Last weekend I visited Tarkarli beach with my wife and one of my office friend and his wife. We took a train from Panvel at 8.30 AM on 19th Dec 2009.
Luckily we got two side lowers births, which was an added advantage as we were traveling first time on Konkan railway. The scene outside the window was awesome and the service inside the train was also appreciable.
We reached Kudal at 5.30 PM and hired 2 Autos 300 each for Tarkarli Beach. It was an 1 hour journey from Kudal to Tarkali. It got dark when we reached there, it took 20-30 minutes to found our "Sagar Beach Resort". auto driver charged us Rs 60 extra for both the autos for that extra time and efforts he has put to find the resort.
Everything except rooms were good in that resort. We kept our luggage and went to the beach which is not more than 100 steps from the resort. The caretaker (Mama) of the resort gave his torch.
My wife found one star fish on the beach. We came back soon and had our dinner at the resort. The resort charge Rs 50 per veg thali which includes Sol kadhi, dry vegetable, gravy vegetable, dal rice and 2 chapattis. Rs 4 is charged for very extra chapati. They also serves beer for Rs 110.
As I already mentioned that everything other than room was good in this resort. After dinner when we entered the room, it was dark, dirty flooring, no option to lock windows from inside, dark color bedsheet, 2 thin pillows. The worst thing in the room was the bed. They have made the cemented bed. A thin cotton mattress over the cemented bed was not enough to provide rest to your back. It was a terrific experience.
Next morning we went out in order to find the bike for hire. I called up the guy (Hasrat) he stays in Malvan. We took a sharing Auto from tarkarli to Malvan (Rs 10 each). We collected two bikes (Rs 250 each for 24 hrs) and then inquired about Snorkeling, which was one of the major reason for us to visit Tarkarli. We found a guy named Yogesh, who took us to the village called Dandi. Yogesh made our snorkeling experience such a memorable event, that we will treasure these memories for rest of our life. He took us to his house and offered us water.
Then he took us in the boat to the snorkeling point near Sindhudurg fort. We were shifted to other boat in the sea. We weared our snorkeling masks and went in the water. My wife does not know swimming, still she could not control her excitement to do snorkeling, she suppressed her fear and jumped in the water.
Professional divers accompanied us. Next 35 minutes were like I was dreaming. There is a saying” Bina mare swarg nahin milta”, same without jumping in sea you will not realize the beauty of snorkeling. He charged us Rs 250 each for snorkeling.
Next day we went to Goa on bike, it was approximately 100 Kms from Malvan. There are to options to reach Goa from Malvan. One is a national Highway and the other one is a narrow road via Vengurla. We opted for the second as it was more beautiful and adventurous. We reached Goa in 2 and a half hrs including our tea break. Goa was as usual a cool place we spent our full day in Goa. We did all the water sports (Banana rid