Destination Malvan: Day 1 - Pune to Malvan via Kolhapur

Well, I admit, these days, it's becoming more about the drive than about the actual destination, for me. They say journey is half the fun. In my case, these days, journey is becoming all the fun. What we do at destination is a cherry on the cake. Especially when the destination is a place like Malvan, and you get to drive alone both ways, despite the exertion, the excitement and that experience is cherished for a long long time.

We had planned our trip into Konkan on a very very short notice. We had a colleague's wedding to attend in Kolhapur on morning of Saturday, 25-Dec-2010. And decided about rolling over into Konkan on the night of 24th! We were four people, me being the lone driver. On that same night of 24-Dec, I was following the Rohtang Pass and Manali-Leh highway excitedly, thanks to the awesome Lisa Kelly of Ice-Road-Truckers:Deadliest Roads season. That girl had become my muse, after her daredevilry to take an Indian truck up the nasty Rohtang Pass. That feat of hers dug deep into my head and the route to Ladakh had become kind of a final-frontier for taking a motor-vehicle to. Car or bike undecided as yet. Anyways, due to all those details and drive experiences about Rohtang Pass, I was even more excited about this trip, as this would test me as a driver - my skills, my stamina, my patience, how cool-head I can maintain, and would also boost my confidence about long distance driving.

I hurriedly made some notes about the route, collected whatever numbers at Malvan, that I could get, for a stay. I wasn't sure on getting any accommodation in Malvan, at such a short notice, and that too during times like Christmas and year-end. Konkan is always bristling with tourist during this time of the year. So in short, we were going there without any planning at all! But people were mentally ready, and I, for one, always fall for such unplanned trips, which usually bring out the best in you, in terms of survivability; because everything that can go wrong, usually does.

We left not-so early in morning from Pune. Still, it was hyper misty due to cold, even at 8am. Once on the highway, the ride became a bit relaxed. Due to many trips to Sangli, including those on bike, this route was like my daily route. No surprises and just a lacklustre but relaxed high speed drive. We reached Kolhapur little late, even though I tried hard to reach in time. We even clocked 150kmph on the way once more and I wanted to touch that 100mph mark - 160kmph - this time, but the car wouldnt pick speed quickly, and I had to give up due to thickening traffic. Wish I had realised earlier to switch off that damn AC! Lesson learnt.

Attended the wedding ceremony, had our lunch, and before leaving for Konkan, collected few essentials, including a car charger for my guiding light - my Moto Milestone. More about that 'sweet piece of awesomeness' (in geekish language) in a later post. I also made some frantic calls to find an accomodation there in Malvan. And to my surprise, one person was very kind enough to route us to another, who in turn, could offer a room to four of us, at 150 bucks per head, read peanuts, during such a busy time of an year! What a relief that was! That allowed us to stroll to Malvan at a leisurely pace.

All set, we left for Gaganbavada ghat. I had heard a lot about this ghat section from people. It was near ideal time of sunset when we reached the summit ... if you can call *that* a summit, that is. Yes, height-wise, it's a dud! Let's just say it's over-rated, and be done with it. The ghat-road, on the other hand, was in much much better condition. Quite smooth, in most of the patches, and well maintained. Compared to the pathetic Tamhini roads, Gaganbavada ghat is a gem of a road to descend into Konkan.

After getting down, in about 2-hrs we reached Kankavli. Had our snacks there, and left for Malvan. We were on the NH17 now, and it was already dark. To make the matters worse, the road was degrading, and people were driving like maniacs. My first taste of NH17 driving during night. And that was just a beginning. With the help of GPS on my Moto Milestone, I could find out which exact turn to take from NH17 towards Malvan. Had it not been for that GPS, god knows we would have been stranded way away from there.

After that turn, the road is quite straight forward; and apart from few terrible 100-200mtr patches, it was a smooth sail to Malvan. By around 9pm, if I remember correctly, we reached Malvan and in half an hour we found out our accomodation. It was more than what we could ask for at such a short notice. Had our dinner, and then had a talk with couple of guys whom the host had called up on our request for giving some information about snorkelling. One of the guys was very knowledgible, and we had long talk ranging from dolphin-trails, snorkelling, scuba diving, dirty politics behind scrapping of scuba-diving gear etc.

We decided to get up early in the next morning, go on a dolphin-trail, then experience snorkelling, see the Sindhudurga fort and Tarkarli beach if possible, and by afternoon start towards Pune.

Continued in the next post - Destination Malvan: Day 2 - Dolphins and Snorkeling