[pjbiju]

Christmas time means vacation time. The kids usually have a week off. But then for us it also means the preparation for Christmas and the celebration of Christmas, with Christmas carol singing, visiting friends, making the crib and the midnight Christmas mass. Now this was something we were missing for the past few years. The Christmas vacation for the past few years meant that we were on a trip to some place or other.

But it is also a very challenging time to holiday. The entire country is on vacation and is in a festive mood. There are more and more people celebrating Christmas irrespective of whether they are Christians or not. So why is it challenging to go on a vacation during the Christmas time? Almost every touristy place in India celebrate Christmas and New Year in style and charge their guests for it. At many of the resorts in Goa, you are forced to pay for a gala dinner on Christmas day and also on New Year's eve if you are staying there. The resort rates also go up by a substantial percentage during those times. The hotels are booked well in advance. So basically if you go to a very touristy place, it is likely to be milling with people and will cost a bomb. Forget quiet and peace. But then I guess it is a different type of vacation and many people enjoy that. The crowded ambiance and the festive mood. I guess Goa is a fine example of this. And so we dashed to Goa around Diwali and had a short vacation then.

Coming back to 2011 Christmas, we had not planned anything in advance. One option was to drive to Kerala. But we finally cancelled the plan because of the tension that prevailed at the Kerala/Tamil Nadu borders. And then I started looking at other options. It was then that we realized that we had not celebrated Christmas at home for a few years now. So we decided to be at home for the Christmas and also for the New Year. That left us only a few days in between. My brother-in-law was coming over to celebrate Christmas with us. And coming from Indore, he has never been on a beach, never seen the sea in real.

So the decision was made that we would spend a couple of nights at a beach. The plan was to eat, swim, watch the sunset, play cards and generally laze around lying in hammocks. Repeat all these the next day and then on the third day drive aback to Pune. I made the bookings at the place where we usually have been going to, for the past few years. A simple place, homely food and a good family managing the place.

A word about my pictures. During my earlier trips to this beach, I never took photos since I too was being marinated in the salt water most of the time. This time however I wanted to take some photos to share with you all.

And so here goes...

The relationship of a thousand years. That is the story of this picture. The small sand grains and their distant cousins. These stones will one day end up as the sand grains. They must be telling each other the stories of a thousand years.




The sun painting the earth, watched by the moon and the stars.


The sunset


Reflections

[pjbiju]

Well, no prizes for guessing the beach. It is the Kashid beach. The beach is roughly 182 km from Aundh, Pune via the expressway. The route is quite simple. Take the expressway and then either get off at the Khopoli exit or get off at the Khalapur exit by crossing over to the far end of the oncoming side in front of the toll plaza. Take the road towards Alibag. And then just before Alibag, take the left turn that goes towards Kashid.

We started off in the morning in the Swift and reached our destination in time for the lunch after a leisurely drive. That was on Dec 27, 2011.

The Swift taking a break after the drive.


After a nap in the afternoon, we walked down to the beach. The sun was already getting ready to get itself tucked in.




The crowded beach.....


Basking in the golden rays of the sun


The sand, sun and the waves


The beach crowd


A bobbing head (if you can spot it)


A beach painting


The stones taking a final dip in the water


Squeaky clean green rock with its private pool


Bye bye beach


Getting the family out of the water is another matter


After much cajoling, yelling and pleading


Getting ready to go back to the room


Fading twilight


Finally ready to leave the beach...


The dusk of the first evening


See you tomorrow

[pjbiju]

We were back in the room. Had a quick shower and then had our dinner. We played cards till everyone felt really sleepy. We hit the bed.

I woke up in the morning and headed to the beach to see if I could get a few shots. There was a bus full of students from FTII Pune, for some project filming. They were setting up their equipment on the beach. I lingered around walking around like a hero trying to see if I would get that BIG BREAK. You folks are really lucky that they had no role to offer me.

After the breakfast, we decided to drive to the Birla temple a few kilometers away. The temple and a small hotel is all that the Birla group owns there now. Since no photography was allowed at the temple, there are no pictures to share. We walked around the temple complex which is maintained quite well. I felt the temple to be more a show of wealth than a place of worship (purely my opinion).

We got back to our rooms for our lunch and then back to our rooms for playing cards. Soon it was evening and we headed back to the beach.

The sandy beach wakes up quite reluctantly and warms up to the sun


Green rings ,,, what are they?


A close-up of the green rings


Riding into infinity


Want a ride?


At the Revdanda factory (is that a factory?)


Village en-route to the Birla temple


Village beach


Pondering over the glorious days


Posing for a snap


It was time to go back to the beach. And look what we found - the Banana Ride. We had wanted to do this on our visit to Goa during Diwali. But it was very crowded and we came away without going for the banana ride because of the long waiting period and short duration rides.


The ride of a life time. They were taken out more than km into the sea and then dumped into the water. I missed the fun since I had to look after the camera. These rides had come into the beach just the previous day. And they are manufactured by a company in Pune.


The tender coconut vendor


And I command thee, let the sun set! A self portrait


Guess what, the Sun complied with my wish..


If only the family too would comply...


Sunset


More sunset and twilight pictures.














The light you see on the beach is the FTII team shooting their film












-To be contd. with a final set of pictures.

[amitwlele]

Wonderful captures Biju.

Was surprised to see that it was not really crowded. I guess people were waiting for the New Years Eve to party.

Banana ride seems to be interesting. But they drop you 1 KM into the sea?? That got me worried.

Do share the contacts of the place you stayed in and how was your experience.

[honeybee]

Wonderful pics. I have heard about the Kashid beach but I was guessing it would be yet another crowded beach. It's refreshing to see something clean and deserted.

Yes, I too would like to know more about this banana ride.

What were the rates like? What was the accomodation like?

[PGNarain]

Wonderful photos Biju.

Me and my wife too had had taken a trip over the New Year Weekend to Kashid Revdanda, Korlai and stayed at the Vikram Vatika Resort you briefly mentioned in your travelogue.

I guess we missed you by a couple of days but it looks like you really got to enjoy the beach, when we were there on the 1st, it was crowded to capacity. but fun never the less.

Have posted my travelogue as well - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-land-sea.html

[mayankjha1806]

Beautiful pictures especially the ones in which sun is setting and the beach and water making it look magnificent. Also the rock on water/sand especially the dark ones are awesome.

The bobbing head is a human head 1x1 inches from the left top corner, i was able to spot that. Am i right?

[Lalvaz]

One of my fav getaways, close to bombay, yet secluded, with a lot of historical sites, wild life sanctuary, and a fantastic white sand beach. Love the Prakruti property there, although there are so many resorts there.

[parsh]

Beatufilu locale and equally beautiful snaps, rather the snaps are bringing out better out of it. Was thinking of trip there one of these weekends and your travelogue arrives. Thanks for sharing.

[MX6]

Long time - No see Pjb! And you come back with some stunning pics of one of the great beaches of Maharashtra.
Brings me memories of the meet we had last year or so in Kashid piloted by hvk. Must have been a real treat to your brother in law who has never seen a beach.
BTW, for your information, do keep an eye on velas turtle festival. Your kids would love it.

[CliffHanger]

Biju, I've been reading all your travelogues and it's always been a pleasure doing that. I just love your pics and your narration style.

Please keep 'em coming!

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by amitwlele

Wonderful captures Biju.

Was surprised to see that it was not really crowded. I guess people were waiting for the New Years Eve to party.

Banana ride seems to be interesting. But they drop you 1 KM into the sea?? That got me worried.

Do share the contacts of the place you stayed in and how was your experience.

Yes. People were waiting for the New Year's eve to throng the beach. So we managed to get bookings for 27 and 28 Dec.

About the banana ride, yes. They take you into the sea for quite a distance. You have the life jackets on and then a person who acts as your life guard accompanies you on the trip. He hauls each one back onto the banana before heading back to the beach. Anyway if you feel that you do not wish to be thrown into the sea once you have traveled out, they will not do so. They ask you if you wish to have that experience or not. Some of the inflatable bananas have smaller side supports and they get toppled easily. The one in the picture is a good one that will not topple easily. The information about the place I usually stay is at the end of this post.

Originally Posted by honeybee

Wonderful pics. I have heard about the Kashid beach but I was guessing it would be yet another crowded beach. It's refreshing to see something clean and deserted.

Yes, I too would like to know more about this banana ride.

What were the rates like? What was the accomodation like?

We did get some discounts on the banana ride since that belonged to the place we were staying at. I think the charges are something like Rs. 200 per person for the ride. Accommodation details are below.

Originally Posted by PGNarain

Wonderful photos Biju.

Me and my wife too had had taken a trip over the New Year Weekend to Kashid Revdanda, Korlai and stayed at the Vikram Vatika Resort you briefly mentioned in your travelogue.

I guess we missed you by a couple of days but it looks like you really got to enjoy the beach, when we were there on the 1st, it was crowded to capacity. but fun never the less.

Have posted my travelogue as well - http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...-land-sea.html

Thanks for pointing me to this travelogue of yours.

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Beautiful pictures especially the ones in which sun is setting and the beach and water making it look magnificent. Also the rock on water/sand especially the dark ones are awesome.

The bobbing head is a human head 1x1 inches from the left top corner, i was able to spot that. Am i right?

Yes. That is the bobbing head.

Originally Posted by Lalvaz

One of my fav getaways, close to bombay, yet secluded, with a lot of historical sites, wild life sanctuary, and a fantastic white sand beach. Love the Prakruti property there, although there are so many resorts there.

Is there any wildlife in the sanctuary? The beach is fantastic. Prakruti, I believe is quite expensive. Is it not?

Originally Posted by parsh

Beatufilu locale and equally beautiful snaps, rather the snaps are bringing out better out of it. Was thinking of trip there one of these weekends and your travelogue arrives. Thanks for sharing.

Go there before it becomes too hot. Anyway my first trip to this beach was in the month of April in 2006.

Originally Posted by MX6

Long time - No see Pjb! And you come back with some stunning pics of one of the great beaches of Maharashtra.
Brings me memories of the meet we had last year or so in Kashid piloted by hvk. Must have been a real treat to your brother in law who has never seen a beach.
BTW, for your information, do keep an eye on velas turtle festival. Your kids would love it.

I had missed that drive. And do drop me a message if you get information about the turtle festival. After seeing your posts in the Pune meet thread, I looked up the facebook group and showed the pictures to my son and wife. Would love to make that trip. And until I read your post, I did not even know about this.

Originally Posted by CliffHanger

Biju, I've been reading all your travelogues and it's always been a pleasure doing that. I just love your pics and your narration style.

Please keep 'em coming!

Thanks Cliffhanger. I have a few more pictures to share.

==================================

Swapnali Tourist home is the place where I have been staying whenever I visit Kashid beach. There are numerous homestays at Kashid and a few resorts. The prominent ones are Prakruti Resorts and Kashid Beach resort. But I think both are very expensive. My first trip (first trip to any beach in Maharashtra) to Kashid was in April 2006. We stayed at a different place then. The beach is about 3km long, flanked by small rocky hills on either side. As one climbs down the small ghat section (while coming from Alibag side), you will see many shacks and a lot of people. This is where most of the people coming to spend the day at Kashid camp. There are a lot of pine trees, shade and shacks for food. As you keep travelling to the other end of the beach, you will pass many homestays and a few resorts.

Swapnali tourist home is located at the other end of Kashid beach. This area usually have less crowd. They have 12 rooms on three floors. They also have a couple of AC rooms. Do not expect luxury. The rooms are clean and basic. Geysers are provided in the rooms. Some of the rooms have television sets with cable tv connection. The person managing the place is Samir Divekar. You can book the rooms through mygreatstay or by calling up Samir directly. Booking directly gets you the rooms at a cheaper rate than the rates listed on mygreatstay.

The food is home cooked. So do not expect restaurant kind of dishes. But we have found both veg and non-veg food to be quite tasty. If you need something special other than veg/non-veg meals or if you need something specific in veg/non-veg, you need to inform them in advance since most of the things have to be purchased from Murud. You can call Samir on Nine Four Two Three Nine Zero One Three Five Three. One needs to walk for about five minutes to get to the beach from this place. If you book this place do convey my regards to Samir. Also you need to pay him in cash since they do not have the facility for accepting credit card etc. The advance payment can be done via bank transfer. There are many other homestays in the area. Since I have no experience with any of them, I am not sharing the numbers here. If any of you find other places good and reasonably priced, do share your experience.

[pjbiju]

I just wanted to add another word about Swapnali Tourist Home. The rooms on the ground floor are a little old and cost less. The rooms on the first and second floors are newer and have better interiors and cost more.

I will put up the driving statistics in a couple of days.

Now getting back to the final set of pictures.

















Portraits








A final walk on the beach.


@everyone. Thank you for reading.
-Biju

[iSpoke]

Nice, snaps.
for me too Kashid was the first beach, sometimes in 2004 I visited it last time!
After seeing your post specially the pictures, seems now is the time to visit Kashid again.

I expected some Birla Temple pictures at the end, I possibly missed it on my visit. Please share it if you removed any.

[pjbiju]

The Statistics

• Pune (Aundh) - Khalapur (Expressway) - Pen - Wadkhal Naka - Alibag - Revdanda - Kashid :: 168.9 km
• Kashid - Birla temple - Kashid :: 36.1 km
• Kashid to Pune (same route) :: 169.8 km
• Vehicle :: Swift VXi (1.3)
• Occupants :: 3 Adults and 1 child
• Mileage :: ~17 kmpl with 100% AC

The road between Alibag and Kashid is not in a great shape although there are no large potholes anywhere. Anyway the road is quite narrow and one has to be careful while driving through those roads. It is also better to take the Revdanda bypass since the road inside the village is quite narrow. Also take the Pen bypass. The bypass is in a bad shape now but still better than going through Pen town.

Originally Posted by iSpoke

Nice, snaps.
for me too Kashid was the first beach, sometimes in 2004 I visited it last time!
After seeing your post specially the pictures, seems now is the time to visit Kashid again.

I expected some Birla Temple pictures at the end, I possibly missed it on my visit. Please share it if you removed any.

My first visit to the beach was in 2006. That was the first long trip with my new car. Photography is not allowed at the Birla temple. One has to keep the mobiles/cameras in the car. Nice place to visit anyway.