A Beach in your Backyard.

The coastline of Karnataka has several towns which do not boast of a beach of their own. Mangalore, Udupi, Kundapur, Honavar, Kumta are all examples of this, while Karwar is the only exception. Gokarna too was a small village which has undergone some changes in recent years. As a result, many beaches do not attract the kind of traffic that is witnessed in neighboring Goa, one such being Dhareshwar.

In the evergreen environs of Karavali lies Dhareshwar village in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, sandwiched between the Kochi-Panvel Highway (NH-17) and the Arabian Sea. Dhareshwar Beach is located on an expanse of land that appears on a map like the short stub of a tree trunk. While this limits the vision to some extent, the sea here is quite joyous and inviting. As the beach does not draw too many tourists, it remains more or less exclusive to the residents of the village.

As we had planned to watch the sunset at Dhareshwar, we took a van from Honavar and reached there at 4PM. Facing the highway and tucked a couple of 100 feet away was the Dharanatha Deva Temple, which has a legend that dates back to the time of Ramayana. We spent some time inside, came out after a few photographs and asked for directions to the beach. There was a path right next to the temple, taking us through a few plots of greenery – gardens, plantations, fields and waste lands alternated before we could walk on the sand.

As we passed by, an old gentleman looked up from watering his plants. ‘To the beach’, we explained. He gave us directions, explained how most of the young people had left home seeking greener pastures and hence they could be the last generation of the family to have lived there. He also told a passerby to take us with her and guide us to the beach so we bade goodbye to him and tailed her. As she turned off to enter her backyard, she pointed in the direction of the sea. A few more steps and a bund later, we were looking at a small pool of backwater through which we had to wade to get to the beach. It was warm and comforting to step through.

Except for a few fishing boats, some fishermen working on the nets and a couple of families that came out for a walk later on, we were mostly on our own. Crows were the only birds we spotted, while we spied several white little crabs digging & disappearing into the sand every time a wave exposed them. To our left was a dead-end of sorts because a hillock reached down to the sea and cut off the beach. The local administration had busied itself in creating a road towards the top of this hillock and beautifying the place by putting in a few benches & planting some saplings. This place would soon grow to be a quiet corner to witness glorious sunsets from, we surmised. We also longingly looked at a secluded house a little distance away on the beach. For the rest of the time, we went on storing slices of these sights for posterity.

Though the sun seemed to take its own time descending into the sea at first, the pace picked up as the appointed hour approached. The sporadic clicking of the camera now came more often, till it no longer made sense to shoot. It was time to scurry back to bright safety as the gardens gathered the dusk in their folds, slowly unfettering the secrets of the dark. As we boarded the bus to Kumta, Dhareshwar joined the long list of beaches we had briefly set foot on.

HOW TO REACH: Dhareshwar is situated about 11.5km to the north of Honavar town and 7.5km to the south of Kumta. Shared van rides are available on this stretch, apart from the local bus service. Honavar & Kumta are also stops on the Konkan Railway while Honavar has a port that is in regular use by fishing vessels.

WHERE TO STAY: Both Honavar & Kumta are reasonable options to plan a stay. Bangalore to Honavar is 445km by road and from here Kumta is just 19km away.