The morning air was crisp & very few people on the road when we took off for a long awaited break. The place chosen was Dapoli; a beach side cum hill station, around 240 km from Mumbai.
As always, when we floated the idea of getting away from the city for some fresh air, there were lot of hands raised for joining. However in the end it was only the 4 of us who finally made it. Sava,Suhas, Jitya & I were determined to draw a gap between our routine full of boring customers, zero spaced traffic jams & whizzing days,
So on 11th October 08, Jitya started us on course to what was to be one of the most beautiful drives we have experienced so far. Jitya's penchant for driving helped us a great deal as that meant Sava & I would be spared of driving.
After a customary visit to the local temple we started at 6 a.m. and had reached Panvel by 7:15. We were determined to use only the map downloaded by Sava to add juice to our expedition. In all fairness it turned out to be fun. As per the map, we would be taking the NH 17 which leads uptoGoa and would be the taking route comprising of Pen-Mangaon-LonerePhata-Goregaon-Ambet-Mandangad-Dapoli. We weren't supposed to go towards Alibaug which we did and this detour added around 40 km to our journey (to & fro till the right track again).
Once we confirmed that we were on the right track again, there was no looking back! Jitya had already pedalled his Ford Fiesta at 110 km/h and we whizzed past exotic landscapes and lonelyroads. For those who are not too familiar with the highway rules, NH 17 is not recommended to be the training ground as it is 2 lane highway but extremely well maintained and very tyre-friendly. You got to have very good overtaking judgment and maneuverability skills. Well we had that guy and although I & Sava made a modest attempt of mastering the skills, it was Jitya who did the honours. For enthusiastic drivers, this would be one of the most desirable drives.
After zig zagging through valleys and watching numerous villages & hamlets on our way, we reached the city of Dapoli at about 1:15 in the afternoon. From here another 10 km till to Murud and our resort and we were ready to get into the groove of the place.
The first impression was good for all of us. Outstretched land with palm trees served as the courtyard for the resort and a small path with a smaller wooden gate lead us to one of the cleanest beaches of India. The cottages that were built in the courtyard were very curious ones; it was a contemporary house with slanting asbestos roofs and the houses were mounted on a wooden plank about 4 feet from ground supported by stands. A 4 - 5 step stairs led to the cottage doors. The cottages were coloured brightly and in good taste as well. We unpacked in our allocated cottage and after freshening up, we started for the much needed lunch.
Food lovers that we all are, we just could not wait to devour the Malvani food that we had ordered. I, of course, went for the veg ones - with egg. Sea food was yummy as told by the guys but we allparticularly enjoyed the sol kadi. We emptied our exhaustion by taking a longish nap. In the evening we hit the beach and as all konkan beaches, this too was pristine. Very few people on the beach made it all the more exposed. Suhas & Sava entered the clear water whereas Jitya & I preferred to click photographs. Jitya had taken along his new SLR which produced great results. All the time we were of the opinion that the others should have joined us. As night set in, we went into the market place to prepare for our night round of drinks.
The dinner was equally sumptuous and this time again we finished it with sol kadi. We returned to the cottage and uncorked the vodka. We chatted about our personal lives sipping the alcohol. This time no cards as not enough quorum!
The night sleep was disturbed by continuous howling of dogs something which creeped us all except Sava who's snoring would have creeped the beasts.
The next morning we went on a Dolphin Safari which costs 100 bucks per person. The motor boat filled in 15 odd people including us and took us about 2 km away from the shore. Here we could spot the dolphins but not truly a fascinating sight as although there were many of them, but far away and not really the exuberant and jumpy type ones that we are used to seeing in tv.
We checked out of the resort at about 11 in the morning and headed for the next village for our lunch. On the way we stopped by an old temple which was completely deserted but extremely beautiful & tranquil. We stopped by another totally virgin beach and clicked our final shots here. After yet another filling lunch (I had a veg dish called valachi birde), we started for our way back.
We reached Mumbai at 8 in the night and lived the memories till we realised that it is the maniacal routine time again.
