St Mary's Island, the basalt wonder

We went to Udupi just for one reason... to visit St Mary's Island.
We had heard of this tiny island so much that it was on our secret self authored "10 Lakh Places to see before you Die" list for a long time.

  We started driving from Murudeshwar towards Udupi at 3:30 PM. A long stretch of the road was bad, so reaching Udupi took a lot more time than expected. When we reached Udupi it was dark. We checked in a hotel "Hotel Rukmini Residency" on Mosque Road near City busstand. The rooms were clean and the rates very much resonable.Non AC double bedrooms at Rs700 per night and checkout time is 24 hours.

  The next day we reached Malpe bus-stand at 9:00 AM. From our hotel, it was around 5 kms drive. The ferry dock is about 500 mtrs from the bus-stand.
That is where we had to go to book tickets for the ferry ride to St Mary's.
The counter opens at 9:30 AM and a minimum of 30 people are required for the ferry to start. The ferry charges Rs 100 per head that includes to and fro
journey from St Mary's Island.

Ship docked at the Malpe dock.

  We were the first to book our tickets but had to wait for a modest half an hour for a team of 30 to gather. Finally our boat set to sail on the emerald water. The ferry occasionally swayed sideways and the cool sea breeze played around. The ferry went past some very small islands formed of only rocks.
Sometimes a flock of cranes would fly past.

This is the boat that takes you to the island

  Finally we came close to the island which is about 7 kms away from the main land. We were transferred to smaller boats that finally took us to the island.

St. Mary's Island, as seen from the boat

The small boat that transfers you to the island

  The island is absolutely stunning. It is a small elongated strip of land.
The golden sand, the emerald water, the hexagonal basalt rocks, the coconut trees, the red crabs, the clear skies with white clouds and an endless view makes the island magical.

Coconut trees and shades at St. Mary's Island

Sea line at the St. Mary's Island

Hexagonal basalt rocks at St. Mary's Island

Sea Line and rock at St. Mary's Island

Crab at St. Mary's Island

  There was only one make shift shop on the island selling chips, water and fried fish. There was also water scooter for water sport enthusiasts.

  We roamed on the island for almost an hour. The Sun had become very strong by then and we were sweating, so we got up on the boat that was taking people back. As the boat started, the cool sea breeze started playing around us and we were instantly cooled off and got refreshed.

  The boat speed towards Malpe. In the next half an hour, we reached the disembarking point. As we were getting down, a couple that was waiting in the queue for thier trip asked us how the island was. We gave them a "Thumbs High" for we were very sure they too will have a wonderful island sojourn.

St. Mary's Island

Water crashing no the rocks at St. Mary's Island

Hexagonal Rocks at St. Mary's Island

And Finally, us at St. Mary's Island

Some info:
Time of visit: October, 2013
Parking facility: Yes, but not paid.


Keywords: St Mary's Island, Malpe, Udupi, Island

Hogenakkal, a trip gone bad

You must be wondering after reading the post's title about what could have went wrong with this trip. It was one of those trips we least expected to go bad, after all a falls should always look good during monsoons with its water in plenty.

But this time the monsoon was so good and the amount of water was so much that there was no waterfall.......yes no waterfall. The full depth of the fall was filled with water. Why such a thing happened was because the Karnataka Government released the Cauvery water to flow into Tamil Nadu and the Tamil Nadu government trapped the falls water,not allowing it to release therby raising the water level. We asked some of the security personnel and they told us that the falls wont be there for the next one month till the water is released. The funny thing was tourists were charged tickets for seeing the falls when there is no falls at all.

So not too many snaps this time.

Main waterfall entry,flooded now

View from the adjacent park

Coracles lined up

Crocodile rehabilitation centre

Near by is a crocodile rehabilitation centre. We saw lots of crocodiles there mostly old or injured. Photography is not allowed inside.

How to go:
Whitefield-->Krishnagiri-->Dharmapuri-->Hogenakkal
When we went:
27 July'13
Entry ticket (near parking lot): Rs 20
Entry Ticket to Park: Rs 5 per person
Entry ticket to crocodile rehabilitation centre : Re 1 per person