Diveagar

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Check out the slide show on diveagar snaps.. also at My Picassa Web albums

I would term this beach as a "Heaven on Earth". Frankly speaking, it was difficult to first grab the name of this place when one of our friends came to us and told about this beach, about two years back. The immediate reaction was to go out and explore this awesome place. And with our awesome expertise in planning the trips, a gang of 7 people were out on an adventure at 1900 hrs to an unknown place..

We started from Pune at about 2100 hrs (oh yes! we prefer night trips as it saves the whole day) with a white sumo. We had a fair idea of the road as narrated to us by the same friend. The road had to cross a dense forest ghat which is aptly called 'Tamhini Ghat', and the trip seemed to be fully loaded with surprises.

The sumo started trudging the ghat after about 2 hrs that we had been traveling. It was also the first trip to the amazing ghat in the Sahyadri range, even though it limited our visibility of the great heights in the plum darkness. The ghat is densely covered with greenery and the roads were still manageable with still less number of potholes as that compared with those in our city roads.

This time we were travelling in the winter and anyone who has been known Pune, can tell the intensity of the winters there. The fog that we had to dodge through was equally dense to the greenery that the ghat ensembles. At some sections of the ghat, the road ahead wasnt visible due to the dense fog, but we had to find our own way out and today we are still alive and kickin.. ;) The twists and turns enveloped with the greenery and the fog had already enthralled us, the heaven we were heading had to be something special..

We reached the Mumbai-Goa highway at about 0400 hrs and was a perfect time for the morning kadak chai, for those who enjoyed the ghat as well for those who enjoyed their siesta. The chai walah gave us the directions further and 'Diveagar' was still 2 hrs far from us. The beach falls about 40 kms from the Mumbai - Goa highway and again takes you through a jungle, this time at a level closer to the sea, and that actually helps you spot some creatures in the dark.. ..well what we could spot in all was an Owl :o .. The ghat road does not allow you to sleep in anticipation (even thanking those potholes)... The room we had already booked when we started the journey helped us settle down quickly when we finally reached the diveagar village, situated just besides the beach.. these rooms provide a good option to the absence of hotels in this area as this remains an unfazed tourist spot, with the room owners trying everybit of effort to ensure a good service, but yup at a price...!

After the morning refreshments, we had to dip in the waters.. for which we headed straight towards those refreshing sound of the waves.. (... which one would surely miss if s/he had to stay in pune ...). The water seemed to much better / cleaner than what one would find in other parts of the country, even putting behind the beaches of Goa.. As I mentioned, minimum number of tourists at this spot ensures a much more clean beach... a piece of plastic would be hard to spot and my plead would be to those people visiting there to ensure this cleanliness of the beach by refraining from littering..

After about 1-2 hrs in the water, the sun had started to trouble us with its intense heat and which in turn helped us swarm out of the waters to be back to our rooms, aptly waiting for the freshly prepared lunch with some local specialties. The food there is prepared by the room owners with specialties like the 'Modak' which is served with pure ghee.. trust me it tastes awesome.. for non-veggies, the fish varieties can be savored according to your choice...
The heavy lunch had made us feel lazy and everyone was bound to find the way to the bed, but as we had to leave for pune the same day, one of us took the charge to ensure no one falls asleep.. The en-route started at about 1600 hrs and we indeed had to go a long way back, especially after a good relaxing trip.


The trip back was filled with discussions on all the funny incidents at the trip. With this we all just could wrap those in our minds to be cherished for a lifetime.. not to mention, we all are going to miss each other and the fun we had together when we take the individual paths in our lives !!


Divegar - To reach there:
From Mumbai
By Road:

• Take a diversion to the Mumbai-Goa Highway which falls after Panvel
• The next diversion would be to 'Diveagar' about 100-120 kms from Mumbai and 14 kms before Murud Janjira
  
• The further road diversions can be judged by the on-road hoardings
  
• The road after diversion from Mumbai - goa highway would be around 40 kms
• Local people prove to be helpful in many cases to reach the final destination in the village

No other transport is available to reach this place.. Heaven has only one gate...;)

From Pune By Road:

• Drive to Chandni Chowk and take the Paud road to make it to the Mulshi ghat and then the consequent Tamhini Ghat
• The exit from Tamhini ghat on the Goa highway proves to be exactly in front of the Diveagar diversion
• Remaining directions would be the same as above
• Total Drive from Pune: about 120 Kms total