Paradise in Agonda

---

Monday 25^th November 2013

We all arrived at Delhi Airport at about 10am local time. We assembled outside the departures doors and said our goodbyes. Most of my fellow trekkers were boarding a plane bound for the UK in a couple of hours. Lynda was catching a plane back to Australia, Jody was meeting with a guide to show her around Delhi before heading off on her tiger safari for a few days before returning to South Africa, and I was going to meet Dave who was arriving from London and we would continue our journey together down to Goa.



As I got to the doors of the airport I could see there were armed guards on the doors and much to my horror would not let me in as Dave had my ticket to Goa and I could only show them my plane return ticket to the UK in a fortnights time. I tried to persuade them to let me in as Dave was arriving any minute, but nobody is allowed in without a valid plane ticket to travel that day. I didn’t know what to do, I was also desperate for the toilet. As I turned around to see if I could see any toilets, Lynda came by pushing her trolley as they would not let her in because her plane wasn’t leaving until 11pm that night. She had been advised to use the visitors lounge at the end of the concourse. I decided to join her only to be told that I wasn’t allowed in there either for the same reasons as before. Luckily, in the distance I could see a sign for a car park with toilets. So I headed that way.



When I returned to the airport entrance I then started to phone Daves mobile, only for it to go straight through to voicemail. I waited outside for nearly two hours before he finally appeared in the doorway, cool as a cucumber, while I had been frantically waiting outside, not knowing what to do as we had arranged to meet inside the main hall in Costas. But, all turned out in the end.



After dropping my big bag in the left luggage place, we headed on into the airport and checked in. The departures lounge was quite spacious and modern and we decided to have lunch and chose KFC! Which was unbelievably spicy – or not considering where we were!



We arrived in Dabolim at 9,30pm after a stop off in Mumbai to pick up more passengers. We asked a taxi driver to take us to the nearest 3 star hotel. We travelled for about 5 minutes to a lovely place called The Bogmala Beach Resort, which was actually 5 star, but for £45 a night including breakfast who cares? We sat on the terrace drinking ice cold kingfishers while listening to the waves crashing on the beach.



The next morning after a 1 and a half hour taxi drive we arrived in Agonda. The taxi driver didn’t have a clue where he was going and had to ask for directions a couple of times. As we were driving along, I recognised the bridge at the back of the beach that we had to walk across because I had been on Google Earth so many times looking at where we were planning to go. The driver was surprised at this, but it was a lucky as god knows where we would have ended up!



We walked down a lane and headed in the direction of Romance Coco Beach Huts. When we found Sarah and Abul they were very apologetic, but they were fully booked but assured us that he would take us to his friends just along the beach. We were disappointed initially until we saw where Abul was taking us. We arrived at Agonda Dream View and we were introduced to Raj who showed us around a delightful beach hut right on the beach with a little veranda. We agreed on £13 per night and put our bags down. We were very happy with our little holiday home. We had a bathroom on the back with sink, toilet and shower, only cold water, but when the outside temperature during the day was 38, you didn’t need hot water!



The beach in Agonda is 2kms long and sweeps around in a horseshoe shape with waves crashing down on the sand. It really is special practising yoga every morning down at the waters edge. As you walk along the beach, you will see a number of people in various poses. The sea can be quite rough and you have to be aware of that. There are lifeguards on every beach in Goa, but ultimately the responsibility is yours. We were at the north end of the beach and it was fairly quiet, the only other buildings north of us was Romance Coco Beach, so it was very quiet and peaceful. All along the beach heading south were other beach huts and bars and restaurants. Not too busy, but enough to be interesting. And certainly no high rise hotels or commercial establishments. Behind the beach, running parallel is a lane with small shops and bars where you can almost everything you will need during your stay in Agonda. WiFi is available in most of the restaurants and bars, for which they happily give you a code to join, free of charge.



We ate in several different restaurants and bars, but we did have our favourites, although we didn’t have a bad meal the whole two weeks we stayed in Agonda. Our favourites were Sonho De Mar, White Sands and Shanti. We had breakfast every morning at Agonda Dream View. The food and service in these places was outstanding. We had a variety of curries over the fortnight and every one was different in their taste and not too hot that you couldn’t enjoy them. We were very impressed with the food.



We hired Royal Enfield motorbikes a couple of times, one each, which was fantastic. Our host, Poli introduced us to his friend Franklyn who owned Monsoon and he organised the motorbikes for us. We also hired scooters from him too, but preferred the Royal Enfields. On the first day we had the bikes, we rode north on the coast road, which was perfect. The tarmac was so smooth and the roads were very quiet but very undulating, which made the riding perfect. We rode through rural villages, farmlands and fields and the scenery was spectacular. Everyone we met was really friendly and helpful. We stopped in a little market square to get a drink and again we couldn’t have been made to feel more welcome. We visited Cabo De Rama which is an ancient Portugese Fort, built on a peninsular looking out over the sea and wandered around for awhile before going into a nearby bar for some lunch, which was delicious. We didn’t really want the day to end as we were having so much fun, so we decided we would hire them another day.



The second day we had them we travelled south down to Palolem and then onto Patnem. Both of these places were far busier than Agonda, but cheaper! We had a drink and wandered around the shops in both places and decided that we had made the right choice in staying in Agonda. It was far too busy and noisy, plus the beaches were much smaller and so felt more crowded. It was nice to have a day out taking a look at these places. We did travel further on down and stopped at a restaurant that was at the back of a turtle sanctuary beach. The place was called Galgibag and we ate in the restaurant. I had river crab and Dave had monster prawns! They really were huge and apparently so tasty! There were signs all around stating that Jamie Oliver and Gordan Ramsey had visited their establishments. We weren’t sure whether this was true, but if it was then I’m sure they enjoyed the food as much as we did.

We also had a swim in the sea after our lunch and we were the only people in the sea, it was fantastic! We followed a shoal of fish that must have had thousands of fish, jumping in and out of the water, we were looking for whatever it was that was chasing them, but we were unlucky that time.



Why we were lucky, was because from our first day we arrived in Agonda, we saw dolphins in the sea every day playing around in the water. Sometimes in close to shore and other times far out at sea, but it was magical every time.



Apart from the food being delicious, it was also ridiculously cheap. On average we were paying for the both of us, £3 for breakfast, £6 for lunch and £15 for evening meal, including drinks.



Agonda attracts lots of different nationalities, but seemed to be most popular with The Russians, they seemed to be everywhere. I found them very friendly, apart from two Russian ladies who decided to set up camp on the sunbeds just outside our hut (and took the bed I always had), so I had to take the one furthest away. They avoided eye contact, so was clear they didn’t want to talk. One afternoon when we came back from lunch, I laid down on the bed and one of them was fast asleep, snoring her head off and the other one had very noisy flatulence! God help me! But the other Russians that we met were very friendly, especially Marina who was obviously going to be around for the rest of the season and it seemed that she was probably a regular. She couldn’t speak much English, but she always said good morning and smiled, she was very nice.



The day before we were leaving Agonda, I was in the sea on my own and looking away from the beach. Just in front of me, about 6 feet away, a very long, thick black tail shot out of the water and flicked back down again. It frightened the life out of me and I couldn’t get out of the water quick enough. I couldn’t begin to imagine what the hell I had seen. I was reluctant to go back in the water then for the rest of the day. By late afternoon, Marina was coming up the beach and pulled her sarong up and showed me the top of her thigh. She had bright red welt marks all around the top of her leg, really angry looking. In her broken English she said she had been stung by a jelly fish. I wondered if that was what I had seen in the water and when Dave and I were talking about it, we said we hadn’t ever seen a jelly fish with black tentacles, but maybe that’s what I saw. I definitely didn’t go back in that day. Several days later, when we were in Bogmala the day before catching our flight home, we were sat on the beach when a fisherman with a spear gun came out of the water carrying several fish. One of which was a huge great big sting ray, clear body with a massive black, thick tail!!! So that’s what I saw, thank god I didn’t get in its way!



We had come to the end of our stay in Agonda Dream View and we were very sad to be saying goodbye to Poli (the owner), Raj (who served us our food, drinks and anything else we asked him for – very helpful and friendly), and Biru Thapa and Raju. They had been so welcoming and easy to get along with. We would definitely be visiting them again.



We spend our last day and night in India at Bogmala, 5 minutes drive away from Dabolim airport and checked back into the Bogmala Beach Resort. We spent the day around the pool and walking on the beach. Our last meal was lobster in one of the local restaurants. It was my first ever experience of lobster and I loved it!



We had definitely loved every single minute of our Indian experience and would return again one day.

---