Rejuvenation at the beach!

[pjbiju]

It was Diwali vacation time and we thought we should go for a short trip to some place nearby that will let us breathe in some fresh air into our lives. So after looking up several places, we decided to head to Srivardhan beach in Raigad district of Maharashtra.

The place was not far from Pune. We looked up the internet to see if we could get some kind of accommodation for a night. One travel agent came back saying we should do a minimum booking of two nights, if we wanted accommodation. Called up another hotel at Dive Agar, but they said it was full. The MTDC resort at Harihareshwar also was fully booked if we believed their internet status. Anyway we had read a lot of unpalatable stories about their restaurant.

So we pushed our plan from a “weekend getaway” to a “Monday & Tuesday” getaway. We decided to go to Srivardhan first and then hunt for a place to stay. The guy from the hotel at Dive Agar had told us, that our chances of finding some place to stay were very bright since there were a lot of home stays there. We needed at least three rooms since we were two families. If we were really unlucky to find a place, we thought we will head back to Pune on the same day.

So on the morning of 5th November we started towards Srivardhan. We were 8 adults and 3 children in two cars, a Swift and a Palio. We met at the Shell petrol pump on the Mulshi-Tamhini road, filled up our cars and set off. The route we had taken was Chandini Chowk->Pirangut->Sutarwadi->Mulshi->Tamhini->Nizampur->Mangaon->Mhasla->Srivardhan. We stopped for breakfast at a small hotel on the way. We met the drivers of two MSRTC buses, one coming from Harihareshwar and the other from Srivardhan. Both of them promised us the roads ahead were wonderful. And it had been, up to that point, at least for the most part of it. But the condition of the roads started going down the drain soon after. I suppose the MSRTC drivers had been through much worse times, and so the present road condition to them at least was “wonderful” and big tyres help to reinforce that feeling.

All along this route, some roads were to die for and some roads were to kill for – at least kill a few PWD officers and politicians. The initial stretch of the road once you turn towards Mhasla from NH17 was gorgeous to say the least. The remaining stretch was as if the road had goose bumps all over.

Once we reached Srivardhan, our path was blocked by a MSRTC bus for quite some time. The road through the small village was just wide enough to accommodate two cars. Finally we found a place to park and enquired at a general store the way to the beach. One of the guys asked us if we were looking for accommodation. He made a call and in five minutes we had a guy come over to guide us to his resort on the beach. We drove along, took a few turns and ended up driving on the beach towards Subhan Beach House. It had a few one bed room houses (concrete huts), a dining area, a kitchen and a hut built 15 feet above the ground hitched to a few coconut trees. The front ground was full of coconut trees and they had a few hammocks for us to dump ourselves in. At the back of the resort were different vegetables and trees.

The resort also had turkeys and geese to keep us company. They put up a few cots in the front courtyard for us. We also could buy plenty of tender coconuts at Rs. 10 per coconut, all from their own resort. The coconut water was very sweet compared to the ones we get in Pune. They had no restaurant. But they cooked a delicious lunch along with fish curry and fish fry. They were really good. They served us dinner along with chicken curry and chicken fry. But the breakfast of Poha was very disappointing, the next morning. We should have asked for bread and omelette which also was on offer. Meals cost us Rs. 90 each per person whether veg or non-veg. We were charged Rs. 1000 per room. We were told that from 20th of Jan every year, till the next Diwali, they generally charge Rs. 200 per head.

We spent the evening on the beach, playing Frisbee and football and chasing each other. I would say the beach was not very clean, in the sense that there were quite a few dead fish lying on the beach. It may be because of the fishing villages nearby. Also the sand is not exactly golden. But still a beach is a beach and when you stay in the interiors, something is better than nothing. At the end of it, all of us thoroughly enjoyed the beach and the sea.

We started back the next day morning and came back via Srivardhan->Mhasla->Mangaon->Wakad Phata->Pali->Khalapur->Express Way->Pune. The roads were much better. We covered the expressway of around 50 km in 29 minutes, traveling at an average speed of 100 kmph.

Distances & Statistics
From my home in Pune to the Subhan Beach Resort – 165.6 km.
From Suban Beach Resort to my home via express way – 207 km.
Average: 14.96 kmpl with 100% A/C with four adults and one child and bad roads one way. (On my trip to Shirdi, the next Sunday, I had got an average of 17.35 kmpl with 100% A/C and with 3 adults and 1 child)
Max speed: 165 kmph on the expressway for a few seconds. Swift pulled really well in the third gear on the expressway in Khandala and Lonavala.

Now Some Pictures

Mulshi Backwaters

Tamhini Road

Road from Mangaon

Geese

The Cars

The Beach

Sunset at the beach

-Biju

p.s. All photos taken with my Nikon F80, which is a film SLR. The uploaded images are low resolution scans.

[black12rr]

Excellent ,amazing pics ,did you drive on the beach :P ?
" Road from Mangaon " reminds me of hassan belur road .

[s0uljah]

Nice pictures and report there !! Good to see your still sticking to FILM and havent taken the digital route

BTW your right about getting away from the city, not matter what a beach is fun!! Dead fish better than broken glass bottles and hundreds of Lays packets being washed up

[greatDrive]

Wow.. excellent pics.
Good to see a empty road. Here in Bangalore or even outskirts of bangalore you can't have luck to see this view.

[Samurai]

Very detailed report and excellent photos. That's a pretty looking clean road, haven't seen the kind in a long time.

[akroy]

Excellent pics Biju and nice report as well, Thats the perfect size, you dont need to downsize it (as you mentioned in PM)

Abhi

[spadival]

Excellent pics and great report there. As you said.. a beach is a beach.. nothing can beat a beach side for relaxation and fun.

But why am I getting a sense of deja vu after reading ur report .. http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...dhan-trip.html (Harihareshwar-Srivardhan trip)

Originally Posted by Samurai

Very detailed report and excellent photos. That's a pretty looking clean road, haven't seen the kind in a long time.

Don't worry.. thats just the show piece road for a short distance.. the rest is just as bad as it can get.

[Rudra Sen]

Excellent stuff. If possible go there again and shoot some more of this below.



Sorry, I've corrected the image without your permission.

[gkrishn]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

p.s. All photos taken with my Nikon F80, which is a film SLR. The uploaded images are low resolution scans.

Nice set of pics. Please do get on to digital bandwagon as soon as possible. The scans are not doing any justice.

[Nitin]

Very nice pics,biju.
I love the picture -' road from Mangaon'.. !

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by gkrishn

The scans are not doing any justice.

Guru, high res scans can still do magic. Only, you need to get the right place to do it.

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by spadival

But why am I getting a sense of deja vu after reading ur report ..

he..he.. I read your post and that was an inspiration to get out of my lethargic mood and finally post the travelogue. Incidently we also took the same roads

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Excellent stuff. If possible go there again and shoot some more of this below. Sorry, I've corrected the image without your permission.

Would love to go there again. Sometimes I just leave my camera behind, because my family complaints that all I am interested in is to shoot pictures. Glad that you found a picture worth correcting.

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Guru, high res scans can still do magic. Only, you need to get the right place to do it.

I have no idea if there is someone in Pune who can do high res scans. I have seen great photos, scanned from films. Would love to shoot slide next time (have not done it so far). TBhpians of the digital era will perhaps laugh at me.

Originally Posted by Samurai

Very detailed report and excellent photos. That's a pretty looking clean road, haven't seen the kind in a long time.

As soon as I turned from the Tamhini road into the Mangaon road, my jaws dropped. The road was the best I have seen in a long time. But the joy was shortlived. Similarly the road towards Mhasla from Mangaon (as in the picture) was excellent for a few kilometers including a small ghat section. Wish all roads were like them.

Thanks to everyone for your kind words.

[gkrishn]

Originally Posted by Rudra Sen

Guru, high res scans can still do magic. Only, you need to get the right place to do it.

I totally agree. But the pain starts with these "1 hour" lab processing, the recurring cost etc.

[Rudra Sen]

Originally Posted by pjbiju

I have no idea if there is someone in Pune who can do high res scans.

Get them scanned from Bombay, Mazda. PM me for their address.

[ravi@64bhp]

Excellent pics and trip log. The photographs are really amazing, particularly the beach sand formation.