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-   -   Konkan Sojourn: Weekend trip to Diveagar from Pune *EDIT: Revisited!* (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/118155-konkan-sojourn-weekend-trip-diveagar-pune-edit-revisited.html)

Ask any Punekar for a weekend destination suggestion OTHER than Mahabi/Panchgani and the immediate response is "Kokanaat zaa" (Go to Konkan). As a Konkani myself, am aware that the coastal strip straddling four states down to Kerala is called by that name, so it's a little befuddling when no further details are forthcoming. But a little googling leads me to conclude that what these helpful souls actually mean is to hit one of the destinations in the Maharasthra part of the Konkan, from Alibag in Raigad district down to Ganapatipule near Ratnagiri, perhaps even down to Tarkarli in Sindhudurg. Alibaug and its surrounds have been usurped by the Bombay crowd and turned too commercial. The southern Maharashtra coast is too far to drive- well, not really but if you go that far you may as well head into Goa and take advantage of the lower fuel prices :D. So that leaves us with the trifecta in the middle: Diveagar, Shrivardhan and Harihareshwar, all places of some religious significance and as a result, nowhere close to the wild beaches of Goa. But as an option for a quiet weekend drive with the family? Perfect!

Some teaser pics:

Background:
We have been planning this weekend break since New Year's. The first long weekend of the year for the family (I was working on Holi day) meant that something special needed to be planned. I started scouring tripadvisor, which is usually my starting point for any trip these days, then discovered that makemytrip (MYT) offers Shrivardhan as a holiday destination (this wasn't the case at least late last year when I had checked). The #2 rated resort on tripadvisor was available for booking on Gudi Padwa long weekend and I promptly went and booked. Or so I thought: some glitch occurred and my online banking account got debited but no fulfilment of the order took place.

I raised a support ticket with MYT and they assured me that my refund would be processed after 72 working hours (to acknowledge the request) and a further 7 working days to resolve it. That sounded like a helluva lot of time so what was I to do in the meantime? Why- make another booking, of course! they suggested brightly. I got bit turned off by this: would have been easy as pie for them to knock the new booking against what I'd already paid them. So started looking at other options.

#1 in the tripadvisor list was a place called Maitreya Resort in Diveagar. As I was idly flicking through Team-BHP on a weekend I discovered that Technocrat had done a monsoon trip there a few years ago and stayed at that very place. A few PMs later, I had a name and number to call, so I did. Was impressed with the professionalism displayed by the person who answered so made a payment online and had my booking by that evening.

Do read Techno's awesome monsoon travelogue: my early-summer trip pics aren't even half as good as the Konkan in the full flush of the rains!

The plan was to take off on Friday morning as early as we could manage, reach the resort by lunchtime, relax and hit the beach later that evening. Day 2 was left open for a trip to somewhere close by, say that amazing fort in the middle of the sea, Janjira. Return after breakfast on Day 3, Sunday.

From Pune there are two routes you can take: one is the route via Paud and Tamhini ghat to Mangaon then cut across NH17 to Mhasla, Borli and Diveagar. The other is to hit NH17 at Pen further North after taking the Khopoli exit of the expressway. My family does Mumbai trips at least once or twice a month and it's safe to say we are thoroughly sick of the expressway, nice as it is. So opted for the former. The Swift hasn't been getting its share of highway runs of late, plus I was worried about the Vento bottoming out on the bad roads I'd heard of at Tamhini ghat, so Swifty it was!

Day 1, Friday 23rd March- Departure from Pune

As usual, woke up early in anticipation of the trip. Shook wifey and kiddo awake and we were on the road at 7:30 or so. We live quite close to Chandni Chowk, where the Paud Road branches out of Pune. Paid the 20/- toll (some say it's illegal but we were in no mood to spoil the holiday spirit arguing) and were soon well on our way. We've done Lavasa tons of times so the route was familiar through Bhugaon and Pirangut. Thought of stopping for breakfast at Buninda dhaba but it seemed to be closed. Good thing that turned out to be.

After the Lavasa turnoff the road was unfamiliar but we made good time since traffic was extremely light and the road is in pretty good shape. Crossed Paud and headed towards Mulshi, when a sign or two for Paradise Cafe appeared. That triggered something in my brain and remembered that some T-BHP meet or the other had happened there not long ago. Supposedly an amazing omelette place. So we help out for the place, which claimed to be "on Mulshi lake" whatever that meant.

Glad we did that.



The elderly sardarji manning the joint suggested the house speciality cheese corn tikki. My little one loves cheese so we ordered one of those plus an omelette and some tea. The food was delicious- a bit pricey but I guess you pay for the view. The missus got to chatting with the owner, an interesting gent who dabbles in zodiac signs and has connections with Pune's high and mighty, one of whom he was apparently called in to have breakfast with that day. We hit the road thoroughly rejuvenated after that awesome breakfast. Miles were crunched easier.




The route is fairly straightforward: cross Mulshi and then head on to Tamhini on the same road. There is only one turnoff if I remember correctly, which is the mountain road leading to Lonavala just after Paud. The route is extremely scenic and the roads were not bad at all. At least nothing that my intrepid Swift couldn't handle. And some stretches were bliss.


Tamhini ghat itself has some bumpy stretches and I congratulated myself on not bringing the Vento. With luggage in the boot it tends to take potholed roads rather worse than the Swift. Vento owners will know what I mean: even at relatively low speeds a hole in the road is handled very poorly in the VW. Anyway the bad stretch was soon done and we were ripping down the ghat in no time. Swifty handled with panache and I was careful to keep speeds manageable. Soon enough we hit the base of the ghat. We'd been told to look for the Orchard Cafe after which we had to take a left turn (almost a reverse U-turn) through Vile MIDC.

Simply stunning- a smooth, pothole-free stretch nearly 6 lanes wide! It went on for about 3-4 km before the left turnoff for Nizampur appeared. Confirmed with a local that we were on the right track and zoomed off again. Nizampur appeared and went without incident and soon we were in sight of Mangaon.

There is a turnoff from Mangaon for Mhasla that is in the middle of Mangaon market on NH17. I was aware of this but got carried away and just zoomed down NH17 for a while before the missus referred the route printout and set me straight. A sheepish apology and a U-turn later we were back at Mangaon market and this time asked and made the turn correctly.

The Mhasla turnoff is possibly the only place on this route that you could get lost. Luckily there was a policeman stationed there and he waved us in the right direction. As you approach the coast, the mud gets redder and redder. The air gets more humid. We'd been riding with windows down for a bit in the hills but as we got closer to Diveagar and the sun started climbing overhead, the AC was switched on with a vengeance (another factor in favour of the Swift: climatronic-schwimatronic, a workhorse chiller is what's called for!)

The road after Mhasla goes through a mini-ghat and then forks: the right turn takes you to Dighi while left goes to Borli and thence to Diveagar, Shrivardhan and Harihareshwar. Before you know it, you're there!





We checked into Maitreya Resort, the first of the guests to check in that weekend. Chatted with Subodh who runs the place and then checked in and freshened up. Journey time: just over 4.5 hours, with about 45 minutes halt at Paradise cafe. Tripmeter read 170 km.




That evening we hit the beach at Diveagar. A short walk through the wadi and you hit the main road- cross that and you're on the beach. Loks picturesque enough in the pics but the beaches further South are the ones with the pristine white sands. This was good for adding to my daughter's shell collection, playing some ball (no sand castles, sadly- the sand was too wet) and doing Juhu-beach-like stuff like taking a horsecart ride on the beach.

Day 2: Saturday 24th March 2012

The day began with a bit of excitement- for me! I am always a nervous traveller and suspected that the cash I was carrying may have proven to be insufficient, so woke up early while the ladies were still enjoying their zzz's and headed out back the way we'd come. Remembered spotting a State Bank ATM somewhere near Mhasla. There is a point on the Diveagar-Dighi Road that you need to turn right towards Mhasla (where Hotel Swagath stands). But since I had some time on my hands, went straight ahead towards Dighi.

What a revelation! The road was just magnificent.





It was 7:30 in the morning on a Saturday and there was nobody around. Couldn't resist ripping the Swift a little up and down that stretch. Nothing crazy but high-revving in third gear is one of the joys of owning a petrol Swift, so why not?!!

After all that, my baby suddenly felt thirsty :D So tanked up at Kokan Petrol Pump nearby. Prices same as Pune outside octroi area (68.xx)


Wifey called asking where I'd vanished, so told her to get down to breakfast table and I'd join soon. Reached Mhasla market and asked for the ATM- it was just around the corner. Then zipped back to the resort for some delicious poha and upma.

We were told not to miss the Janjira fort close by. This is a 12th century miracle of architecture that is built in the middle of the Arabian Sea, accessible only by boat from nearby villages. I've seen it once but that was from the Murud side, closer to Alibag (and Mumbai). This time we'd attack it from Port Dighi.

After breakfast, hit the same road that I'd ripped on earlier, this time rather more sedately :D. Reached Dighi and found the ferry booking office. There was a group of 7 youngsters waiting impatiently for more people to turn up. Apparently every boat needs to earn a minimum revenue of 1200/- for the round trip. Capacity of the boat is 24, so that's 50/- a head. The boys came up with the bright idea of going ahead with 12 pax @100 each instead. I said fine- my little girl wasn't counted anyway. So we waited for the next batch of folks and were just going to proceed with our plan when the next lot appeared ...AND the next! Evenually we ended up with 22 people at 60 per head (with a little left over for tips).

Now that Fun with Mathematics class was over, we boarded the motorised launch and hit the waters. The trip was fun: though the sun was blazing down there was a nice ocean breeze in our faces.

Getting off at Janjira fort was a lot of fun...and a little scary! The launch can't go into the shallow waters around the fort so they transfer you to a sailboat as you approach and then you are helped on to the steps of the fort by a bunch of young guys in the water. It is a sight to behold.



The whole group stays together since the boats arrive from different villages and it's more convenient to return together. A guide turns up magically and offers to show you around for 200 per family. We are suckers for history so we agree. Another couple of families do some backroom negotiating and join us having negotiated THEIR price to 150/- each (my wife finds this out later). I am cool with this- would probably have tipped the guy that much anyway.


His name is Muzzafar and he belongs to one of the families that were settled in the Janjira fort for centuries (though he himself was born in a village nearby, since the inhabitants moved out of the fort after independence). We follow him around as he talks about the proud history of the fort: Janjira is apparently the only fort in India to never have been conquered.



The cannons, of which there used to be 365 around the fort, are made of some sort of alloy- they call it "panchadhatu"- that keeps it cool to the touch even in the searing heat of day. Very cool (literally!)


A nice shot of the sailboats through the ramparts of the fort:


Miscellaneous shots of Janjira:

The fort visit in the blazing heat was enough exertion for the day. We retired to our cozy air-conditioned room for the rest of the day. The missus has been working really hard of late so she caught up on some much-needed sleep, I was curled up with an e-book (there's something I never thought I'd say but the Kindle app on my Galaxy Note is pretty cool) and the little one watched cartoons on TV.

Chill Central:


Day 3: Sunday 25th March: Coastal Road Drive & Return to Pune
Woke up thoroughly refreshed. Resort manager Subodh had suggested we take in Harihareshwar (about 33 km from where we were) but that would easily add 2-3 hours to our schedule, so we settled on a compromise: drive down the coast as far as we could to get some decent photos and then head back up to Pune.

We were not disappointed:

Very nice pics noops. Looks like a perfect cozy weekend getaway place for folks in and around Pune. What photography gear do you use?

Also on another note, what concerns did you have with the Vento over potholed roads? I took the Vento to MP recently and drove quite a lot on very average roads with potholes. We were a party of 4 with an overloaded trunk however I found the Vento performing rather well on these roads. In fact on higher speeds averaged sized holes did not cause any discomfort more so when the car was going 40 or above. Only when there was a very large pothole or undulation it gave that huge "thunk" noise. Could you please elaborate a bit?

Very well planned weekend drive noops!
Lovely pictures too..
Diveagar is a little sleepy town in Konkan. Not very touristy. Good thing, you must have had the whole place to yourself, literally.

Did you get to try the local delicacies there ?

Where is that coastal road you encountered? Reminds of the Great Ocean Drive ..

Just beautiful! I have promised myself that whatever happens, i will visit this place once in a year. And the result was , i visited Diveagar-Shrivardhan-Harihareshwar 3 times in last 5 months. Latest being 3 weeks back.
The place is very relaxing and beautiful.
Don't mind of me sharing some of my pictures.

I lost my camera earlier this year so this is taken on the camera of my Samsung Galaxy Note. It is an 8 MPixel camera and works pretty well in good lighting.
That's exactly what I meant (the highlighted part). I have noticed that the alloys which are butter-soft get damaged slightly after each such "thunk"ing. Not cool at all. Have had a word with a contact at VW and he says the alloys have been made ductile deliberately to avoid them breaking. I don't think there is a comparison for the Vento's ride and handling on highways but just didn't want to risk it with these sort of roads involved.

Surprisingly, no. I think discerning tourists are now "discovering" the place, even though it has a long way to go to catch with the likes of Alibag and Kashid. And on Saturday we had a lot of unexpected visitors- more on that later :D
Damn...exactly the parallel that came to mind when I saw it. Cliffs on one side, crashing waves and golden strips of sand on the other.

Food is one of the charms of that region, so let me spend some time axing eloquent on that rl:

The day we arrived we checked in and headed down to lunch at the resort. The Konkan speciality is "gharguti jevan" (homemade cuisine) and we promptly ordered pomfret thaalis for each of us. Daughter wanted prawns so ordered a plate of prawn fry as well. I was hungry after all that driving so we ordered an extra pomfret fry as well. Plus sol kadi, a bowl of gulab jamun etc. Didn't think too much about it but later that day found out that it had cost us 905/-!!

Now we appreciate good food as much as the next person but somehow what was on offer didn't match up to that kind of pricing. So that evening we headed out and found a khanaaval down the road that had much tastier food at much lower prices. Had a good dinner there- in fact their chicken thali was also quite wonderful. Bill came to 330/-!!

On day 2 we actually went to Mhasla for lunch and dined at Hotel Ruchi. Food even tastier and bill came to 260/- I joked to my wife that our meals were getting better and cheaper with each passing day!

Pratheek, your pictures are welcome, but will not be visible here since you are hosting them on an external source. Here's the process for uploading them to our server. Please create a fresh post with the pics.

The return trip was uneventful. We were invited to a lazy late lunch at Malaka Spice by some friends but by the time we did the coastal strip and left it was nearly noon. Little one woke up around two and said she was hungry so we took a quick break at the Orchard Cafe at base of Tamhini ghat. Very nice ambience but it was pricey (240/- for a buffet lunch) and besides there was waiting involved and all we needed was a quick bite. Across the road was a Hotel Janaki, rather nondescript looking but turned out to be good in the end. Ordered a biryani that the 3 of us shared. It was insanely hot, temperature in early 40s, and we couldn't wait to be done and back in the comfort of the Swift. 20 minutes there was the only break we took then zipped back to Pune, cut across town to Koregaon Park and reached in time for a very late lunch- our friends were ordering dessert when we arrived.

A couple of pictures that captured the essence of the trip for me:

Sol Kadi- the spirit of Konkan!

One last look back on a wonderful trip

The second snap on Post #3. Is that a backwater? Sea cutting in?
That location looks very nice.

Lovely TL ther noop.
Thoroughly enjoyed reading it. A nice weekend dash and rejuvenated for the week/s to come!

The Swift looks so lovely on those narrow, yet well maintained roads.
Good to see you enjoying her once in a while too.

You know the reason why that Dighi bunder is infamous for, right?
It was this very port that the RDX used in '93 Bombay blasts had landed. Apparently, the guides there throw in such info, free of cost :p.

And whats with you and clicking snaps of views in the rear view miorror? Not that Im complaining! They are just superb. Reminescing on the times past.

P.S: You land in Diveagar/Harihareswar, and the gold Ganesha idol gets stolen. What man, leave the gods out of this! Just kidding lol:.

Sorry to sound like an old librarian, proud of history; but that aint true. Thats the only sea fort that was never conquered. Land forts are a plenty. One such fort is in Satara called Ajinkya Tara or literal translation would mean, "The star that cant be won".

Superb travelogue !

The fort on the sea is amazing, need to add to the ever growing list of must-see places. The walls of the fort remind me of scenes in Kevin Costner's Waterworld :)