Devbagh

On our first marriage anniversary, I had planned for a 3 night stay in Devbagh Beach Resort. In fact I had planned it so well in advance, that the resort guys didn't even ask for the advance immediately.:-)) And while planning for this trip only, I realized the benefit of writing blogs and reviews on net. So many resorts which appeared to be great on their websites are dumped by reviewers and you can at least get an idea what to expect from the place you are going to visit. and so I also started writing my own blogs about the places I have visited.

While browsing through the net and reading hundreds of reviews and blogs about various beach resorts(I was bent on going to some beach resort with all the water sports facilities actually, since Ruchi is scared of water:-), I finally zeroed in on Jungle Lodges Devbagh Beach Resort. It was one of the very few beach resorts about which all the reviews were positive. While thinking of beaches, obviously first place that comes to mind is Goa. And I searched through a lot of resorts in Goa but found that only five star resorts have some water sports facilities of their own. Otherwise all arrange for water sports through private operators only. Devbagh Beach Resort is located on an island, 3 kms off Karwar coastline into the Arabian Sea and water sports facility and personnel are on the island itself. Other thing that went in favor of Devbagh was that it's a completely different kind of resort based on the concept of eco tourism. And so it offered the potential of an altogether different experience.

Since I had planned it so early, we had received great feedbacks about the place from our colleagues also. and obviously, the expectations were very high. And when the expectations are high, it's more likely to get disappointed. Still when we were about to return, we both agreed(It's actually very rare phemoneon when we both agree, people should appreciate that:-)) that the resort was worth a visit.

We went till Hubli via train and then by cab to Karwar from where a boat transferred us to the island. this is the view of the island from the jetty. we reached the resort at around 11a.m.


There are three different types of cottages there for accomodation, fisherman hut and loghuts made of wood and bamboo and cottages. The interiors of the cottages and loghuts are better, so it's better to choose that. Though we were given a fisherman
hut, it was very close to the beach and so we preferred to stick to that.

the first day we rested for the whole day after taking lunch, wanted to go for the water sports in the evening but got late. the food is like home made food, tastes great and there is good variety for both north indians and south indians. north indians can enjoy real wheat roti(fulka) and paratha. especially breakfast was too good, with all my favorites being present:-)) there is no room service but the staff was very courteous and I never heard 'no' for any request we made.

we went to the beach in the evening, just for a walk. took some photos during sunset.

there is some part of the beach here that extends into the ocean upto half a km during low tide. it's great walking on a narrow sandy road with ocean on all three sides. and if u spend enough time, u can see arabian sea engulfing slowly all your foot marks.

In this photo water in arabian sea seems to be blue. I have also seen such photos in some other blogs. But to clarify, the color of water is not blue in and around devbagh. I don't know how it came like this in this pic. anyway, nice photo!!

there is a camp fire in the evening near the beach where they serve snacks like pakodas, bhajji etc. it's a difficult job to go for dinner just after that but we succeeded all the time.:-))

Next day, we got up very early in the morning for nature walk. A guide took us inside the forest and showed crabs, tortoise and some birds.

also took photo of a modern art work by some anonymous crab on the beach.

after the breakfast, I went for a water scooter ride but it was complete waste. I sat in front, engine was in the backside and while the speed was good enough, the front portion rises so high in the water that it's difficult for water from the sea to even fall onto your legs.

the real fun was banana boat ride. a speed boat pulls a banana shaped boat, 4-5 persons can sit on it and a good distance into the sea they topple the banana boat and all people sitting on it fall into the water. Dont' worry, everyone wears a life jacket so finally you resurface. I went at least 2-3 feet down the water level and if the life jacket can pull 90kg weight, I think most of the people can be assured of safety.:-))they can do it 2-3 times if u like. i drank so much of sea water that it felt like I have had lunch.:-) I wanted to have it toppled one more time but Ruchi was scared.

while going for parasailing, we had a bonus speed boat ride in the sea since we had to go to a different point based on wind direction. it was thrilling to ride on the waves, sometimes the speed boat was jumping from one wave to another. it seems scary from the ground to see someone else going up. but when I actually did it, I even stared at the sea beneath me without any fear(someone advised me against doing that, poor fellow!!). though I couldn't land perfectly on the beach and fell into the sea, luckily not far from the beach. Even though Ruchi was the last one to go, she didn't get scared and had a near perfect landing.

then for sometime we tried our hands at sea kayaking. initially we didn't know where and how the boat is moving. then I discovered the art of boating with the guide's help. I became so excited by the discovery that I started rowing faster paying no heed to Ruchi's warning calls and finally, the guide had to jump into the water to stop our boat from colliding head on into the jetty.:-( Noone told me how to stop.:d

the beach here is not good for the people whose idea of beach holiday is to jump into water now and then. it is prone to strong undercurrents and the life guard on duty allows people to swim only during some fixed hours. we could finally get into the water next day only. anyway it was fun. the beach here is full of snails. Ruchi started collecting some big ones but there were so many that in frustration, she threw even the ones she had collected.:-)

lazing in the hammock!! what's that?? so we also didn't touch it till now. but next day after having done all the water sports and swimming, we had nothing to do. also they switch off electricity during the daytime so finally I lied on the hammock. the setting is perfect here for the hammock. in between the lines of trees, after a few minutes, I found myself enjoying the cool breeze which was otherwise a humid climate. Ruchi also got interested but it was a tough job for both of us to get accommodated. we finally managed to lie together and kept lying for about 2 hrs.:-) it wasn't exactly bliss(according to malaika, bliss is staying in water bungalows of maldives and I fully agree:-)), but not too far from that.

i took this photo of tree tops while on the hammock.

next day we had to leave. didn't forget to enjoy the hammock and walk into the sea. and then went to goa to catch the air deccan flight. this time, unfortunately for us, the deccan flight was on time so had to leave the resort a bit early. the drive from karwar to goa was to my surprise without any view of the sea. though I happened to see the other side of goa and checked out the greenery and mountains, something similar to 'go goa' ad campaign.