Often occupied with Treks and Adventure related meetups, this time i want to have a break from it and thats where i called for "Velas - Turtle Festival" !!
Probably this was the first time where the complete meetup group with 15 members (excluding organizers) are new faces and first timers with GHAC - who later turned to be my new friends !! What a start :) !!
Day 1 and 2 : Hyderabad --> Pune --> Velas
Started from Hyd in Garuda bus to Pune and reached by morning 7:30, soon an unexpected breakfast buffet in Mariot , yes you heard it right :) . Our Attitude bus driver - Humid climate - passing time with "Antharakshini" and "Dumb charades" are just acted like catalyst in 7 hrs bus journey to velas.
Reached Velas little later than 17:00 and rushed to the beach to watch first hatching at 18:00.
FYI - Turtle hatching dependent on temperature so i call it a purely natural. On the first sight we are lucky to watch 7 Turtles. We are very happy to watch baby turtles making their way towards sea. The path it make looks like a railway tracks.
After capturing the moments in camera - rejoiced in the beach watching heavy tides, however the climate was humid still at 20:00. Body cooled down after a quick shower in the village and soon had a typical village meal as dinner with Roti, Rice, Dal and Mutter Masala and Coconut chuckney
It was around 22:00, still no relief from scorching weather. At one point i presumed that staying in this village for more 1.5 days is really a tough job. Few of them decided to sleep outside in the open ground beside one of the house at extreme end of the lane.
Day 3 - Velas - Bankot Fort - Beach
Wakeup call at 6:00 am and soon rushing towards beach for watching second hatching. Another lucky time as there are 6 hatching. As it was sunday morning, really heavy crowd which made the organizers to barricade before releasing them. Took several shots in different camera modes and spend several hours leisurely.
After breakfast, poha ( typical food served for breakfast ) was a growing demand and after an hour or so finally had a yummy yummy poha. Later started to Bankot fort in our vehicle and reached their in another 30 mins or so - Spent a lot of time in the ruins and sitting on the top like Dil Chatha Hai type and time passed like anything.
Beach Kabbadi - 7 Stones - Dog & Bone are the highlight in the post afternoon and till late evenings.
Today there was no hatching , but we saw upper half turtle which was struggling to come out of sand to make its way to beach, it will take another couple of hours to develop the feathers which will help it to swim. ( as shown in the pic )
Day 4 - Monday Morning - Velas - Pune - Hyd
Apart from the struggle turtle in the previous evening , there were 8 newly hatched ones. For us this was the last session and the crowd was minimum as its not a weekend. Photographers struggled to catch the final day moments.
Passing time with Mafia Game and couple of pit stops 'n' reached pune by 17:30 pm.
Roaming on streets and passed time till 20:00 with variety of street foods/drinks like Coconut water, Bheel puri, Ice Cream, Pani Puri and Dhokla. Finally got into the bus at 20:30 and reached Hyderabad by 05:45 on Day 5.
Probably this was the first time where the complete meetup group with 15 members (excluding organizers) are new faces and first timers with GHAC - who later turned to be my new friends !! What a start :) !!
Day 1 and 2 : Hyderabad --> Pune --> Velas
Started from Hyd in Garuda bus to Pune and reached by morning 7:30, soon an unexpected breakfast buffet in Mariot , yes you heard it right :) . Our Attitude bus driver - Humid climate - passing time with "Antharakshini" and "Dumb charades" are just acted like catalyst in 7 hrs bus journey to velas.
Reached Velas little later than 17:00 and rushed to the beach to watch first hatching at 18:00.
FYI - Turtle hatching dependent on temperature so i call it a purely natural. On the first sight we are lucky to watch 7 Turtles. We are very happy to watch baby turtles making their way towards sea. The path it make looks like a railway tracks.
After capturing the moments in camera - rejoiced in the beach watching heavy tides, however the climate was humid still at 20:00. Body cooled down after a quick shower in the village and soon had a typical village meal as dinner with Roti, Rice, Dal and Mutter Masala and Coconut chuckney
It was around 22:00, still no relief from scorching weather. At one point i presumed that staying in this village for more 1.5 days is really a tough job. Few of them decided to sleep outside in the open ground beside one of the house at extreme end of the lane.
Day 3 - Velas - Bankot Fort - Beach
Wakeup call at 6:00 am and soon rushing towards beach for watching second hatching. Another lucky time as there are 6 hatching. As it was sunday morning, really heavy crowd which made the organizers to barricade before releasing them. Took several shots in different camera modes and spend several hours leisurely.
After breakfast, poha ( typical food served for breakfast ) was a growing demand and after an hour or so finally had a yummy yummy poha. Later started to Bankot fort in our vehicle and reached their in another 30 mins or so - Spent a lot of time in the ruins and sitting on the top like Dil Chatha Hai type and time passed like anything.
Beach Kabbadi - 7 Stones - Dog & Bone are the highlight in the post afternoon and till late evenings.
Today there was no hatching , but we saw upper half turtle which was struggling to come out of sand to make its way to beach, it will take another couple of hours to develop the feathers which will help it to swim. ( as shown in the pic )
Day 4 - Monday Morning - Velas - Pune - Hyd
Apart from the struggle turtle in the previous evening , there were 8 newly hatched ones. For us this was the last session and the crowd was minimum as its not a weekend. Photographers struggled to catch the final day moments.
Passing time with Mafia Game and couple of pit stops 'n' reached pune by 17:30 pm.
Roaming on streets and passed time till 20:00 with variety of street foods/drinks like Coconut water, Bheel puri, Ice Cream, Pani Puri and Dhokla. Finally got into the bus at 20:30 and reached Hyderabad by 05:45 on Day 5.
