The Unforgettable Beach Picnic

The sun blazes brightly onto the shimmering emerald water, the rays dancing in the sea. Compared to other beaches, this beach was an isolated yet beautiful place. It was quiet, except for the constant lapping of the waves against the shoreline. The palm trees rustled in the wind, providing a much appreciated shade against the merciless and unforgiving sun.

Two families are at this beach one Saturday. It was a beautiful day in spite of the heat and the incident that would change their lives forever. Together both the families were just eight people. Two sets of parents, and two girls aged ten and twelve, and two boys aged thirteen and sixteen. 

Each person was enjoying themselves. The men were playing a game of volleyball. The girls were collecting seashells to decorate their sandcastles, and the moms were relaxing on their foldable chairs. The group was having a great time. Two hours passed and they decided it was time for lunch. 

As the moms unwrapped the picnic lunches, the children got to work spreading the picnic mats on the sand. The moms tutted and the girls tittered and crabs scuttled sideways everywhere. Soon the air was filled with the smell of bacon sandwiches, sausages, lemonade, and the salty sea air surrounded the group. There was joyful and relaxed chatter all around the families. 

After lunch the sun had reached its highest and the heat began to get unbearable. The children got restless and so the families decided to take a dip in the cool sea water. The water had excited everyone, especially the husbands, who wanted to go deeper and jump on the waves. Within seconds, everyone was in the water, splashing, dunking one another, and pretending to be stung by a stingray.

Within half an hour of being in the water, the moms were tired and they said they would like to go rest a while. But the rest stayed. All of a sudden, one of the moms noticed something unusual yet unmistakable. She blinked twice, then rubbed her eyes. Then she screamed. For heading in her family's direction was a silver-grey fin. And it was moving fast. By now the other mom had seen it too. 

“SHARK!!! SHARK! SWIM!” They kept screaming. The children saw it first and began swimming towards the shore. The husbands too, had sensed danger, and began swimming towards the shore. Everyone had almost made it except the 16-year-old boy who was nowhere to be seen - “Alex!! Alex” his mom sobbed as she fell to the floor, a pleading tone in her voice. Suddenly one of the girls pointed. She could barely speak. “Look” she whispered. The grey fin was still there, but the water around it turned red. 

Someswar Beach Ullal-Review

The beach was calling. And I couldn't say no.

But when there's a long weekend coming up and everyone is rushing to every available stay around, what do you do? Especially when you are the kind who enjoys minimal to nil crowds!

We checked almost every listed property from Gokarna to Udupi and couldn't find something that met our requirements. That's when we came across Som Beach Villas. It's a single villa with two three bed room flats. They claimed to have pools in each flat too. Sounded good, but we would be able to find out how true their claims were only by going there ourselves.

So that's where we headed. The owner, Mr.Ashit also reached out to us when we tried contacting them for details about the stay. The booking was done over the phone with Rakshith, who answered all of our questions. 

We left Bangalore at 05:00am in the morning, stopped for breakfast at A2B just before Hassan on NH 73 since we took the Sakleshpur route. The roads until then were smooth and well planned. But once we hit Hassan, we were introduced to the craters as well as two lane paths. Could barely call them roads. The weather was beautiful and cloudy all through and the drive was enjoyable. We reached Som Beach at around 01:30pm and were made to wait on the terrace as the check-in time was 02:00pm. The views from the terrace were just amazing! You could feel the beach breeze and watch the many peacocks and other variety of birds around. The terrace itself was very aesthetically designed with comfy seating and artificial grass. Great place for the kids to hang out too.

When the clock struck 02:00pm, the cleaning of our flat had just been completed and we were allowed to enter. Unfortunately, the floors were still quiet wet as were the bathrooms. The dining table hadn't been cleaned well and still had left over food on it. My kid went to wash her hand and the handwash just broke with all the handwash falling on the floor. I was pointed towards the mop and was told that I could clean it up myself!!! 😦 Not like I don't do any housework. But hey! I was on a holiday!!! To take a break from it all!!! That's when I realized this was not a "villa-homestay" as claimed but a serviced apartment with minimal service.

House help, named Vasanth was sent it in sometime to help out but first impressions were already made. Vasanth was the in-house handyman and his wife Sharada was the in-house cook in case you wanted to order something and not cook yourself. Since we had pre-ordered lunch, we then sat for lunch and seriously had the best ever authentic Mangalore prawns curry. Couldn't wait to indulge in dinner after this lip-smacking delight.

The flat itself was extremely spacious, well-lit, thought through and absolutely beautiful in the little things. The bedroom we occupied had a direct view of the beach which was +100 points! Having an indoor pool was the highlight, though the main pool was smaller in size than the other pool which was barely two feet deep. There was water cascading on one end where the kids had a blast. The kitchen was well stocked though you have to wash your own plates as well as all dishes used if you want to re-use them on the same day. Cleaning is done once every morning. That being said, Vasant was always available for any help at any time. Ditto Rakshith.

The beach is about 100 meters from the flat. Not perfectly clean but not too bad. There would be some visitors towards the evening on the otherwise quiet beach. You can't really go too deep as the waters tend to get rough but playing on the shore in those very waves was more fun than can be imagined!

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. The best was the food. Lip-smacking!!! Every dish that we ordered was just so 'Mangalorean'! The flat itself was just a treat every moment that we were there with the bird-watching, pool partying and beach therapy!

I couldn't be happier that the beach called 🏖

Rakshith can be reached at +91 7899563383

Sakleshpur Trip - July 2021 - Aroha's Resort Review

 We almost booked this resort but didn't confirm thinking it's better to have a look at the place first.

The resort has some astounding views from many different areas. The fact that it had many activities as well as a pool makes it wonderful for groups. However, their open restaurant was a deferent as it let in the cold breeze and made it unbearable when the weather was chill. To add to this, though we didn't stay there, the limited interaction we had with the staff was as good as the weather 🥶

The rooms were average in look and cleanliness.

The highlight of this place is most definitely it's views.

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