Trip to Kashid Beach – Murud Janjira (Part 1)

One hell of a trip to the serene beauty of Kashid Beach and the awesomeness of Murud Janjira Fort.

The only planned thing for the trip was the beginning, that is to leave at 4:30 AM for Gateway Of India and catch a ferry to Alibag.

The trip started off at 4:15 AM, when I woke up to realize that I forgot to charge my cell phone, hence I called up my friends to delay the meeting time by 30 mins, so that I could charge it little atleast i.e. to 5 AM. So, at 5 AM we three guys leave from our residence, do a local train travel in the early morning hours to Gateway Of India to catch the ferry to Alibag, just to know that the ferry has been called off for the day, atleast until afternoon because there is some Navy show going on at the Gateway Of India. There was the first big twist. We were wondering now what? We actually went back to CST Railway Station to find out of we could somehow board the train to Goa. Yes, change in destination then and there. Sadly, there wasn’t any train to Goa at that time, one of them had just left before we reached CST. So, next plan head on to Dadar TT and catch any Luxury Bus to Alibag. Again, no Luxury Bus to Alibag, only a State Transport Bus, and that too standing for more than an hour. The journey in this ST bus was both pathetic and one that I would remember forever, mainly because in Alibag/Kashid, I saw people using this bus as their daily means of transport to attend Colleges, go to work. This is life, in the villages of India. The travel I could barely tolerate, they do it daily with a smile on their face. The bus dropped us right outside Kashid Beach and the view was amazing, the beach was calling us, and hence with the bags we just entered in, had chips and drinks & then walked off for the search of a Hotel. The walk was atleast 1Km with baggage, and most lodges were fully occupied. Luckily we found one pretty soon. It was a nice one(Shree Prasad Lodge). Basically an eventful journey to reach Kashid.

The good part about this Lodge was that just opposite to it was the place where food was available, also direct access to the beach, not the main one, but you could just walk through the beach to reach there. And, infact it’s better to be in this one, as you are all alone, while main one is a bit crowded. The charges for the room was just 1K/night. It was a clean room, with few basic amenities. The care taker was kind enough to suggest us what to do, and what not. They could even prepare home made food for us, provided we ordered for it by evening. That day was spent in eating and strolling around the beautiful beach. Beach on one side, and the wonderful forest on the other.

While heading back to the Lodge from the beach in the evening was one experience. It was pitch dark, no street lights, very few cars, the sky was lit with countless twinkling stars. One one side was the sound of the waves, the other, Jungle. We luckily again, had a torch with us, which made us easily go back to the destination. But we used it very little, walked in the dark. This was fun. Same night, after the dinner, while strolling, we saw one very attractive gate, and some attractive lamps in it. We followed the lamps, thinking it may lead to a resort and were later greeted by a Dog barking at us. A swimming pool besides it, a few cars parked there. The care taker of the house came to us asking for what do we want? On saying that we thought it’s a Resort, he said that it’s not, and infact it’s a personal bungalow. And just at that time the owner came in from the Swimming Pool anxiously asking, who is it? Well, we then realized that we had barged into someone’s house. This was one experience too. 😛

After a good night’s sleep, we headed back to the beach. Waking up to the noise of the waves was one awesome feeling, early morning beach another. And then just lying on the beach swing, having Cutting Chai, and Parle G biscuits with the view of the beach was a priceless experience. It was this moment, for which the whole trip was planned. Enjoyed it to the maximum. The Coconuts available there was also so sweet, so different, so pure. That is definitely a must have at the Kashid Beach. Clicking some pictures here and there, spotting some tiny crabs while walking on the beach were some other things that we cherished at the Kashid Beach. The Beach was the cleanest beach I have ever been to till date, the water so clean that you could see through your feet very clearly. Absolutely transparent water, hence the beach is also known as Clear Water Beach. There were some sporting activities there too, Jet Skiing, riding a sand bike.

It was time for us to check out and head straight to Murud which will be covered in Part 2.

Also, will leave you with a few clicks from the Kashid Beach.

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Tagged: Alibag, Kashid, Kashid Beach, Mumbai, Murud, Murud-Janjira, Travel