Weekend Getaway - Tarkarli Beach

A perfect start to a financial year - an extended weekend.

For most Indian professionals, year begins with effect from 1st April. On account of Gudi Padwa (The Maharashtrain New Year), this year we could enjoy an extended weekend (2 April - 4 April).

Visiting Tarkarli beach was high on our agenda for sometime. We had made many plans before but none could materialize. Fortunately, things fell into place and on 2nd April we drove down to Tarkarli. Tarkarli is a coastal village in Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra, India and approximately 546 km from Mumbai (our base). The major attraction at Tarkarli is its clear and pristine beach (A welcome change from the beaches in Mumbai). The main reason why we wanted to go was to try our hands at snorkeling. Its the only place, close to Mumbai (as per my understanding), that offers snorkeling experience.




Beach outside MTDC Resort, Tarkarli



Going to Tarkarli

We drove down to Tarkarli in our vehicle - Innova. We left home on Saturday 2nd April at 4.45 am and took the NH 4 till Kolhapur and then a state highway to Malvan. The journey was pretty eventful. We found ourselves with a flat tyre after crossing Anewadi toll naka. None of us had changed a flat tyre of the Innova before. It was quite an exercise, referring the manual and changing the tyres.

The roads up till Kolhapur were excellent - divided road with three lanes. We passed through 6 toll naka's sfrom the Mumbai - Pune Express way till we reached Kolhapur. The total amount we spent on toll naka's was Rs. 377. Not bad as the roads were very good and well maintained.

After leaving Kolhapur, we had to struggle to reach Tarkarli. Most of the people whom we had asked for directions in and around Kolhapur had not heard of Tarkarli. We had to instead ask directions for Malvan. GPRS was not much of a help. The roads were also quite narrow. Finally, at 5.00 pm we arrived at Tarkarli.

MTDC, Tarkarli



We had made an online advance booking with MTDC Resort, Tarkarli. The resort which is on the beach consists of individual non - AC Konkani huts. The resort is covered by a dense canopy of trees and hence we were spared the summer heat. The breeze blowing from the seas ensured that we never felt the need for AC. The rooms were quite comfortable and had basic amenities such as bed, attached bath and a TV. We had booked two rooms for 2 nights.



Reception Area, MTDC Resort, Tarkarli

To know more about the resort, visit

http://www.maharashtratourism.gov.in/mtdc/HTML/MaharashtraTourism/TouristDelight/Beaches/Beaches.aspx?strpage=Tarkarli_beaches.html

We spent the entire evening watching the World Cup finals between India and Sri Lanka. In between the innings, we took a quite stroll around the beach and tried our hands at beach golf. The beach was clean and the waters clear as the sky.

Visit to Sindhudurg Fort & Snorkeling

  

Next day we planned an excursion to Sindhudurg fort and off course - snorkeling. There are many agencies who offer snorkeling packages. At the MTDC resort itself, one of the employees gave us a contact for an agency. We drove down to the beach near the fort (a 3 km drive from the resort). We had a breakfast of kande pohe at the beach. There are ferry services from the beach to the fort. The charges mentioned outside the booking office was Rs. 37 per person and the ferry will only move if there are 20 persons. My husband stuck a deal with an agency who provides snorkeling experience. For Rs. 1400, the agency was ready to ferry us ( we were 6 - me, hubby, bro-in-law, sis-in-law, and two friends) to the fort and also snorkeling. And we didn't have to wait for a quorum of 20. Cool!!!





Malvan Beach

Sindhudurg literally means 'fort on the seas'. It was built in 1664 by Chatrapati Shivaji. We were given a tour of the fort by a guide (for Rs. 100). The guide (we did not ask his name) is a resident of the fort. There are 16 families who reside inside the fort since the days of Chatrapati Shivaji. Though some of the residents have moved out to cities, there are still some families who are staying inside the fort. In fact, when you walk through the streets inside the fort, you feel that you are in a normal village!!! The ramparts of the fort offers a wonderful view of the seas.



View from Sindhudurg fort

After half an hour tour of the fort, we proceeded for snorkeling. The same boat operator picked us up from the fort and took us a little towards the south end of the fort. A small area has been demarcated for snorkeling. The operator provided us with the gear and a life buoy. A guide was assigned to every two individuals. The best part of the experience was you need not know swimming. In fact the guide instructed not to swim so that the fishes don't shy away when you approach them.




Snorkelling

We took time to adjust ourselves with the snorkeling gear as breathing through the mouth is not something that comes naturally. The visibility under the sea floor was good and you could see a multitude of colourful fishes and corals. To attract more fishes towards us, the guide offered us some bread crumbs and it was a very exciting to feel the fishes nibbling the bread out of our hands. We were enthralled by the entire experience as we always presumed that such a colorful marine life will only be visible in far off exotic tropical islands and not few hundred kilometers from Mumbai. We finished the entire excursion by 12.00 pm. The operator had suggested that we should have come around 8.00 am to better enjoy the whole experience. Nevertheless, we were quite happy and contended with the whole experience. 



Underworld Wonderland

Local Cuisine

The best part of our trip was the local cuisine. As it was the season of Lent, most of us gave ourselves a weekend off from Lent to enjoy the food. Being a coastal village, the fare consist of a variety of sea food.

On our first day, we had our dinner at MTDC resort itself. We ordered for couple of prawns fry, surmai fry and pomfret fry as starters. The prawns and surmai fry was excellent. The pomfret was good but not as good as the others. We had ordered for solkadhi too, which was lip smacking. For dinner we ordered rice, surmai curry and pomfret curry. My husband wanted to try the crab but it was not there in the menu. The curries were a disappointment when you compare them with the fried version. It was like sushi - semi cooked. The total bill for six was Rs. 1500.

 


View from Sindhudurg fort

After the snorkeling, next day, we went to Hotel Atithi Bamboo for lunch. The hotel is just 5 min drive from the beach. It was the best thing that happened to us. The food was out of the world. We had ordered for gawahar thali and it was something like this -

• 1 prawns thali - consist of fried prawns and curry
• 1 surmai thali - consist of surmai fry and curry
• 1 crab thali - consist of crab masala
• 1 oyster thali - consist of oyster masala
• 1 shellfish thali - consist of shellfish masala
• 1 squid thali - consist of squid masala
• An additional plate of prawns fry
• 6 Solkadhi

Each thali consisted of one gawahar, solkadhi and a veg gravy. Unlimited serving of rice was over and above the order. The food was excellent.The icing on the cake was the price - Rs. 750 only with tip!!! Had it been a restaurant in Mumbai , the bill would not be less than 5 times the amount.

For dinner, we went to Chaitanya restaurant which is close to Athithi Bamboo. They had a separate AC room and we opted for it. We went for dinner at around 9.00 pm. Despite of having a sumptuous lunch, we were all set for another king-size meal. We ordered the following -

• 6 Solkadhi
• 2 prawns fry
• 1 bangda (mackrel) fry
• 1 crab masala
• 1 crab lollipop
• 1 surmai fry
• 1 prawns thali

The crab lollipop was something we had never tasted before. It is something like a cheese roll or cheese croquette. One plate consists of  six pieces of crab meat shaped in the form of a roll and covered with powdered bread.

Outside the fort

Waiting for the jetty

The surmai and bangada was absolutely delicious. We felt that the taste was much better than what we had at Athithi Bamboo. The only minus point was the quantity of oil used. We ended up having a minor oil slick in our plates.  Buoyed by the taste, we decided to go for another around of helpings. It was around 9.45 pm when we gave our second order -

• 2 surmai fry
• 3 bangada fry
• 1 prawns fry
• 1 curd rice

We were the only patrons in the AC room. We didn't realize that it was quite late and it was almost time for the restaurant to close. This reflected in the quality of the second servings. The prawns were not devined properly. The bangada and surmai were not fried properly. The curd rice was a disaster. We ended up paying Rs. 1442 for dinner (including tip).



Back to Mumbai

Next day we proceeded for home at 8.00 am. The room rental for two rooms and extra bed for two worked out to Rs. 9240 including tax. On our way back we took the Mumbai - Goa road. For lunch we stopped at Hotel Drive Inn, near Sangameshwar for a detoxifying veg lunch. We went for a simple fare of lemon coriander soup, cream of veg soup, lemon rice, palak khichadi and dal khichadi. An excellent lunch for Rs. 580 only.

On our way back we worked up the cost. The total cost including the resort charges, snorkeling, lunches, dinners, tolls, diesel and other miscellaneous expenses, worked up to Rs. 19, 626 i.e. Rs. 6542 per couple. Not bad at all!!!

We reached home at around 8.00 pm and thus ended a memorable weekend at Tarkarli.

Update (12th October 2011) - To see the location on google map, please click on the link "Location" shown below