We leave Diu early in the morning and proceed to the next place which could be either Nava Bandar or Gupt Prayag with a little early morning thrown in as bonus. Delvada is the junction on the way from which these two places are to be accessed.

As things turned out we make it to Nava Bandar first. Another fishing harbour, another Lighthouse another mosque. Nothing out of the way except that the method of dying fish hanging by ropes starts from here.

The first picture shows how people go to and from the fishing boat.

The Lighthose

The Mosque

Back to Delvada for a refreshing green coconut at Rs.10/- each. Move on to Gupt Prayag. It has a temple or temples and a story. Lord Vishnu disappeared from the rest of the world and lived here for one year. This is the story told locally and we have no means of verifying it at the moment.

Back to Delvada and towards Jafarabad. On the way we witness harvesting of nuts of another palm called Hoka.

Before reaching Jafarabad, we take a detour to a small village with a beach called Sarkeshwar. Nice little beach with a little temple. In the village it is time for Ganapati Visarjan. We are promptly appointed the official photographers of the event. Just about everybody wants to be photographed. I ask for an e-mail Id for sending the photographs. Someone volunteered with a wrong one. The pictures will perhaps be never seen by the enthusiastic folks.

We start Jafarabad with the Lighthouse and the jetty beyond. The beach is rocky and has a temple like most other populated seaside towns.

The town has an old fort counting its last days and has been partly converted into a public health facility.

The most outstanding feature of this town is the trade in a single species of Lizard Fish popularly called Bombay Duck or (Mombil ,Bombala etc. in Indian languages), Harpadon nehereus to the biologists. Almost the entire town (or at least the female part of the town) is engaged in the handling, drying and making ready for sale this species in what appears to be in huge quantities. I don’t know why they call it Bombay Duck, it should be called Jafarabad Duck. Incidentally most of the catch from here is sent to Mumbai. Here are some of the activities captured by us.

We move on. Hindorma near Rajula on the way to Mahuwa has nice accommodation. Hotel Siddhi is well managed.  We decide to break here for bit of a rest. In the evening we make a trip to Pipavav port and Shialbet island. We need to take permission from the port authorities to enter the port on our way to Shialbet. One can see the activities in the port which includes shipbuilding and handling of petroleum.

By the time we reach the place from where they ferry the residents of the island across, it is bit late and windy. We decide not to cross to the island which does not have any local transport and our car cannot be carried across. No, not even motorcycles. This island did not have electricity until last year although it has a population of more than 5000 and even has education facilities up to 10+2.

On the way back to the hotel we stop at  Reliance petrol station near Rajula to be greeted by this huge lizard.

8th September 2016

Posted  on 9th Sept. 2016

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