Exciting Experience in St Mary's Island

View of the St Mary's Island / Coconut Island

Location:
Udupi District
Karnataka State

Distance:
Bangalore to St. Mary's Island - 420 Kms
Mangalore to St. Mary's Island - 70 Kms

Udupi to St. Mary's Island - 12 Kms

Estimated Travel time:
From Bangalore - 10 to 11 Hours
From Mangalore - 2 Hours

From Udupi - Twenty Minutes

Up to the Boarding Point of Boat on Malpe Beach to St. Mary Island

Best time to Visit:
December

Stay:
There is no accommodation in St. Mary Island. However, the nearest accommodation is available in a resort on the Malpe Beach and also in various hotels in Udupi.

After having breakfast in Udupi I and my two friends started journey to St. Mary Island. It took twenty minutes for us to reach the Malpe Beach from where we have to board a boat to reach St. Mary Island. At this boarding point, there is a unit for building and testing the working condition of ships.     

Boarding point for St Mary Island

Ship building Unit

Old Small Ship

We waited for almost one and half hour for the boat and finally we got into it.  The to and fro journey in the boat is at the cost of Rs. 100/- per person. There is a decent arrangement of chairs inside the boat to sit and enjoy the boat ride.

The journey from the boarding point to the island was very thrilling with deep water on all the sides and the view of small islands and other boats in the sea is jaw dropping. After travelling for about half an hour we reached the shores of the St. Mary Island with full of excitement.

Boats used for fishing

Deep Sea Water

 



St Mary Island is a collection of small island in the Arabian Sea with a distinctive geological formation of columnar lava. It is said that in the year 1498 Vasco Da Gama landed his voyage here and named one of these islands as "El Padron de Santa María" and over period of time, it got the name of "St.Mary Island".

The special feature of the island is that the basalt rocks have crystallized into columns and are split into vertical Hexagonal blocks.

The force of the water at the shores of the island can be felt. There are places near the shore to play.However, people have to be careful as few people were taken away by the tides of the sea. So be careful not to go deep into the water.

Crab

The island is a magnificent masterpiece of the nature. However, it is getting polluted by the plastic wastes disposed by the visitors. There is a need to protect this island from harmful pollution  

Plastic Wastes in the island

There are no food stalls in the island except some snacks and juice bottles. So food must be carried by you if required. The coast of the island is rich in the shells. We too collected few shells from the coast of the island as a memory. 

After spending for about two hours our boat was ready to leave. We got into it and came back reluctantly with the memories captured in the pics. On the way back we had talk with the local guys in the boat. The facts they said about the fishing were amazing. They said that the fisherman go into the sea for two to three months in search of fish. Hats off to their courage and energy for spending such time in the Sea. Even we were told that the small ships used for fishing costs about rupees one crore and they can recover that amount in two years.