Beach Trek - Honnavara to Gokarna : 13-14 Dec 2008

On completion of my Kumara parvatha trek on 29-30th 2008, i wanted to do a Beach Trek very badly.. i thought it would be good to Trek on a Full Moon Day. So the dates were fixed as 13-14 December 2008.

I started browsing for some good Beach Trek spots in Karnataka..
The most popular one was Gokarna to Honnavara trek. I consulted my ISRO-TREK team members ..Darukesh and Manu who suggested me two good route's
1> Karwar to Gokarna Beach Trek
2> Honnavara to Gokarna Beach Trek
I and my friend Abhiram chose the latter one as there was enough information in the form of Blogs for the Gokarna to Honnavara Trek (exact ulta path).
The usual season for a beach trek in the above two spots is between November-January.

So a trek team was formed.. we were 7 of us : Abhiram, Girish, Santosh, Karthik, Vishnu(myself), Bhatta, Madhukar.
Madhukar actually traveled from Pune and joined us at Honnavara .. 5 of us left Bangalore at 930PM by a Rajahamsa Bus and reached Honnavara next day morning at 930AM ..solid 12 hours.. Bhatta had already reached there at 830AM. We refreshed ourselves at a Lodge and had our breakfast in the Hotel Nearby.
Our plan was to start the trek at Haldipur ..a sleepy fishing village 6km North of Honnavara on National Highway 17. We got into a mini Van at 1045 AM which dropped us at Haldipur Junction (for 3 Rs/- per head) which comes immediately after 'Keregadhdhe Krishnashrama'.
We proceeded towards the haldipur beach, which was about 2km walk from the main road.
There was road till the beach and beside the roads were paddy fields..which had a few migratory birds.. Girish got triggered and Out came his Nikon D90 (D-SLR) ..click click click..
We had to cross a bridge which was built to ferry travelers across a wide stream of water canal!
We reached the Haldipur Beach at 11AM.. the beach was a clean stretch of Sand .. It was a hot Afternoon! We saw 2-3 eagles flying over our heads. Seeing it, Abhiram quipped 'the eagles are expecting us to faint and die coz of sunstroke .. i think even eagles know that it not right to trek @ Noon under the hot sun' ..we all laughed at his joke and started the trek!
The beach was clean. There was an Island majestically poised, surrounded by the seawater and was about 100-200 m from the shore. It was tempting to swim across to the Island like Swami Vivekananda did at Kanyakumari.. only difference was that he knew swimming & i did not and he had the guts to do it and i didnot have those :) [maybe in future i will..]
We had to cross 2 hills northwards from the starting point to go to the Dareshwara beach stretch. We started slowly, but steadily on the Haldipur beach towards our first obstacle which looked like an easy climb. As we started moving towards the first hill, we saw lots and lots of crabs, moving here and there. The beach looked deserted but for 2-3 boats lying abandoned on the shore. We took almost 45 min to reach the base of the first hill.
I and Bhatta went and explored the path to cross the hillock which looked a bit slippery. Meanwhile Santosh spotted a Snake behind the rocks on which he wanted to sit..and he called out "Russels Viper" loudly.. i then started feeling uneasy to explore the hillock for a path ..i wondered 'who knows what lays beneath the shrubs and rocks!'

He was able to take a snap of the snake somehow.. it was a bit blurred and we could make out the outline of the snake's body in the picture.

After carefully crossing the hillock laden with bushes and rocks..we came to a 300-400m long beach, we saw a Coconut farm beside it. It looked inhabited
We went inside the farm, and the kind landlady there gave us water, we filled our water bottles. Unfortunately the workers in the farm were not there else we would have got a nice treat of Coconut milk (for a small price, of course). We rested there for about 15-20 minutes. It was 1230pm by then.
We proceeded towards the next hillock , and climbing this one seemed easier than the previous one. So we started..only to realize that the path had lots and lots of ridges/rocks along the path.
Carefully we crossed the ridges and we came down to a small clearing where we rested. Santosh was feeling De-Hydrated, so we rested for 30 minutes under the shade of the huge rocks.
30 minutes were filled with silence.. by listening to the waves crashing on the rocks around us.. it was a much needed relaxation and a relief under the hot sun ...beside the beautiful Arabian Sea!
We resumed our trek uphill .. From the top we could see the whole stretch of Dareshwara Beach. We had to get down, and there was some sort of construction going on the hill. There were some workers, we took directions from them to get down the hill.. There were man-made steps to get down. We got down to the beach ..
It was a splendid stretch of about 3 miles or almost 5 km. After walking for about half a km we met some fishermen there.. it was already 215pm and we were famished. So we took directions from them to go to Kumta and moved towards National Highway-17. We had Soda in a Tea Shop.
We caught a bus and went to Kumta Bus Stand at around 3pm and had a nice tasty lunch at a Vegetarian Hotel for Rs 20/- per plate. Then we bought some Appy fruit Juice and took 2 Auto's for Kumta Beach @ 40 Rs each.

It was 445pm when we landed on Kumta Beach. Had we not taken a deviation at the entrance of Dareshwara Beach, we would have had to walk about 5km and cross a small stream of water to reach the point where we were presently about to resume the trek!

There were lots of Rocks laid along the beach.. i guess it must have been to prevent sea waves during new moon/full moon days. It was a very shallow beach..so migratory birds were present looking for fish and crabs to feast on!
We had to cross two more hills.
We climbed up a hill ..as i turned back to check whether all of us were there..i saw Girish still in Kumta beach..coming slowly.. i gestured him to come fast as i wanted to view sunset peacefully from a good viewpoint ! ..he came up to me.. i asked him why he was late and he must be fast..he merely smiled and showed me the photo he had captured of the birds and its reflections.. my jaws dropped! Bird and its reflection were taken superbly by him in his D-SLR! i have added only 2 of those here. Each of these birds were at least 15-20 m far off and were moving ..
We saw a ruined building.. and a thought came as to whether we must camp here itself..as it was geting dark fast! We decided against it as we had at least 30-40 minutes before the sunset.
So from atop the hilll where we were expecting to view the sunset..we got down to a fishing community and walked past (actually we almost RAN) the 500m long beach where we saw
many kids and youth playing cricket. As we were running along the beach, the sea water was occasionally wetting my hunter shoes.. it was as if the Sea was telling me to look at the western horizon.. at that instant i saw the horizon and there it was.. the beautiful Sunset.. We watched the sun set over the west for close to 15 minutes.. It seemed to me that Beautiful Sunset symbolizes the satisfaction that a man gets after a hard day's work!
We clambered on to the top of the hill. We thought of camping on the hill itself, however Karthik was feeling a bit un-easy camping there as he had seen many people around the beach..he was of the opinion that it was not safe here.. so the team decided that we shall camp on the base of the next hill and we rushed forward.
Myself and Girish searched for a way and it was getting dark. We had to make way into a series of Bushes ..it was totally dark we moved with our torches. I was in the front ..and it was a bit steep and filled with lots of dense bushes ..i was feeling a bit un-easy as the thoughts of encountering the snake kept cropping up in my mind.. after 15 minutes we came to a clearing..we could see a 200-300m long .. silent and quiet beach.. the decision to camp here was UNANIMOUS!!
The small stretch of Beach was between 2 rocky shored hills, i was wondering whether the gap between the 2 hills was formed millions of years ago so that Our team could camp here on 13-Dec-2009 AD! .. It was a perfect spot! , there was a farm beside it as well! We made sure our camping area would be as far as possible from the High Tide as it was a Full Moon Night.
We set up one tent Bhatta and karthik decided to sleep inside..rest all slept out.

After resting for 1 hour, we saw the 'Full Moon' Rise at about 730-8 pm. I and Abhiram then decided we shall explore the path on the next hill for next day morning's moonlight trek. So we both trekked in Total Darkness with our torch lights as the hill itself was blocking the moon light completely. We trekked in a path that was originally present and the waves were crashing on the rocks below the ridges. Slowly and steadily we walked..and lo and behold we reached the other side of the hill in merely 20 minutes. We were relieved!!!

We came back and informed our buddies that a path is present. Then we had our rotis, with pickle and chatni pudi. Bhatta,Madhu,Girish, Abhi and Santu got a good idea..they set up a campfire using firewood ,dried cocunut and dry grass and made a hot mixture or chow chow of the following ingredients: Water, Dates, GoodDay Biscuits, 5 Star, KitKat, Cashews, Dry Grapes. Believe me..it tasted superb!!
We chatted for about 30-40 minutes. Madhukar was at his usual best, cracking jokes. Karthik was meanwhile snoring in the tent!
Finally we decided to call it a day . I laid down to sleep.

I saw a flying Meteor in the night sky filled with stars and constellations. I saw one Low Earth Orbit Polar satellite/Remote Sensing satellite... i could obviously not recognize which one it was (though initially i wrongly assumed that it was ISS).. then i saw Venus shining brightly.. there was total silence in the beach but for the waves crashing silently .. it was a pleasent experience.. i turned to see the moon which was shining brightly in the east! Girish took a photo of the moon in his D-SLR using a tripod! .. we did not feel like taking our eyes away from the moon!
I zipped up in my sleeping bag.. and laid down on my foam sheet .. i then closed my eyes .. and was feeling like sitting on the moon watching chandrayaan going around us.. and i woke up ..it was 4AM in the morning.. moon was visible over us .. slightly towards the west! ...There was a bit of morning breeze. We had a very good sleep no doubt.. i did some warm up exercises

We started at 5 AM sharp and crossed the hill to our left.. we landed up in the longest beach we had seen till now in our trek. It was about 7-8km long i guess. We saw another hill at the north which we had to cross to view the Agnashini River meeting the Sea. Once we cross Agnashini river by boat, we would have to trek another 1km to get Half moon and paradise beach. This was Our plan. We started walking slowly but steadily.

There were some houses in between, and lots of fishermen were staying there. They were surprised by seeing us, i too was surprised why anyone would be awake by 5 AM. Only then i realized that they were awake for their nature calls.. And for about a 2km stretch there were people answering their nature calls.. we moved a bit away from the beach water and started walking more towards the sandy shore, as we did not want to offend their privacy. I was wondering whether this was in any way the longest loo in the world barring indian railway tracks..

Of course even we had to go for our respective nature calls, behind bushes :) on the sandy shore .. water was available in plenty ..thanks to Arabian Sea!
After about 3 km walk Our legs were aching a bit, we rested on some huge rocks. The moon was shining brightly towards the west direction... For a second i thought whether it was a cloudy day with sun shining dimly! A jet plane's trail was visible in the sky.. we saw some flying meteors on the clear sky.. Slowly the dawn light was emerging .. the hill we crossed an hour ago was looking small..
After another 2 km walk we could sense that the Sun rose.. we could not see it. There were lots and lots of birds .. giving their morning calls.. Sea gulls were in plenty. The photo below is of a bird which was found hopping in groups .. i could not recognize its name..pls do let me know if you know about it.
Then on proceeding towards the huge hill we met 2 guys jogging in their track suits. They stopped us right there and asked where we were from. They introduced themselves as Coastal Gaurd police, we showed our ID cards and moved ahead.

We reached a fishing village, where we filled our water bottles. The villagers were anxious to know where we were from, because we were strangers and alien to them. They were anxious due to the recent Terror Attacks in Bombay on 26/11/2008, where the terrorists had used Arabian Sea as a gate way!

After befriending them, One of the villager pointed to me and jokingly said that they doubted us mainly because i was looking like a terrorist coz of my long unkept hair and Dark Glasses!
We took directions from them and Started climbing up the huge hill, it was very very slippery. Loose Gravel made sure that we slipped frequently.
After a realy tiring climb, we reached the top which was full of dried grass. We turned back to see the 8km path fully visible..
Ahead We saw the AGNASHINI RIVER MEETING HER PARTNER..The SEA!! It was an amazing sight, we could see lots of Boats coming from Tathadi and Gokarna going towards OM/Paradise beaches. There were some lone boats fishing in the sea. Lots of birds, - Sea gulls,Eagles were to be seen in the clear Blue Sky with Blue Sea below.
We rested here for about an Hour or so. We took lots of Photos! We had some snacks. We were a bit hungry. We slept for about 30 minutes as well.We then wanted to go to the base of the hill to catch a boat to Tatdi. We proceeded and there were only grass everywhere so we had to find a path. I got pricked by a sharp thorn ..which pierced my leg going through even my boots.. The path was tricky and occasionally we got lost. We met a localite who directed us to the boats on the hill base
We got to the base of the hill. The river was gently splashing its water on the shore.. I tasted the water to re-affirm its saltiness.. We directly went to Boating colony, the boatsmen charged us Rs 3/- per head for a trip to Tatdi.
There was a pungent smell of fish in Tatdi port. Santosh showed me a blue coloured Jelly fish..
We then had Lime Soda in a hotel nearby. Instead of proceeding towards Half moon beach we thought it would be better to have lunch at Gokarna and return here. We caught a bus to Gokarna, took a single room in a lodge near the Bus stand, had lunch in a hotel nearby. There were lots of foreigners, roaming in the streets of Gokarna. I was wondering if Gokarna was famous for its Shiva temple.. coz the ambience of a religious place was absent

Madhukar had to leave for his hometown Mangalore, We bid him farewell and he left for the railway station at 3 pm.

We took bath, and proceeded to OM beach. Auto fare was Rs 100/- per auto to and fro OM beach was looking beautiful, its name derives from its Shape like the Letter OM in Sanskrit.
There were lots of Bikini clad foreigners .. i was wondering whether this was India..becasuse i saw Bikini clad women for the first time (had seen them only in movies!)
We had some roadside Bhel-puri and a nice cup of tea in the Beach hotel.
Bhatta, Girish and Abhiram decided to chill out in the OM beach. They had lots of fun there.

Myself,Santosh and Karthik wanted to see the Half Moon and Paradise beach. We trekked up a small hill beside the OM beach. I saw some syringes fallen here and there..

En-route we saw a lonely tree standing on a hillock behind which we could see the Sea extending to eternity..we halted there for 20 minutes. We could see the Half Moon beach and Paradise beach from this point!
Half Moon Beach and Paradise beach was looking beautiful..we could see Agnashini River meeting the Sea, there were some ferry boats as well in the Sea. All in all the scenary was pleasing!
Actually coming back to OM beach was a bit tricky as there was a point where we had to cross a steep region along the corner where there was direct drop of about 20-30 m into rocks, where the sea was crashing it in the form of waves.
We clambered downhill carefully back into the OM beach.. We missed Madhukar.
Meanwhile the other three had enjoyed the beach waters in their own way.
We got back into our Auto's and for Gokarna. We packed off from the lodge. Bhatta did not have a return ticket, and he was able to get one in our bus itself.
The Non AC Sleeper bus left for Bangalore at 7pm.. we endured a bumpy journey in near Shimoga, where roads were very bad. We befriended 2 Americans in our bus, asked them lots of questions about Obama,Bush, McCain etc..

I slept tight .. dreaming about the whole Trek . Morning i woke up at 645, We reached Bangalore at 7 AM.

On my way to my house in BMTC bus number 61A ... i recalled the sunset that we witnessed day before yesterday.. it was fresh in my mind
I said to myself.. I will back to Gokarna Once again.. from KARWAR though!!