Corrupt Paths to Maharashtra's Coast

Day 0:

I texted Siddi if he was interested in a bike trip along the coastlines of Maharashtra. Yes he said and off we were on Saturday at around 3pm after a heavy Butter Cheese Masala Dosa. One bike and 2 people on it with heavy bags.

Day 1:

https://goo.gl/maps/kXctkAnGg532

Last year when I visited Panvel - Pen - Alibaug highway, it was horrible. However, now with the new construction going on, its much much better and soon maybe in a year or two, it would be butter to reach Alibaug via NH-66.

We reached our destination Revdanda beach at 8.00pm. The road from Alibaug - Nagaon - Revdanda is in worse condition and if the Govt. is really bothered about it, please start with its repair. At some places they have to stop one-way traffic.

We stayed the night at ‘Shree Savali Cottage’. Its cheap here to stay, the rooms are very basic and the family provides you with meals if you like. The beach is just 100mt away. For some reason that day, we had a hard time searching for non-veg dinner and then came Sahyadri bar to the rescue. I would recommend this place to group of men. The food was really good.

Day 2: Session 1:

https://goo.gl/maps/JpgDU7gzqmT2

We left at first light around 5.45am.

The road till Kashid was good. We also met some friends here who came for a morning stroll. As soon as we left Kashid, the roads deteriorated, more and more and more. My friend Siddi had a real tough time on the pillion seat. And after sometime, even I had a tough time. It was really difficult to ride with all those bumps and holes. Watching the Murud-Janjira fort from atop a hill road was cool.

We were to take a ferry from Rajapuri to Dighi. We were here at 8.30am and the ferry was at 9.00am. We decided to go check the Khokari Tombs.

From here, some guy informed us to go ahead to Agardanda and take the ferry from there. We had some light breakfast and took the ferry with our bike on it from Agardanda.

Day 2: Session 2:

https://goo.gl/maps/WHJ3Wp9VkRM2

From here we headed towards Diveagar. I didnt have plans to see the beach. A roadside signboard read: Diveagar beach - 2km.. In sonic boom we rushed towards Diveagar and we were glad we came here.

Next on our list, Shrivardhan beach. As we were following the coastal road, we came across Mayureshwar Beach. This was not on our list. Many families were having a great picnic time here.

We headed further and reached Shrivardhan beach. We had lunch here. Prawns masala was done very well.

Riding further south, we covered Harihareshwar beach as well.

Time to take another ferry. Bagmandla is where we reached and this time we had a big ferry that can consume cars.

We reached the other side: Vesvi. From here we moved on to Velas.

Velas beach is famous for turtles coming here and laying eggs. Many tour operators take you here to see the turtle in action (Feb - Apr). Now comes a twist. If you google-map Velas beach, you see a Turtle festival icon. You hope to see many tourists here. Many turtles dancing and singing. Many restaurants and other facilities. But when you reach here, there is no human being in sight, forget about the turtle. You have nothing to eat / drink. Just a vast stretch of beach with turtle eggs protected in a cage kind of thing. It seems the turtles come around 6pm. I am 200% sure, this place wont turn into something ‘happening’ at 6pm. Avoid Velas (unless you plan to stay there and really wanna see what happens at 6pm), instead watch some turtle pics on internet, be happy. Plus it was very hot. I had to sleep under the trees for sometime.

Now comes THE RED ROAD - by Anubhav and not Stephen King.

We had Kelshi beach on our list, we moved further south.