Paloma's 1st Birthday - Road Trip to Akshi - Chaul - Alibaug
Road Trip to Akshi Beach.
As we were blessed with a baby girl and were involved in parenting for more than a year, our travel was on hold for quite a long time. My wife Ketki and I had decided to go on a road trip to celebrate the first birthday of our daughter Paloma. Although we had done couple of day trips with Paloma, we were bit skeptical about an overnight trip.
There were lot of constraints while taking Paloma to an overnight trip. The main constraint was her food. Paloma was on a supplement diet and on soft food. She used to take only the rice paste and mix veg soup. She was not able to digest any non pasteurized milk and hence we had to carry the milk packets from Pune and find a place that would provide us with an access to kitchen & refrigerator.
The other constraint was distance. We had never ever taken her to any place more than 30km away from our home. So we were not sure about how much patient she would be on a longer road trip.
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| Paloma at Akshi Beach |
We wanted to take her to the coastal region and give the the experience of the beach, which raised a third constraint for us. It was a month of August, the monsoon season in India. There would be heavy rainfall on the way, probability lf traffic jams due to landslides or any other issues would be high. The konkan region is anyway gets the highest rainfall for any season, so there was a chance that we might not get to experience the beach and the sea with Paloma.
Somehow our strong conviction drove us to plan the trip and I started finding out the places that would take care of some of our constraints, at least the first one.
Kulpe Farms, Akshi
I had visited this property 3 years ago, along with my college friends. We were there for 2 days and found the experience very good. The property has 3 buildings of different categories, separate kitchens for Veg/Non veg meals and has direct access to the beach. There are couple of private cottages as well. Kids can also enjoy roaming around the campus, the hamocks tied to the coconut trees. Although the approach road to the property is narrow, there is ample parking space there. The dining area is covered by shacks and side opened. We also got the access to their kitchen for making meals for Paloma.
On the very next day of Paloma's first birthday, we left for Akshi. Although the plan was to leave by 12 noon, it took us 3.30pm to leave Pune. When you are travelling with a one year old baby, such delays are unavoidable.
Route
Pune - Khopoli via Express Highway - Pen - Alibaug - Akshi.
Pune - Khopoli via Express Highway - Pen - Alibaug - Akshi.
With a quick break at foodmall on the express way, we reached Khopoli by 5pm. Took the first Khopoli exit and joined the Khopoli - Pen road. The road was quite inconsistent. Pen bypass road was in terrible condition. It was full of pot holes plus the road widing work caused heavy traffic congestion. It took us 3 hours to reach Alibaug from Khopoli. Akshi beach is 6km from Alibaug.
One thing I want to highlight here. Paloma was extremely calm, fresh during the entire 5 hours journey. She enjoyed a lot all the views from the window. That was quite a relief for Ketki and me.
One thing I want to highlight here. Paloma was extremely calm, fresh during the entire 5 hours journey. She enjoyed a lot all the views from the window. That was quite a relief for Ketki and me.
Day 1
It was 8.30pm when we reached Kulpe Farms. As it was a weekday (Wednesday) the property was almost empty and we were the only occupants for that day. Later we also realised that during our 3 days stay in the property, we were the only occupants. That made the entire stay memorable, relax and crowd free. We checked in and Ketki went straight to the kitchen as it was Paloma's dinner time. I found the room small but it had all the basic needs fulfilled. There was an electric gyeser, all the windows had safety nets, the toilet was clean. We were more interested in Paloma's comfort than ours. Ketki was very relax as we had got the access to the kitchen, the mixer and the refrigerator. Once Paloma was fed, Ketki and I had the dinner and it was very tasty.
It was 8.30pm when we reached Kulpe Farms. As it was a weekday (Wednesday) the property was almost empty and we were the only occupants for that day. Later we also realised that during our 3 days stay in the property, we were the only occupants. That made the entire stay memorable, relax and crowd free. We checked in and Ketki went straight to the kitchen as it was Paloma's dinner time. I found the room small but it had all the basic needs fulfilled. There was an electric gyeser, all the windows had safety nets, the toilet was clean. We were more interested in Paloma's comfort than ours. Ketki was very relax as we had got the access to the kitchen, the mixer and the refrigerator. Once Paloma was fed, Ketki and I had the dinner and it was very tasty.
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| Paloma having a moonlight dinner |
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| Mom & Me on the hammock. |
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| Chicken Thali @ Kulpe Farms |
Day 2
The morning came with our man made alarm, as Paloma had woken us up at 7am. Ketki was still asleep. I took Paloma and went to roam around the property and the village. It was a pleasant morning. Slightly chilly for Paloma because it rained the night before. We went on an hour long walk and she enjoyed all sorts of things. There were kids preparing for the school, cats and dogs running across the streets, birds chirping, flowers on the trees, temples around corner of the main streets. It was an altogether different morning for Paloma and she was enjoying it. By the time we returned, Ketki was ready with Paloma's breakfast.
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| Early morning walk to the village |
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| Ganesh Temple, Akshi |
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| Deep Mala |
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| Goddess Kalba Temple, Akshi |
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| Fresh morning for Paloma |
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| Paloma having her lunch under the Mango Tree |
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| First experience of the beach |
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| Learning to appreciate the coastal beauty. |
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| Excited !! |
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| Sunset at Akshi Beach |
Around 10AM we went to the beach. It was Paloma's first encounter with something known as Beach. We took her all the way to the sea and dipped her feet in the water. I wanted her to feel the water, I wanted her to feel the wind and the wide openness of the nature. Paloma got extremely excited with the water experience and literally cried to go back to the water. We tried to divert her attention to the seagulls. There were hundreds of seagulls on the beach. Three of us returned to the room with Ketki and I happy and Paloma sad. She was experiencing the salty water and the salty wind for the first time, so we had to control her excitement. We went to Sanman restaurant in Alibaug for the lunch. In the evening we visited Rameshwar temple in Chaul, 9km from Akshi. We had the dinner in Kulpe Farms.
Day 3
This morning I took Paloma to the beach again. We had a plan to leave for Pune by 4PM. Ketki made the meal for Paloma. Packed it for our journey, we checked out from the hotel around 1PM and we went to Chaul again. This time to visit a family friend. From Chaul we began our return journey to Pune. On the Chaul - Akshi road we took some Konkan special food items. We had our lunch at Alibaug and the journey began non stop till Khopoli where we took a meal break for Paloma. We took the same route on return i.e. Alibaug - Pen - Khopoli - Pune via Express Highway. We reached Pune by 9.30PM.
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| Chicken Wada Thali @ Sanman Restaurant, Alibaug |
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| Rameshwar Temple, Chaul |
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| Deep Thinking in the hammock |
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| Take me back to the sea!! |
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| Touch and Feel of the beach sand!! |
Expenses
Accomodation - Kulpe Farms, Akshi - Rs.1500 per room Non AC & Rs.2000 per room AC
Breakfast - Anda Bhurji/Bread - Rs.40 per plate
Meals - Chicken Thali - Rs.200, Fish Thali - Rs.300
Sanman Restaurant, Alibaug - Chicken Thali - Rs.250
Toll on Express Way - Rs.130 one way. (Till Khopoli)
Fuel - Approx. Rs.1300
Contacts
Kulpe Farms, Akshi - 08087541478, 9637552953
Sanman Restaurant, Alibaug - 02141222314
