This day involved the least driving of the trip, only a tad more than 60 kms. We spent the whole day enjoying the beautiful scenery(natural and otherwise) of various beaches along the Karnataka coast.
The morning started of bright and not so early. We crept out of our room to be greeted by the Gokarna beach already bustling with some activity. At the centre of the beach, near to the entrance was the only place which was a bit crowded. The rest of the beach had a very serene atmosphere and walking along it was very peaceful. Listening to the sound of the waves gently lashing the shore and watching some sea birds munching on the shore was a soothing sight. I also caught some baby crabs (pictured below) which is something I love doing.
After feasting our eyes on the beach, we realized that we needed to feast our stomachs too. We found an ideal cafe to suit our needs. It was located at a height above the beach and under the shade of trees afforded a panoramic view of the entire beach while lounging on beach chairs. The place did not serve chicken due to the close proximity of the temple, but the brunch we had here was quite delicious. Sipping a cool drink and munching on a fine continental breakfast(pictured below) at such a beautiful place gave us a sneak preview into the lives of the hippies living here.
The town of Gokarna was littered with hippies (like the ones below). They came in all shapes and sizes. A lot of the industry in the town seemed to be oriented to meet their needs too. There were numerous internet cafes and various shops selling flashy merchandise all throughout the town. An interesting nature of these shops was that they initially quoted a reasonable price for their wares and refused to bargain at all.
After having a refreshing bath with piping hot water, we left the town of Gokarna behind us and decided to proceed to the famous Om beach located nearby. After a short drive which through a snaking road which first climbed a hill to welcome us with a beautiful view of the sea, we finally reached Om beach. Due to the fact that this beach is famous and the day being a Sunday, there was already quite an amount of rush at the beach and we barely managed to find a nice parking spot along the narrow road leading to the beach.
Om beach gets its name because it is shaped like the like the Hindi character Om when viewed from atop. A part of this beach has a rocky shore and some other parts have a ice shallow waves where one can play in the water. After having a look around and admiring the beach and its inhabitants, we grabbed a couple of breezers ad settled under the shade of some trees located all along the edge of the beach. It was soothing to get away from the scorching mid day sun and we lazed around there for quite some time.
By the time we left it was early afternoon. We decided to see some beaches further south and headed off in our car. Letting google maps guide us, we set our sights on what looked to be a beach located at the edge of a narrow peninsula. After a long ride to a small town , we took a road leading the end of the peninsula. This road offered views of the sea on both sides. When we reached the end of the peninsula, it turned out that there was no beach there. There was however a jetty(pic below) and a small hamlet here. We sat here for some time clicking pictures of the numerous small sea birds circling there.
The sun was approaching the horizon at this point and we wanted a nice place to stay for the night. An exciting option available to us was to pitch the tent we were carrying at some beach along the way. But fate had other things in mind for us. We had received the mobile number of a resort where one of our friends had planned to stay but repeated call to this number lead to no answer. We turned our Alto around and set off in search of a beach to sea the sunset on as well as spend the night on. As we neared the start of the peninsula, we received a call from the owner of 'Nirvana Beach Resort'. He told us that his resort was indeed on the peninsula and guided us there. After another U turn and a hurried drive along the peninsular road, we finally reached nirvana beach just in time for the sunset. The beach side road traveled around 15 feet away from the beachfront with pine trees covering the patch in between. As soon as we reached this road we parked the car and made a beeline for the beach to catch the first setting sun of our trip.
As the red orb slowly hid itself from our view, we returned to our car and set off for Nirvana beach Resort. We met the owner of the resort on the way there who was a very jolly man who was going to the market(around 20kms away) to get supplies for us. He asked us what we wanted to eat and told us to enter the resort and make ourselves at home till he came back.
The resort was an awesome place. There were two forms of accommodation- treehouses and huts. We chose the former. The tree houses were located just at the edge of the beach and offered a complete view of the beach. There were many parts of the stay at the resort that we enjoyed like the fantastic stories and views of the garrulous owner, the hammocks and rabbits around the place, the nice ambiance with small statues around as well as the delicious non-vegetarian meals that we had. After dinner we went to the beach where we observed the movements of hundreds of crabs in the moonlight before finally settling into the tree houses for the night.
The morning started of bright and not so early. We crept out of our room to be greeted by the Gokarna beach already bustling with some activity. At the centre of the beach, near to the entrance was the only place which was a bit crowded. The rest of the beach had a very serene atmosphere and walking along it was very peaceful. Listening to the sound of the waves gently lashing the shore and watching some sea birds munching on the shore was a soothing sight. I also caught some baby crabs (pictured below) which is something I love doing.
After feasting our eyes on the beach, we realized that we needed to feast our stomachs too. We found an ideal cafe to suit our needs. It was located at a height above the beach and under the shade of trees afforded a panoramic view of the entire beach while lounging on beach chairs. The place did not serve chicken due to the close proximity of the temple, but the brunch we had here was quite delicious. Sipping a cool drink and munching on a fine continental breakfast(pictured below) at such a beautiful place gave us a sneak preview into the lives of the hippies living here.
After having a refreshing bath with piping hot water, we left the town of Gokarna behind us and decided to proceed to the famous Om beach located nearby. After a short drive which through a snaking road which first climbed a hill to welcome us with a beautiful view of the sea, we finally reached Om beach. Due to the fact that this beach is famous and the day being a Sunday, there was already quite an amount of rush at the beach and we barely managed to find a nice parking spot along the narrow road leading to the beach.
Om beach gets its name because it is shaped like the like the Hindi character Om when viewed from atop. A part of this beach has a rocky shore and some other parts have a ice shallow waves where one can play in the water. After having a look around and admiring the beach and its inhabitants, we grabbed a couple of breezers ad settled under the shade of some trees located all along the edge of the beach. It was soothing to get away from the scorching mid day sun and we lazed around there for quite some time.
By the time we left it was early afternoon. We decided to see some beaches further south and headed off in our car. Letting google maps guide us, we set our sights on what looked to be a beach located at the edge of a narrow peninsula. After a long ride to a small town , we took a road leading the end of the peninsula. This road offered views of the sea on both sides. When we reached the end of the peninsula, it turned out that there was no beach there. There was however a jetty(pic below) and a small hamlet here. We sat here for some time clicking pictures of the numerous small sea birds circling there.
The sun was approaching the horizon at this point and we wanted a nice place to stay for the night. An exciting option available to us was to pitch the tent we were carrying at some beach along the way. But fate had other things in mind for us. We had received the mobile number of a resort where one of our friends had planned to stay but repeated call to this number lead to no answer. We turned our Alto around and set off in search of a beach to sea the sunset on as well as spend the night on. As we neared the start of the peninsula, we received a call from the owner of 'Nirvana Beach Resort'. He told us that his resort was indeed on the peninsula and guided us there. After another U turn and a hurried drive along the peninsular road, we finally reached nirvana beach just in time for the sunset. The beach side road traveled around 15 feet away from the beachfront with pine trees covering the patch in between. As soon as we reached this road we parked the car and made a beeline for the beach to catch the first setting sun of our trip.
As the red orb slowly hid itself from our view, we returned to our car and set off for Nirvana beach Resort. We met the owner of the resort on the way there who was a very jolly man who was going to the market(around 20kms away) to get supplies for us. He asked us what we wanted to eat and told us to enter the resort and make ourselves at home till he came back.
The resort was an awesome place. There were two forms of accommodation- treehouses and huts. We chose the former. The tree houses were located just at the edge of the beach and offered a complete view of the beach. There were many parts of the stay at the resort that we enjoyed like the fantastic stories and views of the garrulous owner, the hammocks and rabbits around the place, the nice ambiance with small statues around as well as the delicious non-vegetarian meals that we had. After dinner we went to the beach where we observed the movements of hundreds of crabs in the moonlight before finally settling into the tree houses for the night.
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