Coast with the most
By Vivek Menezes
Dive right in
Ajey Patil’s love affair with the ocean began when he first ventured
underseas, back in 1992. An experienced, PADI-certified diving
instructor, Patil spent several years in the Andamans before returning
to Goa, where he and his sister Amruta – the graphic novelist – grew up.
Here the self-described “marine engineer, naturalist, and raconteur” set
up his friendly, family-run dive shop and training centre in 2007.
Over the years, Patil has distinguished himself as a patient, diligent
diving instructor, who is particularly good with first-timers and
younger students. People now fly into the state just to train with him.
If you’ve already got your licence, we highly recommend Dive Goa’s
overnight stay trips to tiny Netrani, or Pigeon Island, about 220km from
Goa, off the coast of the pilgrim-site of Murudeshwar in Karnataka.
Besides Lakshwadeep and the Andamans, Netrani offers the best underwater
visibility on the coastline of India – and its coral reefs teem with
barracuda, triggerfish, eels, groupers, wrasses and other
gloriously-coloured creatures you usually see on the Discovery Channel.
Dive Goa has options to suit all levels of interest, from advanced
certification courses to an excellent one-day session called Discover
Scuba Diving, which takes newbies (even non-swimmers!) via a thorough
briefing to a pool trial, and then straight into the ocean for Rs. 3,000
per head.
Dive Goa, O’Pescador Resort, Dona Paula (www.divegoa.com, 93250-30110,
93250-30109).
Go-kartography
Goa is about life in the slow lane, right? Well, there’s excitement for
speed demons at a go-karting track that sprawls over 482 metres of South
Goan countryside in Nuvem, near Margao. Racing enthusiasts can’t get
enough: the track has hosted national championships for the past five
years – even Narain Karthikeyan showed up to take a spin.
The Nuvem track is the brainchild of Christopher Moraes, who has loved
cars and racing since childhood. He’s turned out a real labour of love,
which includes all kinds of professional detailing, such as designated
pit lanes and cambered turns.
Go-karting may be Formula 1 in miniature – smaller race cars whizzing
around smaller tracks – but there’s nothing pint-sized about the
thrills. These cars burn rubber, handle really well, and average more
than 70kph on the tracks. Moraes has also kept the prices on the low
side: the basic ten-lap package costs just Rs.180. He supplies hygiene
caps and helmets as well as the vehicles, but you need to bring your own
gloves if you want to go the full Schumacher.
Go-Kart Racing, Nuvem, behind Tata Motors Showroom, off NH17 (0832-
275-7899). Ten laps Rs. 180.
Crocodile hunters
Among Goa’s most outstanding features is its sheer biodiversity. From
the coastline up innumer-able waterways to the thick jungles that spill
over its borders with Maharashtra and Karnataka, the state provides
natural habitats for wild birds, animals and plants that have managed to
elude the relentless march of mining, tourism and the real estate
industry. One of the richest of these habitats is called the Cumbharjua
canal, which connects the backwaters of the Zuari and Mandovi rivers
along the eastern limits of Tiswadi, the ancient island that is capped
by the state capital Panjim at its other end.
Even though the waterway is easily accessible, from boats, using the
Cortalim jetty just below the Zuari, tourists never seem to venture
here. That’s a pity, because the Cumbharjua canal teems with amazing
birdlife – you can spot 50 species in an afternoon including the rare
Collared Kingfisher – and is also home to a large population of
crocodiles, including the Indian Mugger. On a fine afternoon, take a
boat up with Pankaj Lad, the bright and energetic young naturalist
behind Canopy, an eco-tourism company that also offers other
nature-related tours into the Goan hinterland.
Canopy (www.canopygoa.com, 97642-61711, 97640-52225). Boat safari Rs.
1,000 per person.
Snakes Alive!
Since childhood, Rahul Alvares has had a special affinity with snakes.
After he graduated from school, the son of environmental activists Norma
and Claude Alvares trained at the Madras Crocodile Bank and soon emerged
as one of Goa’s leading snake rescuers. Over the years, he’s captured,
handled, and safely released hundreds of pythons, cobras, vipers and
other snakes that proliferate in the lush countryside and very often
cross into human terrain.
Alvares is a multi-talented guy. He’s a top personal trainer, has
written two books (the second, Call of the Snake, consists of stories
about snake-catching), and also leads popular bird-watching trips all
over the state. Most unusual, however is his Snake Watch, a herpetology
orientation course. Alvares introduces his students to a variety of wild
snakes and covers basic snake-handling, first-aid techniques, and a host
of other “snake-y details”. It's particularly recommended for those
who’ve harboured an irrational fear of snakes all their lives. Within
three hours, you will go from herpetophobia to philia.
Bushmaster Wildlife Excursions Almeida Vaddo, Parra
(www.rahulalvares.com, 98819-61071). Call for rates.
Decked out
Goa’s famous laid-back atmosphere comes under severe threat every peak
season, from November to February. The state’s population nearly doubles
to an uncomfortable crowd of three million. The beaches are packed,
roads are jammed, and you find yourself standing in line even to use the
loo. Where to go to find peace, restore sanity? Just hop on a boat and
head up one of the many rivers that criss-cross the state. Within
minutes from the mayhem of the coastline, remarkably pristine backwaters
open up to unexpected vistas of calm, where the only sounds you hear are
the lapping of water against the hull and the whir of kingfishers on the
wing.
One of the best ways to experience this serenity is on the Solita, a
42-foot motor yacht with front and back decks, a fully equipped pantry,
two bedrooms and a crew to attend to your every need. The Solita runs
regular trips to locations around the state: upriver to Old Goa, across
to the Salim Ali Bird Sanctuary, and the Ocean Cruise to Tiracol Fort.
There’s even a Dolphin Discovery tour. But we think the basic sunset
cruise is hard to beat; it’s best capped by an atmospheric onboard
dinner under the stars.
Odyssey Tours Naikavaddo, Calangute (www.solita.co.in, 98221-80826,
0832-227-7124). Check website for prices.
Ferry Magic
Can’t spare the 15 grand per hour required to secure the Solita for your
river escape? Don’t fret, there’s still the ferry. In a score of
locations strung across Goa, slow-moving, flat-bottomed ferry boats do
the hard work of transporting commuters and their vehicles from one side
of the river to the other. Some rides are short – the ferry to the
island of St Estevao in the Mandovi takes just a couple of minutes – but
many are pleasantly long, allowing you a nice comfortable breather with
refreshing cool breezes off the water.
We like the Ribandar-Chorao ferry, which angles around a sandbank, and
offers views of historic Old Goa upstream. But the ferry from Betim to
Panjim is understandably popular. It’s best taken at the sunset hour,
with the sky flaming scarlet above. At that precise time, if the water
is perfectly calm (which it almost always is), pods of Indo-Pacific
humpbacked dolphins take a kind of promenade upriver, passing directly
across the ferry’s route and often lingering alongside for a minute or two.
Ferry rides available at 22 locations across the state.
Taking wing
A 40-minute drive inland from Panjim, the topography rises to the lush
foothills of the Western Ghats, one of only two remaining biodiversity
hotspots in the subcontinent. The landscape is alternately gorgeous and
devastated, the latter because of mining concessions that have gouged
the earth red to extract iron ore for export. In recent years, an
unstoppable demand has led to massive illegalities; Goa’s Chief Minister
(and long-time Minister for Mines) has been repeatedly accused of
personal involvement in the annual billion-dollar illegal ore business.
The desire to save one particular patch of land from mining motivated
Jyoti and Yashodan Heblekar to quit the capital and move to the interior
of Ponda taluka. Here, they founded the Butterfly Conservatory of Goa,
“a not-for-profit initiative by ordinary people” that has transformed
1,200 metres of Goan countryside into a way-station for the fluttering
set. Unlike other butterfly parks in other parts of the world, there is
no enclosure. The insects are entirely free, and visit the Heblekar
property specifically because the couple has planted large numbers of
“mother plants” like cinnamon, native limes, and passion fruit – a
special draw for Birdwings, the huge wobbling butterflies that are the
subcontinent’s largest. On any given day, the Heblekars say a visitor
can spot more than 40 species. They have documented 123 in total,
including many species that were previously unknown to inhabit Goa.
Butterfly Conservatory of Goa “Mystic Woods” Priol, Ponda
(www.bcogoa.org, 98228-95471, 0832- 298-5174). Entry Rs.100, students free.
Palacio Idalcao
Before there was Panjim, there was the Palacio Idalcao, the fortified
“summer palace” of the Sultan of Bijapur (Idalcao is derived from his
name, Yusuf Adil Khan). The original structure spread across the two
extant buildings, and its five (“panj”) turrets gave the city its name.
In 1615, Portuguese colonists rebuilt the Palace in Iberian style, and
eventually used it as the official chambers of the Viceroy. When Old Goa
was replaced as the capital by Panjim, the Palacio Idalcao became the
seat of power of the entire Estado da India, at the centre of a huge
maritime empire that spread from Mozambique to Timor, right across the
Indian Ocean.
Even after 1961, the palace remained under control of the state’s big
shots as the Secretariat. Currenly, the Palacio Idalcao is undergoing
its most dramatic transformation yet. The Goa government has restored
the building to relatively high standards, and the entire magnificent
structure will be a museum, with galleries for art and space for
culture. There’s a café planned too, in the broad wooden balcony that
overlooks the water. The museum will formally open in December, with a
giant exhibition to commemorate Goa’s golden jubilee. After playing host
to politicians and princes, Palacio Idalcao will finally be a palace for
the people.
Old Secretariat Panjim Main Street, Off Mahatma Gandhi Road, Panjim
(0832-222-3412).
Noite de Fado
On December 19, 1961, Indian troops quickly brought an end to the
451-yr-old Estado da India, and Goa was absorbed into the Republic of
India. The expulsion of the Portuguese ended a colonial experience
markedly different from the rest of the subcontinent. Yet recent
generations of both Hindu and Catholic Goans have been studying
Portuguese in ever-greater numbers. And, in a newly-invented bit of
colonial tradition, Goa has quietly produced a small troop of talented
fado musicians, led by the diva Sonia Sirsat, who recently wowed
audiences in Lisbon and Macau. At the initiative of owner Anju Timblo,
the Cidade de Goa hotel hosts fado music on the first Tuesday of every
month. The concerts take place at Alfama, the hotel’s beautiful Charles
Correa-designed restaurant, which is named after the iconic Lisbon
district and serves dishes inspired by the Portuguese maritime empire,
from Mozambique to Malacca. Sirsat is a regular guest singer, but the
staple performers are Carlos Meneses on the six-string guitar, Franz
Schubert Cotta on the 12-string guitarra, and Cotta’s sister Chantale
and father Miguelon vocals. These are serious, passionate musicians, not
your usual tourist fare. Their performances are uncannily evocative of
the actual Alfama. Cotta learned the guitarra in Lisbon, and this is a
matter of pride to him. “We are the only non-Portuguese group in the
world which plays fado like it is supposed to be played,” he said.
Noite de Fado Alfama, Hotel Cidade de Goa, Dona Paula
(www.cidadedegoa.com, 0832-245-4545). First Tue of every month. Meal for
two Rs. 2,000.
Mario Bonanza
For more than 50 years, the deceptively simple and delightful drawings
and illustrations of Mario de Miranda have brought smiles to lakhs of
newspaper and magazine readers. Miranda has never received the acclaim
that he deserves, not even in the Goa he has done more to evoke in the
popular imagination than anyone else. Now an octagenarian, Miranda is
finally getting his due thanks to the efforts of Gerard da Cunha, an
award-winning architect and independent publisher. Da Cunha’s
Architecture Anonymous press has produced a stream of books, posters,
post-cards and other quality products featuring Miranda’s work. Now da
Cunha has created a showcase and small gallery of the cartoonist’s work
in Torda, very near his Houses of Goa Museum. Visitors have access to da
Cunha’s drawings. There’s a one-stop shop for all of the recent printed
material on Miranda, and even a few originals for sale from the artist’s
own collection.
Mario Gallery House 674, Torda (0832-241-0711, www.mariodemiranda.com).
Open Mon-Fri 9am-5.30pm, Sat 9am-1pm. Admission free.
(ENDS)
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