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You can call it a day - When almost everything went wrong. We had a four day long weekend and I had suggested we goto Murud. The original plan was to visit Murud fort and beach in a 1 day trip. But all planning went haywire.
As per plan:
06.45: Vashi
10.15: Murud (11.00 at the worst case)
Had we been on track, things would have been fine.
Chronology of Travel
07.30: Vashi ( Full 45 mins delay)
08.00: Beyond Panvel. Stopped for breakfast
08:40: Restarted journey. This long break was going to cost dearly.
09.30: Reached Pen. Even with the A.C., the heat was becoming unbearable.
10.15: Reached Alibaug. By this time everyone in the backseat was thoroughly "basking" in the sun.
Sea near Rev Danda:
10.50: Stopped at Petrol Pump. Took 20 mins. break here.
12.15: Finally at Rajpuri village, near Murud fort. (Nearly 2 hours behind schedule.)
14.00: Back to Murud for lunch.
15.00: On Murud beach.
15.15: Off from Murud.
15.45: At Kashid beach.
18.30: Off from Kashid.
21.30: Dining at Belapur.
22.00: Reached Vashi.
Doordarshan of Murud fort
The Murud fort rests in the Arabian sea; hence you require a ferry from Rajpur village to reach the same. On Fridays, the ferry service is closed between 12.00 - 14.00 due to prayers. Effectively it means you can only see the fort if you come before 11.00 or after 15.00.
There are no facilities for eating; the lone hotel out there is extremely poor in service. We wasted 1 hour for food; but the huge surge in visitors coupled with shortage of manpower ensured that we stayed hungry.
So, we dropped the plan for fort and returned back to Murud for food. Whatever we saw of the fort was from the Rajpur wharf and jetty.
Rajpur beach:
Rajpur village:
Food, Food, Food....
The 3 hour break in ferry service matched by the spate of tourists ensured that all luncheon options in Murud were packed way beyond capacity.
This guaranteed that we would not get to eat food for atleast 1 hour. The hunger would surely become unbearable by then. The only option - roadside fastfood.
Zankhana, Swati and me were contended with Omlette-Pav. Others with Vada Pav, Juices, Milkshakes and Baraf-golas.
Tanmay in deep thought:
Thanks to the hordes of tourists, oil exploration by Reliance and zero maintainence by municipality, the beach is going the Alibaug way. The sand has mostly turned blackish with traces of oil. This has also led to change in the sea water colour. And all this when Reliance is only "exploring" - searching for oil. If they really start extracting, I doubt any beaches in Konkan will survive.
Abbas of beach with the Kasa fort to his right:
Dead Octopus, I think
Kashid beach - the day saviour
By now, most were turned off by the events of the day. No fort no beach.....hence decided on Kashid.
We reached Kashid @ 15.45. By 16.00, me and Swati were already in the sea. The rest (except Zank), trickled one by one. Zank didn't have spare clothing like Amit; so she didn't venture out. Amit came out anyways.
Kashid beach has mostly white sand; which shows it is largely made up of a crushed powder of sea shells. The sand grains are thick; thus the beach is somewhat young.
The unique thing that I experienced at this beach was the pull that the receding waves exerted; trying to drag you in the sea. The source of the pull is largely the 35 degrees inclination of the beach towards the sea.
We enjoyed a lot in the sea with Husain and me dragging everyone else inside. I think it was only we too, who submerged many a times entirely in the water primarily due to laying in the water.
Swati, Gayatri, Pritisha and Abbas did not venture out too ahead. Amit and Tanmay where somewhat ahead inside.
Zank was lazing on the beach bed all alone. I think the travel, the heat and the food had turned her off the most. Had to bring her to the sea. Although she barely came inside the water, she was the only one who clicked. Thanks to her we had photographs of Kashid.
Engravings in the sand:
Before departing from Kashid.....jst didn't feel like returning
As per plan:
06.45: Vashi
10.15: Murud (11.00 at the worst case)
Had we been on track, things would have been fine.
Chronology of Travel
07.30: Vashi ( Full 45 mins delay)
08.00: Beyond Panvel. Stopped for breakfast
08:40: Restarted journey. This long break was going to cost dearly.
09.30: Reached Pen. Even with the A.C., the heat was becoming unbearable.
10.15: Reached Alibaug. By this time everyone in the backseat was thoroughly "basking" in the sun.
Rev Danda: The fortified town: remains of the walls
Sea near Rev Danda:
Sea near Chaul village with Chaul fort of the hill
10.50: Stopped at Petrol Pump. Took 20 mins. break here.
12.15: Finally at Rajpuri village, near Murud fort. (Nearly 2 hours behind schedule.)
14.00: Back to Murud for lunch.
15.00: On Murud beach.
15.15: Off from Murud.
15.45: At Kashid beach.
18.30: Off from Kashid.
21.30: Dining at Belapur.
22.00: Reached Vashi.
Doordarshan of Murud fort
The Murud fort rests in the Arabian sea; hence you require a ferry from Rajpur village to reach the same. On Fridays, the ferry service is closed between 12.00 - 14.00 due to prayers. Effectively it means you can only see the fort if you come before 11.00 or after 15.00.
There are no facilities for eating; the lone hotel out there is extremely poor in service. We wasted 1 hour for food; but the huge surge in visitors coupled with shortage of manpower ensured that we stayed hungry.
So, we dropped the plan for fort and returned back to Murud for food. Whatever we saw of the fort was from the Rajpur wharf and jetty.
Rajpur beach:
Rajpur village:
Food, Food, Food....
The 3 hour break in ferry service matched by the spate of tourists ensured that all luncheon options in Murud were packed way beyond capacity.
This guaranteed that we would not get to eat food for atleast 1 hour. The hunger would surely become unbearable by then. The only option - roadside fastfood.
Zankhana, Swati and me were contended with Omlette-Pav. Others with Vada Pav, Juices, Milkshakes and Baraf-golas.
Tanmay in deep thought:
Short stint at Murud beach
Thanks to the hordes of tourists, oil exploration by Reliance and zero maintainence by municipality, the beach is going the Alibaug way. The sand has mostly turned blackish with traces of oil. This has also led to change in the sea water colour. And all this when Reliance is only "exploring" - searching for oil. If they really start extracting, I doubt any beaches in Konkan will survive.
Abbas of beach with the Kasa fort to his right:
Deciding on going to Kashid:
Designs in the sand:
Dead Octopus, I think
Kashid beach - the day saviour
By now, most were turned off by the events of the day. No fort no beach.....hence decided on Kashid.
We reached Kashid @ 15.45. By 16.00, me and Swati were already in the sea. The rest (except Zank), trickled one by one. Zank didn't have spare clothing like Amit; so she didn't venture out. Amit came out anyways.
Kashid beach has mostly white sand; which shows it is largely made up of a crushed powder of sea shells. The sand grains are thick; thus the beach is somewhat young.
The unique thing that I experienced at this beach was the pull that the receding waves exerted; trying to drag you in the sea. The source of the pull is largely the 35 degrees inclination of the beach towards the sea.
We enjoyed a lot in the sea with Husain and me dragging everyone else inside. I think it was only we too, who submerged many a times entirely in the water primarily due to laying in the water.
Swati, Gayatri, Pritisha and Abbas did not venture out too ahead. Amit and Tanmay where somewhat ahead inside.
Zank was lazing on the beach bed all alone. I think the travel, the heat and the food had turned her off the most. Had to bring her to the sea. Although she barely came inside the water, she was the only one who clicked. Thanks to her we had photographs of Kashid.
Engravings in the sand:
Before departing from Kashid.....jst didn't feel like returning
