It was Feb of 2021. Almost an year when Covid-19 pandemic has begun and almost stopped tourism, travel, fun! People were still getting use to new normal. Living with only necessities. Not worrying about hobbies and fun activities. Even thinking twice before going to bar!
In such times, we as family decided to do a small konkan trip. Konkan was easy choice as we love the people and food there. Kids love being on beach. Sandy and clean beach is all they need to have fun! There was no advanced booking of hotels and was going with 8 and 4 year old kids! It was adventure in uncertain times of covid!
We started from Pune and here was the plan outlined. However, it was on paper. It changed as we moved.
- 21st Sunday: Start from pune 7am. Reach Ratnagiri at 2pm. Lunch Wai/Satara. Dinner at friends's place. Stay at Sea Fans Mandoli beach, Ratnagiri.
- 22nd Stay at Ratnagiri at dafoldis. Visit Thiba, Marine museum, Ratnadurg fort, etc
- 23rd at Ratnagiri. Trip to pawas/purnagad?
- 24th To Ganapati pule Temple/beach/water sports. stay at Malgund beach resorts/Ganapati Pule?
- 25th Jaigad fort, Karhateshwar temple, From ferry towards Velneshwar and stay at MTDC.
- 25th Stay at Velneshwar MTDC
- 26th stay at Velneshwar. or back to Pune via Koyannagar OR Poladpur-Mahabaleshwar route.
On 20th Feb'2021, there was fake news that Pune district will have full lockdown due to increasing number of covid patients. This made us upset as we were planning but luckily had done no bookings. It was the time when I had thoughts to cancelling the plan but wife and kids have done all packing. They were ready and I made my mind. Worst case scenario would be to stay at random hotel/resort in konkan for 10-15days till lockdown ends. Luckily, no such lockdown was announced by state govt and we started out on 21st Sunday morning from Pune.
Day1: 21st Feb Sunday
We got ready for travel around 7am. Packed every piece of luggage in car boot area and back seats. Kids still forgot one of their toy bag which had beach toys to play in sand. We had purchase another set at beach. We did took home made food since we were not sure about hotels and food availability due to corona related mixed news about lockdown. Actually, all hotels/restaurants were wide open and welcoming guests on the way in Pune, Satara area so there wasn't any problem.
We reached around Satara area by 10.30 and took break for brunch. We had home food and ordered couple of Masala Dosas from hotel. It was tasty. Actually, going with Misal Pav or South Indian food is easy option around Maharastra. There is very less chance of getting bad taste. Kids enjoyed the Masala Dosa. We also tried Masala Milk at that joint and it was worth what we paid for 35/-.
We were traveling slow due to multiple bathroom breaks and naughty dramas of kids. One has to take right after Karhad at small village Narayanwadi towards Undale and Kukrud to reach Kolhapur-Ratnagiri road. Small patch of road was under constructions and took us few wrong directions to waste around an hour. Reached around 3pm at Hotel Sea Fans in Ratnagiri. I had called in hotel to confirm booking for sea facing room. It was one of the great view hotel in Ratnagiri city. right in city and beach front view. Mandavi beach is city beach and has nice chawpati view in evening. Our 4 year old just loved the view from gallery and was glued to window watching the view. We saw a white horse and his owner came on beach for horse bath. For kids, it was fun to see their favorite Maximus horse (from Tangled movie and famous Rampenzil of kingdom of Corona!) swimming in sea. Kids had snacks as they were growing hungry and would have not waited for dinner at friends place.
We walked on beach around 6pm and found chaupati was more crowded. There were Ganesha statue coming for visharjan. I didn't knew Konkan has two Ganesha festivals. February or Maas month is month of this celebration. We joined in Ganesha aarti and left the spot around 7.30pm for dinner. My friend Deshpande was living in Ratnagiri. His place was hardly 20min from hotel. He had specially invited for dinner. Dinner was full konkan menu including Tisara gravy, Prawns biryani, Surmai fry. It was great dinner. Food was awesome!
Day2: 22nd Feb
We went to Bhatye beach in morning. It was pleasant beach. No tourists, 3-4 guys swimming. Some morning walkers. Water was really clean and enjoyed the swimming. Kids played in beach with wife. It was fun time there. We also saw Zari beach temple. It was just before Kohinoor hotel.
We planned to visit Purnagad and Devghadi . We loved Devghadi as place is so different than usual beach. Most important play was by weather. It was started raining and sun was hiding behind the clouds. It was beautiful weather. One must plan for this place. It's like small island formed within rocky sides.
View is awesome and loved the timing of shower.
Day3: Towards Ganapti Pule
We started around 11am for breakfast at Mithali hotel. It's one of the best place to hae breakfast. We had stomach full of Dosa, Sandwitch, fries and started towards Ganapati Pule. View on Aare-Ware beach was awesome! We reached Ganapti temple at 1pm. Temple was on break to do cleanup and sanitation. It was too hot to go out on beach so we decided to check Prachin Konkan and Magic garden which is not far from temple. Kids enjoyed magic show and other activities. Had nice snacks at Prachin Konkan food stall. It's worth every penny.
Day 4:
Visited Thiba palace in morning and left for Jaigad fort. We reached fot base at noon 2pm. Since it was cloudy, we didn't had trouble exploring the fort. View from fort is wonderful. We also visited small Karhateshwar temple behind the JSW Energy plant. Place has natural source sweet water at the base near sea shore.
We reached the ferry port around 4pm and took feery ticket of 160/- to cross the sea. This ferry route helps reduce road journey for 100+ km. This was great time saver. We were able to reach Velneshwar MTDC resoirt at 5.30pm and booked room on the spot. Place had great view of sea!
Day 5:
We started from Velneshwar and travalled back to home via Mahabaleshwar road. Road was nice and we spent some time for shopping at Mapro garden. Broguht 2-3 kg of strawberry. Kids ate those strawberries for next 2-3 days and had great time!
It was indeed great trip and without much of planning and booking! Konkan always surprize on any visit!
