Prologue

The year 2020 was drawing towards an end. We did not do any worthwhile trips this period because of the pandemic. The urge to end the hiatus was always on the cards with a good unwinding weekend. Akin to Manchanabele Dam, I opened my application and scanned for less crowded and viable destinations. I prefer seas to mountains but not having done anything, I wanted to choose a location where I could zip through mountains and visit seas. The one location that stood out was Maravanthe Beach. Per my nascent awareness, this beach is a good drive through location. My wife favoured a three night stay at a cozy resort. The nearest town is Kundapura. After rumbling over multiple stay options, we zeroed in on UVA Meridian Bay Resort and Spa. Having chosen the stay, the next step was to decide the route. The two route options are 1. Agumbe Ghat and 2. Charmady Ghat. Though the route via Agumbe is shorter, I chose Charmady, taking into account Charmady has fewer bends than Agumbe.

19th December, 2020 – Saturday

With impatience and excitement running high, we woke up at 4 AM, packed our bags and left home by 530 AM. We experienced traffic exiting Bangalore and after crossing Nelamangala, the road became an absolute paradise. We could maintain good speeds and reached our scheduled stop Swathi Delicacy ten minutes before 800 AM. We ordered our usual sambar vadas, benne dosas and coffees.

Appetizing bene dosa

After an hour break, we were back on the road. We left the Mangalore highway at Hassan and progressed towards Belur. My mother kept herself awake to buy the kitchen vessel made of soap stone at Belur. We made a brief pit stop to buy it and pressed on towards Mudigere. Our next halt was at Ibbani Cafe for lunch. Set amidst a beautiful backdrop of fields and mountains, it was an amazing place to have food. They have an array of menu ranging from neer dosas, akki rotis, pooris, chapathis, parottas, mixed rice to finger chips, coffee, tea and cold coffee and devoured every bit of it. Looking back at this trip this place ranked on top of our eateries list for its awesome food and beautiful surroundings.

Outdoor rustic seating arrangement

Though it was sunny, we had enough shade and it was never hot.

Neer Dosa

Akki Roti

With our tummies full, we advanced to the most anticipated part of the drive, i.e., driving through Charmady ghat sections. It is a driver’s delight to be on the wheels. I would not say too many bends but there was a considerable climb up and down roads. We stopped for pictures at Charmady Ghat View Point. The journey as I had foreseen, became tougher with travel sickness starting for my mom and surprisingly for my daughter too. After a two hour long journey on the curvy roads, we hit the plains around Karkala and roads became smoother again.

Charmady Ghat View Point: Panoramic view of the mountains

Way too sunny for my liking, but again never hot. With a bit of breeze blowing across, we enjoyed the serene look.

Gigantesque Western Ghats

Euphoric curvy roads with a breathtaking backdrop

Following Udupi, we hit the western express highway and after a whopping 12 hour journey of 460 KMS, finally Kundapura town came into sight and we reached our resort at 530 PM. We did a quick check-in to our rooms and my dad was very much pumped to set his legs in the sea after a long stretch of lockdown at home. We went to Kodi Beach in absolute darkness, with the only light coming from flash light of mobile phones, me, my dad and my daughter finally set our foot on the water. It was a heavenly and an indelible experience. We came back to our room, had dinner and retired for the day.

20th December, 2020 – Sunday

The foremost reason for choosing UVA Meridian Bay Resort and Spa was the adjoining UVA Meridian Amusement Park attached to the resort. Before making the booking, I did a call to the resort to verify the sanitisation of rooms and the status of the amusement park. To our solace, they had just opened the park for public following all the guidelines.

Comfortable cozy rooms

The main building that houses the reception

Lot and lots of open areas. My kid loved it.

Covered car parking.

After finishing our breakfast, myself and my daughter hit the waters. It was non stop fun and entertainment for my daughter for the next three hours. This was her first experience in a water pool and she had a really gala time. It took me a lot of time to convince her to literally drag her back to room. The only downside about the park was that, even though you do not want to play games and just be a spectator, you have to buy the entry ticket and pay full amount to sit in the shade and watch. Otherwise the only option is to stand in the scorching sun and watch them enjoy

The amusement park had variety of water games. It was like a private pool with not much crowd to be bothered about

Fun water slides

Mechanical Gym

A car and an auto embellished with ravishing paints

Toy Train and bouncy frog ride in the background

Post lunch, we had a quick nap and it was time to visit the Maravanthe Beach. It is a stretch of land between the ocean and Kolluru river. The stupefying thing about this place was that, there was no crowd and commercialization. We were really surprised to know that this place entertains very little crowd. There are rocks that stretched deep into the waters. We spent close to two hours in the beach enjoying a lovely sunset.

Squeaky-clean beach with rocks extending into water

A crowd-free spotless beach

Going down faster by the minute

My wife and I walked across and got to the edge of the final set of rocks and spent our time gazing the final rays of sun for the day. It is one of those beautiful moments.

Kolluru River right across the road

Truly Hypnotizing sight. Peaceful !!!

Dragged ourselves back to the resort after a stellar evening. With all the lights, the resort looked elegant and splendid in the dusk

Getting decked-up for Christmas

Red-carpeted area to walk around

Magnificently lit with a delightful look

We had our dinner in the resort and retired for the day.

21st December, 2020 – Monday

This day was no different from the previous day as the first half of the day was spent in the amusement park, but this time my wife and my dad joined us. It was again real fun and this is the best part with kids. They will have the indistinguishable excitement like their first time every time. We again literally had to drag her out of the place after a three hour play. Our plan then was to visit Udupi temple and take a walk at Malpe Sea Walk. So, post lunch, we drove to Udupi and had a good crowd free darshan. It was a divine sight to worship little Krishna. After that, we went to Malpe sea walk. Though, the walkway was clean and had a nice ambience, the surroundings due to fishing had too many flies and there was mild stench in the air.

Captivating walkway with sea on both sides

Panoramic view of the beach and walkway

Dusk setting in

Sand art

Aesthetically Carved

Tortoise and snail

For a second this looked real

Zoomed in

So after about half an hour, we decided to go back to resort and have dinner and relax. Spotted this beauty in our resort’s garage. Timeless vintage classic !!!

The resort’s food quality was definitely top notch. We opted for heavy (buffet) breakfast in the morning. It had a decent spread of fruits, idlis, dosas, chapatis/pooris, eggs and fresh juices/shakes. For lunch, we chose the in house restaurant. My daughter loved their water melon juice and dal kichidi. For dinner, it was always room service with breads and a curry. Impressed by their quality, we decided to pack our lunch from the same place the next day and the chef gladly agreed. The packing was too good. A word of appreciation for the new joinee Soumya for the way he packed our food !!!

22nd December, 2020 – Tuesday

It was the final day of our trip and alas we had to head back to Bangalore. Still, I was trying to choose between Charmady and Agumbe. The heart was always towards Agumbe, mind kept saying stick to the known route of Charmady. Heart won the tussle and it was going to be Agumbe. From the time we left our resort gates, we traveled through thick vegetation on either side. The roads were surprisingly good with odd patches here and there. Nevertheless, around 11 AM we reached the foothills of Agumbe and the sight was one to behold.

Thick vegetation

Simply breathtaking !!! Agumbe at its mightiest best.

The climb up was damn exhilarating and kept me on hook. It took us good 25 minutes to reach the top and the view from top was staggering. As I indulged myself so much in driving, I did not take any pictures. We soon started descending towards the other side of Sringeri. Post Bhadra stop coffee shop, we stopped for lunch. We packed dosas from the resort as we knew that we would not get anything until we reach Chikmagalur. Around 5 PM we stopped at Vegetarea for a swift coffee and snack break. We drove non-stop after that and reached home at 830 PM after a herculean eleven hour drive.

Just seeing my dad thrilled to set his foot on the beach in pitch darkness, to see my mom having a race with my daughter in an immaculate beach, to watch a beautiful sunset with my beloved one, to play like a kid with my own kid in the amusement park, and to top it all, an exhilarating drive, this trip had all these wonderful and unforgettable memories.