Goa Day 1 - Water sports and party at the beach

Place: Goa.

Distance: 600 km from Bangalore

Type: Beach
Ideal for: Friends

Best time to Visit:  August to January
Budget: Rs: 13,500 per head

Finally, it's "Goawaaaaa!!!"

Everyone has a group which keeps planning trip to Goa and which keeps canceling. Well, our group wasn't an exception too until we finally made it to Goa on year's hottest time - December.

Best of the beast: Parasailing in Calangute Beach

After a lot of planning everyone in the group finally agreed upon a common travel date. To reduce the dropouts we booked the hotels and flight two months in advance. The Goa trip was going to be expensive so I gave up my other trek plans to compensate for the expenditure.

Planning Phase: Booking flights was a difficult task as prices were fluctuating but we managed to book the flight to Goa leaving on Friday morning at 6 and the returning flight on Sunday at 10 pm. The stays are usually expensive in Goa, especially at this time. So we did quite a bit of research and booked a decent stay through Oyo Rooms. There were few luxury stays by the beach side which were tempting but they were expensive as hell. We had plans to cover both North Goa and South Goa hence we booked the one day stay in North Goa and other in South Goa. 

We booked OYO 2440 Palm Grove near the Vagator beach at a good deal and other at OYO 5583 Alagoa Resort near Betalbatim South Goa at slightly higher the price.

Taxis are very expensive in Goa and public transport is very poor so the most popular way to travel inside Goa is to rent bikes. There are plenty of options for bike rentals. We booked with rentabike who had the pickup and drop facility from Doblin Airport itself.

Planning places to visit in Goa was the toughest task but this blog on Quora made our task easy. We learned what places to see, where to eat, what to buy and what to wear as well.

Bangalore - Goa: The cab arrived at 4 in the morning. On the way, I picked up everyone and reached the airport in an hour. After security checkup, we started boarding at 5.30 am. It was our first flight so we were very much excited.

Bangalore airport 

The coolest gang ever

Waiting for the boarding is the most boring thing

An hour later, we landed in Goa. Goa airport wasn't any better than our Majestic in Bangalore. We came out of the airport and called the bike rental person who made us wait for another 40 minutes :@ (even though we were following up with him from an hour). After giving him original ID card and making full payment, we got three Honda Activa.  It was 8.30 in the morning, we had moped in our hand and the Goa journey had officially begun.

First-time flight experience

Moped is the best bikes to roam in Goa

After fueling up we started navigation to our stay in the North Goa. It was 45  km ride from the airport and expected to reach in an hour. It was 9 in the morning and the climate was pleasant. Beautiful road flanked by trees on one side and Arabian sea on the other was a treat to ride. This stretch was probably one of the most beautiful stretches of our entire trip to Goa. We wanted to have breakfast on the way but surprisingly none of the restaurants were open. I wonder if people in Goa actually eat breakfast or not. We finally found a restaurant called Sita just half a km before our stay. Even though the food was bad we had to admire it because it was the only restaurant serving breakfast on the entire 45 km stretch. We reached our stay at 11.10 in the morning but the usual check-in times were 12 pm. After negotiating with the hotel manager he allowed us to check in at 11.30.

Roads in Goa. This location is taken in a lot of movies

Sita restaurant where we finally got the breakfast after searching entire Goa

Our stay for the day

The rooms were not that good, nothing like the one showed in the images :@ Half an hour later we were all ready and set to rock the Goan beaches. The plan was to visit Calangute and Baga beach for water sports, have lunch at Ashwem beach, watch the sunset from Chapora Fort and have dinner at Anjuna Beach.

Near Calangute Beach

Colors of Goa

Caught by the Police: We left our stay at 12.15 in the afternoon. The first stop of the day - Calangute was 10 km from away. Half the way we were pulled over by the Goan cops for not wearing a helmet. We had underestimated the Goan law and thought there are no strict rules here. Fortunately, the police were kind enough to let us go without imposing any fine. We came back to the hotel and picked up helmets and license. Cops will be there on the main roads so don't forget to wear the helmet and carry license,  they even check for Drink and drive.

Calangute Beach

Watersports are very famous at Calangute and Baga beach

Parasailing at its best

After all the drama we reached Calangute Beach at 1 in the afternoon. As soon as we parked our bikes, we were hogged by people selling water sports packages. Watersports are expensive especially during peak season, but it's a must do in Goa. We tried to bargain on the prices but seems like they have a fixed package and they won't reduce even a single penny. We decided to do Parasailing, Jet ski and Banana ride for Rs 1400.

Watersports: If you are found of Jetski then they offer a 4 km ride for 1500 Rs, where you can ride for the entire stretch on your own. We opted for a short 200-meter ride for 300 Rs but the guide himself will ride the Jetski and we have to be pillion rider.

Jetski: I had underestimated the Jetski until I sat on one. I never knew these motors could be that powerful. After going 200 meters into the sea the guide offered to let me ride the Jetski and go some extra distance at an additional 200 bucks. I realized his marketing strategy and denied the offer.

Santosh posing on the Jetski

Parasailing: We then moved to the Parasailing where we boarded a speed boat with Parasailing equipment fitted. One after other we did parasailing. It was my first time doing this and I totally enjoyed it. I was up in the sky for more than 300 feet from where I could see the entire beach and the ocean spreading till the horizon. After everyone was done the guide told us he will show us Dolphins for Rs. 100/head. There were totally 10 people on the boat but no one agreed. He reduced the price to 50. Yet no one agreed. Then he reduced to Rs25/head and begged that this is the least amount he can offer. I thought it was a great deal and I agreed. So did everyone in the boat. The guide asked us to turn around and there were Dolphins playing in the water. Immediately everyone realized that we got fooled and I was the culprit.

Parasailing was amazing

The view from top was breathtaking

Can you see the Dolphins there?

The last watersport was the Banana ride where all 6 of us hopped on a Banana shaped boat. They took us into the sea and all of a sudden tilted it which made us fall into the water. No one knew what was gonna happen so it was a thrilling experience. 

Banana Ride was fun

Meanwhile, Vinay got injured as the guide's leg hit him hard on his head while we were going into the water. There were no external injuries but Vinay was feeling extreme pain. We suspected that it could be an internal injury and realized we should consult a doctor as soon as possible.

After searching an hour we finally found this hospital

Surprisingly there were no hospitals nearby. Google maps gave up on us, locals also didn't help much. After searching a lot we finally found a multispeciality hospital near our hotel. The doctor said there's no injury but suggested to get the MRI scanning done. There was no scanning facility at this hospital and the closest scanning lab was in Panjim. The doctor gave painkiller and asked not to booze or have spicy food. Things were going so good but suddenly the incidence like this gave a shock to everyone. Vinay was courageous enough to handle the pain. None of us had anything since the bad breakfast in the morning. We decided to directly go to the Curly's restaurant at Anjuna beach for the dinner.

While everyone was taking a nap, I came to Vagator beach to watch the sunset

Panoramic view of Vagator beach

Curlies Beach Shack, Anjuna Beach: We got freshen up and headed to Anjuna beach for the dinner at 730. Curlies Shack is one of the hotspots for night party. The dance floor was free for couples and charged Rs 500 for the stag. The food was really good and the ambience was great. After dinner, we came to the beach and walked for a while. The beach is very good at this place than it was at Calangute. We sat on the beach and spent next couple of hours discussing our old days. We didn't realize when it was 1 in the night already. It was bone freezing cold and none of us had a jacket. Off course who wears a jacket to the beach right? 15 minutes of ride to the hotel felt like a light year long in the cold like this. It was a little spooky to ride at midnight especially as we had girls in our group. We reached our rooms and crashed on the bed.

Curlies at night

Amazing cocktails

We played with these glowing sticks while sitting on the Anjuna beach

You can watch my short and sweet vlog in the below video



Read the day 2 post where we explored the secrete beach of Goa and Chapora fort

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