Scuba Diving!!

Netrani is a tiny Island of India located in Arabian Sea, off the coast of Karnataka. It is also known as Pigeon Island. The top view of the Island appears like a Heart shaped besides Pigeon! So the name Pigeon Island. Netrani Island is one of the best destination in India for Scuba Diving specially for beginners.

Scuba diving was on the cards from long time and after many delays and postponement the plan was finalized "Trip to Netrani Island with GHAC". We were a group of Nine and had to board the bus to Murudeshwar from Hyderabad on Friday. The weather now a days is unpredictable!! It was in mid of May.. the sun was shining brighter in the morning and it started raining cats and dogs in noon!! Seven members have boarded the bus which is ready to departure and two of them are stuck in traffic. The unpredicted rain and the Hyderabad Metro happily blocked the roads. The bus departed from the station... after making several requests the driver agreed to wait for Ten more minutes and finally both of them are here.. tension relieved!!

Next day it was Five in the morning and here we are at Murudeshwar! The Dive timings were scheduled on Sunday, so we have entire Saturday to spend and visit half moon and paradise beach and trek all along Om beach at Gokarna. The drive to Gokarna is Scenic.. with mountains and Western ghats on one side and Arabian Sea on other side. Om beach is less crowded and it has a couple of water sports as well. The beach  is unspoiled and has clear water which is beautifully surrounded by the palm trees. Some fun time at beach and than a water sports and finally a boat ride to Half moon and Paradise Beach. Both the beaches are awesome!! and it has an amazing place for camping. One more place added to the list. Will be camping here one day for sure.. Till the time we reached back it was getting dark and we started back to Murudeshwara.

Gokarna

Sunday woke up at Five in the morning and went for a walk along beach. The early morning view was beautiful and amazing... waves cleansing away the foot and the refreshing cool breeze!! Back to hotel and we are all set for the Dive. Picked up the diving equipment and gear. Loaded it in a vehicle and started for training session in pool. After getting acquainted with the equipment underwater, we started towards the Island. Its one hour journey in boat to reach Island. As we kept moving the color of the water is also changing, now it's blue all around!! And so the under water visibility also increased.

 

Panoramic view of Netrani Island

And there we see the Island... Netrani Island. What an amazing view it was!! A tiny piece of land in the midst of the blue ocean! The water was Cristal clear at the Island and were able to see the playful and colorful fishes on the surface water.

Fishes on the Surface water

We put on the jacket, oxygen cylinder, mask and one fall into the water and here... we are into a different world!! Underwater. The creatures with fins and gills moving all around spending free and independent life. No aquarium, no tanks just spacious and never ending place with full of colorful life moving all around.

Sighted a hell lot of colorful fishes and little corals. What not... Experienced many joys, the feeling of weightlessness and the beautiful and colourful sight of under water. The journey beneath the waves is worth and is exciting and adventure.

It was amazing to be under water. An incredible and mesmerizing experience. Everyone had a wonderful time and enjoyed to the core.

Finally reached back to hotel and took a jeep to reach Murudeshwar and boarded the bus back to Hyderabad.

Railway track trek to Dudhsagar Waterfalls

Dudhsagar is  one of the most scenic and beautiful waterfall in India and is listed as fifth tallest waterfall in India. The most spectacular natural phenomena, located on the border of Goa and Karnataka states.The cascading of water in large volume from the top of a hill appears like a milky flow!!

So the group of 20 GHACians started off with the Monsoon Trek on railway track passing through the tunnels and heading towards the beautiful Waterfalls. My self and Yogi being the host of the trek and were leading the group.The journey started with only few confirmed train tickets in hand and rest in RAC. So the adventure and the 'No comfort' travel started rite from the beginning! Thanks for the awesome group for 'No complaints' in regards to travel :) but luck favoured us... the other group from GHAC were traveling in the same train to Jog falls and were having few extra reserved tickets :) So, most of them got the berths and had a tight sleep night journey. Thanks for our sleeping bags which helped us in all the time when we don't have reserved train tickets ;)

Saturday:

The initial plan was to start the trek from Castle Rock station and reach Dudhsagar. It was a 14 Kilometer trek on railway track passing through the tunnels, but by the time we reach the waterfalls it will be almost dark and we cannot have the proper view of falls and most importantly we don't get the space for camping... and being a weekend this route will be too crowded. So, we decided to go little further and start the trek from Caranzol. From Caranzol the distance is around 5-6 Kilometer. We started the trek passing through the tunnels and mountains of western ghats. We entered the first tunnel...it was pitch-dark and we dint switched ON the torch light, just to feel a little adventure!! It's being a monsoon season, it was drizzling from top of the tunnels and the moment we came out of the tunnel we could see many tiny falls from the top of the mountains and of-course plenty of greenery all around!!
 

Tunnel

There were couple of falls on the way where we spent some time. Everyone in the group were amused and were rejoicing a fun filled trek. In the middest of the trek we saw a couple of goods transmitting trains with people on board. The guard allowed few people to board the train. We too had a chance, but we were happy to trek all along and reach the falls and more than that we do not want to miss the beauty of the nature and of-course the Adventure!!
 

View on the way

The views during the trek were immensely mesmerizing!! Deep valleys, water falls, railway track, tunnels and greenery all around... one must visit this place at least once in a life time!! The nature lovers were busy capturing the beauty of nature through lens and others were throughly enjoying the mother nature and of-course there were also few Kodak moments of the group!! Soon we reached the Dudhsagar station and we could here the sound of gushing water falls cascading down!! It was just a Ten minutes walk from Dudhsagar station to the actual water fall... and here we saw the spectacular natural falls... water plummets from hundreds of feet in cascade of large volume and creating a mist all around!! The cascading water appear like a milky flow!!

Water falls

The moment our eyes captured the spectacular falls we lost ourselves in the beauty of nature and were standing still and forgot about the world outside and were thoroughly, deeply rejoicing the waterfalls!! Living the life to the fullest!! After spending a good time at the falls we started pitching the tents for camping quite opposite to the water falls, and just beside the railway track... must be 4-5 steps beside the track not more than that. There is a small canteen at the water falls, where you have enough space for 15 people to accommodate under a shed. After pitching the tents we again went near to the falls... this time we descended little down from where we can feel the gushing water on our feet!! It was getting dark and we all moved to our camping place for dinner. We have enough packed food... a lot of varieties on the menu!! Dinner followed by lot of fun filled activities! It was a different experience to spend the night in the tent near to the falls and the track, lisitening to gushing sound of the water and shuddering sound of a train and feeling the vibrations on the ground!!

Pitching Tents

Next day on Sunday we woke up at Five in the morning and decided to go little further, cross two more tunnels to view the complete water falls from a distance. After crossing two tunnels from the camping place not more than a kilometer, just turn around and look back.... there you can see beautiful view of dudhsagar with a railway bridge passing along!! Words are not enough to describe the beauty!! Picture says it all! 

View of Dudhsagar

One more View

We spent enough time over there and whilst back to the camping place we saw a small water fall, where the water is crystal clear.

We have to catch the train at Nine in the morning from Dudhsagar station, the interesting part is there is no proper stop at this station, but the train stops here for signal not more than for Two minutes... with not much difficulty we have boarded the train and started towards Londa Junction from where we have to board another train to Hyderabad. After getting down at Londa we have enough time for the next train to Hyderabad so, we all had a leisure lunch at near by hotel and yeah... today is the birthday of 'Haripriya' one of the member in our group! So.. cake cutting, group pictures and some fun time and now its time for boarding the train to Hyderabad. The moment we boarded the train it started raining cats and dogs!! We have spent some good time in journey and thanks to the wonderful group for all the fun in the return journey.

Back to Hyderabad on Monday morning... toughest time starts now!! Office...

Finally the group

White Water Rafting at Dandeli

Note: Hope i I didn’t run away with the length and i hope you guys like it!!

I am planning to pendown since long time.. so here i am posting this. A 3 day adventures trip with 12 adventurers from GHAC to the land surrounded by Forest and a River. 'Dandeli'. Dandeli is one of the best adventure destination in south India, located at northern part of Karnataka and on the banks of river KALI, middle of western ghats.

The summer had started and the temperatures are already soaring. and Siri (Organizer) had planned this trip in the month of April end. Though it was a good decision, as we are going to the place surrounded by thick forest and a river.. so obviously no worries about the temperature :) and we were excited. There can be no other feeling more wonderful than dipping your feet in cold running water and feeling the spray on your face!!

Day 1

So, the group of eight adventurers (Siri, lakshmi, Archita, Susmitha, Awinash, Chakri, Aditya and Myslef) started from Hyderabad to Hubli and the rest four adventurers started from Banglore to Hubli. As they were working in Banglore, we planned to meetup at Hubli. We are traveling by public transport (KSRTC) till Hubli. And Siri had already booked the cab from Hubli to Dandeli. We suppose to board the bus at 8.30 PM from Hyderabad, but asusual no wonders... the bus has been delayed and we had to wait till 10.00 PM. We some how managed to kill the time and boarded the bus at 10 O'clock. The journey started!! Though the bus was of Karnataka, the driver must be knowing the taste of hyderabadi people, he played Salman khan movie 'Dabang 2' :D In the midst, Awinash took out aalu parathas packed in a silver foil from his back pack. Parathas with Dabang 2.. ahh!! thats completely 'hutke'. Thanks to Awinash for Parathas!!

Day 2

It was half past Seven in the morning next day, we reached Hubli. The other four adventurers Uday, Abhinav, Anusha and Anusha were already there and waiting for us, (Yes! Ironically they two has the same name). And our cab was there on time... So, all the 12 adventurers are here... we had clicked a few kodak moments and without wasting much time we started towards Dandeli... It was somewhere around 1-2 hrs of journey and the whole route was through the forest with curvy routes. It's one of the route that is more attractive and spectacular. I wish i could someday drive on these routes. Finally we reached Dandeli!! and our accommodation was at Stanley's farm a jungle resort  in the mid of the forest. So we freshened up ourselves and post breakfast we started towards the first activity of the day 'Fox Flying'. 10 min. walkable distance into the forest and there is a small lake for Fox flying. though it was not that adventures nor any risk factor involved, it was fun and everyone enjoyed it. Without risk there is no Adventure!! So, we moved to the next activity 'River Crossing'. River crossing is not like simply crossing the river by swimming or rowing a boat but by using a harness and a rope. One needs a good stamina to do this. It is not so Adventures for the experienced, but it's quit challenging for the beginners (Most of them are beginners). We didn't even noticed It was almost half-day past...!! Back to resort for a quick lunch and after that we are all set for the much awaited and the main activity 'White Water Rafting'.

 

White water Rafting

White water rafting in Kali river is of 9 KM stretch. and the activity started with a brief training session by the Instructor (Stanley). We got the peddles and put on the life jackets and all set to GO!! We were divided into two groups of six each, coz only eight persons are allowed in one boat. Every boat has an instructor along. We started rowing, after a while Stanley asked us to jump into the water to get acquainted to the water!! than we realized that all of them were non-swimmers except Awinash and Lakshmi! Than with some courage we took a dive into the water...  and after some fun swimming we were back on the boat and heading towards the first Rapid, and first rapid of everyone's life!! We all felt the force of the water on our body as we slid through the boisterous water... and our other group were beyond us... very soon there was a second rapid. We passed through the rush of the water and noticed that Abhinav (from the second group)was thrown out of the boat! he was in river being washed away, but everyone who saw him pulled him back on the board!! We moved towards the third rapid and than fourth.... totally we passed 9 such rapids. The last rapid was the biggest one!! The water gushing heavily and we had to row in the opposite direction of the flow to go near the rapid!! We completely got drenched... Our instructor Stanley was so good that he made us slid into the last rapid 4-5 times!! All-in-All its a good Rafting experience and everyone enjoyed it!! and finally we are way back to the resort for a quick dinner and a night walk followed by a campfire!!

Water Rafting.

Camp Fire

Night walk was dam good!! We were already cautioned that the forest is famous for leopards and Bears... though we know its not a good sign.. still we went on for a walk. Siri and lakshmi were holding the tourch... as we were in the mid of the forest, there was no sign of lights, huge trees on both sides of the path... couple of them were like having a cold feet. After a furlong distance... the lane divides to the right... with the help of the torch light we noticed that there is a huge Peepal tree over there!! and no one was ready to get into that lane... however with some courage and braveness me and Abhinav started walking towards that tree and others followed back.. for some reason we took a turn and came back to the resort. By then the campfire was ready!! and its time for some fun... and we started dumb shell arts!! Chakri must be awarded as the Masters of dumb shell arts... whatever crap you give him, he'll break through the words and with his dumb movements the team will hit the right answer!! after that we left to steal a nap.

Day3

Woke-up before the Sun rise when the  sky was still dark, it was Four in the morning. It's bit chilly and the dew is definitely in the air. We planned to start the day with rappelling. Rappelling spot was near to the Bison River Resort, It was about 10-15 Km of travel to reach the Bison resort and from there a Kilometer of walk into the forest.. it was like a warm-up session in the morning and there we reached the spot. This place is known as the Birds resting area in the forest. Till the arrangements were made for rappelling, we enjoyed the beautiful sunrise. There was only one line to rappel down, one-on-one we started rappelling down.. Chakri, Susmitha and Anusha K had the hardest time to rappel down.

Sunrise

After we done with the rappelling... we were ready for the Forest Trek. Boarded the vehicle and started towards the starting point of the trek. We started the trek at Six in the morning, the guy from the resort guided us. It was a thick forest and path was muddy and slippery and in between it was steep . The path was full of plants with thorns.. We had to clear the path in the midst to move ahead. Almost after a 4 Km of trek, here we are at the Back Waters..! "Supa dam reservoir". The panoramic view of the reservoir was too good surrounded by mountains on one side and the forest on the other side. The best thing was the flock of birds hunting for the fishes... that was the best scenic view we saw. So after a fun swimming and relaxing we started way back. and finally reached the starting point till than it was somewhere around Nine O'clock. So whats next? obviously it's time for Pet Pooja! Breakfast. After a quick BF we started towards the Bison River Resort for Kayaking. Everyone spent a good time of an hour in Kayaking followed by Crocacle ride.

Supa dam reservoir

The final and the interesting part was "Jacuzzi". Jacuzzi is nothing but sitting in the river water and enjoying the force stream of water around you. It's the place where you get the natural massage from spilling water of river Kali. Nowhere else you find water so playful, so pure and crystal clear waters cascade down the rapids of Kali River gurgling, whispering, laughing & cleansing everything in their way.We spent most of the time in water.. actually we can spend hours there in water! It was half day past we were getting late, we have to get back to the resort and pack and start to Hubli to catch the bus to Hyderabad. At last we reached the resort, had a quick lunch.. packing was done and yeah... there were a final Kodak moments as well. We some how managed to be on time at Hubli and we have finally bid a final adieu to Bangloreites and boarded the bus to Hyderabad.

Day 4
Now get back to work!! This is the Toughest part i say...