How’s It Goan?

Goa sits on the Arabian Sea on the south central coast of Western India and is filled with spectacular palm lined beaches and numerous small villages that offer accommodation for backpackers as well as many high end spa/hotels. We arrived into a 38C degree day and met the guy from a local tourism company for our car rental. After observing the craziest driving we have both ever seen in Bombay, we were hoping that getting around in the resort area would be a little more relaxed and laid back. The car was an old school 4-wheel drive with an air-conditioner that barely functioned…and the guy we paid cash to for the car told us that "if anyone asks, just tell them you are using a friend's car". A little sketchy but at this point we had no other arrangements and the hotel was about 45 min south, so we figured we went for it and hoped for the best. We loaded up and hit the roads which are definitely "rural" and the main road is a mix of pedestrian traffic, pull-carts, cows and bikes all shared with trucks, buses, scooters and cars. All good except that the road can't fit the first group with the second group, and add to the mix the varying speeds of the motorized vehicles and non-stop honking and you have the most intense driving experience you can imagine. Go too slow or don't pass a slower car because you think it is too dangerous…well then you are immediately being passed and honked at by a big truck that will be passing so slowly it will inevitably force you off the road. So when you build up the courage to jump out and pass someone, you see if you can then will the car to be narrow enough. And did we mention that Bombay was still scarier than this?

Back to the scene in Goa – it was renowned in the '70's as the great hangout of wayward musicians and Euro-hippies (kind of like the old days of Paia in Maui). Add a few decades, a ban on nude sunbathing and a few high end resorts you now have a scene like a lot of Mexico. Endless palm-frond huts line the beaches with restaurants and bars, many going 18 hours a day with breakfast, lunch, dinner and DJ or band and parties 'til late. Some areas North of where we stayed still have a pretty big youth scene and big beach disco/raves but we stayed in an area called Benaulim Beach where we were among the youngest people around. Nice lazy days on the beach that we filled with some long swims and beach runs before it got too hot. Great food everywhere and cheap! We explored a little to some towns called Margao and Colva – but didn't venture too far due to the nerve-wracking driving required to get anywhere. Mark wanted to hit a great golf course just 40kms south – but that drive is at least 1 hour they told us and the road further south is "not so good". It was a nice place for a quick beach visit after the big city scene of Mumbai. Unfortunately our camera died on the first night – so we are hoping to find a new one in Bangkok.

Surf Report: it was ankle to knee high the entire time there – but saw a couple guys wallowing on longboards one glassy morning. I caught a few set waves body surfing and the beach breaks apparently do work when the south Indian Ocean lights up. The most amazing thing I saw was a Standup Paddle Boarder making his way in from about ½ mile out on our first morning. We watched him moving slower than I expected but then realized it was a local villager on a homemade wooden board and a funky hand-built paddle. Turns out these guys have been living in grass shacks on the beach and go out setting their traps for decades on these big wooden SUP's. They tie two supper heavy 10 foot logs together that have a turned up section towards each other to make the nose. I helped him carry it up and it weighed at least 200lbs! The old Waikiki Beach Boys that are getting the credit to Stand-Up Paddleboarding by the C4 Waterman gang may have been beaten to the punch by these Indian villagers who seem to have been doing this for probably over a century!