June 30, 2008

Gokarna: Land of my favourite beaches

Continuing my memory series blogs I am going to write about some of my most favourite beaches in my homeland. Before I talk about my favourite beaches I'd like to give a little physical geographical information about India. With a coastline of over 7,600 km India is richly endowed with thousands of kms of golden beaches. And unlike in several other countries, all the seaside towns enjoy great sunny weather and one can easily get into the water and enjoy a cool swim in the azure waters of the ocean.

Predictably my favourite beaches are located in my home state of Karnataka, though I like Goan beaches, they are too crowded for my comfort. I haven't been to Kerala's beaches and the beaches in Tamil Nadu (at least the ones I have been to) were very dirty and full of dead fish. I have been to Mumbai's beaches but they were dirtier than the TN ones. In Andhra Pradesh and Orissa the beaches were so hot that I couldn't enjoy being there and to my bad luck I visited these states in the peak of summer so I don't have particularly fond memories of these locations.

Anyway now cutting the chatter here are some of my most favourite beaches in Karnataka.

The holy beach behind the main temple in Gokarna, crowded but it is so long that one can find some secluded places

Om Beach, used to be my favourite when it was inaccessible and virtually empty. But now it is in the list only because of its development, there are throngs of tourists crowding the beach

Rugged rock formations off the Om Beach, we used to swim upto them and enjoy climbing

Sunset at Gokarna, captivating and colourful

Om Beach - another view

6 comments:

Lakshmi said...

I really like gokarna..its an awesome place

treasured_creatives said...

Yeah Lakshmi... Gokarna is a fantastic place... I'd love to go there anytime of the year... have been there in peak of summer, monsoon and during winter... beautiful year round... and the ambiance of nature, mountains, forests, wildlife and of course the ocean make it a very soul-soothing place...

treasured_creatives said...

Yeah Lakshmi... Gokarna is a fantastic place... I'd love to go there anytime of the year... have been there in peak of summer, monsoon and during winter... beautiful year round... and the ambiance of nature, mountains, forests, wildlife and of course the ocean make it a very soul-soothing place...

Anonymous said...

Gokarna is very beautiful place. It has very peaceful and pleasant atmosphere.

Deguide said...

Om beach was pleasant in 2004 but now it is crowded, the best way to enjoy the scenario is to trek from Gokarna over the hillocks, it brings back memory of ancient times

treasured_creatives said...

Yes Deguide, I agree. I visited Gokarna first time in 1996 and it was a true seaside heaven. We sighted several peacocks on the trek to Om Beach. Now there is a road and the Om Beach has become a commercial hub. Unfortunate but true...