I had been to a beautiful place called Diveagar on the 10th of December. It’s a beautiful place, with a clean beach and a beautiful Ganpati temple. The best part is that it is not overflowing with drunk weekend party animals.
This beautiful place is situated on the Mumbai – Goa highway and is about 4 hours drive from Mumbai, food and nature call breaks included. It is about 15-20 kms away from another famous beach on the Konkan coast, Harihareshwar. Diveagar is an ideal weekend getaway, only if you wish to spend a quiet weekend, away from the 24x7 madness of Mumbai. As you drive along the Mumbai – Goa highway, just after you cross Panvel, suddenly you start breathing easy, the colour of the mud turns red and you see tiny houses hidden among coconut and supari trees. You have entered the Paradise on Earth – Konkan!
Diveagar
This place like all the places in the Konkan region is blessed with a beautiful beach. Most people from Mumbai, me included, relate beach with bhel - chat walas, gola walas, coconut shells strewn around. For us, beach means MESS. Take a trip to Diveagar beach and a pleasant surprise awaits you. The beach is as clean and beautiful as the beaches you see in the Troooly Asia commercials. There is no trace of any food stalls, no merry-go-round or the ferris wheel. And since it is not a very well known place, the beach is not crowded. The only living creatures we met there were a few local dogs, the crabs on the beach and a few local kids enjoying their cricket game.
Apart from the beach, Diveagar’s claim to fame is the Pure Gold Ganpati Idol. This pure gold Ganpati idol, belongs to the Peshwe era. It was hidden in a box and buried sometime during that period, probably to protect the idol and its precious ornaments from falling into the hands of the invaders. The box, with its precious contents lay hidden in a supari field till it was found in November 1997. It was a Sankashti day, when that box was found. Talk of coincidences! An old lady who owns the field found the box when she was digging around the supari tree. The place where she found the box has been converted into a small shrine, the Prakat sthan. The idol and the ornaments are kept in the village Ganpati temple.
Diveagar is just like any small sleepy Konkan village. Beautiful beach, traditional homes surrounded by coconut, banana and supari garden and simple people. This place does not boast of big resorts or five star accommodation. However, the locals have converted their humble homes into bed and breakfast type accommodations. The place we stayed was an old and traditional style home. The owner had added a few small rooms in the supari garden surrounding the house. They provide you with breakfast, lunch and dinner at a very reasonable rate.
You can visit this place any time of the year, except maybe the monsoon months, when it rains cats, dogs and dinosaurs in Konkan.
We, (6 stressed out people, looking to get away from coding, reviews and the usual blah) had been there on the 10th of December. Stayed overnight, and were back in Mumbai on the 11th.
It was a refreshing weekend, away from the madness, the crowds, the pollution and most importantly away from work!
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Joyful Year ahead