HomeBlog Beach Trek Across Arabian Sea: Gokarna to Honnavar!
Beach Trek Across Arabian Sea: Gokarna to Honnavar!
Written by Aminur Rashid
Tuesday, 06 March 2007
Manju,
my friend since my first team building workshop always comes up with
nice ideas of ruining your weekend comfort. This time, he again come up
with this idea of going on beach trek along the coast line of Arabian
Sea. Beach-Trek? Where? From Gokarna to Honnavar was his reply. And
where is this Gokarna? Why can't we go to Goa (again) if at all we have
to be on beach. Well you will forget Goa, once you visit Gokarna was
his reply. Hey, just a sec! I will forget about Goa? Man! Are you in
senses? Goa is not just a place... What about water sports, what about Sailing? And more important what about babes? By this time Manju was like $#%#^$%#$. Finally after more arguments, I had to agree to him yet another times.
So
it was decided. We will leave on Thursday evening, (March 1st), will
cross Honnavar and will reach Gokarna by bus. And then will trek all
the way back to Honnavar from 2nd to 4th march.
And after confirming Manju, that I am in for the trip, I did a bit of Googling on Gokarna and found the following facts :
Ref-1:
"Gokarna is situated on the west coast on India, south of Goa. Go-karna
literally means "cow's ear" in Hindi and Sanskrit. This name is
believed to have been derived from mythological legend, in which Lord
Shiva emerges from an ear of a cow. This village is formed in between
two rivers, which flow together and form a landmass shaped like a cow's
ear.
This place is
famous for religious Hindu rituals, as well as it's wonderful (and not
so secluded anymore) beaches. These beaches are separated by cliffs"
Ref-2"
Gokarna situated in coastal Karnataka is 453 kms from Bangalore and
about 55 kms from Karwar, the District headquarters. It is described as
a Shaiva Centre, as important as Kashi and Rameshwar. History has it
that the Atmalinga brought by Ravana got struck here and his efforts to
extricate it resulted in his throwing the coverings of the Linga to
Dhareshwar, Gunavanteshwara, Murdeshwar and Shejjeshwar temples (the
last places is very near Karwar).
The
Mahabaleshwara is one of the major temples here. The deity here is
two-armed, standing, and atleast 1500 years' old. The Bhadrakali and
Venkataramana temples, Kotiteertha tank etc., are other holy places
here. Gokarna is also famous for its beautiful virgin beaches and
breathtaking landscape"
Map of the area
So
with all the references, printouts (oh software buggers) of the
area/route we all gathered at Majestic KSRTC bus stop before the
departure. We were all together 10 of us, and out of them, I knew only
Manju before hand. But then we were all guys and guys normally have
common interests and talks. So it was not at all difficult to know each
other.
I
have this habit of getting sound sleep in bus/trains and so I slept the
moment bus started from majestic and got up only in Gokarna ( with few
breaks in between)
At
Gokarna, we book two rooms in a near by hotel, to freshen up. Hotel
owner, asked us, where you have to go, from here. We said, Honnavar. He
said, you can take a bus back to Honnavar. (Wise advice??). No sir, we
want to walk all the way to Honnavar. But why walk back, when you have
got buses available? He was confused. We also didn't spent much time,
in clearing the doubts of that old man.
So
it was all set. We left the hotel, at around 10 AM, and reached the
market area. Had our light breakfast. And here we go. We left for
Gokarna beach.
Before reaching the beach, we stopped at Mahabaleshwara temple. Some of us performed the Pooja
at the temple, pleased the priest (and hopefully the Almighty) . We
left the temple and went to the Gokarna beach crossing the market. And
yes, we didn't even thought once to buy any energetic "grass" from the
market on our way.
Img: Gokarna beach, when we entered and Gokarna beach, from the hill
We
had to climb up the hill, at the end of Gokarna beach to reach the
Kudle beach. But before we start climbing, how can I leave a chance to
catch the starting point in the camera. ;-)
(a view from hill top)
We
crossed the hill to reach Kudle beach. Crossing the hill was not as
easy as typing "we crossed the hill". It was the first hill on our way,
and since we started late (around 11), sun was already drenching us
fast. But as the couplet goes "Abhi ishq ke imtehaaan aur bhee hai..."
we didn't care for our initial fatigue. We tried to soothe ourself by
the picturesque beauty all around. Besides, the feeling that this is
just the first hour of our three day long trek, kept us going.
We
kept on walking, and never felt like stopping at Kudle beach. We
crossed one more hillock and reached the top of "OM" beach. We took
rest in the shade (apparently an auto stand also exist there, for those
who directly come to Om beach via road)
All of us had, a glass of "neembu pani" and some of us had the pleasure to have Mumbai's famous Bhel in this remote place of Karnataka. (Effect of Globalization, I must say!! ).
We
came down to Om beach, had a small break again, from walking to enjoy
the water just at the begining of the beach, and then started again. Om
beach, due to its accessibility from road, is populated mostly by Desi junta.
We took out the football we were carrying and played it all along the
beach, while walking. It was fun, and at the same time, it refreshed us.
I had read that Om beach gets its name from its OM shape, which is best visible from its adjoining hills.
We climbed another hill at the end of Om beach. Half way, on the hill we found a foreigner (real firang kinda) with his half head shaven, half moustache shaven, and wearing a half cut langoat (that's
what I call that inner wear in Hindi). He tried to guide us and was
pointing towards some other way, but then suddenly said, oh but you
guys are young and can go from this side as well. And then he went back
again, to his group of girls. I was like, hello, first get your structure correct, you "half-shaven" man and then think of guiding us.
We
kept on moving, and the view from the mountain top, continues to amaze
us. We reached the half moon beach. A small, but yet another times, a
picturesque beach.
We
stopped at the first shack, just after getting down from the hill. We
ordered for some cold-drinks, and some of ordered for beer, which they
wanted to carry for the evening. And we were shocked to get the reply "Can not sell beer to the Indians"
from shack owner/caretaker. And why the hell is that? Police do not
want us to sell beer to Indians, was another reply. We concluded that,
he was just making excuses, so that he can sell those beers to firangs,
at a much higher rate. We decided to move on, after letting the shack
owner know, that we are gonna take the matter with the police itself.
While crossing the halfmoon beach, we saw, a Sadhu baba, helping a firang couple attain Nirvana, and 'eternal' peace by providing them, few puffs of Grass/Weed.
We
crossed the hilly terrain, after the half moon beach, to reach the
Paradise beach. We enquired, the first shack after the hilly terrain,
about the beer. We just wanted to confirm if Police have really
prevented selling of beer to Indians? Crap !! We got the beer and that
too at the market rate. We bought the beer, and moved towards the beach
area.
[I thought a click, with the flag in the midst of Paradise beach, is not a bad idea.. and hence...]
We
walked till the end of beach, and decided to have our lunch there,
under the shadow of a rock. The walk on the paradise beach can be best
for many, as on the beach, one can witness, a number of topless
beauties. For those who are not straight, don't feel disappointed. You
have a number of nude firangi guys,
lying and reading books, as if they have come to the beach, to prepare
for their terminal exams. But none of these scenes distracted us, from
our journey. We finished our lunch and climbed yet another hill, from
the tougher side (as that was nearer to the place from where we had our
lunch). We reached the top, to find a villager, a nice gentleman, by
the name Mahesh. He said, its better to take a ferry from here itself,
as there is a water way in between.
We came down again, to the paradise beach, as if the beach was calling us again :-)
Each of us had a bottle of Maaza
and waited for the ferry. Here I must tell you that, Paradise beach is
the last beach in the stretch, where one can find, organized shacks. So
make sure, you have got all your eatables and drinking stuff ready in
plenty. We waited for the ferry, the ferry which was nothing more than
a motorized boat. We left Paradise beach, and within 100 meters, the
boat turned, as if, it was going to drown us all in the Arabian sea. We
realised in the first minute itself, how the 'ferry' ride is gonna be.
Everyone prayed to their respective GOD. We shouted, we kept quite, we
thought of "not available" life jackets. With each wave, our reactions
changed. Finally we reached the shore, a hill before the Barka beach.
Mahesh, the 'ferry' man sent the ferry back, and took us to Barka beach.
We
reached Barka beach and the very first sight of beach spellbinding. A
small beach (around 60 m long), sandwiched between two hills, and
in-totality available ONLY for we 10 guys. Mahesh showed us the shack
which was made by the villagers, and said, we can use that for the
night. He also told us, that for mobile network, since the beach is in
between two hills, we have to climb up the hill, each time we have to
make a call.
And
then Mahesh left, leaving the beach for us. The first thing I did, (and
infact most of us did) is climbed up the hill again and made the calls
to let our dear ones know that we are all right.
And
now time for some water-fun. We all went into the sea, to have a sea
bath, to fight with the waves, which were increasing because the
evening was an evening just before the full moon and high tide was in
course.
Tides
carried away the beer cans put under sand (for chilling) with it. But
later had some mercy on those guys who bought beer, and threw back all
the cans of beer, after almost an hour and half.
There
was a natural pond of fresh water, on the hilltop and these villagers
had made arrangement to tap that water. So fresh water was dripping
down the pipe, and we had access to fresh water as well.
Manju
and team gathered to make the dinner for the night. Some of us, got
hooked to mobiles, while some just sat on the rocks, listening to the
soar of the sea.
The
beach was so beautiful, and the fact that, there were no one except us
in that beach, made me miss my girl a lot. I decided that, once in a
life, before our government make these beautiful beaches a tourist
place, and before the tourist screw the virginity of the beach, I am
gonna be back. With my girl. Only concern, then will be the safety. Am
not sure, how friendly these villagers and ferry man will
be, when only a couple decides to stay here at night. Leaving aside the
negative thoughts, I lost into the thoughts of being together with my
girl, on such a beautiful and unfrequented beach, and then suddenly
someone's voice got me back to the reality.
"Tea is ready".
I went inside the shack to have masaala tea.
It tasted so nice, specially at the end of a hectic day. Once done with
tea, we prepared our dinner and soup, had it, and then went on to the
beach again.
I must
repeat again. It was so romantic, sitting on the beach, under full moon
light, that thought of your girl is bound to come. And to add to the
nostalgic feeling, we decided to have bonfire. Yuhuuuu!! We lit the log
with the help of paper, and dried leaves/bushes around, shared lighter
moments and surrendered ourself to Hypnos & Nyx.
We
got up at around 6 in the morning, found our places for the call of
nature, freshen up and had the morning tea. I plucked a half ripe
papaya from the tree, inside the shack, finished half of it among
ourself, and gave the remaining portion to Mahesh (the ferry guy was
here in the morning as promised).
[Till the time, others were getting ready, I was lost in my own thoughts.....]
We finished with the departing photo session on a really romantic location (Manju, I have already forgotten Goa)
Mahesh
showed us the way, to the hill. On the hill, we had our breakfast.
Apart from breakfast, that we were carrying, we also plucked, fruits of
cashew, from the trees scattered on the hill. If I am not wrong, it is
called Geruhannu in Kannada.
Img: We having breakfast at the hill top, and Amogh giving us a demo, how to eat Geruhannu
Down
the other side of the hill, we found yet another beach. It was a long
stretch beach, which is known as Sangam beach (and also by Bada beach
and a one more name which I forgot). Its a very long stress of beach,
around 7km. Fisherman's houses were all along the stretch, and the
locality looked like a Muslim locality. Amogh confirmed that they were
basically the residents of the princely state of Mysore. When Mysore
fell to Britishers, these people moved to the coastal areas of Karwar.
There was a well of fresh water in the village, and if you have to
believe my words, you might not have ever had such a sweet water
(unless you are frequent visitors to hills where you get fresh water
streams). Amazingly sweet water. Apart from water, what amazed us was a
D-T-H antenna in one of the house.
A DTH connection in a remote village:
We asked, what about electricity? 24 hours without a cut, was the reply. I smiled and said, "India Shining" literally.
After
making sure, we had enough of water, we moved on the long stretch
beach. The same beach in the end is called as Kudle beach. We
off-tracked from the beach, and entered the village. Had some food, and
while others were having their snacks, I came out of shop to relax on
the bench kept outside. They finished the breakfast, and we moved back
towards beach. On the way, they started talking of something called as "Raagi Neeru".
I was like what is this? And then suddenly realised that I have missed
the drink of the locality. I went back running, taking some quick bucks
from Mahadev, to get some Raagi Neeru,
only to find that the shop was closed. I searched in the near by shops
and was able to find it. I got it in a bottle and tried it. It was
worth the effort. But when others tasted this Raagi Neeru,
they found the earlier one was better, which I missed it. :-( [Now for
your quick reference, you can find the recipe of Raagi Neeru here ]
By
this time, Manish, who got cut in his feet, while reaching Barka beach,
felt it too hard to continue. And sadly he decided to part with us.
Nihit, accompanied him and both left back for Bangalore. So now we were
only eight of us.
Walking all the way, we reached the end of the beach and then we
crossed the hill that marked the border of this long beach. Other side
of the hill was yet another beautiful, clean, untouched beach,
semi-circular in shape.
We
tried to cross the hill at the end of semicircular beach, from the
slopes, that were going inside the sea. But realised that it will be
too slippery than our expectation, and hence we decided to climb up the
hill straight away. We climbed the hill braving thorny bushes and can
see, a long stretch of Honnali beach from the top. Honnali seemed to be
a big Muslim locality, with tall Gumbad of mosque visible from the hill top.
On the hill top before Honnali beach:
On beach, we saw maximum number of boats. There was a boat by my name as well, Ameen[although
with a different spelling :-) ] We kept on walking, and walking,
crossed the beach, and reached on hill top yet another time. A new hill
and a new high, with old abandoned structure. Down the hill, we can see
another long stretch of beach, Kunta beach. We decided that we are
gonna spent the second night on this beach itself. We had our evening
snacks, took rest, and got down. We saw villagers playing
beach-cricket. (Cricket has deep penetration in this country).
We
came down, walked alongside road, get our water bottles refilled and
moved ahead. We can see backwaters, coming between us and the next
stretch of the beach. We entered the water and found that the base
within was of solid rock. That looked promising and we tried to cross
the stream. But after going through half way, we found that soil was
getting loose, and was holding on our legs. The villagers around there,
busy in cricket, found some time for us, and showed us the way, from
where to cross the backwaters. We crossed the waterway, from the
specific route, guided by the villagers, answered few inquisitive
villagers, as where we have come from etc etc. And then we walked and
walked till we met the sunset. Clicked the sunset in the camera, and
stopped for the day. The beach was sandy and windy. Wind was so strong,
that one can feel sand, coming and settling down on you.
Img: Sunset
We collected the logs, and dry bushes for the dinner. Manju and Mahadev tried hard to make a chulha out of sand, and then we tried hard to lit the fire. Odds were against us. It was windy, the chulha that we made, was
also not supportive. To add to odds, Manju was not ready to part with
Kerosene as he wanted to show us some antics with a bamboo, and fire.
But since, hopes were dying fast, we convinced Manju to part with his
entire share of Kerosene, and finally we were able to lit the log. It
was total fun. Once the log got fire, we managed to cook our entire
dinner and still the logs were burning.
Img: Team busy in making tomato soup After
we finished the dinner, the moon light tempted us for a moon-light
trek. We decided to go only for 45 minutes of trek, as Pramod was
feeling pain in his knee. We packed our things, left no trace behind
(specially of the inorganic waste) and went for a moon light trek.
Crabs!!
We found them occasionally while walking in the day, but in night they
were all along the beach. In numbers. In great numbers. And these crabs
are funny creatures. The way they walk, the way they run into the hole
on the beach all seems to be funny.
And
after walking in moon light for speculated time, we finally decided to
call it for the day. We went into our sleeping bags without knowing
that it was a lunar eclipse that night. Somehow almost all of us woke
up around 3 AM in the morning and witnessed the lunar eclipse. View was
amazing. Sea in front of you, lunar eclipse in the sky, and dew all
around you. We again went back to sleep. In the morning, the first ray
of sun, woke me up. It was after a long long time I was witnessing
sun's first rays. And how can I let this precious, rare event of my life go, without capturing it in my camera :-)
The two images of Sunrise. Clicked within one minute.
We
got up, relieved ourself, and did what we were doing mostly since last
thirty six hours. Walking. We walked upto the end of the beach, found
yet another helping lady from village, who helped us in providing
drinking water. She had to bring this drinking water from a distance
and that too from a Brahaman's well. Still she preferred to part with water. We were obliged to her. We climbed the hill top again for Ramanagindi beach.
We
reached upto Ramangindi beach, and we can see it from the hilltop.
Since we had to go down, and cross the rocks, through the sea (as it
was high tide still :O) and some of us were not sure of the grip of our
shoe, we decided to look out for another way. We came all the way back
to the start of the hill, and found a villager.
We asked him, how to cross the hill and reach other side. He said, either by bus or through rocks.
"What
about climbing this mountain?" we asked in unison, as we didn't want to
take bus, before the final destination. "No way" was the reply. We
decided to go against the advice of the villager, and
said "lets try" and followed the "water way" marks coming down the
hill. Following the water way marks, we somehow managed to reach the
top of the hill, but there seems to be no way to come down. And to add
to our woes, it was all loose rock. One wrong move, and your partners
will witness you crushing down the rock, at the bottom. Amogh, Nishint
were trying hard to find the way down, and they reached a "no day
light" vegetation area, full of red ants. Luckily they retracted from
that area before the damage. Somehow we found another waterway, going
down. But this water way was starting from 20 meters downhill and the
major task was to reach upto the watermark, braving those loose rock,
at an declination of 40 degrees. Somehow we all managed to reach upto
the watermark, and carefully managed to follow the zig-zag path (with
width enough to put your one feet only)
We got down to the beach. Again went to the villagers, for sweet drinking water. Finished whatever we had left to eat.
From
the beach, we can see the island of the Karki village. Since we had
return bus to Bangalore from Udupi (instead of Honnavar), we tried to
get to the highway (NH17) so that we can either catch a bus directly to
Udupi or to Honnavar (and then to Udupi). When we thought that we have
finished the trek and done with climbing, and when we started taking
things a bit easy, there was a surprise for us. The route to highway
was through a hill. And that was also very tiresome. Luckily the moment
we touched the highway, we got a bus to Udipi. Finally we left for
Udipi, with memories of amazing scenic beauty, extraordinary fun,
aesthetic charm, and all together a new and pleasant experience.
wow that boat ride reminded me of the one I took out to Hope Island in the Indian Ocean..you know the size of me I had to jump of the boat when we arrived.. ok coming back the tide had changed lol lol. but you look as if you all enjoyed.. and the pics and article are wonderful.. thanks for sharing with me.. muhhhhhhhhh Jen
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