What do 4 Days of Vitamin Sea at Gokarna look like?

Day 2 -

15 minutes away from the bus stand was the infamous Gokarna Beach where there was a huge herd of local tourists or maybe local residents, or probably a mix of both. But that is not where we wanted to be! The sun was blaring, my husband was losing patience, so I immediately picked a café and once again, started by foot. After 20 minutes of walking through tranquil tiny lanes roofed in green, we found ourselves asking the locals how to get to beach again. People here seem to be very kind and sweet to tourists. One kind native not only showed us the way through closed gates, narrow openings and paddy fields, he went so far as to walk us half way there. So we reached the location where all the Café's were located one after another and where the beach was scarcely populated. *Hallelujah!*

As the sun started its decent, we decided to climb the hill to get a bird's-eye view of it all. For that we had to head all the way back to the market and then further towards the hill, from there we had to pass through a temple where there were stairs to take us up to the top of the hill. This is the spot for amazing panoramas. For trekking enthusiasts, this is the way to get to Kudle Beach and further on to Om Beach, which takes about a day in case you happen to spend time on each of the beaches. We couldn't do it because we had to get back to the other side before the last ferry left at 19:00 hr (7pm).

Day 3 -

*Swim Time!* Our morning started with a 1 hour fantastic swim in the chilly Arabian Sea! The crashing waves and salty sea water got us so charged up that we sped through our getting ready process, gulped down our super heavy breakfast and booked an Auto Rickshaw for the day's sightseeing.

Deets -

Auto Guy - Sriniwasan

Auto Rent Rate - INR 1300

Distance - 150 kms

Spots - Mirjan Fort, Yana Caves

This was a pretty ready-made day for us. No challenging encounters as such. Sriniwasan and his compadre took us to the Fort first where we spent about half an hour and then headed for the caves. This journey felt infinite and posed a slight challenge for an Auto. It was more of an off-roading experience.

There's a half kilometre walk from the Entrance Gate to the Caves. Apparently, there are other ways to hike there as well - Stairs or something, I guess. This formation is basically a collection of limestone rocks. The caves are formed due to a river running through these rocks for decades. Now it houses a self-made Shiva Ling Temple surrounded by a forest.

Notes -

- You have to explore the Caves bare footed since you have to pass through the temple

- There are lots of monkeys, so take care of your things- Since you are in the middle of the Forest, there's zero connectivity

- There is literally no other way to get to these places without a 2 / 3 / personal 4 wheeler

- If you are early risers unlike us, you can club these 2 with another spot called Vibhuti Falls. I've read its quite beautiful

Day 4 -

*Final Day, Last Swim* This time we woke up earlier for our swim since Check Out was at 10:00 hr. Packed up all our stuff and handed over the room to the Resort Manager Govind, had our mandatory heavy breakfast and lay on the hammocks for a while. Then as it started getting late, we headed out the same way we did on the 2 nd day only this time we were travelling with this lovely French couple. These guys quit their jobs and just up and left to tour the whole of Asia over a period of 10 months. *What I wouldn't give to do that!*

This is a 1 km stretch of beach once you climb down a set of stairs and hit the sand. There are 2 cafés at the entrance of the beach while most of the action is on the other 'U' side of it past the rocks. We picked one shack and decided to spend the rest of our time there. Warning - This is quite a crowded beach, so swimming here didn't look all the enticing. So we literally just sat and chilled at - Nirvana Café. I personally found the waiters here quite discourteous and uninterested, but it could have been just my experience.

Before our return bus at 19:30 hr (7.30pm) we chose to climb a small hillock for a view of the Om shape of the beach. We didn't have time to go all the way up, but we caught a glimpse of it and even this much looked divine! Once we reached back to the café it was quite a sight to watch people doing these various activities like hula-hoops, volleyball, beach badminton, firesticks, frisbees, even a buffalo and a dog were sunbathing. Where else do you see that?!

We were lucky enough to catch the sunset behind this majestic beach scape for one last time and then we left for the bus stand. And that was it... In the blink of an eye, our 4 days customary Year-end holiday came to a wonderful end.

One Last Note -

- For those of you want to stay in the commercial areas close to Gokarna, Kudle or Om Beaches, every one of these shacks have rooms where you are bound to get rooms in the range of INR 800 - 1000 per night on the spot if you go Off-season. For the On-season travellers, be sure to pre-book from www.booking.com, www.tripadvisor.com, www.makemytrip.com because all the prices shoot up like rockets later

- Scooters are available only at Gokarna Beach in the main market. The prices vary from INR 400 to 700 based on the season and demand

- Try to rent cycles so you can ride them through the pretty lanes of Gokarna

- The food options here are very restricted even for a non-vegetarian, even the menus are very similar through-out all the shacks

I hope this post sort of helps you guys plan your Gokarna Trip. If you'll have any questions that I haven't covered here, please feel free to leave a comment and I will be happy to help.

Highlight -

The nights we spent on Nirvana Beach gazing at this blanket of stars, listening to the sound of the waves interrupting our deep conversations. I could do that forever!