Day 6: Trek to half moon and paradise beach, Jog falls

Om Beach

Alarm rang, rang again but switched off, probably this was one of its days in this trip where we dint bother to wake up early probably because the brain knew that this was the penultimate day of the trip but mind you the watch read 6.40 AM when we got up and this was not early at all by any standards to Vivek. He was not very happy that we got up late. We had planned to start the trek quite early to avoid the haze of the sun but now it dint seem like happening. We had to be swift in finishing the mundane cleaning process and head to the beach at the earliest to start the trek. Yes that’s right one of my wishes of 2011 coming true; A beach trek.

The initial plan was to take a ferry to Om beach from Kudle beach and start the trek from there, but when we reached the beach there were no ferries in sight and we couldn’t delay any further and decided to start the trek from Kudle beach instead of Om Beach.

It’s a small trek on a muddy rocky path to reach Om Beach but it gives a splendid view of both Om Beach and Kudle beach. Before we could fully appreciate the beauty of it we were at the view point in Om Beach. This is probably the only view point which gives the view of Om symbol after which the beach is named. The Arabian Sea expands itself just before your eyes into vastness mimicking the activities in the sky. A staircase from the viewpoint leads down to the Om beach and the moment you reach the beach, you can find the famous Namaste Café. One can find various water sports but most of them start pretty late in the day and we were really early by the standards of beach living so couldn’t use any of the sports and moved onwards with our trek to next stop, Half moon beach.

The trek to half moon beach can be tricky if there is no one to guide through the route. There is no defined trail; one would have to find on their own through the scrub and forest with no sight of a beach anywhere. Vivek vaguely remembered the path since he had trekked this path earlier but we were still unsure. We had no other option than just follow his instincts and tread the unknown path to finally get a sparkling view of the ocean. The path to this view was so narrow that a small slip would land you straight into the ocean, but it was worth the adventure. The trail from here on was scenic with a walk more or less along the ocean. After some clambering we reached the half moon beach.



Half moon beach

Half moon beach is named because of its shape. There isn’t much to do, nor are there many people at the half moon beach. Just a lone Café Paradise welcomes you to the beach. If one would want a private beach all by themselves then this would be a place for it. There are not many visitors who land on this shore; most of them get a view of it through a ferry that doesn’t anchor here. The adventure spirit may not have a great time here as the waves are minimal and it’s a beach for people who would prefer secluded peaceful time with nature. Since we had already had some stuff in our tummy and were not in the spirit to relax we did not stop at the Café, instead we progressed further to the Paradise beach.

The next stretch of trek is not very inviting for quite a few reasons, first there is no one on the shore who would guide you to the path, second you wouldn’t know how the beach is as a huge rocky hill blocks the view of Paradise from honey moon, third was that Vivek had earlier trekked only till the half moon beach and we couldn’t depend on his instincts anymore coz there was none!

We were contemplating whether to go ahead or take a ferry back from here while we walked along the beach and found a real small shack cum café housing about 4 people at max. The person in charge of the shack told us that the trek going forwards is a different one as there is no shrubbery any more but the trek would have to be on the rocks. I was totally game for it coz it would be an amazing experience to walk on the rocks while the waves gushed at them. Without thinking twice about it we headed straight to the Paradise. I am an amateur trekker but I have trekked in a well laid path to the base of Tadiandamol, through a light forest to the peak of Tadiandamol, small hills and green grasslands to Kodachadri and believe me this kind of trek on the rocks was one of the best among these. There is a gentle breeze from the waves which soothe you while you climb one rock and get down the other, providing an immensely beautiful sight of the vast ocean. Vivek was thrilled that I could experience this kind of trek as well and so was Mrs Vivek.

After “beack rock climbing” we could spot few strange settlements of people. Going ahead we could find more of these settlements however it was quite silent and we weren’t sure why it was so silent when there were so many people. The settlements were created from long fabric with prints of Hindu Gods and Goddesses to re-iterate the fact that this was a hippie settlement. A walk down the beach showcased a bigger settlement hidden inside the coconut grove and now there was music, mind you not noise, sound but music. Few men were teaching, learning, playing the Djembe drums and this was complemented with the music of waves. People had made this their home and worked as a group, while one group provided the entertainment through the Djembe, there was another worker group who did the mundane task of fetching the water, collecting items from the shore, another group who took care of cooking for the settlement.

Graffiti at Paradise beach

It was like back in time to Stone Age through a time-machine and guess this is why it was called Paradise for people who saw through it.
We had a quick breakfast, tasty tender coconut water and some shopping and now it was time to look for a ferry which could take us back to Kudle beach. 

It is hard to find a shared ferry from this place and we had to juggle a bit to find a lone ferry which wasn’t going to be shared with anyone else. It was a boat ride in the Arabian Sea with the boat just for us. A superb experience topped by the sight of twin dolphins.

We were now back at Kudle beach for one last experience in the waves and this last one proved to be a thrilling, amazing one. The shore line of the beach is not deep and one can easily walk to a very long distance. Since I was restricted by my height I couldn’t venture much into the beach but we were far enough to let the waves rock us up and down. I haven’t had an experience like this, all along whenever I have been to a beach I have always played with the waves just at the front of the beach and this time I was at place surpassing the waves and rocking with it.

The thought of watching another sun set at Jog Falls reminded us to head back to the shack at the earliest and start onwards to our next destination.

The drive to the town of Jog and the falls thorough the Ghats is very scenic but the last stretch of road spoils the mood. There wasn’t enough water to showcase the beauty of the falls and we were disappointed. We dint want to spend more time here as the falls was void of any incredulity. We now wondered whether to stay at Jog or proceed to Shimoga instead and stay there but the clock read 7 o’clock in the evening and we dint have the gusto to have another long drive in the night.

Wooden cottage at Sharavathi Nature Camp

With the thought of relaxing we headed to the forest guest house “Sharavathi Nature Camp”. An aesthetically designed wooden cottage awaited our presence. The nature camp did not hold anything much to do and all we had to was take enough rest to get back the zeal to drive back home the next morning.