Day 4: Sunrise at Kodachadri, Kollur, Kundapur and Marvanthe

The trek to the top was so beautiful that we forgot all about the incident in the night. With torches in hand and extra ordinary splendor around us we trekked up the small hill to reach a plain terrain to witness the very first arty effect of the sky just before the crack of dawn. We were accompanied by a family who chose to sit near the plains rather than going up all the way to peak. We moved up few yards and found a place at the edge of a cliff and settled down until the sunrise was well captured in our eyes and in our cameras. There was a spread of gold, blue and red all around us. The Stratus clouds formed the shore of a beach and the orange golden colors formed the marvelous waves.



Adi Shankaracharya temple

There is a small temple which houses an idol of seer Shankaracharya made of black stone at the peak. The temple is very aesthetically located; it is surrounded by hills all over and the sun rays fall on the temple to create a good visual effect. A vertical path just below the peak leads you to “chitramoola”. It is believed that Adi Shankaracharya meditated at this place about 600 years ago, and Goddess Mookambika came from Chitramoola, which is three kilometers below the summit (the path that leads to it is almost vertical), and followed the sage. She then prompted him to establish a temple in Kollur; since not everybody can climb up to visit the moola-sthana of the Goddess. We did not go to the Chitramoola but took a deviation on the way down that leads to Ganesha Guha. An idol of Ganesha in black stone is worshipped inside the Guha. We offered small prayer to the lord and headed straight to the place where we had pitched our tents.

It took us a while to finish the breakfast and pack the tent. By then most of the jeeps had gone away and we had to wait for another one hour to take us back. We were back at the town of Kollur now filled with devotees. In an attempt to have a quick darshan of Goddess Mookambika we stood in the queue and reached the inner chamber of temple to realize that there is more queues to reach the Goddess.

Since we couldn’t afford to spend more time at Kollur, we took prasad and left to Kundapur where delicious dosas and gadbads were waiting for us.

 

Harsha Refreshments



We bid adieu to the town of Kollur and waited to hit the Coastal highway. The road leading to coastal highway is not so great and this continues all the way till Marvanthe. We made a small detour towards Kundapur to taste the yummy butter masala dosa and Gadbad at Hotel Sheron. Hotel Sheron provides accommodation however the in-house vegetarian restaurant is called Harsha Refreshements.

 Unfortunately we had reached during lunch and there were no dosas served at that time and we had satiate our hunger with a simple yet delicious meal and then hunt for the place which served Gadbad. We were now running out of luck as the Gadbad tasted bad at a place where people had guided us and decided to enjoy the beach at Marvanthe.

 

Turtle Bay Beach Resort

Our accommodation was booked at Turtle Bay Beach  Resort near Trasi. This is the only resort or accommodation on the Marvanthe Beach. The other accommodations listed are not on the shore but away from the beach. After unloading the luggage we headed straight into the beach. We planned to make best use of the beach before the sun went down and then enjoy a romantic sunset.

The scene at the beach was very dynamic. There were families which were enjoying the beach sitting at a distance and some who dived into water to play with the waves. Some were busy posing & clicking pictures. The most vibrant crowd on the beach was a group of kids who were trying to build a castle. Their team work needs a mention here. While a group of two boys took care of the molding, another team of two tiny tots lead by a girl dug the ground, collected the sand and transported to the place where the others held the fort. They were neither worried about the waves nor amazed by the beauty of the beach, all that mattered to them was their castle. I couldn’t stay and watch them complete their castle as the waves were very inviting.



Marvanthe Beach

We walked into the beach for some distance and waited there for the waves to soar us up and down along with them. A private beach just for us and no one else to disturb, we were lost in the beauty enjoying a game of Frisbee, getting inside out of the waves. The sun was setting in the background and we could see the upshot of the sunset on the sand. We decided to spend sometime on the shore now to see another grand show by the sun. This must have been the best scene of our entire road trip. The magnificent riot of colors in the sky, the colors absorbed by waves, the sand reflecting the overall effect and to top to it the feeling of being with the person you love the most was unrivaled. I can now say that this goes into the list of most beautiful moments in my life. The setting was so very scenic that even Vivek decided to let go of his Camera and enjoy the moment with me.

What followed next was something I hadn’t done. I had always played in the beach with sun right on top of my head or right behind me but never had an opportunity to play in the beach with moon in the backdrop. The moon lit up the shore and beach enough for us to romance the water some more. The beach in the moon light augmented our experience at the Marvanthe. Most of the families had withdrawn either to their rooms or were having snacks now but we were in no mood to get back to our room. We had to finally give way as we were the only two souls in the middle of water. After the creepy experience at Kodachadri we dint want to take another dig at our luck.

A hot bath allayed our journey weariness and the body dint want anything more than a perfect resting time. We bought a cool drink from the restaurant and opened the plum cake we had carried to celebrate our overdue Christmas party. We chose a small bench on the shore of the beach under a tree and had silent small celebration. The swinging hammocks now were bellowing us towards them. We lazed around in the hammock with a book and no sooner had the hammock started swaying we both were in deep sleep. We were awakened by the resort person who had come to give us blankets. It was time to say goodnight to the moon smiling upon us, to the hammocks and to the beach.