No of travelers: 4
Type of Trip: Leisure
Mode of Transport: Car
Approx Expense: 8000/- for 4
Best suitable for: Friends, Family
Drive to Dapoli: Pune - Bhor - Varandha - Mahad - Latvan - Dapoli - Murud (200 km)
Roads fro
m Bhor till the ghat were not really good, but the ghat for a change was a pleasant drive. Down the hill we reached Mahad and started looking for directions, which would take us to Dapoli. We had 2 options…one from Mandangad and the other from latvan. Unfortunately we took the Latvan route…which had barely any road to drive. It was almost like one bullock cart ride of 30 kms. Finally we reached dapoli around 1 after 6 hours drive.
Something interesting struck our eyes as soon as we entered Dapoli..Coco fresh vehicles, a government-initiated activity which serves, cool coconut water..the most refreshing thing one can have.
STAY: http://www.swapnadeepbeachresort.com/index.htm
Staying at Swapnadeep beach resort in Murud was a good choice. Beautiful place with those typical Konkani wadis..coconut and cashew tress all around…and there you see the beach..just 500 m from where u r standing. The rooms were decent and clean. The restaurant served amazing fish varieties…which made our konkan trip worthwhile.
ACTIVITIES
Parasailing: One of our main attractions to be at murud was this. We all wanted to fly high in the sky along the beachside. And no doubts…it was an amazing experience. This should not cost you anything more than 300rs per person even in the peak season.
Dolphin Ride: I never thought you could see dolphins from so close, but people who took the ride before us, did see hundreds of dolphins in and out for around 15 mins. Their faces showed that they had thoroughly enjoyed their ride. We got into the boat, with all possible things like binocs, cameras, caps, jackets, longing to see the most social mammals. When we had just started locating the dolphins through binocs, our driver realized that our boat couldn’t go any further, closer to the dolphins since there was some problem in the engine. Still hoping that he would repair it and take us further turned out to be disappointing when none of them could start the boat. Almost after half an hour of sun bath, lots of phone calls from the middle of the sea, we were brought to the shore with the help of another boat which pulled us by a rope. After such an adventurous ride, we had lost all excitement of going back with another boat. We had better things to do ahead.
Harne Fish Shopping: It was another exciting thing that had taken us till Murud. Fish auction takes place twice in a day at Harne Port.. 10 in the morn and 4 in the evening. Ideally one should go for the evening auction but since we had to travel back…we decided to go the morning one. You get fresh fish like prawns, Surmai, Pomfret at dirt cheap rates. If you not carrying an icebox…you get them at the port for just 50rs. So for any reason do not cancel this activity if you are fish lovers.
PLACES TO VISIT
Harne Port : Other than fish shopping, harne port has a beautiful light house. You can climb up till the light house and get an amazing view of the sea fort Suvarnadurga. You can visit the fort by small boats that take you from Harne port and drop you back there in an hour’s time.
Anjarle Ganesh Temple: Road from Harne to Anjarle starts with an ocean drive and takes you up a hill. Earlier going to the temple was a fun filled boat ride. The bridge connecting karde to Anjarle is newly constructed. Anjarle temple is on the edge of the mountain so it is also called “ Kadyavarcha Ganapati”. One gets an astounding view of the blue seas from the top.
Drive back to Pune : Dapoli – Khed Poladpur – Ambenali Ghat- Mahabaleshwar – Pasarni – Wai – Pune (250km)
Around 5 we started our journey back for pune…the target was to be in mahabaleshwar by 8 for having corn sandwiches near Venna lake and have the most delicious, strawberry with fresh cream at Bagicha. But we did take our tea beak in poladpur ghat which was very refreshing with cool climate at the top of the ghat. Finally our food safari had come to an end at around 11 when we reached pune.
