During our trip, my friend Mary and I visited 3 beautiful beaches in the South of Goa. Each of the 3 represented a different “beach” experience, as well as the chance to swim 1) in the Arabian Sea, 2) during the month of January, surreal experiences for folks from the US. The first day we were due to go to the beach, we hired a car to take us to Palolem Beach. We were on our way. Plan set in motion. Almost there, the driver says “There is another beach. It is only 3 kms to the right. It is very nice. Ocean and freshwater.” We said “Sure, let’s see it”. There was no sign, and so we just “turned off the road” onto that unpaved path to paradise. According to a writer on one website, ”Cola Beach is not the easiest place to find and we would advise that you organize a taxi. Be aware, the road to Cola Beach is across 4km of rocky terrain, and access down to the beach can be a challenge for people with mobility issues….but once there…you’re in paradise.”
We did reach paradise, and let me describe the way. We turned off the road, and it began to become very…..ahhh….bumpy. The SUV seemed to drop into cavernous holes. I told Mary, “we are off-roading”. Mary laughed, and said this is tame compared to the true off-roading she experienced growing up on a ranch in California. We approach a man who is guarding the path about 1km into the ride, and there was a discussion between the driver and this man. For some reason, men speaking to each other in foreign languages always seems tense to me, yet this could have been a laid-back friendly conversation for all I know. About a minute later, we determine this must be private property, but we keep moving. We seem to drive forever. It is between 3 and 4 kms of rough terrain. Once we get there, we park, in a wooded area on the red clay pathway, and grab our stuff and begin to walk. I see through the trees that we seem to be quite high up, as in a hundred feet or more above the ocean. That is when I know…we are on a “journey to the beach”. There is a path, and before I can ask if we are going to need a rope and harness to get down, I see stairs. Not concrete “easy stairs”, but “footpath stairs” which are built/dug into the mountain. Rocky stairs. Overall, it is not a bad hike and it was a gorgeous location once reached. There is a beach hut restaurant with nice chairs to sit, and it was quiet, and the breeze was so relaxing, the views gorgeous. Mary ordered some great calamari, always referred to as “fried squid” on every menu here. (We had the squid several times during the trip and it was so good.) Cola beach has both a beach and a freshwater “lagoon” and nice “hut coverage” where we could sit back and relax and read a bit. Upon leaving, the driver stopped suddenly and got out and picked some red and black berries for us, and Mary took a neat picture of these "berries", posted above. The driver did not seem to be urging us to eat them, so we did not. He just, kind of….handed them to us. Later, we did some basic google searches and could not classify what these were. I am still unsure, but they made a nice photo.
The 2nd beach we visited was Palolem, probably one of the most popular beaches in South Goa. This beach had chairs and umbrellas on the beach and you could swim with barely if any currents or waves. Very relaxing swimming. We ate lunch at the restaurant directly above the beach, ordering Indian food--Paneer Dal, garlic Naan, and butter Naan, and it was just excellent! I was not expecting such a delicious lunch from that beach hut restaurant! There are a lot of recreational activities offered on this beach, such as paragliding, kayaking, etc. It was funny to me that there are 2 men sitting in chairs on the beach under an umbrella, who are near a yellow beach “rescue” sign, which you can see if you look closely at one of the photos posted here. These men look very intense, all eyes on the water. However they are not lifeguards. Their wives (one pictured above) are walking up and down the beach offering massages. You can literally get a massage for 10-15 US dollars if you walk a short way up the beach. With the exchange from USD to INRs, this is a good living for the people providing the massages if they attract the clientele.
We visited another beach, which was called Champions Club, and also has a restaurant on the beach, as well as chairs and umbrellas. That is the biggest difference to me, from the US beaches that I am used to visiting. There are nice wooden chairs, cushions, and huge umbrellas already there on the beaches of Goa (for free), and you are not carrying your own chairs, towels and coolers for hundreds of yards to the beach. Also, food is served to wherever you are on the beach. Just an awesome experience. There are dogs roaming the beach, and they become very alert when a “dog on a leash” is approaching. There is howling and much interest from the beach dogs as any fancy, tame dog walks past. It is quite an experience to see!
We did reach paradise, and let me describe the way. We turned off the road, and it began to become very…..ahhh….bumpy. The SUV seemed to drop into cavernous holes. I told Mary, “we are off-roading”. Mary laughed, and said this is tame compared to the true off-roading she experienced growing up on a ranch in California. We approach a man who is guarding the path about 1km into the ride, and there was a discussion between the driver and this man. For some reason, men speaking to each other in foreign languages always seems tense to me, yet this could have been a laid-back friendly conversation for all I know. About a minute later, we determine this must be private property, but we keep moving. We seem to drive forever. It is between 3 and 4 kms of rough terrain. Once we get there, we park, in a wooded area on the red clay pathway, and grab our stuff and begin to walk. I see through the trees that we seem to be quite high up, as in a hundred feet or more above the ocean. That is when I know…we are on a “journey to the beach”. There is a path, and before I can ask if we are going to need a rope and harness to get down, I see stairs. Not concrete “easy stairs”, but “footpath stairs” which are built/dug into the mountain. Rocky stairs. Overall, it is not a bad hike and it was a gorgeous location once reached. There is a beach hut restaurant with nice chairs to sit, and it was quiet, and the breeze was so relaxing, the views gorgeous. Mary ordered some great calamari, always referred to as “fried squid” on every menu here. (We had the squid several times during the trip and it was so good.) Cola beach has both a beach and a freshwater “lagoon” and nice “hut coverage” where we could sit back and relax and read a bit. Upon leaving, the driver stopped suddenly and got out and picked some red and black berries for us, and Mary took a neat picture of these "berries", posted above. The driver did not seem to be urging us to eat them, so we did not. He just, kind of….handed them to us. Later, we did some basic google searches and could not classify what these were. I am still unsure, but they made a nice photo.
The 2nd beach we visited was Palolem, probably one of the most popular beaches in South Goa. This beach had chairs and umbrellas on the beach and you could swim with barely if any currents or waves. Very relaxing swimming. We ate lunch at the restaurant directly above the beach, ordering Indian food--Paneer Dal, garlic Naan, and butter Naan, and it was just excellent! I was not expecting such a delicious lunch from that beach hut restaurant! There are a lot of recreational activities offered on this beach, such as paragliding, kayaking, etc. It was funny to me that there are 2 men sitting in chairs on the beach under an umbrella, who are near a yellow beach “rescue” sign, which you can see if you look closely at one of the photos posted here. These men look very intense, all eyes on the water. However they are not lifeguards. Their wives (one pictured above) are walking up and down the beach offering massages. You can literally get a massage for 10-15 US dollars if you walk a short way up the beach. With the exchange from USD to INRs, this is a good living for the people providing the massages if they attract the clientele.
We visited another beach, which was called Champions Club, and also has a restaurant on the beach, as well as chairs and umbrellas. That is the biggest difference to me, from the US beaches that I am used to visiting. There are nice wooden chairs, cushions, and huge umbrellas already there on the beaches of Goa (for free), and you are not carrying your own chairs, towels and coolers for hundreds of yards to the beach. Also, food is served to wherever you are on the beach. Just an awesome experience. There are dogs roaming the beach, and they become very alert when a “dog on a leash” is approaching. There is howling and much interest from the beach dogs as any fancy, tame dog walks past. It is quite an experience to see!
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