Goan Motorcycle Diaries: Part I

Tripoto
6th Jun 2014
Photo of Goan Motorcycle Diaries: Part I 1/3 by shay
Margao
Photo of Goan Motorcycle Diaries: Part I 2/3 by shay
Utorda
Photo of Goan Motorcycle Diaries: Part I 3/3 by shay
Benualim

Benaulim

Photo of Benaulim Beach, Benaulim, Goa, India by shay

Mobor

Photo of Benaulim Beach, Benaulim, Goa, India by shay

Ferry

Photo of Benaulim Beach, Benaulim, Goa, India by shay

Cabo de Rama

Photo of Goan Motorcycle Diaries: Part I by shay

View from the laterite brick fort

Photo of Goan Motorcycle Diaries: Part I by shay

Tackled the coast of South Goa today. North and Central will be conquered in the forseeable future. Xiker chose a Yamaha FZ for today. Looked cool, sounded badass, and went FAST!

But the seat wasn’t designed to hold a passenger for long… At the end of the day I found it to be as onerous as a horse saddle, and admittedly thrill of riding with the wind was slightly diminished.

Note to self: test seats for comfort before shelling out the bucks. In the morning, before we left town, we armed ourselves with a comprehensive road map of the state and a half-liter bottle of emergency petrol in the backpack (at my insistence).

After we were armed with our supplies, we were all set for our day long bike trip to pay a visit to the beaches of South Goa. The following are the beaches that we tackled in a single day!

Went up the highway to Margao, then on to the tip of Vasco da Gama. A nondescript beach, with smog hanging heavy in the air and a bit of trash here and there.

Photo of Margao, Goa, India by shay
Photo of Vasco da Gama, Goa, India by shay

We went south from there, driving along the coast. Stopped in Bogmalo for a quick swim and a simple but steep 200 rupee lunch of rice and dal fry. A cutesy, soft sand beach with a large block of a hotel towering over the beach.

Photo of Bogmalo, Goa, India by shay

Utorda was our next stop, because the road map showed a thumbnail pic of pure white sand juxtaposed against the cerulean blue water.Well, the sand WAS white, I’ll give em that, but they musta photoshopped out all the trash. I nearly stepped on what was obviously the remnants of last night’s party… The old fart in me pitied the dudes who managed to kill all that vodka and whiskey. I assume the plastic 2L bottle of Coke blew away with this morning’s breeze.

Photo of Utorda, Goa, India by shay

From there, Benaulim. It pretty much looked exactly the same as Utorda, with more foreigners and restaurants. Looking north (and south) I realized its just one long strip of sand divvied up into different beaches, so in essence they’re all the same… It all depends on whether you prefer to have some pretense of seclusion or easy access to overpriced restaurants.

Photo of Benaulim Beach, Benaulim, Goa, India by shay
Photo of Benaulim Beach, Benaulim, Goa, India by shay

The last beach on our iternary was Mobor, the tip of the small peninsula. It was secluded, but that may be because the beachfront is mostly monopolized by a ‘eco-friendly’ luxury resort that is currently installing a grass lawn around its ‘bamboo huts’.

Photo of Mobor Beach, Goa, India by shay

Took a ferry, because the bridge the LP said would be finished by 2012, isn't finished.Managed to find the Portuguese fort, Cabo de Rama, without any u-turns! Made of laterite bricks, too, and much more larger though we didn’t linger here long.

Photo of Cabo De Rama Fort, Cola, Goa, India by shay
Photo of Cabo De Rama Fort, Cola, Goa, India by shay
Photo of Palolem Beach, Goa, India by shay