Nov 23, 2012 09:13 PM
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(Updated Nov 23, 2012 09:46 PM)
A visit to Dive Agar was on my mind for quite some time. I had heard a lot about the place and visiting this cozy coastal village was on top of our list. We finally made a trip between 19-22 November 2012. Yes, we stayed at Dive Agar for almost 4 DAYS! In fact we had plan to stay for only 2-3 days but the place is so great that we decided to extend our stay. Typically, tourists make 1-2 days stay or sometimes even a single day visit satisfies most. However we had never visited a Konkani coastal village and wanted to absorb everything that it offers.
Reaching Dive Agar: We took Thane – Dive Agar ST bus. It was a semi-luxury(Asiad) bus and was comfortable enough. The best part is, it leaves at 6:30AM from Thane CBS(khopat) and one gets least traffic due to early morning hours. Its scheduled arrival at Dive Agar is 11:30AM and it leaves immediately for a return trip to Thane at 12:00PM.
Accommodation: We did an extensive search over internet and to my surprise, Dive Agar had vast number of options when it comes to accommodation. You typically have an option of either a home-stay or proper resort. One place that caught my attention while looking for hotels on web was ‘Srushti Vila’. Website: https://srushtivilla.com.
The best thing about Srushti Vila is although it’s a proper hotel, it’s located right in the middle of dense coconut/Pophli plantations(locally called ‘wadi’). In fact, the greenery around Srushti Vila is so dense that you can hardly see the hotel from its entrance. It’s a 3 storied building with rooms on 1st and 2nd floors and a terrace restaurant(more about it in a later section) on 3rd floor. I would highly recommend rooms on 1st floor with beach facing view.
Some of the best things we liked about Srushti Vila.
The owner whom we dealt with, Mr. Abhay Sahasrabudhe(9423211689) was very co-operative. Allowed us postponing the dates without any deductions. Further, he really knows his business well and helped us finalize our itinerary.
It’s proximity to beach. Srushti Vila is hardly 200 meters away from beach, and if you happened to get a beach facing room – you can get a mesmerizing view. Due to thick greenery on the bank of beach you may not be able to view the sea but will be able to experience the proximity. Also, the property separating beach and hotel belongs to someone else and hence you can’t take that road(Although it is the shortest route to beach from hotel). However even if you take round route, it still is closer(about 5-10 mins) walk to beach.
We found rooms to be cleaner and well maintained. Staff was cooperative and very efficient. Running hot water is available twice a day i.e. Morning and evening.
Now . . . one thing that made our stay at Srushti Vila most enjoyable was the FOOD. They have a mini-restaurant kind of a setup on open terrace with AMAZING backyard view of coconut/supari plantation and you constantly hear the natural music of roaring sea waves and breeze. This magical experience accompanied with amazing tasty food served hot, makes your experience complete. We had initially planned to eat at Mr. Suhas Bapat’s famous restaurant(khanaval). However once we tasted the food at Srushti Vila, we changed our mind. Although most dishes served were simple Maharashtrian dishes – there is something about it that makes it truly amazing. We will highly recommend Bharli wangi+ Bhakri, Valachi Usal, Matki chi usal, various fish curries, solkadhi etc. The cooking staff is well equipped to even prepare Punjabi and Chinese dishes. Quantities served were generous and they do take special care in case you need to customize your menu for children etc. One more fact that helped us quickly finalize Srushti vila as our accommodation was the package they offer. In a per day cost of Rs. 1800/- they serve you a single breakfast and either a lunch or dinner. We found it highly economical as other competent resorts charge Rs. 1800 just for the stay.
Places to visit: As much has been already written about it, I will not repeat. However here are some quick points we may like to share. Staff of Shrushti villa helped us to great extent visiting these places and made extra efforts to make us aware about even the minute details especially for Hareshwar and Janjira visit.
1. Beach: Ideal time to visit the beach is 4-6PM as afternoons can be hot even in winter. I will recommend getting back to hotel before it gets dark, as you will find it difficult to trace your way back in dark. There are no street lights on the beach access roads. Also, do make a point to visit the beach in morning hours(during sunrise) at least once. I did it twice and found that there were hardly 3-4 people on the stretch of 6 Km beach. It’s a truly enchanting experience to stroll on the pristine beach with nature’s music and cool breeze.
A disappointing fact about Dive Agar beach is that it is now being invaded by commercial activities like paragliding with jeeps, motorbikes, and occasional four-wheelers speeding through the beach. I understand they are pleasure activities and tourists enjoy them. But eventually they contribute in polluting the beach. However, apart from this, beach is perfect.
2. Temples: Konkan has these hidden gems and what makes them amazing is often the location and serenity that surrounds them. Suvarnaganesh, Roopnarayan are some such gems of Dievagar. Also, make sure you visit Uttareshwar temple. We did made a trip to Harihareshwar. Make sure you take Shekhadi route for Harihareshwar as it runs almost parallel to beach and offers great view.
3. Janjira Fort: This is a must visit point if you are at Diveagar. A 30 minute drive to Dighi port and a approx 20 minute motorboat/launch ride will take you to fort. Ideal way to visit the place is to leave early morning. Reaching there might turn to be time-consuming since the boat starts only after all seats(Approx. 50) are filled and this might cause some delay(we were informed about this by Srushti vila). Also the return ticket kind of forces you to spend limited time on the fort. Once you reach the fort, you are give just 45 minutes to spend on the fort and you have no choice because the return ticket is not valid in case you miss the boat. Make sure you stay close with your co-passengers as the fort is quite vast inside(approx 22 acres) and in rare cases it’s easy to get lost in the ruins of fort if you manage to wander alone. It’s impossible to understand the facts about fort without a help of guide who charges anywhere between Rs. 300 to Rs. 100 depending on your bargaining skills. I will advise you to join the bigger group for guide which may cut-down the guide cost. Frankly, 45 mins is extremely less for a true history lover, but there seems to be no choice. Fort has few exciting facts and the topmost point of the fort offers great view.
Apart from these well known places, just wandering in the village(especially early morning) was a true stress-buster. One must appreciate the efforts by villagers to keep the place neat and clean and tourist friendly. Nature has offered it's best to Dive agar and the locals seem to value and protect it more than anything.
