The Feel of Goa in Monsoon - Part 3

Within the Resort

Day 3 was going to be a rest day for us. Holidays are ideally meant for lazying around, but for us every holiday becomes more hectic than usual weekdays because we try to catch up on everything around that place. This time on my insistence we had kept this buffer day just for resting and roaming around the resort property.

We woke up late. Last night had been a stormy one. We could feel the force of the stormy sea wind on our cottage doors and windows. The morning appeared a bit calm but cloudy. Even though it wasn’t high tide we could spot huge waves crashing on the rocky bank.

After having breakfast we decided to go for a stroll on the beach. The weather was pleasant and the sun mellow. The fishing village was already busy in their daily chores. The lone fishermen positioned themselves on rock edges with their fishing wheels and baits. They were using the tiny fishes as baits. It was quite interesting to watch them reel in the fishes.

Soon we got busy in collecting shells. We had brought a big packet for collecting the shells and our aim was to fill the packet to the fullest capacity. While he was busy with shells I waded into the water. The waves were pretty strong and hitting the rocks with high intensity. I wished I could go deeper into the water but then seeing the unpredictable nature of them decided to play nearby the rocky beach. When I had enough and was about to come out of the water, a big wave came from behind just as I had lifted my feet to take a step and the unexpected happened. I somehow managed to stay steady but one of my brand new pair of Hawaii slippers was washed away by the receding current. I saw it floating away with the wave and signaled my husband (a non swimmer) to do something. Obviously I wasn't going to let it go that easily! But he was very least bothered about it and said its as good as gone. But I was determined to retrieve it. I saw a big wave coming towards the shore and that hit the receding waves, as a result of which the slipper was coming towards the shore along with the big wave . I was delighted and ready to catch it. But alas, the wave broke down much before the shore and my poor slipper was dragged again towards the sea with the receding waves.

The Slipper Rescue Episode

I saw a fisherman standing at a distant rock and asked my husband to signal him to catch the slipper with his fishing rod. he had also noticed the bright pink thing floating away. For the next 10 minutes it was the fisherman against the waves. Finally he was able to hook the slipper and threw it in my direction. I felt extremely obliged to him for this godly act and blessed him with all my heart. If it was not early morning I bet this strange act of slipper rescue would have had attracted a good audience.

After this episode we walked towards a extended big rocky patch. Usually this place attracted most crowd every evening. But now there was none. The waves were pretty big around this place and each impact was almost flooding the rocky patch for a minute or two. As we were walking we noticed something strange resting in a small waterhole. When we came near we realized it was some sort of a fish trapped in the waterhole. In all probability it was washed ashore by a big wave. Fortunately there was enough water in the hole so that the fish was totally submerged. But the sun was so strong that in no time the water was about to vaporize. The fish had rough spikey skin and seemed like most of the body comprised of its head. We wanted to take it out of that hole and send it back to ocean before the water dried up or any fisherman caught it for lunch. We started searching for something with which it could be caught.We still didn't have any idea what the strange looking fish was. He finally managed to find a torn plastic sack. Suddenly it struck it that it was a Puffer fish in deflated condition. That made us very excited. It was the very first time we saw a puffer. But that also made us a little worried that if we tried to grab it with the sack it might get tensed and inflate suddenly which might cause injury to us or itself. So we tried to do the operation rescue in as much calm manner as possible. I tapped the puffer's head and it simply shrugged a bit and tried to swim away. We took the sack and lightly covered the fish before grabbing it with both hands. The fish was pretty heavy he said. But thankfully he didn't struggle or inflate, mostly he was too tired after being washed down by the waves or too frightened to do anything. We then took him to the waters released the grip. It immediately started to swim and dived deep into the water. We were happy that we could rescue the fish.

The Puffer Fish

The day was turning out to be more action packed than we had expected. Two adventures within 20 minutes gave us an Adrenalin rush. We roamed around the rock for some more time, taking pictures. We then saw a fishing boat approaching the shore with the day's catch. We walked in their direction. The fishermen unloaded their catch. One of them drew our attention towards something else. he asked us to follow him. On one side of the boat we saw was a huge fish laid down...nearly 4 feet in length. They said they had caught it today and asked us we we will buy it. We told them we are tourist and cant buy it. He told that usually when such big fish were caught it would be sold off to the resort. But when he had called Nisha (owner) today she said there wasn't any requirement as guests were less; now he was at a loss what to do with it. He also told us the local name of the fish but I don't remember it now.

After spending some more time on the beach we walked back to our cottage. We still had some more time till lunch so decided to spend the time in the pool. There was hardly anyone in the resort so we had the pool all to ourselves.

After half an hour we went and bathed and got ready for another sojourn to the Bogmalo Beach for our lunch. We had retained the bike for the third day as well. The last lunch at Full Moon shack was equally delectable as the first day.Post lunch we visited some of the souvenir shops and I bought some pretty Goan fridge magnets and postcards.

We came back to the resort and had a nice nap and got up in the evening refreshed. The evening was spent walking on the beach again till dusk. It started raining in the evening and we had dinner in our room only.

The next day was when we left for Pune. In the morning the regular dog friend gave us a visit. I fed him leftover gajar ka halwa from last night which he relished. We had booked Volvo for the return journey which was to be boarded from the Cortalim Junction. We finished our breakfast, completed the check out formalities and bade a final goodbye to the resort and the sea before beginning our journey back. The Hotel staff dropped us at the Cortalim Junction for a hefty fee of Rs. 350. The bus was 1 hour late it's time. This is one more reason I really hate traveling in Neeta. But since train reservation were full we had no other option. The return journey was definitely a hellish experience for me. My motion sickness took over due to the infinite number of curves and bends on the roads and I had a very bad time. I even could not enjoy the heavenly beauty of mist covered Amboli ghats with its infinite waterfalls. By the time I reached Pune I could barely stand on my feet as I felt so weak due to dehydration and vomiting.

Minus the return journey everything else was really nice in this trip. Though not the real spirit of Goa what we experience we liked it all. But still before signing off I would rate the trip to Chorla ghats far far higher than the beach holiday mainly because we love nature more. I wanted to experience Goa once while staying in the western part of country but next time when we pack our bags it will be for a forest or any place rich in flora and fauna rather than sand and sea.