidding a farewell to Aravi full of grief but with a promise to come back again, we headed towards Diveagar.

The whole Aravi beach was visible from the top of the hills.

If your nasal ability doesn’t betray you, you will surely not miss the dried fishes on the way.

At one place, the villagers anchored their fishing boats, waiting to set sail again next day and the day after and so on. The life goes on.

The monochrome effect of the same:

Episode 7: The Beauty of Diveagar (Next)

The Spirit of the Western Coast - The Konkan Log - Episode 5

Episode 4 - Harihareshwar (Previous)

Chapter 6: Shrivardhan – A Sea Shore of the Birds

After Harihareshwar, we drove backwards to Shrivardhan. It used to be a small little Konkani village, but nowadays urbanization has engulfed the place. So it was not difficult to find a place to eat.

After the lunch, we drove towards the main attraction, the beach. Unlike Harihareshwar, Shrivardhan is a smooth beach, and one can drive on the beach as well.

It was again a white and grey sand beach with a stretch of at least a couple of miles.

When we reached, the beach was completely secluded, apart from a few enthusiastic tourists, who gave more priority to the beach than the lunch during the lunchtime.

Just like a typical Konkani sea shore, the beach is blocked at two sides by towering hills and a Konkani village was nestled at the lap of the hills, bang on the beach.

The waves were gentle and submissive, relentlessly going back and forth.

There was a small jetty at one side, the motorboats and launches were visible at a distance, their whistles echoing all around.

The beach was very serene and peaceful. And perhaps that’s why we saw them, a group of coastal birds, probably feasting on the weaker sea-lives. There were many of them together, some chirping, some cooing and some of them communicating with each other in a different way. The scene made our day, really.

When the feast was over, they flew away to some more lucrative destination. The backdrop of the Konkani village when they flew was marvellous.

Not much activity can be performed in this beach so we (the ladies in the group) indulged ourselves on picking up some shells, a natural memento gifted by the nature.

When we were planning to leave, we saw more inflow of people, the lunchtime was over. And some means of amusements too, their silhouettes gave an opportunity to click the below.

Once again, we hit the coastal route towards Aravi beach. The route was truly breathtaking through the cluster of tall, sky-kissing trees – a combination of light and shadow.

Another monochrome creation of the coastal beauty to finish this post is here.

Episode 6 - Aravi - Another Fascinating Beach (Next)

The Spirit of the Western Coast - The Konkan Log - Episode 4

Episode 3 - A Glden Sunset at Diveagar (Previous)

Chapter 5: Harihareshwar through a Heavenly Coastal Drive

Next Morning, we drove towards Harihareshwar, the Kashi (Varanasi) of the south. The road from Diveagar towards Harihareshwar was truly mesmerizing and divine. At one side sea waves ferociously collided with the coastal cliffs and the ambitious hills on the other side, tried to reach the sky.

We drove past a place where a lonely mile-long white sand sea beach made us literally standstill, I parked my car at one side, under the shadow of the cluster of palm and coconut trees just to enjoy and inhale the beauty.

We drove through the typical Konkani villages, we drove through the narrow roads of Shrivardhan towards our final destination, Harihareshwar.

Harihareshwar or the ‘Dakshin Kashin’ (The Varanasi of the South) as it is called, is more famous for its rocky beach and the circular path through the coral reefs and cliffs, called as ‘Pradakshina’. After completing the rituals at the temple, we climbed through the stairs, just at the back of the temple, which led above to the hills.

After a not-so-long though arduous climb through the floral wilderness, we reached at the top, where another cluster of stairs pointed our way through the cliffs down below.

Through these stairs, with the rocky walls at both sides, the vastness of the sea was revealed at a distance. The reflection of the sun on the blue sea was blinding.

We went down below and were immediately besotted and awestruck by the uniqueness of the place – it was so new to us. The gorges turned into the cliffs where the waves were hitting themselves with a brutal rage so viciously, that even most courageous ones would think twice to move within a closer proximity of the sea.

Only during low tides during the day one can roam around this place as during the later of the day, the water rises so fast that it gives one no chances to escape. We read about many unfortunate and unhappy incidents about the place.

 The beach was visible at the right side. It was again a beach long stretched and full of serenity. Even on a Sunday, the beach was not thronged by tourists. Just like a Konkani beach, it was full of greenery at the sea shore with the relentless waves sacrificing themselves on the beach. For the second photo below, doesn’t it look like that it was shot from the midst of the sea??

After completing the round, we ended up on the beach itself. The beach was very very clean. A combination of dark grey and white sands constructed a unique combination of sand color. The sand particles were glowing under thesunlight.

As we had limited time on our hands and many more places on the wishlist, after spending a couple of hours to the lovely peaceful seashore, we bid adieu to South Kashi and moved towards the another famous beach of the region called as Shrivardhan, which complete the trilogy of the renowned and more explored beaches.

Episode 5 - Shrivardhan Beach (Next)