Deep Dive to Malvani Ocean

To be honest, Goa has always been one of my favorite holiday destinations, but one of my friends who hails from Ratnagiri recommended this beautiful place. About 70 km before Goa lies an old city with history of glorious past and the destination of the future. A long coastline and pristine clear waters make this beach ideal for a romantic escape. On a clear day, one can see the bed unto a depth of 20 ft. It is gaining popularity due to plethora of water sports available here at affordable rate.

Ideal for water sports and adventure lovers, the State's first International Scuba Diving Training centre is situated right here in Tarkarli. It boasts of 350 years old Sindhudurg Fort, built by Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj welcomes on the frontier of the sea. You can be a lazy tortoise at the beautiful beaches.

The place doesn’t have many hotels and big resorts but offers good homely stay right at the beach. For adventures, one can head to Tsunbami Island to enjoy water sports like Paragliding, Jet Ski, Bumper Ride, banana ride, Scooter ride, kayaki. For scuba diving which is perhaps the cheapest and the best bet for first timers is very near to the Sindhudurg fort offers mind blowing experience. Once in Malvan, you can be rest assured of the great food here, the Rava Fish, the malvan Curries and the awesome Solkadi. Do try this amazing experience.

How to reach: • By Air: Nearest airport is Chipi Airport (Proposed) 3 km & Dabolim Airport in Goa. • By Railwas: Sindhudurg Station, but all trains do not stop there and connectivity by means of bus and rickshaw to Tarkali are not very good. So not recommended • Kudal on the Konkan Railway. This is around 1 hour 15 minutes by road from Malvan. Buses are available to and fro Malvan in every 30 minutes. Frequency less in the evening. If you want to go to Tarkarli directly, taxis and rickshaws are available from kudal station east. • You may get taxi at good rate after a bit of bargaining which takes you directly to tarkali beach road where you can find accommodation quite easily • Kankavli on the Konkan Railway. This is around 1 hour 30 minutes by road from Malvan. Buses are available to and fro Malvan in every 30 minutes. Frequency is slow in the evening. By Road: Tarkarli is easily accessible from Malvan by bus and rickshaw. Tarkarli is 475 km (Panvel Kochi Road, NH 17) and 576 km (Mumbai Kohlapur Road NH 4) away from Mumbai. Private, luxury and State Transport bus service are available from various parts of Goa, Mumbai, Pune to Malvan. • Buses from/to Panaji: direct buses run from bus bay #2 at the KTC bus stand in Panaji to Malvan, take 4.5 hours and cost 125 rupees. However, Malvan lies off the national highway (NH-17) so direct buses are infrequent (they also take a longer route). The faster option is to break the journey in parts - Panaji to Sawantwadi (56 rupees; 1.5 hours), Sawantwadi to Kudal (the closest town to Malvan on NH-17; 19 rupees, 0.5 hours), and Kudal to Malvan (30 rupees, 1 hour 15 minutes) - the total time is thus reduced to 3 hour 15 minutes. When returning from Malvan, remember that buses are infrequent (at least one leaves at 2 pm to Kudal) so take whatever you get to Kudal and take connecting buses back to Panaji as described above(all prices Mar '14). Don't worry too much about the names of the bus stations if it is too much, ask the bus conductor where you need to break the journeys.

Abut the Author: He is a marketing professional and passionate about trekking. He treks to many destinations in and around Maharashtra and to the east. Now -a -days, difficult to find time together but still manages to squeeze in some time to travel like this one.