Short drive to Goa

Hi guys, back again to update my travelog. Thought of getting out for a weekend but this time decided to go for a slightly longer drive : the best drive - to GOA on Panvel Goa highway.

Drive: We started on a Saturday morning at 10.30 a.m on my most exciting drive. We took quite some time to cross Panvel. There was huge traffic near Panvel bus depot. Finally we crossed Panvel at 12.00. We halted @ Kemburli near Mahad @ 2.30 for lunch in Gargi Ruchi garden restaurant (some road side chota mota restaurant). We were so hungry that the looks did hardly matter and had a nice good lunch.

Started after lunch and touched Sangameshwar around 5.30. Halted at Swad restaurant for tea and snacks. Location of this restaurant was good. After a nice refreshing tea couldn't control the throttle and directly stopped at Tarala, dist. Sindhudurg to top up fuel @ 8.10 p.m.

Road so far was so good that I couldn't resist but to keep just driving. Then we hit Sawantwadi @ 9.20 p.m and halted for dinner at Kamath for a nice veg dinner. It was 10.20 when we finished and started our last mile towards Goa. The roads were winding and narrow. I couldn't speed more than 70 kmph and touched Panjim around 12.00 midnight. We finally hit Royal Palms at 12.30 and retired for the night.

Day 2 of our trip: Got up late and had a heavy breakfast. Got map of Goa from the shop. Thought of doing something different and scouted for places we could see. We spotted a jungle safari at Bhagwaan Mahaveer open life sanctuary. Before we went in for a safari, finished our lunch at Dudhsagar restaurant. Heading to the forest department's office we paid around Rs. 250 as our vehicle entry fees. It seemed like the typical horror movies where there was a big gate for the jungle and we were given the keys for the gate. We had to open it on our own; go inside and lock ourselves inside. The very fact that we were taking our own vehicle inside and locking ourselves inside the jungle was horrible. Still we thought of venturing in to try out a different experience. We were warned not to go beyond a certain point (Sunset point) as the vehicle has to be 4 wheel drive and the track is single (I actually mean SINGLE). We could gather courage to climb up the track to a certain level beyond which the jungle was getting denser. It was enough of adventure and we just took an about turn and headed back towards the gate.
A feeling of triumph after coming out of the jungle gate, then we went to the Bondla zoo. The zoo was worth watching. On our way to the zoo a big langur crossed our road and huge deer followed its track across the road enough to give us a jungle experience.
On our return drive to Royal Palms we dropped at Colva Beach. It was very pleasant evening breeze at the beach.

Day 3 of our trip: GOA: the ultimate place for beaches. We went to the most popular Calangute beach mostly known for its tourists and sun bath. We had shoulder and leg massages. The massage needless to say was very stress relieving. Water sports on this beach was very thrilling. Generally it is better to strike a deal with one guy and package all the games at a good rate. We went for water scooter, para sailing but didn't have the balls to go for banana ride where they drop the riders into the sea and then put them back on the banana.
We next went to Baga beach and then to Aguada fort. This was our 2nd trip to Goa and even this time we were not to explore the fort by our fellow companion (my wife).

Day 4, the devotional day of the trip we went to Shantadurga - Veling, Mhasla templei & Mangeshi temple. Had lunch at Shantadurga temple. Came back to Hotel by afternoon and thought of packing and starting the return journey same evening.

Return journey: We started at 5.30 p.m after some rest. For our return journey we opted to take the Nippani route. We touched Sawantwadi @ 7.30 and took a right turn towards Amboli ghat. Amboli ghat was a super climb and very lonely even at 9.00. We were craving to see some human created structure and finally located one atop Amboli ghat. Yes it was Kamath restaurant, Amboli. We were the only people at their place and got all the attention of the 3 and a half servants out there.

Feeling sleepy, started climbing down the ghat. The road was not all that good then but work was under progress so I hope the road must be good now. One will need lot of direction on this road as there are not many sign boards to guide and if you miss one turn there is every chance that you may drive straight to Belgaum. It took us 1 and half hours to touch Pune- Bangalore express highway. We reached the highway at 11.00 right in front of Hotel Swati.

After hitting the expressway, my small car's throttle was too less for the road. I could at the max touch 140 kmph but the road called for a flat 180-200. I sailed this 300 km stretch in flat 6.5 hours with 1.5 hours of break en route.

After reaching Dombivli I had a feeling that 600 km probably was too short a drive. Up for a longer drive next time......