After scouting all the possible locations on the internet , we (family of 5 )finally decided to go to dive agar for the extended weekend from the 30th April 09 - 3rd may 09. Now , it beacame a herculan task to book an accomadation as all the hotels and resorts were packed due to the holiday season. Finally after innumerable phone calls and via via people , we managed to get accomadation in a wadiwhich was very close to the sea and one could hear the waves
A wadi is basically a house surrounded by coconut and betelnut plantations where accomadation and food is provided by the local villagers in their own house with seperate room with attached toilet bathroom.The route for dive agar looks like straight out of a picture book especially the at the ghats. After a five hour pleasent drive we reached our wadi.i was a bit apprehensive as to how life in a wadi would be but it was a welcome change from the regular city life and was quite an adventure for us .
The beach here was extremely clean on the first two days of our stay but sadly on the third day as the crowd began to rise the beach had all sorts of litter on it such as plastic bottles, packets of food, beer bottles etc that ruined the beauty of it.We spotted a lot of jellyfishes , crabs, snails on the beach shore.the water is crystal clear and surprisingly cold but the sand here is black and very fine with a top layer of golden white sand one can actually see the sea bed through the water.the sunset here is very very pleasing but be a little careful as the sand sinks at times due to the current in the sea.
Beautiful beache , lovely plantations , paddy fields , delecious sea food and finally the Suverna Ganesh temple is worth a visit. it is a safe place for families as well as couples but do not venture in the beach post 8 pm unless you are in a big group as it can get a little risky. We all had a lovely time at the beach and would wake up as early as 6 am and take a stroll to the beach beacuse by 11 am the heat is unbearable here. Strangely the weather post 7 pm is very pleasent and early mornings would be around 24-25 degrees but as the day progresses it gets really hot.We had our meals at our wadi owned by Mr.Arun Ghurav near Prathmesh resort.
Our room costed us Rs.500/- per night which was pretty decent giving in account it was for 5 adults. Food was extremely delecious here it was simple homecooked konkani food cooked by Mrs. Arti Ghurav.She is an amazing cook and an ever smiling super generous host and makes the world’s best Modaks filled with coconut and jaggery. Do try the Ghee at their home as it is homemade and they have a small cattleshed too..The only problem was the frequent power cuts and it becomes very irritating in the summers. Overall it was a very pleasant and refreshing change from the regular city life however I would suggest please do fix the rates of food items as they are more expensive than mumbai! For eg : Tea is for Rs. 7/- per cup , Veg meals for Rs.75/- & Non Veg Rs.100/-. A simple breakfast of kande poha costed us a steep Rs.20/- per plate which had a meagre quantity. The lunch and dinner is unlimited but the breakfast was limited and served very less. one can bargain and get the rates down as we didn’t do it hence ended up paying more. Do try eating the fresh sea food and desi chicken which is superb! The couple has two lovely children named Akshta and Omkar who are very helpful as well. Finally before leaving we had our last lunch at The so called Famous Suhas Bapat Khaneval which according to me is just overhyped . Though it’s unlimited vegetarian meal fixed at Rs.50/- per plate the food was not tasty. very mediocre and the bhaji was sweet, I wonder why! the Modaks here are priced at Rs.7/- per peice but were made of sugar and not jaggery whereas at Mr. Ghurav’s place we were served around 15 modaks and 15 puran polis both with their homemade ghee on two different days for a total of only Rs.100/-. One can avoid Suhas Bapat as its not worth it. Go to Diveagar, soak yourself in the sun , sea and sand!!live in a wadi and eat the local food. you will come back refreshed as we did!!I would recommend staying at