[BeingCynical]

Everyone deserves a break once in a while. So do me also. More so when the work pressure off late went through the roof of my head. To couple it, it was more than 4 months that we husband-wife had gone anywhere out of the city.

In the meantime when we were planning for a gate away, things at the work front subdued a little, though far from being comfortable. In fact for 3 straight weeks, I had to be there in office over the weekends, resulting in canceling 3 subsequent weekend plans. People get lucky in 3rd time but we managed to get lucky on the fourth. To be honest, even the fourth attempt at taking a break would have failed miserably, hadn't the luck decided to give some outside support.

On Friday, I called up wifey from office and gave her the good news that we can go somewhere as work looks stable a bit and I may not have to come to office on Saturday. But by the time Friday ended on a somber note, it was more than evident that this weekend is going to be my fourth straight weekend presence in office. Irritated and little annoyed, I called up wifey again to give the bad news. We agreed to ditch any hope for the upcoming weekend and hope to achieve something during the next.

Next morning I left for office at around 8 AM with a sour mood. But God had some other plans. From nowhere, few stuck up works got over in couple of hours and my pending tray got wiped out in no time. Around 11 I rechecked everything and did my little calculation to see where we can go for a quick trip if we start around 1 from Pune. First thing came in my mind was Diveagar. Never been to the place but had heard some good reviews of it from friends. A drive time of 5 hours even fit to my plan of reaching the place before sun sets down. Called up wife and asked her to pack for a single day sojourn.

Thankfully nothing untoward happened on the work front and we started from our place as planned around 1:15. Plan was to reach Mulshi as quickly as possible before we stop somewhere on the way side for our lunch


Beast Eager To Take Us Out

It was really hot and humid when we moved out of our parking lot. But the A/C in the Safari Cabin kept us cool all through. After all it was a much deserved and awaited break. There was little dilemma on which route to take. Couple of friends suggested me to take the Khapoli route through Express way, though it is good 50Km more than the routine NH-67 route through Paud and Mulshi. I contemplated and decided to go through Mulshi as against the advice of real bad roads through the stretch. I was ready to take that gamble than driving 50Km more since we were starting little late for our comfort. So the route decided was Wakad-Chandni chowk-Paud-Mulshi-Tamhini-Vile MIDC-Mangaon-Mahasala-Diveagar.

As expected, the stretch from Wakad till Chandni Chowk through Mumbai-Bangalore highway was crowded with city traffic. It took us around 1/2 hour to reach Paud road.













After much struggle in those narrow lanes we finally managed to leave behind Pune and proceed towards Mulshi. We drove around 50 Km in some really scenic but horrendous roads till hunger pangs started to kick in. By that time we were just about crossing Mulshi dam. Time was ripe for lunch as well. Here I must say, the stretch between Pune and Mulshi full with resorts and road side restaurants. From their look all appeared descent and worth a try. We could have crossed at least 10 of those restaurants before we decided to stop by a restaurant called Basoo, bang opposite the Mulshi Dam. If you ask me, I will rate this eatry 4.5 out of 5. Great food, even greater ambiance and of course the view from the dinning area is just marvelous. Can imagine how the place would be during rainy season.






Look At The Narrow Roads


Isn't The Mountain Looking Little Unnatural?


Typical Kokan Look








Looks Barren Because Of The Heat







To Be Continued..

[BeingCynical]

Had a stupendous lunch at the cynic Basoo restaurant and by the time we were done with our finger licking act, it was well into 3:30 and to our planned schedule we were running late by at least 1/2 an hour.


Entrance To The Restaurant


Small Garden


The Sit Out


Yours Truly Contemplating What To Eat


Tasty Spread

Call of the hour now was for some non-stop driving. Target was to hit Diveagar before 6:30 because we didn't had any resort booking. Though at places the roads were really bad but the Ghat and the surrounding was adding joy to the misery of driving on those roads. At times we even thought of stopping for a while to click away few synic ones but refrained looking at the heat outside and rapidly thinning out time left in our hands. So decided to click away to glory while on the drive.





















To Be Continued...

[BeingCynical]

The roads of the entire stretch of 150 odd kilometers were nothing to be write home about but the pleasure of driving was balanced out by the surrounding and the curvaceous roads.













Thankfully the roads through the Tamhini Ghat are little wider and better than what the state highway had offered till now. I had never driven through Tamhini Ghat before but sure can imagine how beautiful it would be during rainy season.

















The road to Vile MIDC branches out as soon as you get down from Tamhini Ghat. On the junction at the foothill, one must take the left to pass through the MIDC. It is a 4 Km barren ram-rod straight road with POSCO Steel plant having their establishment on both side. As usual this stretch will have load of trucks ferrying down industrial goods. Not very busy though but an extra caution is needed since you may be relaxing a bit after crossing the ghat


The Road I Was Talking About

By the way, for those who want to know if anything available to spend a day or two in Tamhini Ghat - Yes, there is a beautiful Resort called Orchards, right at the foothill of Tamhini Ghat (Just before Vile MIDC junction).

We drove on and we were nearing our destination which was 70Km further of us. The drive was uneventful and quite mundane. By the time we reached gates of Exotica Beach Resort it was well into 6:45.










Gates Of Exotica Beach Resort

To Be Continued...

[BeingCynical]

For those who think Diveagar would be bustling typical tourist place then you would be disappointed. Diveagar, by all stretch of imagination is still a village in every sense. Since people have started thronging in to the place to kill their boredome, numerous home stays have mushroomed. There doesn't seem to be too many good eateries either. There are many households who have started their own restaurant in their respective backyards to serve typical Konkani food to the tourist. Can't comment on the taste because I only had that food once and I didn't liked it at all. So if you are thinking of seeing Pizza Huts, MacDonald and other such sundry joints then I am afraid the place may not be your kind of thing.

Checked into our rooms and took a bath. And by the time we were ready it was already dark. Though the hotel chaps and the natives around assured us that going to beach during anytime of the day is absolutely safe in Diveagar (which I also agree), we never ventured to the sea. Roam around the village and had our dinner in one of such home carved restaurant of Konkani delicacies and called it a day and just crashed on our beds.

Plan was to get up early and go to the beach. Enjoy the sun rise and spend some time on the sea before having our breakfast. Post that we were planning to checkout, go to Harihareswar Mandir and move towards home from there.

But as they say, plans are going to get muddled quicker than you tokk to plan them. By the time we two lazy creatures got up from our bed it was 7 AM. So the option of watching the sun rise on the beach was out of question. Nonetheless, we both got ready quickly and moved to the beach for whatever may be left of the sun and its rise. The beach of Diveagar is simply superb. Quite clean and much less crowd comparing to those of Goa. The place as well as the beach area is not yet commercialized fully. There is a sense of homely atomosphere still persists. Frankly, I liked the friendly and uncomplicated approach of the locals in everything. Now let the pictures of the beach speak for themselves.





The sand on the beach looked more like a mixture of sand and black clay than just sand alone. This helps people to drive right at the edge of the sea without much difficulty. Since the resort was bang opposite the most popular beach of Diveagar, we could walk down. Hence I never drove my beast there though but I am sure would have been fun.








Wifey Enjoying A Cuppa























To Be Continued...

[BeingCynical]

Stayed on the beach for one hour and moved back to the resort for our breakfast. Had a filling start to the day and by the time we checked out of the resort towards Harihareswar it was around 9:30 in the morning.


The Spread


Dining Area

The distance of Harihareswar from Diveagar is roughly 35 Km. The roads are even more horrendous than what we had encountered till now. The distance which in normal circumstances should have taken us 1/2 hour, took us good 1 hour to reach the place. Most of the 35 Km stretch is through the forest and doesn't give the confidence of safety during evening or night drive there.











Harihareswar temple is a small Shiv temple on the banks of Arabian Sea. Surrounding is enchanting and quite scenic. They have couple of descent looking resorts around that place.







Finished our Darshan and moved for our home around 12. There is one view point of the sea atop a nearby mountain in the vicinity of the temple. Wanted to go there but the heat and the prospect of climbing 400 steps in that saltry condition forced from deciding against any such adventure.

Took the same route to return. Stopped by a passing through village to buy some fresh veggies. Had our lunch at the same restaurant Bisho and reachd home well before sunset.

It was a filling and joyful excavation of Diveagar. A must place for all those who love sea and want a place out withing 150Km radius of the city. Try Diveagar once and I am sure you won't be disappointed.

The End...

[noopster]

Thread moved from Assembly Line to Travelogues section. Thanks for sharing!

Did a weekend trip there myself a couple of years ago. Beautiful unspoiled beach town.

[mahesh_sn]

Nice photologue

You just rekindled memories of my first trip to Diveagar and Harihareshwar which I did with my family exactly a year back. Diveagar is a quaint little village very typical of any other coastal village in Konkan. It's a beautiful beach flanked by a thick green cover of coconut and betelnut trees. We had a blast playing in clean sea water. Harihareshwar beach was equally beautiful, but the place is known more for the Shiva temple. You mentioned of a view of sea from top of the mountain. Well, you can't see much sea from that point. But what you can see is a steep downstair path which leads you to a beautiful carvings created by seawaves hitting the rocks. Mind you it can be visited only during the low tide. You can just walk around the mountain to come back to the temple. No need to climb again.
Here are couple of pics of the spot you missed. First one shows the downstair path to the sea and second one shows the carving and the way around the mountain to skip climbing again

[Dodge_Viper]

One of my favourite weekend destinations! Harihareshwar-Shrivardhan-Diveagar!

Didn't you take the coastal route from Diveagar to Harihareshwar which goes via Shrivardhan? The road is bad but the coastal beauty makes one forget about the road conditions .