It was the month of April and none of us had any options of taking a long leave, so we decided for a weekend trip to the nearby sea beach of Bakkhali. We started on 14th April 2011. Our team comprised of 6 people, 3 each from my and Indranil’s family. We managed to accommodate ourselves in my small Estilo because of Tojo, the youngest member of our team, who agreed to sit the entire journey on his father’s lap.
Bakkhali is located on one of the many deltaic islands spread across southern part of West Bengal state. There is a 7 km long beach stretching from Bakkhali to Frasergunj with gently rolling waves.
This was our first on-road journey to Bakkhali, so before the journey day, we collected reasonable amount of information about road condition, Hatania-Doania river crossing from different websites. It is approximately 150 km by road from my place. The road runs through Diamond Harbor and there after via Kakdwip to Namkhana, where our car has to be transported across the Hatania-Doania creek in a special ferry.
We started @ 8 am from my place, reached Indranil’s home at 8.35 am, and finally stared from there @ 9.05 am. Soon we were free from the city traffic and were cruising towards Diamond Harbor. The roads are fairly good, although narrow and no divider in between for up & down traffic. Even in the busy road we managed to touch about 70-80 kmph max speeds. Due to traffic we reached Diamond Harbor @ 10.15 am; however we didn’t stop for riverside snaps in Diamond Harbor. Soon we reached Kakdwip and took a left turn towards Namkhana which was about 17 kms ahead. Although we had an idea of the road by seeing the map(Google map), we overlooked the left hand diversion towards the Hatania-Doania car jetty in Namkhana and drove straight slightly towards the passenger jetty. However call from some localites “van walla” brought us to the right track.
The Hatania-Doania creek in Namkhana is not very wide, hardly about 100 / 150 meters. But as I got to know, it’s considerably deep allowing the movement of ships from Kolkata to ports in Bangladesh reducing the journey-time for the ships and because of this, it is difficult to construct a bridge across the creek. However how chaotic may our country be, there is always an unstable equilibrium which delivers the goods. The vehicle transfer over Hatania-Doania creek looks amazing. The ferry timings are well laid out for passengers. The vessel has a lunch break from 12 to 2 pm(Low tide). Although we reached the jetty well before that, we had to wait for approximately 40 min due to heavy traffic. If someone starts from Kolkata early morning, he can reach Namkhana within 2.5 - 3 hrs depending on traffic. Soon we were zooming towards our destination which was about 25 kms away from Namkhana. It hardly took us 30 minutes to reach due to the excellent roads, although narrow, the surface is silk smooth. Finally we reached our Hotel Deepak in Frasergunj @ 1.30 pm.
After we checked in the hotel, I asked whether anyone would like to explore the beach. I and Indranil were the only one to brave the blazing sun of April at 2.30PM to walk about 500-600 meters to the beach. However, the sand itself was so hot by this time; it was getting difficult to walk on the beach. We decided to get back after 20 minutes. We again ventured out in the beach at about 5 pm. The beauty of Frasergunj beach was coming out to its optimum with the setting sun.
Next morning we made a plan to rise up early to see the sunrise. Well, we always try to make plans; however rarely can implement it, that too getting up at 4.30 - 5 am in 2nd consecutive day on a holiday trip. So, after a lot of haggling with my alarm, finally got up at 6.30 am. The location is really amazing; it is the last tip of land known as tourist beach in southern side W.B and thereafter the Bay of Bengal. We knew that there is an island called Jambudwip(An un-inhabited fishing island) nearby. The boat ride is about 2 hrs one way, but did not opted the option because of scary ride over bay of Bengal on small motorized boats. FYI, there is no jetty on the island and during low tides one need to walk in knee deep silt to reach the shore, hence discarded. Rather, we opted for sea bathing for a longer period. As soon as we hit the beach we found some crowd, however either side of the beach was almost empty. It’s really great to have such calmness after a week long hustle bustle of the city crowd. Our kids were so enjoying that it was very difficult to get them out of the water.
We again came back to the beach side in the evening. The chairs are put on for tourist to hire for Rs.5-10 per hour. It was ready windy and nice atmosphere with some weekend traveler crowd. Driving cars on beach here is prohibited. Although the sands are hard, but to save the ecology, no vehicle is allowed on the beach. The whole 2nd day was then a real holiday for us. Relaxing or sleeping in the room without any disturbance.
Next day was our return day and we had a plan to cover Henry Island. But unfortunately we could not make it this time due to some unavoidable circumstances(can’t explain).
We checked out of our hotel at about 10.30 am and after having our breakfast we started our return journey. It was extremely hot. As decided we had our lunch in Diamond Harbor(Hotel Sagarika), and took some snaps. We finally reached @ Indranil’s hone at 4.30 pm.
Some important facts & figures:
Distance Kolkata- Bakkhali: 140 kms
Approx travel time required: 3.5 to 4 hrs(depending on road / jetty traffic)
Bakkhali to Henry Island: 6 kms
Namkhana Ferry timings: 7 am - 10 pm(recess: 12pm - 2 pm), the fare for crossing a Car/Jeep is approx Rs 160+ Rs 30 toll(including loading/unloading).
Staying options at Bakkhali:
WBTDC Tourist Lodge, Bakkhali
Hotel Deepak, Frasergunj, (?+91 33 2464 0081, +91 33 2463 3203).
Last but not the least, mobile phone coverage at Bakkhali is quite good. My Tata Photon+ also worked reasonably well.