Coast to Coast 2021: Mumbai to Velas

The previous night passed quickly. I was ready for yet another day filled with surprises. The destination was not known and that equally made it more interesting. I had managed to get rest with whatever time was available to me. Having woken up around 6 am, I was ready to leave by 7 am. A cup of tea to get me going.

The first stop was in Mumbai itself. I was heading towards the Gateway of India. It was Sunday and with that, I was relieved from the heavy Mumbai Traffic.

There is really something magnetic about Mumbai. The city has its own charm which attracts a lot of new people every year. It’s really the city of dreams. The thought ran through my mind as I crossed the well-known places along the way. And so, I desperately wanted to start today’s journey from the Gateway of India!

It was almost 9 am by the time I left Mumbai. Navi Mumbai was next in line and after that, it was going to get a little tricky as I would be asking questions for directions often. The atlas only indicated major places along the route while the smaller towns was omitted. It was my first time treading on these roads.

The heat intensity had built up by now which made me stop for my first drinks break. Instead of water, I had fresh palm nectar which was served cold. I drank around 4 glasses!

I went first to Mandvi via a shorter route. This was the starting place I had noted down on my downward journey on the Maharashtra coast. The next big city which was going to pop up on my radar was Alibaug.

Alibaug is a very famous tourist place, especially for the people of Mumbai. Many people throng here over the weekends who want to experience the true coastal life and also, it serves as a different getaway. The easiest and fastest to reach here is via Jetty which starts from Gateway of India and ends at Mandvi.

Due to the ease of travel restrictions in the pandemic, I could see a considerable amount of traffic on the road. The roads were now single lane and with the direction signages put all over, it was made clear that what lay ahead. Having only a single road made things much better in terms of not getting lost but at some small intersections where the road bifurcated into two, I had to stop and reconfirm where I was heading.

Leaving Alibaug, all the forthcoming places were going to be new for me for the first time. I had never traversed on these roads except for a single time when I had visited Kelsi down south and had taken this very same route.

The traffic had eased after Alibaug but the heat was intense. The atmosphere was humid which forced me to drink water often.

I was looking for small roads which led directly to the beach and found one such road where it lead me directly to the sandy beach of Nandgaon. And what a beach it was! There was absolutely no one and the whole beach belonged to me. Since I had already taken the bike on the beach, I decided to have some fun. It’s not every day that you get to ride your 2 wheels on the beach, leave alone the huge crowd.

It seemed strange to me that even though it was a Sunday, most of the beaches looked deserted. After passing Nandgaon, I was heading towards Murud. The time was around 3 pm.

I was by now approaching the end of the road and had to take a boat jetty to continue my journey. This is was the first of the many jetties that I was going to take on this journey. The jetty was operating between Agardanad and Dighi. It was really an out-of-the-world experience for me. It felt like I was crossing oceans.

It was almost 6 pm by the time I reached Harihareshwar where I took the blessings of Lord Shiva at the famous temple. I still wanted to stretch as there was still daylight remaining. But, before that, I had to take my 2nd ferry for the day. Upon checking with people, they told me that the ferry service operated till late evening which was quite a relief for me as without that I was not going to proceed further on my journey. I raced to the ferry point as fast as possible.

As soon as I got down from the ferry, I asked people nearby about the staying options. They all pointed me towards “Velas” which was surprisingly the next big village. It is here that every year the “Oliver Ridley Turtle Festival” takes place. The distance was around 10 km.

Right after the ferry crossing, some people had already suggested to me the name of the person who could possibly give me accommodation in Velas. As I entered the village, I set out to look for him. It was not long until I found him when I’d stopped at a shop right beside his residence. He was out already and I went up to him.

The time was 7 pm when I checked in. The deal for the room was done and I began to carry all my stuff to the first floor. The dinner would be homemade and served in the kitchen below. This was kind of a homestay. Until the dinner was ready, I freshened myself and also washed some clothes which were pending since Bhavnagar.

Like today, and every day from now onwards, it was going to be challenging and surprising, waiting for a new thing to unfurl itself.