Kar Wars!!

Karwar is a beautiful place. Nestled in the western ghats on the shore of Arabian sea, it totally takes your feet off the ground. Karwar is located at the estuary of the Kali river and Arabian sea. I can't understand what the people in Kerala are so proud off, cos all the seaside locations (including karwar) in the western ghats look as amazing as kerala. There's greenery, beautiful sea and the quiet and peaceful locations.

We reached Karwar on saturday morning and checked-in at the resort. Our resort called Estuary Resort was ok, not that good. Its built on top of a hill overlooking the estuary, which used to be Shivaji maharaj's fort once. Now only the boundary walls are remaining. The view was breathtaking, no complains. But the service was not at all worth what they charged.

There is another resort called "Devbagh resort" which is on an island of sorts. Around 11 we got into a boat to take us to Devbagh. And then the fun began !! :D

We got to their private sea beach which was almost deserted. Got into the water almost immediately cos the sand was burning. We played volleyball and football on the beach, and then more volleyball and frisbee in the water. This was the first time I had so much fun in the sea without fear of water :) Great experience !!

Lunch was another fun experience. All my teammates were in full spirits, drinking and gossiping. For the record, I drank only "mango slice" !!

Then it was time for some water sports. Para sailing was closed cos of unfavourable winds, so missed that. But there was kayaking and banana ride. Kayaking was way out of my league, cos i don't have the strength to keep rowing for so long :-p.
Banana ride was something else !! Very scary, but exciting!!!! Let me explain. There was a cylindrical rubber boat which was tied to a motor boat. We were given life jackets and made to sit on the rubber boat, 5 at a time. The motor boat then pulled the banana boat far from the shore and then the guy sitting in it gave a signal and took a sudden sharp turn!! The banana boat toppled and threw us mercilessly in the sea!! I went totally under water and lot of salt water got into my mouth, lungs and stomach. And then I floated up and was like " WOW !!!" He did this 3 times and honestly, since I am scared of water, I was relieved when it was over. But this is an experience I will never forget !!

After that we just spent some time at the sea shore while we waited for our boat to take us back to our resort. I got back, had a nice hot shower and went to join the others around a bon fire. Then we had dinner and sat around in a room till 2.00AM, playing cards and talking about ghosts :)

The guy who was the in charge of the water sports was a pleasant guy from Uttaranchal. His name was Deewan Singh. He promised to take us for rock climbing the next day. So on Sunday, we woke with aching arms and legs but still excited about the day ahead.

Deewan Singh had arrived with a gaadi to take us about 10-15 Km from Karwar city. We started our trek which seemed simple enough in the beginning but later got tough. But was fun. After climbing for about an hour we reached the rock we were supposed to climb. It was a 50Ft rock, towering over our heads. My first reaction was," Thank you very much, I am not climbing THAT thing" !! But I saw a couple of people do it and it didn't seem that tough after all. I also put on my gear and climbed it. It was total fun. Rappling down the rock was easier. Later we trekked back to humanity at sea level. And set ahead for the next adventure. All in all, the whole experience was just splendid !! :)

Next, Deewan Singh took us to the resort he works for. That is situated on the shore of the back waters. There he gave us life jackets and we all jumped into the water to cool our heels (literally, cos it was quite hot !!) I was the source of amusement there cos I couldn't swim ( like many others there) and made a big issue about it :-p .
Made some futile attempts at the art of swimming. I know my coach will be disappointed in me :-( , but come on, the flow of water terrifies me. I kept screaming, " Damn damn I'm going away from the shore,I'm going away from the shore.. SOMEBODY SAVE ME !!"

Amazing location, enjoyable company and right attitude. All of these are needed to make a holiday a great one. And that's what this was :D

-Cheers