We were welcomed in to a new dawn by the gushing sound of the waves and the chirping of birds nesting on the tree right outside our room. Marvanthe is known for a stretch of road which is adorned by a beach on one side and back waters on the other and we were headed just there right after all the morning chores were done. Enroute to the high way there is a small beach park that has been opened up for the locals who would want to enjoy the beach. It’s neither a place of importance nor of interest and can be easily skipped.
The hollowness in the stomach did not let us drive down the stretch and we were wondering what was happening. Instead of the beach it started pulling us back on the way to Kundapur. Only after reaching the restaurant did we realize that the rumbling stomach had made an insider treaty with car and solicited its help in driving us to the restaurant for Butter Masala dosa. With the mission of Masala Dosa completed, it was now time for mission Gadbad which was accomplished at Prabhu’s Ice cream, infact the mission was more than accomplished as Vivek gobbled down one and a half Gadbad. Yes that’s right one and a half, made up by one Gadbad and one mini Gadbad. This was probably the highlight of the day for him, fulfilling the desire of eating a very very delicious Gadbad.
It was time for us to get back to the beach one last time before we wrap up our stay at Maravanthe. This one last time in beach proved to be pricey. The saline water made it’s way into our camera while we were trying to capture our happiness in the beach. This was our cue to make a move and head to our next destination. It was 12 in the noon and we had reasonable distance to cover to reach Om Beach; our next stop on the map.
Though the initial plan was to make it to Karwar and Devbagh beach, looking the time crunch we decided to drop it from the plan and head straight to Gokarna. The drive to Om Beach is like a hide and seek game with the splendid sight of beach peeking across once in a while. We reached Om Beach view point around 4’o clock, it was crowded with people scampering up and down the view point, with vehicles parking and moving out. We managed to get a view of the Om Beach under the glare of the sun which had decided not to be benevolent.
Since there was sometime before the sun mellowed down, we decided to look at our accommodation. Vivek wanted to stay at Om Beach, witness the sunset and also be part of the fun and frolic which would start late in the evening but there were no accommodation options on Om Beach thanks to it popularity. However we had booked a shack in Café Paradise at Kudle Beach. The drive to the café is awkward; driving on stone-studded path is neither good for the car nor for the people inside.
The café is not very near but accessible from the parking space. We were greeted by a fat middle aged man chewing tobacco. The scene wasn’t very inviting, though the shack looked neat, it wasn’t near the beach; it was about 100 meters from the beach. We decided to have a look at the beach and also check out some options to stay somewhere closer to beach.
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Sunset at Kudle beach
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Kudle beach can be reached through narrow paths passing through other accommodation options. The life at this beach makes you feel that you are not in Karnataka but transported to a beach somewhere outside this country. I am not trying to exaggerate here but the numbers of foreigners compared to Indians is huge. We could hardly find Indians anywhere on the beach. Possibly if the beach had a population of 2000 tourists, the number of Indian tourists would have been 100.
The scene at the beach looked appealing but we had other things on our plate like finding an alternative accommodation option. We tried at various places but in vain. There was no sign of any accommodation available in any of the shacks and once we realized that there is no point in wasting time in searching for alternates, we had fun at yet another beach for the entire period we were based at Kudle and this one beach was definitely different.
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Cafés lined along Kudle beach
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But before we dived into the waters for masti, we had to take a closer look at our shack and dump our required luggage. It is in all respect a shack with the power of electricity. Made of plantain leaves with just a small opening to call as window, it was back to nomad life. We dint want to waste time in whining about the place, we wanted pure fun and let down our hair and what better place than this. We quickly hurried back to the beach and walked along its shore hand in hand with the sun setting behind us. The shore of Kudle beach is in more or less like a semi circle and the shacks are lined bordering it. The view of these cafes in the night with the light shimmering is something one must for sure witness.
After skirting around the shore and shopping, now was the time for dinner. We found a simple yet fancy looking café by a popular name “Rock Namaste Café” don’t mistake it to The Namaste Café on the Om beach, this one doesn’t have any alliance with the one on Om Beach. However this does attract as many foreigners as the other one would. There were many things available on the menu, but the wood oven pizza is what caught our attention and we ordered for the same. Though the cuisine is definitely Italian it is served on the very local plantain leaves.
After the dinner when we stepped out into the shore again, we saw people lighting crackers on the beach and some of them pitching their tent, some were bringing up a fire to rouse a camp fire, and the party was just beginning. I am sure Vivek did not regret staying at Kudle beach. We stayed on to witness the party for while but the dark alley to reach our shack reminded us that we had to move now and say farewell to the night life in Kudle.
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