[creative420]

No pictures of aquatic animals or coral? :(

And I'm sorry that you couldn't explore Adalaj nu Vav. If I had known about this scaffolding situation, I wouldn't have recommended you to go there.

[v&v]

Originally Posted by creative420

No pictures of aquatic animals or coral? :(

And I'm sorry that you couldn't explore Adalaj nu Vav. If I had known about this scaffolding situation, I wouldn't have recommended you to go there.

Will be uploading it soon. Adalaj was not completely closed. We did go till the fifty level. This was the first time we saw Step-Well.


More photos from Narara.
We saw the following Corals Moon (Green, Orange,Red), Star (green), , Sponge, Sea anemone, Octopus, pearl oyster, crabs - Neptune, Ghost, sea cucumber, brittle star and turbo shell.

if lucky one may also be able to see Jelly fish, Sea horse, Star fish,Sea urchin, Sea fan etc. Best time to visit is Dec - Jan.


Neptune Crab


Turbo shell


Sea cucumber



Sponge


Oyster


Sea Anemone



Octopus






Corals - Moon & Star type
















Brittle star

[laluks]

wonderful v&v.
more of Narara please

[ExtremeTorque]

Beautiful TL there v&v. I loved the pics of Narara coral reef, which actually brought back memories of my trip in Jan 2010. A very less explored gem of the saurashtra region. And i agree, Dec-Jan (7-9 AM) is the best time to visit these reefs. Did you spot any puffer fish (we did, linky to my TL)? Waiting for more!

[mmxylorider]

Something we don't get to see that often - marine life! Thanks V&V...

I am planning my Gujarat trip from 28th - so please expect to see some PMs from me - I have quite a few questions

[v&v]

Originally Posted by laluks

wonderful v&v.
more of Narara please

Thanks laluks. will be upload it.

Originally Posted by ExtremeTorque

Beautiful TL there v&v. I loved the pics of Narara coral reef, which actually brought back memories of my trip in Jan 2010. A very less explored gem of the saurashtra region. And i agree, Dec-Jan (7-9 AM) is the best time to visit these reefs. Did you spot any puffer fish (we did, linky to my TL)? Waiting for more!

Puffer and star fish can only be seen in Dec - Jan. Water temperature is an important factor.

Originally Posted by mmxylorider

Something we don't get to see that often - marine life! Thanks V&V...

I am planning my Gujarat trip from 28th - so please expect to see some PMs from me - I have quite a few questions

Thanks mmxylorider. Most welcome for any question for your trip.


One more observation, CPL filter will be very help-full for avoiding reflections. I missing it badly . Some more pics











Neptune crabs - V shaped are male and U shaped are female. (if i remember correctly)

[SS-Traveller]

Wow, v&v, you've got some lovely pics there. Seems like you had all the fun of the Gujarat trip concentrated in Narara itself. Your children obviously freaked out looking at all this!

[v&v]

By 1 pm we all were tired and our drinking water too was finished, limped back to our safari and drank liters of water. Thankfully we were carrying a 20L jar. Post 1200 hrs, its pretty hot. We left Narara by 1.30 pm.

Also do keep in mind, there is no restaurants, shops around. Had a quick lunch at the first Dahaba we saw. Continued our journey to Dwarka. This 100kms drive was placid, the discussion was all about Narara and we didnt even know by 3.30-3.45 were were in Outskirts Dwarka.

There is a good resort coming up 29 kms before dwarka "Govardhan greens". Checked in at Hotel Sree Darshan by 4.15 pm. Dwarkadish temple is just 5 min walk from this hotel.

Narara - Dwarka = 122 kms. Time : 1.5 hrs drive.

Rested till 5.30 pm. Went to visit the temple. All camera , bags and all leather items has to deposited at counter. Spent around 2 hrs in the temple. Being monday, it was very crowded. Later came to know that every monday 5 trains reaches Dwarka. Now i could assume why Dham ji was sold out !.

Also the flag changing ceremony is intresting, it changes 5 times a day. It is booked for the next 2 years. We are back at the hotel by 9 pm after roaming around dwarka. Lots of eating options(Street food). Our dinner menu was Vada-Pav.









Lighting is switch on after flag changing ceremony.

[rjstyles69]

v&v those are some brilliant pictures of Narara and has anyone covered this place on tbhp ? Have only heard of this place from a colleague who is from Gujarat and never knew it was so beautiful. The landscape simple calls for a wide angle with a polarizer mounted, great stuff man.

[motomaverick]

Originally Posted by v&v

By 1 pm we all were tired and our drinking water too was finished, limped back to our safari and drank liters of water. Thankfully we were carrying a 20L jar. Post 1200 hrs, its pretty hot. We left Narara by 1.30 pm.

Also do keep in mind, there is no restaurants, shops around. Had a quick lunch at the first Dahaba we saw. Continued our journey to Dwarka. This 100kms drive was placid, the discussion was all about Narara and we didnt even know by 3.30-3.45 were were in Outskirts Dwarka.

Awesome pics, Narara is definately on my radar now, thanks for bringing this beauty of a landscape to us

[hvkumar]

Narara & Pirotan can be visited only during winter. But don't be sure that you will get permits easily - earlier this year, they were not issuing permits for Pirotan since they had given the aquatic life there a "holiday", or so they said, to enable it to rejuvenate itself.

Mr MUshtaq at the President Hotel in Jamnagar is the expert who can guide you and organise your permits.

Well, team-bhpians like me have visited Narara, but then we did not have cameras or such photography skills!

Check out the web-site
Jamnagar, the Unique Coral Walking Area

Tip for those visiting these islands - don't forget your sun-bock cream!

In case you are wondering what those ships are doing there in the photos - they are oil tankers discharging their cargo at the Reliance and Essar oil refineries which are just around the corner.

In low tide, you feel that you can almost walk and wade out to the ships!

Don't forget to engage a guide, they can spot and show you marine life where you never dream that it existed. For our layman eyes, you will see only water!

[v&v]

Originally Posted by rjstyles69

v&v those are some brilliant pictures of Narara and has anyone covered this place on tbhp ? Have only heard of this place from a colleague who is from Gujarat and never knew it was so beautiful. The landscape simple calls for a wide angle with a polarizer mounted, great stuff man.

Thanks RJS. True one can spend hours with a camera in and around Narara.
CPL for under water & landscape photography is a must. ND filter will be bonus.

Originally Posted by motomaverick

Awesome pics, Narara is definately on my radar now, thanks for bringing this beauty of a landscape to us

Thanks motomaverick.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Narara & Pirotan can be visited only during winter. But don't be sure that you will get permits easily - earlier this year, they were not issuing permits for Pirotan since they had given the aquatic life there a "holiday", or so they said, to enable it to rejuvenate itself.

Mr MUshtaq at the President Hotel in Jamnagar is the expert who can guide you and organise your permits.

Well, team-bhpians like me have visited Narara, but then we did not have cameras or such photography skills!

Check out the web-site
Jamnagar, the Unique Coral Walking Area

Tip for those visiting these islands - don't forget your sun-bock cream!

In case you are wondering what those ships are doing there in the photos - they are oil tankers discharging their cargo at the Reliance and Essar oil refineries which are just around the corner.

In low tide, you feel that you can almost walk and wade out to the ships!

Don't forget to engage a guide, they can spot and show you marine life where you never dream that it existed. For our layman eyes, you will see only water!

Thanks HVK for the inputs. Without a guide, 50% of spotting is not possible.
Most of them are under the rocks. As per the latest info, Pirotan will have limited visitors this year too. Applications are available with Jamnagar forest deptt. As HVK said Mustaq bhai is the right person for this. Any one needing his contact no can PM me. Narara is going to setup a camp site for 2 months as per the guide.

[v&v]

Day - 4 Bet Dwarka - Nageshwar - Jyotirling - Porbandar - Sasan Gir - Oct 04th, 2011, Tuesday

We were ready by 06.45 am. Bet dwarka is 30 kms from dwarka city. Bet dwarka was the residence of Sri Krishna and Dwarka being the kingdom. It is also know as Bheint Dwarka as this island was gifted by Big B Balram Ji (Dau). Dwarka is also one of the 4 dham namely Dwarka, Puri, Badrinath, Rameshwaram.

Morning traffic was thin and reached bet dwarka by 07.30 am. Here all our plan went for a toss as boats ferry only when there will be 150 people or you have hire a personal boat which charges 1500/-. We had to wait till 8.50 am when a tourist bus came we reached bet dwarka island by 8.55 am only. Tickets were Rs 10/- per person.

Lost a good one hour. Hence it is better to reach Bet-Dwarka by 9.30-10 am. 9.30 to 10.30 is bhog at the main temple. Darshan will be available only around 10-45 am to 11.30 am.

Sun rise


Sree Dwarkadhesh Chemfood , Methapur (TATA Salt Factory)



Boat Jetty for Bet Dwarka








As the Srikrishna temple was closed for bhog. We hired a chakada and headed to Hanuman Tandi. This is the only temple were Hanuman's son Magadwaj and Hanumanji are the deity. Its a good 5 kms from the Srikrishna temple. From there we also went to Yashpur mata mandir which is another half a km from Hanuman temple.

By 10.30 am we were back to main sri krishna temple. Had darshan and left by 11.15 am. Luckly we didn't have to wait for a boat for return.







Kids enroute to Hanuman Tandi










Yashpura Mata



Sri krishna temple entry

[MX6]

What a lovely thread this is turning out to be! My 5 stars to it.
Seeing the pics here brings me all the fond memories I have of Gujarat. Especially Saurashtra where I lived for over 6 months. A place where I had 7 trips to the Gir jungles.
Incidentally, I'd planned a trip to Gujarat to revisit all those places including Narara in end oct only to change it to Udaipur. Seeing your photos, I'm wondering whether I did a mistake!
Anyway, I pushed Gujarat to January only to ensure that I get to go to Narara or Pirotan this time. Thanks for the pics. Keep them flowing.

[v&v]

Originally Posted by MX6

What a lovely thread this is turning out to be! My 5 stars to it.
Seeing the pics here brings me all the fond memories I have of Gujarat. Especially Saurashtra where I lived for over 6 months. A place where I had 7 trips to the Gir jungles.
Incidentally, I'd planned a trip to Gujarat to revisit all those places including Narara in end oct only to change it to Udaipur. Seeing your photos, I'm wondering whether I did a mistake!
Anyway, I pushed Gujarat to January only to ensure that I get to go to Narara or Pirotan this time. Thanks for the pics. Keep them flowing.

Thank you MX6. IMO Gujarat is a less explored state. I feel we still missed a lot with our 7 days trip. Certainly need multiple trips.


Continuing with the log.




Our next destination was Rukmini devi mandir. The offering here is Jal daan. This was due to a curse by Rishi Durvasav, due to which the entire water in dwarka is salty.









From there we headed to Nageshwar jyortirlinga (One of the 12 jyotirlingas). One can also go from Bet-Dwarka to Nageshwar. The roads are bad. So we decided to go from Dwarka city which is 18 kms away as roads are very good.












Checked out from hotel by 2 pm. Our next destination Porbandar. Kirti Mandir - Birth place of Bapu ji.