Beaches
Here
are thumbnail sketches of nineteen better-known beaches
of Goa. We ll start from the south of Goa, work our way
up to the capital, Panaji, then mov
e
northwards till we come to the boundary that Goa shares with the
neighboring state of Maharashtra.
Palolem Beach
If you drove in from the southern state of Karnataka and
wanted to discover the nearest, reasonably well-known Goan
beach, the chances are that you d be directed to Palolem.
It s a beach of white sand facing a blue bay between two headlands.
The little wooded islands on the northern headland are interesting,
and if you re interested, try to persuade one of the fishermen
to ferry you across. They do offer to take you out to spot dolphins.
Tourists have at last discovered Palolem and so there are a few
shacks selling seafood snacks, souvenirs, and clothes of the shapeless,
bright, informal kind. Panaji, the capital, is more than 70 km
away. ...
more ...
Agonda
Beach
If you continue driving towards Panaji, the next beach
is Agonda. It s long and lonely, fringed with
palms and casuarinas and dominated by a large hill to the south.
However, it s not safe to swim out too far here. There are no
shops or other facilities on this beach: so carry all you need.
Mabor
Beach
Next, on your journey north, is Mabor: very beautiful, very
clean and, in spite of warning notices put up by a luxury beach
hotel, it is a public beach. All beaches
in India are public beaches. Private enterprise has,
however, responded well to the needs of visitors: there are beach
umbrellas and chairs and tourists happily broiling themselves
in the Goan sun.
Cavelossim
Beach
If you leave Mabor behind you, you could turn into the casuarina-shaded
beach of Cavelossim. It s a
fishing beach which ensures a good supply of fresh seafood and
which in turn could account for the fair sprinkling of shacks-on-hire.
The beach seems to shelve rather steeply and visitors should be
careful of swimming here. ...
more ...
Varca
Beach
Though Mabor, Cavelossim, and the next three beaches are
really a single strand, they are treated as separate beaches because
of the villages they were once associated with. Thus the next
one north, Varca, may in time develop a character of its own.
For the present, it s really an extension of the others. It does,
however, have deep rows of casuarinas and is long, clean, and
quite lonely.
Benaulim
Beach
Benaulim, next in line, is relatively undiscovered
by domestic tourists even though it is a fishing beach.
However, it gets fairly crowded during weekends and evenings with
local visitors who get off buses about a kilometer away and pour
onto the beach. The breaking wave height here is half a meter
and the slope is 1 in 30 in September. ...
more ...
Colva
Beach
Colva is on the northern end of this long,
continuous strip of coastline. It s broad and beautiful, has a
stream coursing through it and is backed by palms. Sadly, its
beauty has made it popular and its popularity has cheapened it:
its off-beach shops and restaurants, brightly
lit and crowded, give it the feel of a funfair rather than a serene,
unwinding beach. This is essentially our domestic tourists paddling
beach. ...
more ...
Majorda
Beach
The sands of Majorda, next on your northern
drive to Panaji, are not as white as those of Colva but it is
popular in a slightly more up-market way. Here people relax under
beach umbrellas and recline on pool chairs. There
are shacks backed by stands of screw pines and palms and a small
stream lost itself in a puddle patronized by flocks of white gulls.
...
more ...
Bogmolo
Beach
The last southern beach before you get to Panaji is the first
southern beach to be discovered by visitors: Bogmolo.
This broad beach, backed by palms, is now shared by visitors and
fishermen alike. You d find bathers relaxing on sun beds under
bright beach umbrellas. Bogmolo is considered
a safe beach for swimmers.
Miramar
Beach(Gaspar Dias)
Panaji s beach, Miramar
or Gaspar Dias, is 3 km from the city center and spreads beyond
a small forest of casuarinas. This is a popular beach with joggers,
strollers, children, and careful paddlers. However, it is not
considered safe for swimmers. ...
more ...
Dona
Paula Beach
On the other side of this headland is the little bay and
tiny beach of Dona Paula.
Water scooters and speedboats buzz across the bay and, at the
drop of a hat, guides will embroider on the woeful tale of a star-crossed
maiden who fell in love with a handsome man below her status.
Conventions could not be breached in those distant days and so
she leapt into the sea and to her death. If you listen carefully,
you will hear her singing forlornly on moonlit nights, they say,
but if you claim that it s only a sea-bird singing, they d retort
back saying you re not attuned to the spirits of the air!...more...
Aguada
Beach
Driving out of the capital, heading north along the coast,
you come across the famed Aguada beach dominated
by the battlements of the Old Portuguese Fort Aguada. A luxury
hotel spreads here with its more informal clone, the Taj Village,
clustering at its feet. It s a good, clean, swimmers beach popular
with well-heeled tourists. It is also at the southern end of a
very long stretch of beach that goes all the way up to the mouth
of the Baga River. Here, too, as in the case of many of the southern
beaches, individual segments of this extensive strand have been
given separate identities associated with the villages that lie
behind them. Their names sound like the strumming of a Goan guitar:
Sinquerim, Candolim, Calangute and Baga. ...
more ...
Sinquerim
Beach
Sinquerim beach is popular with foreign
visitors because it s broad and not very crowded. One reason why
domestic tourists seem to be wary of this beach is possibly that
its foreshore slope is a steep 1 in 10.
Candolim
Beach
Candolim is more popular than Sinquerim.
Its immediate hinterland gives you the quietly disciplined feel
of a coastal village in Spain: warm, friendly, and happy to mind
its own business. Its foreshore slope is the same as Sinquerim
and the waves break at a meter. ...
more ...
Calangute
Beach
Calangute was the first hippie beach
resort at the height of the Flower Children era. The successors
to these dropouts have moved on as domestic tourist moved in and
converted Calangute into a paddling, snacking, shopping, picnicking,
vacationing beach. It is generally crowded and the small resorts
and pensions do a thriving business during the holiday season.
It is broad, got a good cover of casuarinas and, though it is
not what everyone expects of a beach, it is certainly the most
popular beach in Goa.
This
long beach has a host of facilities to cater to visitors, including
beach and water sports. Though well known, its long stretch means
you ll find privacy for yourself on a shelf that isn t crowded
by tourists with cameras and an attitude. ...
more ...
Baga
Beach
However, Calangute is not everyone s favorite. Most tourists
would prefer the last segment on this
stretch Baga. You d like it even though it is
a fishing beach and fairly crowded with foreigners marinating
in the sun and domestic visitors paddling; and in spite of the
fact that the sand here isn t either white or gold but brown.
You d like the grove of palms that comes fairly close to the water
s edge. Most of all, you d be happy on this beach
because the Baga River flows down one side of it offering a pleasant
diversion for children and those who love the water but can t
risk the rip currents that must swirl round the mouth. Where the
river and the sea meet, and on the far right bank, there is a
group of black rocks against which the sea crashes in dramatic
explosions of spray.
Vagator
Beach
Across the river, a fair distance away, is a headland that
separates the two parts of the most photographed beach in Goa:
the beautiful Vagator. Its northern half fronts a bay that curves
from the headland to the hillock crowned by the Chapora Fort.
Between the headland and the hillock, surf spreads in skirts of
white lace and the palms stand far back from the water. At the
tip of the headland are groups of sea-washed rocks popular with
honeymooners and others who want to be left alone. To the south
of the headland are more outcrops of rocks cupping little pockets
of sand and interesting tidal pools. And on the headland you d
find snack stalls, coconut sellers, and persuasive peddlers of
trinkets and shells.
Anjuna
Beach
Close by is Anjuna, once the most celebrated
of Goa s many beaches, for this is where the hippies would hang
about. Their departure has done nothing to rob the wide shelf
of sand of its beauty, and almost every visitor heads here, for
it has gone on to become one of the most photographed of beaches.
Which means, rightly, that you re unlikely to find isolation here.
...
more ...
Arambol
Beach(Harmal)
Then there is the beach that is the furthest north: Arambol
also called Harmal. The sand is soft and white, there are cottages
on the red laterite slopes, rocks in some places, a freshwater
pond, and the approach road is lined with shacks offering souvenirs
and clothes. At one end of it runs the Tiracol River and beyond
rises the Tiracol Fort, now an interesting little hotel.
When
you reach Harmal, you are 50 km away from Panaji. If you have
traveled on this coastal quest with us, you will have visited
nineteen of the better-known beaches of Goa.
Of
course, there are many, many more: hidden coves, secret bays,
and breathtaking golden pockets nestling in the palms. An even
as you read this, the sea continues to whisper on the sand and
create newer and still newer beaches all the time.
More
On Indian Beaches .........
