Tarkarli was my dream destination from last two years. I was very
much fascinated after looking the brochure of Tarkarli from MTDC. I had
collected lots of information about Tarkarli and other places near Tarkarli. My
intention visiting Tarkarli was to see the Konkan coast, eat lots of fish and
Sol Kadhi, Snorkeling and see the Sindhudurg Fort. I had made up my mind that,
even if no one joins me for the trip, I will be going all alone to see the
beauty.
Tarkarli is around 550kms by road from Mumbai. I took Mandovi
Express on 2nd May 2008 to reach Kudal Station. As usual, the train departed
late from CST station and could not cover up the distance as there is a single
track on Konkan Railway. Even though the train was late, I was not bored in the
train, as I got a very good company of an Indian Navy officer named Amrujkar. He
works as a Commander on INS Talwaar and
flies the Indian Navy Helicopter. I got loads of information about the Indian
Naval ships and the technology used by the same, Radio Communication and much
more. The train needs to wait at certain places for the other train to pass. The
train was supposed to reach Kudal station at 16:30hrs but it was late by 3
hours. I got down and reached Kudal ST stand but could not get a direct ST bus
to Malvan as Tarkarli is 6 kms from Malvan. So, had to take the Kankavli bus and
got down at Kasaal. Luckily, the Ratnagiri-Malvan ST bus was late by some time,
so I could reach Malvan by that bus. I reach Malvan bus stand late in the night
at 21:15hrs. Finally, somehow I managed to reach my hotel at Tarkarli by an
Auto-Rickshaw.
The hotel owner Mr. Gajanan.Kubal. is a superb person I
met in this trip. He just asked me to get fresh and have the dinner. That is
what we call "Atithi DevoBhava". He offered me Veg and Non-Veg food option. I
said, How can I think of having veg diet in Konkan? I simply want to eat Fish
and Sol Kadhi.
The next day i.e. on 3rd May, I woke up early and went to the
Tarkarli beach. I saw a group of people pushing the boat into the sea to go for
a fresh catch for the day. Within some time, the boat was deep in the sea. There
were many small and medium sized boats on the beach and also there were some
tourists for early morning walk. I took the breakfast and headed to the Tarkarli
Water Sports Jetty. Later, I went to Malvan Jetty and headed to Sindhudurg Fort
by boat. You have to shell out Rs 27(return fare) to visit the fort. You can
see the only temple in India of Shivaji Maharaj. The temple is known as
Shivrajeshwar Mandir and was built by his son, Rajaram Maharaj. The sword placed
near the statue weighs 2.5kgs and is 3.5ft long. It is removed from the cover
once in year on the auspicious day of Vijaya Dashmi(Dassera). You will also
find a coconut tree with two branches within the vicinity of the fort. There
around 18-20 houses within the fort and the entry and the exit to the fort is
restricted during the monsoon. You will also find the foot and hand print of
Shivaji Maharaj as soon as you enter the fort. There is not much to see on the
fort as the fort is no more maintained, just like other forts and the outer wall
is becoming weak due to the strong sea waves.
I returned back to the Malvan Jetty and enquired about the most
interesting Snorkeling.
MTDC has started Snorkeling near Sindhudurg as the water clear there. Scuba
Diving acitivity will be started very soon. MTDC charges Rs 250 for a good 20-30
minutes of snorkeling. The best part of this activity is, the non swimmers can
also enjoy this activity. The divers here are of great help and they take great
efforts for the tourists to enjoy snorkeling. Snorkeling can be enjoyed from
9am-3pm. I was able to see at least 4-5 varieties of fish and the corals here.
You can enjoy the fresh sea food near the Malvan jetty. Malvan market is closed
from 1pm-4pm. You can get the Cashewnuts(Kaaju), Aambaa(Mango) Poli, Kokam
and Aawla Syrup and much more.
Later, in the evening I went for Devbagh backwaters, Bhogwe
Beach and other small islands near Bhogwe beach. I simply cannot express the
view of these places. Bhogwe beach is a place where some scenes of the famous
Oscar nominated Marathi film “Shwaas” were shot. I was not lucky to see the
Dolphins near Devbagh. You can enjoy the Devbagh Backwaters, Bhogwe Beach,
Dolphin view and other small islands by paying Rs 600, which is worth
watching.
On Sunday i.e. on 3rd May I again tried my luck to
check the availability of the Dolphins, but could not. But I was happy to see
the localites setting up the weekly Sunday bazaar to sell the mangoes, Fish,
vegetables etc. The people in Konkan are very kind at heart and very very
cooperative. At around 9:00am I left Tarkarli and headed to Kankavli and then
Kolhapur via Phonda Ghat route, which is again a beautiful place. Planning to
visit Phonda Ghat during monsoon.
You can check the beautiful images at https://picasaweb.google.com/vu2sfh/Tarkarli
For Water Sports and Beach facing resort at Tarkarli, you can
contact Mr. Gajanan Kubal at 99605-04491
For detailed information regarding Snorkeling, you contact
Mr. Sunil Sarang at 94207-38425
Thanks and Regards.