[MX6]

The return drive was non stop from Dive-agar till Home, through the longer route. I didn't want to take on srivardhan or any other ghat section with my leg like that.
Ofcourse we stopped for re-fuelling after mangaon. Then stopped near pali for my daughter's dinner, then at the last rest area in the e-way for our sandwiches.

The road from Diveagar to Mhasala was a great one.


It was a delight to drive with the gentle rains.


See the old road and the new road criss-crossing each other.


And at stretches the new road runs below the old one.


And the new tarmac was shining in the rains.


The gradient is huge. But my warrior could climb easily.


Gentle slopes with gentle curves all around, till we hit NH17 at Mangaon.


And then the skies open out again. Boy will it ever stop pouring? It's been over 30 hours now.


Surprisingly, NH17 had sparse traffic. Guess it's because of the fact that beyond khed, the route was cut off for 2 days. Or may be that Mumbai people were stuck in Mumbai itself over the weekend.


Then I stopped. I had to take a photo. In over 30 hours, this is the only stretch of road that I saw, that had a semblance of dryness to show.


After 4 more hours and 3 pit stops we reached home. The choo chas were all forgotten. Waiting for my ligaments to heal so that I can start on the drive to Malsejh.

My drives might be shelved for a while. But the log will go on. Coming up next. Nasik! The land of a 1000 temples.

[ampere]

Snaps look clear. All those center snaps of the road did you actually get out or the windshield is sqeaky clean?

[MX6]

Just a couple of photos of the last set I got down. Rest all is bang through my windshield.
How else do you expect it to be with 30 hours of rains?

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Felt bad after reading your leg story.

As per your logue, your trip is washed in rains but i am sure, you will be at diveagara again soon.

For all from pune/mumbai,

Ideally, diveagar and harihareshwar trip should be like---

day1
pune/mumbai-reach to diveagar in the afternoon-stay at mtdc exotica-enjoy local food/beach/greenery-drive on beach-in the evening, have gold ganesh temple darshan.

day2
check out hotel/resort after breakfast-drive toward dighi port @15 km-park your car and have sail boat ride to janjira fort and come back--drive to diveagar and have late lunch-drive to harihareshwar via coastal road to shrivardhan-have darshan at temple and enjoy black beach near mtdc-drive back toward mumbai/pune after sunset.

Originally Posted by MX6

Harihareshwar is a rocky beach.

Originally Posted by f1fan

One the way to the garden restaurant, a little after the sea facing cottages, there is a path on the left, that goes on to the side of a small hill on to a proper beach i.e. approx 5-7 minutes walk. Did you venture that side?

Harishareshwar is not rocky.
As f1fan quoted, there is black beach.

Originally Posted by f1fan

Compared to Ganapatipule, the Sea facing Cottages in Harihareshwar were not that great bcos you really cant see the sea from there.

yeah,
Ganapatipule's a/c konkani huts no 1, 2 and 3 are at great location with great view.
Compared to Ganapatipule mtdc resort, Harihareshwar resort is nothing.

Originally Posted by MX6

No prize for guessing what I ordered.
My wife started laughing. "You think we are flying air-asia to Malaysia is it", she asked me.
Attachment 396092

misal pav!!!
you made me hungry!!!

Originally Posted by MX6

Guhagar is an even better beach.
Ganapatipule was a nice beach. But too much crowd.

Guhagar and Ganapatipule are not safe beach.
Dive agar is safest beach in maharashtra.

[MX6]

I will get better soon AP. Will take atleast 6 weeks. But should be able to drive to make it to Kaas.

And yes, My wife loved Ganapatipule the most. I intend to do dive agar after the rains. Sometime in Oct. But the exotica resort is beyond my budget. I might not make any bookings. Will just drive down to see which is good and move in to something around 1000 bucks!

Due to my leg, I've put malsejh drive on hold. I was planning it next weekend. But now on hold.

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by MX6

1]I intend to do dive agar after the rains. Sometime in Oct. But the exotica resort is beyond my budget. I might not make any bookings. Will just drive down to see which is good and move in to something around 1000 bucks!

2]Due to my leg, I've put malsejh drive on hold. I was planning it next weekend. But now on hold.

Man,
you are talking of budget!!!:

There are really very good homestay options at diveagar.
its kelkar's place.

Dive agar is best in nov/dec/jan and this year, i will surely hit diveagar again during x-mas holidays.

Last time, i was there with other bachelor son-in laws of my father-in-law when all respective daughters were at their father's place in marathwad region and it was simply DHAMAAL.

Next thursday , i will hit Bhimashankar, Shivneri fort and may be Malshej with my in laws.

[MX6]

AP Sir. I'm extremely budget conscious. Off late with prices shooting through the roof, I'm feeling a pinch in my pocket. And current job is not a well paying one.

I just did an analysis of my last 1 years credit card expense.
I've spent 6 times more on petrol than hotel rooms.
That should give an idea!

If I don't find an ok paying job soon, I might have to stop my travels. That way the ligament tear has saved me from bankruptcy for next 2 months

[arindamray]

Originally Posted by MX6

That way the ligament tear has saved me from bankruptcy for next 2 months

everything happens for good
nice way to look at life

[naren_gs1]

Originally Posted by ASHISHPALLOD

Dive agar is safest beach in maharashtra.

Could not have agreed more. A very shallow beach with kms of long and wide stratch. You can have half a sq km available for the family!

[SDP]

@MX6, Sorry to read about your foot. Take good rest and get well soon.

The last set of snaps were fantastic.

[MX6]

Waiting for the leg to heal is giving me time to learn new tricks in photoshop.

I thank Laluks for introducing me to a term called tone mapping. When I tried googling for that, I stumbled upon another thing called levels. Looked easy for image processing novices like me

Here's a look of evening sky from my place in Pune. This is for my friend aargee who loves sunsets.

The nasik photos will have a bit of image processing done!

[ASHISHPALLOD]

Originally Posted by MX6

I stumbled upon another thing called levels. Looked easy for image processing novices like me
Here's a look of evening sky from my place in Pune. This is for my friend aargee who loves sunsets.

I too love that blue blue sky in the photo after pp but wait....
...the photo looks like painting rather than actual photo.

The photo looses the soul and charm after too much pp.

[MX6]

AP, the sky and clouds where like that only. I'd used CPL filters in my camera to get blue skies. The setting sun made the clouds reddish.
With the levels options, I cut out the pale lights of the buildings and made them look like silhouttes. That day the sky was looking like a painting actually!
The reds are enhanced.
On second look, it does look artificial.

[vrprabhu]

Terrific adventure you had there, MX6.

Get well soon.. I am sure the memories of the trip will soothe the pain in the ankle!!

[Abhay]

MX6, hope you have a quick recovery - and you are back on the road soon!