[Dr.AD]

8 BMWs at the "Land's End", Dhanushkodi

The same group of friends that did that crazy monsoon drive in BMW 3-series earlier in July this year regrouped for another drive last week. The idea was to go for a bright and sunny drive in November and enjoy clear roads and blue skies, in stark contrast to that wet and watery drive of July.

Just like a few changes in a cricket team at the start of a new season, there were a few changes in the participants for this drive too. A couple of regulars had to drop out due to other commitments. However, on the positive side, we had the friendly moderator @Vid6639 join us this time in his BMW F30 328i. It was great to have his company.

So the final line up of 8 BMW 3ers, in various shapes and variants, included: @robimahanta (Sunset Orange M340i), @RakishRam (Dravit Grey M340i), @HighRevving (Portimao Blue 330i), @jfk1975 (White 330i), @MonkOnWheels (Portimao Blue 330i), @Vid6639 (Imperial Blue 328i F30), Prabhath (White 320d F30) who is not a forum member yet, and myself (Melbourne Red 320d F30).

In our July drive mentioned above, we missed out on car photography due to incessant rains and in general the crazy weather conditions. Therefore, we wanted to make up for that in this drive with plenty of car photo sessions. We wanted a sunny and beautiful location this time which would be great for car photos too. With that in mind, we decided to drive to Dhanushkodi, about 15km off from Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu. The famous "Land's End" point at Dhanushkodi (Location link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/xpdW4EqwzbBPrx6LA) and that beautiful straight sea road was our destination - both to enjoy the scenic drive and for car photoshoot.

We stayed in Rameswaram, the closest city to Dhanushkodi, and we chose the "Residency Towers, Rameswaram" as our hotel for stay there. This was earlier known as Hyatt Place, and recently changed to Residency Towers. The main reason for choosing this place was safe and ample parking for all our cars, and the perfect location for our Dhanushkodi drive. On the negative side, the hotel offered only vegetarian food, which was a bummer for most of us (not for me personally, as I am a vegetarian).

After spending one evening and one morning at Dhanushkodi, we then drove to another sea-side location that is our favorite, "Bungalow on the Beach" at Tranquebar, or Tharangambadi, Tamil Nadu! More on that later in the subsequent posts below. We spent another day at the Bungalow on the Beach and then drove back to Bangalore on Day 3.

Although we were seeking clear blue skies and sunny weather (and had been dreaming of blue skies and sunny photos at Tranquebar), in reality the rains love our group so much that heavy rains accompanied us in Tranquebar, and the initial sections of return drive became very similar to our July monsoon drive. We had an hour long drive, at the start of our return leg, under torrential rains, very low visibility, bad roads, and plenty of water logging and water flowing on the road! Exactly what we faced in that July drive! Thankfully, this time the monsoon conditions lasted for just about an hour or so, and then we were back in sunny and clear conditions.

Since car photoshoot was the main agenda - at least personally for me since I love photographing cars and photographing such beautiful cars at such beautiful location was a godsend opportunity for me - let me focus my report mostly on car photos. Hopefully the participants in this drive will write more about the drive and the places of stay in their own posts.

We spent the first evening at Dhanushkodi enjoying the sunset views, the lovely weather and the location, and photographing cars. The weather was perfect that evening, and in that 1st day of our 3-day drive, there was not even a hint of rain that we would face the next two days. So with that lovely weather, I enjoyed taking plenty of car photos, which are shared in this post.

The photos need no captions really; a generic caption "beautiful BMWs on a beautiful seaside location" will apply to each of these photos. However, I will try to give some simple captions anyway.

Our convoy of 8 BMW 3-series in various shapes, forms and colors, at Dhanushkodi:



View of the convoy from the rear:



330i of @jfk1975:



Front three-quarter view:



330i of @MonkOnWheels:



Front three-quarter view:



F30 328i of @Vid6639:



Front three-quarter view of @Vid6639's 328i - one of my favorite photos from this trip:



BMW Style 397 wheels on @Vid6639's car, one of the best BMW wheel designs in my personal view:



Prabhath's F30 320d:



Front three-quarter view:



Side view of my 320d:



Front three-quarter view of my car:



@HighRevving's 330i with those stunning BBS wheels:



Front three-quarter view where again the wheels show their beauty:



Sunset Orange M340i of @robimahanta:



Front three-quarter view:



Dravit Grey M340i of @RakishRam:



Rear three-quarter view for a change:



Usual front three-quarter view:



The M340is posing together:



Another beautiful set of BMW wheels that deserves a close-up shot:



Finally, a parting shot of my car directly against the golden rays of sunset:

[Dr.AD]

Sunrise at Dhanushkodi

Next morning, we got up early and drove out by about 5:30AM, in order to catch the sunrise at Dhanushkodi. The sunrise time was 6:06AM, and I was keen on seeing the colorful sky a few minutes just before and after the sunrise (the most magical time to see the sky!). We reached the entry checkpost by 5:45AM, and had to wait in line there till the checkpost opened at 6:00AM. This time limit was strictly enforced this time. In contrast, in my last visit to Dhanushkodi a few years ago, they allowed us to enter by around 5:45AM. I was hoping for the same this time. But no, this time we had to wait till sharp 6:00AM for the checkpost entry to open.

Anyways, as soon as the gate opened and we drove ahead, we found ourselves ahead of others (thanks to the early start) and we were literally the first vehicles to reach the "Land's End" by the sunrise time. Unfortunately, all of a sudden, a massive downpour started the moment we reached the end point.

The weather was very unusual that time. It was clear and colorful sunrise skies when we were about 10 minutes away from the end point. I was dreaming of car photos under that colorful sky. However, in less than 10 minutes, it changed to dark skies and heavy rain. In fact, when we stepped out of the cars, holding umbrellas in that heavy rain, all we could see was dark grey skies all around. That colorful sky we had seen moments before had totally disappeared by now. We waited for a while and then assuming the rain will not stop, started driving back, disappointed!

But then another twist in the story happened and the skies cleared up instantly and we could actually see the sun. We were in for a game of sun an clouds, and plenty of rain too, with conditions changing every 10 minute that morning. In the end, we got some lovely views, got some photos too, and got drenched in the rain multiple times. My camera also got wet and inadvertently I ended up testing the weather sealing of my camera! Thankfully it passed the test and it worked just fine!

In all that drama of sun and rain, I managed to get this picture of my car at sunrise:



The boys stepping out to look at their cars gave me this silhouette composition:



Rain and sun together meant rainbow time:



Another shot of my car on that rainbow backdrop:



Cars waiting for the rain to stop:



M340i of @RakishRam:



@MonkOnWheels waiting in his 330i for the rain to stop:



Robi's Orange M340i:



Prabhath's 320d:



Another shot of Prabhath's 320d (You can also see the dark skies that brought in sudden rains from time to time in short spells):



The two 320ds in the convoy:



330i of @MonkOnWheels:



Orange M340i again:



And finally, a parting shot from that morning, of @RakishRam's M340i:

[Dr.AD]

"Bungalow on the Beach", and the return

After that rainy-and-sunny morning at Dhanushkodi, the convoy drove to one rather unique place, a lovely bungalow inside a historic Danish colony, located right next to the sea, and aptly named "Bungalow on the Beach". This historic Danish colony in known as Tranquebar, or Tharangambadi in local language. This Bungalow has 8 rooms, and we have booked the entire bungalow for our group of 8 people and 8 cars (wherever we go, the hotel staff gets confused when they see our group of many people arriving there in the same number of cars, one car per person; they just do not get it why we don't go four people in a car and why we drive empty cars).

I have covered this Bungalow in detail in my old travelogue from 2016 (can't believe it has been 8 years since then; amazing how time flies). Therefore, I will not repeat any of that information again here. Please refer to that old travelogue for more details of the place and the Danish Fort located right next to this place.

However, what was special this time compared to my old trip of 2016 was that this time we had booked the entire Bungalow just for us, and that meant we could freely use all the common spaces and the sea-view balconies as we wished! The staff there is incredibly good and they excelled in hospitality by setting up a special lunch and dinner table for us in the balcony overlooking the fort and the sea! Since they only had the 8 guests which were us, they could provide this special arrangements. Otherwise the guests have to go down to the restaurant on the ground floor for meals.

We spent that night in the Bungalow and had a great time enjoying the location, the hospitality, the food and the amazing views and the sea breeze from the balconies where we partied together!

Our cars parked at the Bungalow on the Beach:



@RakishRam's M340i against the Bungalow backdrop:



Late evening views of the Bungalow:








The Danish Fort in the front (this was in a bit of a dilapidated state now; compare this photo with the 2016 photos from my old travelogue mentioned above and you will see the stark difference):



The special table set up for our group, with views of the Fort on one side...:



And views of the sea on the other two sides:



The lovely balconies, which were perfect for us for partying in the evening, enjoying the sea views and the breeze:


The next morning was our return drive to Bangalore. However, as if our group is destined to have a "monsoon drive" every time, it started raining very heavily again when we were about to start our drive! The return drive, at least the first hour of it, became yet another monsoon drive for us. While our convoy was treading the bad roads, under-construction sections, and the waterlogged potholes with plenty of water flowing on the highway, under heavy downpour and low visibility, on our radios we made jokes about how we get caught in heavy rains every time we go out for a BMW group drive. The irony is indeed amusing! In fact, it was dark and cloudy in Tranquebar the whole time - a far cry from sunny weather and blue skies that we were imagining before reaching there!

Our cars getting bathed in heavy rain as we were about to start the return drive:



@MonkOnWheels's 330i leading the convoy out of the historic Danish colony, under heavy rain and water all around, very much reminiscent of our July drive:


Thankfully, the crazy conditions - both the weather conditions and the road conditions - lasted for only about an hour or so and after that things changed for better. Then the roads became fantastic again - all four and six lane highways back to home, and the weather finally became clear and sunny. The drive after that was totally enjoyable and uneventful.

Anyways, this is all I have to share on this yet another memorable drive with this group of friends and their lovely machines! I feel privileged to be part of this group that loves driving so much and are always game to drive their cars through challenging conditions, long distances, and all sorts of roads and weathers, without even an hint of a complaint! This is indeed a special group! Thank you to every single member of this special group for their great company and for one more memorable drive together!

I hope the others from this group will post their photos and their own reports too in this thread. I am looking forward to seeing their photos and their stories in subsequent posts.

That is all from my side. Thank you very much for reading!

[graaja]

Moving thread from Assembly Line to Travelogues section.

Thank you for sharing this wonderful travelogue Dr.AD! Loved the beautiful pictures of the awesome machines. Especially the ones with the rainbow!

[jkrishnakj]

Excellent clicks AD.

It actually pours quite a bit down south in these times. I had actually got caught in a major cyclone during the 2022 November drive to Tranquebar. I always plan to carry an umbrella driving that side when the monsoons recede back (Are they called the North East monsoon?)

[RakishRam]

Thank you Dr.AD, I am (and we all are) so lucky to be part of this drive since you take care of planning, booking, guiding, photography and eventually writing the beautiful travelogue
Super clicks as always.

Adding two cents from my side.

Dhanushkodi beach is a delight with variance of shades including turquoise at places. And such a straight-line road providing some amazing views of abandoned boats and buildings



While the sunrise there was so beautiful, weather kept on teasing us with random showers and sunlights and dark clouds. Here is a glimpse of sunrise without sun




And our team leaders red hot 320d glowing in sunrise


I love reflections and got a lucky click of @Monkonwheels lovely 330i




Finally, my davit grey fondly called as cement, blending in with tar, clouds and sea


And a last click : the Danish Fort from our lovely stay place at Tharangambadi on day2.


Such a lovely drive, lovely company and lovely places.

[robimahanta]

Thanks for the lovely report AD. It was great fun driving with the group again. Looking forward to many more drives in the future.

Some solo images of my car













With the grey 340i



Few together



Some drone images from Dhanushkodi












AD’s 3er from above

[MonkOnWheels]

Thank you Dr.AD for this taking care of trip and wonderful travelogue. It is always good to drive with this group and looking forward to next drive.

Some pictures of convoy:















Rainbow pics of @robimahanta and @RakishRam’s M340i cars





Pic of my 330i



Some views from Bungalow on the Beach

[tofudriver]

Kids! wake up, Dr.AD dropped another banger of a post about BMW Drives. Such a delight to read and catch a sight of all lovely Beemers in hazy, black cloudy with hints of rainbow, alongside the sea and those sexy silhouette and DRLS is enchanting enough. At this point, I want to own a BMW as soon as possible to join you guys one day. (I am still 22 but dream is a dream.)

[src]

Stunning visuals, equally stunning photographs and some insane machines. These threads are dangerous on Monday mornings.

Also have a planned trip in coming month so these locations are a reminder to Photography skills

[keroo1099]

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

[h3]
In all that drama of sun and rain, I managed to get this picture of my car at sunrise:
]

This pic has got to be one of the best on Tbhp.

[Kkumar]

As usual a wonderful travelogue with photographs par excellence. A drive to "Land's end" at Dhanushkodi is an important item in the to do list of everyone who loves driving. Thank you for sharing and waiting for your next travelogue. Keep on munching miles.

[RAHS]

@Dr.AD,

Great visuals coming from the last road of India. Excellent shots! Where are the pics from the iconic Pamban Bridge?

During our 4 days trip last month we covered Tanjavur, Rameshwaram, Dhanushkodi, Trichy, Srirangam and Tiruvannamalai. It's a beautiful stretch to drive

Keep munching miles and looking forward to the next travelogue

Cheers,
RAHS

[Cloudwalker]

That's one of the great Photo-tale and the beamers look beautiful with wonderful backgrounds.

I was reading the lines again to ensure it's November and glad that you all did that drive at the right time. There was massive rainfall (cloud burst) and many places in the district were flooded last week.

[TheGearBox]

Awesome thread, as always, Dr.AD
The pics are truly wallpaper material, especially this one:

Originally Posted by Dr.AD

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