Visiting Digha was an unplanned trip in the December of 2014. Few of my relatives were going for a one day trip and we were asked to tag along; extending it to 2 days and a half.
Location: Its a small - but popular(among the Kolkata residents) - beach city near WB-Odisha border. It is also a fishing hub with export quality of fishes. At a mere 200 kms, its a 4-hour drive from Kolkata and nearby.
Our tour
The hired SUV started off around 11 pm. After the overnight travel, we reached Digha around 3 or 4 am probably. A big blue-white arch/gate across the road welcomed us. Before the scheduled check-in, we stopped at the beach, a rocky one, for a view of sunrise. It was in the Old Digha.
Even though its a beach city, the air was chilly at that time of morning. Because of the clouds, we could have a clear view only after an hour almost. Meanwhile we had tea at a stall there, listening to the waves hitting the rocks and then left. After getting ready at our hotel, we went for the little Science Park, located in the New Digha area.
After almost 2 hours, we returned to our rooms, had a lunch little after and I retired to bed for a nap. Some of us went to a nearby village, in a silently remote place to see crabs. sort of timepass! They returned by the evening, had snacks and spent entire evening at the hotel itself.
Next morning, we had our breakfast and went to see Digha Mohana, the fish market. Freshly caught sea creatures were just brought and dumped there, for selling. It was a half an hour drive. The market was almost a small village. The market stretched more than a kilometer along side the beach there. The catch at display included stingrays, eels, lobsters, crabs as well as medium-sized octopuses and sharks; not to mention numerous other fishes like eelish(hilsa), pomfret, tiger prawns, etc.
After the fish market, we strolled at the adjacent beach, had the cooling daab’r jol(coconut water) and then tea and biscuits at the stalls. Returned to the Old Digha beach for a bath. It was too dirty to bath and already buzzing with peoples. a lot of peoples. Anyhow the ritual to take bath in every sea facing city was performed and we left for the next stop, Talasari which was situated in Odisha. Got off somewhere there; for a ferry ride to the beach. Even though in a hot mid-day, the entire beach was flooded with small crabs which just dunked in the sand when you approach. Be careful! They can bite too.
On returning, our driver put two crabs as a memoir in a small poly- bag just large enough. Unfortunately both escaped the bag in the bumpy ride back to hotel; who were showed their way out after we reached.
We had our lunch with crab curry and prawn curry included, just to taste them and then had sweets. Forget the lunch, the sweets were awesome. I don’t remember the names of those hotels but we stayed at Old Digha, just behind the beach, in the main market. While I stayed at the hotel, the ladies went for shopping - moms and aunts, I am unmarried:P - and bought local hand-made things.
Early morning, next day we bought fishes at Digha Mohana and then left for Kolkata. If you need fishes, you should go there early morning. (Just a tip)
On the way, there was Mandarmani beach - a narrow route leads to it from the highway. I didn’t know why but we waited for an hour at the entrance of the beach. Then I knew why!
It was the high tide time, when we arrived. And as the waves started drifting away, exposing the naked beach, all the cars in the line just raced. It was my first drive at any beach and the cool air was just refreshing. A superb end to our trip. After having daab’r jol we continued our return.
The final verdict would be that its a perfect weekend get-away for the residents of Kolkata. The place could nowhere be called clean and peaceful, however, it has calm locations like Talasari, lined with palm trees along the beach and New Digha is not much crowded.