Ganpatipule

An extremely well kept secret of Ratnagiri, Ganpatipule boasts of the coasts most dangerous beaches. The water here is turbulent and the tides erratic. But for people like me who live little on the edge such beaches are paradises.

Luckily for us we did not get accommodation in the hotel so we had to live in a tent which was even more exciting. The tents were located at a juncture where the river met the sea. Two different streams of water mixed so effortlessly I was particularly amazed at this sight. I had never seen the river attenuate itself in the sea.

We had reached Ganpatipule sometime in the afternoon and the whole beach was isolated. It’s a rare sight for a beach not a single human! We were 2 families, my uncle’s and us and we share 2 tents. I cannot resist water so I duped the bags and hit the beach straight knowing the fact that I cannot swim and the beaches were dangerous. Seeing me everybody jumped into the water and we played and soiled ourselves for 5 hours in the salty water. My cousins and I made sand castles at the shore that the sea kept sweeping away and the ladies strolled along the beach while the men showed off their heroic swimming skills. Water tires you out and after 5 hours of ducking in the water we were starving. At that time there was only one shack on the beach that served food. We ate our guts out and then slept like babies till late night. When we came back to the beach for dinner and drinks the sea had become monstrous. The tides were high and had come till the foot of the shack which was on top of a small hill. It hit the rock so hard that droplets would smudge our faces. The winds gushed through the shack whistling and romancing the sea. It was a beautiful night. We were too tired to do anything else for the night so we retired in our tents.

Next morning again I wanted to be a mermaid but we had to visit this famous Ganpatipule temple host to one of the ‘asthavinayak ganpati’s’ in Maharashtra. The Idol is completely natural which means the stone took the shape of Lord Ganesha which is called the ‘swayambhoo’. People walk up bare feet when their wishes are fulfilled. Some go around the temple 108 times at the foothill. We did none of it and did 3 rounds of the temple only and offered our prayers. When we walked back I being the Aquarian had to jump back into the water and that’s exactly what I did. But last nights high tide had not receded yet so water was tumultuous. I was a little scared and I took to the shore where I happily gathered shells. Just then a high tide with tremendous pressure came and swept off sand under my feet and pulled me into the water. I was dragged in the opposite direction as everyone and I freaked out! My uncle came running and pulled me out to the shore. Everybody laughed at me while I removed sand from my ears and coughed out salt water. Lunch was calling and we decided to climb upto this nearby resort which had a proper restaurant. Good simple sea food and we were set to sleep again! Evening we had to push off and al we did for 2 days was fighting the waves! A fantastic weekend getaway if you want to do basically nothing and chill on a hammock sipping your drinks away and reading a book at the beach or just soak up the sun.