A Trip to Key West

We started our journey to Key West on May 16th at about 7:30 P.M… Ten of us in a Chevrolet Express with latest Tamil songs, “Nakumukka” being the favorite of the majority. I tell you I am among the minority.

Anil, my hubby was the driver and Keerthy the navigator. We were playing ‘Anthaakshari’ on our way. It was fun and Archana’s brilliant voice was icing on the cake. Badri and Pranav were busy discussing Tamil movies and eating Cookies (NB: made by me:)). After traveling for about 2 and a half hrs through I-75 S, we halted at a Gas station. We had our home cooked dinner there. It was a wholesome meal with soft idly and chutney, puttu and kadala and delicious curd rice. After fueling ourselves and the car we resumed our journey, this time S.V driving and Mala navigating. Sharp at 12:00 S.V reminded us to wish Mala ‘Happy Birthday’ and S.V gifted a gorgeous Watch to her. Anil and Badri, the other married guys in the trip made sure that their wives didn’t have a glance at it. :)

We reached the ECONO Hotel; in Miami on the way to Key West at about 1:00. Rooms were decent. We had 3 rooms. Mala’s family stayed in one room, rest of the guys in the second and the ladies in the other room. Sleeping for few precious hours we got up at 5:30 in the morning. After feeding ourselves with the too average ‘free continental breakfast’ in the hotel we set forward to Key West at about 7:30.

We were traveling from the Miami to Key West through the so called Overseas High way, a Highway that connects to the sea. It was a beautiful drive. We allowed ourselves time to enjoy the beauty of the seas on the way.

Soon we were traveling through the Seven Mile Bridge. It connects the Middle Keys to the Lower Keys. There are 2 bridges running parallel. The old bridge was badly damaged by the Hurricanes of 1935 and 1969. The present bridge was opened in 1982. The bridge is spectacular with its center arched to provide clearance for boat passage. Remember the bridge in the last scene of ‘TRUE LIES’. :) We stopped at a point on the bridge for a while. It was very sunny, not an exceptional thing in the Sunshine State. We took some snaps. We happened to see a strange thing, so many dead fishes in the sea. A portion of their flesh cut off and the other portion and eyes intact. Something fishy!!!

We resumed our journey with the AC in the van turned on. We reached Key West by 11:30. After struggling for a while we got a parking lot for 20 $ a day! The initial entry to Key West reminded me of our own Pondicherry!

Key West is the southern most island of the Florida Keys. It is also the southern most city in the continental U.S. Prior to Spanish explorers Key West was occupied by Native Indian Tribal groups. Being closer to Cuba than to Miami, Key West always had Cuban presence.

Key West has something for every one. Key West has lot of history and a lot of museums to show it. Many novelists and playwrights including Hemingway and Tennessee Williams had made Key West their home.

We went to a tour agent to search about the various attractions and the costs. There were a lot! We can take a tour train for a 90 minute journey through Key West and the person will relate stories of different buildings, museums etc. Umpteen water sports like Snorkeling, Jet skiing, Scuba diving, Para sailing… Even Plane rides were there. We were short of time and many of us were not good swimmers for sports like Jet skiing.
And some sports were very expensive too. So we settled for a few. Parasailing, a Cruise out from the harbor to the sea to watch the reef without getting wet and finally the Spectacular Sunset. That guy also gave us some free meal coupons, free bag coupons...we were not able to take benefit out from any. Hmm!

We had some time left to refuel ourselves before our activities. The minority non-vegetarians Pranav, Anil and I decided to go to a Sea food restaurant. The others had Veggie Burger from Burger King, the most popular survival technique of vegetarians in U.S. In the non-vegetarian group I am a partial non-vegetarian, only fish no meat. The restaurant we went to serves food as well as alcoholic drinks. My hubby had an eye on some cocktail drinks. Since Pranav was not very interested, we settled for a Fish sandwich, a Smeared Fish and French fries. These guys – the embodiment of cruelty wanted to try a Dolphin grill. Oh God! After my long lecture on dolphin’s beauty, friendliness and intelligence they agreed not to have it. The food was pretty good. The main attraction was yet to come, a dessert- Key West Lime Pie. I swear it was so delicious. You can’t afford to miss it.

After the lunch we decided to explore the place before starting our activities. We went to the so called Southernmost Point in continental US. Of course there are other points more southern than this. But this is the southernmost point easily reachable by the civilians. It is only 90 miles from here to Cuba. To check the illegal immigration from Cuba, U.S Border patrol set up road block and inspection point in the Overseas Highway which caused great inconvenience to the residents and the tourists. In protest to this Key West declared its independence from United States in 1982 and the ‘new nation’ was called Conch Republic! Even though the issue was solved and patrol was stopped soon afterward, they still use this name as a tourism booster. You can see a lot of southernmost stuff here. Southernmost hotel, southernmost house, southernmost museum… After taking some snaps we left for the next destination, The Butterfly and Nature conservatory.

The butterfly conservatory is a glass atrium filled with large varieties of colorful butterflies and tropical vegetation. There is also a gift shop in front of it. But even after taking a lot of snaps, we could easily finish our business there in 20 minutes. It was not worth the 10$ entry fee. As though to relieve our desperation, the lady there presented all of us paper butterflies. With the paper butterflies on our shoulders, we left the conservatory.

Time is now 3:10. The tour agent had told us to reach the harbor by 3:30. From there a boat is to take us to the sea for Para sailing. We reached there by 3:25. Before boarding the boat we had to sign an agreement that we are willing to risk our lives and they will not be responsible for anything. S.V signed for the minor Keerthy. After finishing that business we were waiting there. It was so hot and sunny. The live music from a nearby restaurant somehow helped us in that hot sun. At last a boat came to rescue us at 4:10.

The crew guys were very enthusiastic. They explained to us the different safety measures. They offered us to take the Parasailing pictures with their special camera at a rate of 10$ per person claiming that they are professionals in that. Anticipating poor Para sailing photos from our camera, we agreed to that deal. Two persons are to go in a single parachute trip. S.V and Mala’s mom remained enthusiastic spectators. First to go were Badri and Lavanya. Being an unadventurous person my heart beat was faster at the sight of Badri and Lavanya Parasailing. But it seemed that they were enjoying. It was real fun for us down here and them up there. Next to go were Archana and Pranav.

Next Anil and I. Butterflies in my stomach… The crew guy helped us to tighten our life jacket. They took our snaps before the sail. Then in one minute… we took off… Ha! It was great! We were up in the air at a height of about 500 m above the sea. We had a spectacular bird’s eye view of the magnificent Key West islands. We were enjoying the beauty of the green sea and the sea life. With the twists and turns of the rope the crew member made us wet before landing and made our 15 minute sail more exciting. Landing on the boat was also comfortable and easy. It was real fun for us! Last to go were Mala and Keerthy. After finishing everything, we paid those guys tip money and left the boat.

Before boarding the glass boat we had a coffee. We were roaming around for sometime and suddenly I realized that my sunglasses are missing. My memory brought me to the restroom where I had kept it 10 minutes ago. They were not there. Oh man! Thieves in America!

Soon we boarded the glass bottom boat. As clear from the name, the bottom of the boat is glass which will give us sea life view without getting wet. We enjoyed the sea from the upper deck for sometime. After sometime the crew told us that we can go to the lower deck and have under water view. It was wonderful! Different varieties of fishes including the poisonous jelly fish. Crew provided us information about the interesting marine life and fishes. Then we had the opportunity to enjoy the Coral Reef – North America’s only living coral reef. After sometime I felt like vomiting and I went to the upper deck. Anil and I stayed in the upper deck for sometime. Because of this I could not fully enjoy the under water view.

It’s time for the last item in the menu. The magnificent Key West Sunset. Fortunately the sky was cloud free. Sun had already started painting the sky with magnificent colors. All of us were in the upper deck, many posing for photos. After many attempts Lavanya succeeded to catch the sun. We were all enjoying the Sunset, some of us with the complimentary champagne, not to mention the names. :) We enjoyed as the Sun slowly disappeared beyond the horizon, with a promise to return next day. It was beautiful! I have never enjoyed sunset so much in my life.

The day is over and its time to pack up. After a good dinner at Pizza hut we went to our rooms. Hey we need to get up early tomorrow for another Memorable trip, to Miami.

Gisha...

Panchgani - Mahabaleshwar trip

Prelude

“ GO Air ki udaan….” ..Announcement woke me up from my thoughts. Gisha was still half asleep. Perhaps early morning cutlet did not change her sleep pattern. We were waiting at Kamaraj domestic terminal of Chennai airport to board our flight to Pune. Destination Panchgani.

Domestic terminal seems to be cleaner and better than last time I saw, about two years back. But toilets were not exactly upto international standards. While Bangalore and Hyderabad are getting new airports, Chennai is waiting for expansion of its current facilities.

When I bought the tickets to Pune on a sale, I was apprehensive about the timeliness of Low cost carriers. But flight took off from Chennai at 5.15AM on time and reached Pune at 7.20AM. I just had time to close my eyes.

9th Mar 2007

My Brother came to airport to meet us. We took a cab to TCS guesthouse at Panchgani. This was a costly affair of 1950. A better idea was to go to Pune city, which was only 10Kms from here, and get a cab.

The journey to Panchgani was refreshing. The narrow stretch of road winds all the way up through western ghats. we came out of small town of Wai, and passed through the picturesque ‘Pasarni Ghat’. This was a scenic journey towards Panchgani and the cool breeze started to touch my face. We had to roll up our windows to keep us warm.

We reached Dulwich house, TCS holiday home at 10.45Am, a 2 hours 30 mins drive from airport.

Panchgani is a hill station on Western Ghats, in Satara district of Maharashtra. Situated at an altitude of 1334 ft, Panchgani is 98Kms from Pune and 265 Kms from Mumbai. The name of town is derived from five surrounding hills. Economy is dependent on the flow of tourists. Best time of the year to visit is after Diwali, soon after rains are over. The place will look as if it is covered by a green carpet. Since summer is never too hot, it is not a bad time to visit either. Since we reached there in March, greenish hue had been substituted by brown, color of summer.

Our Holiday home was really good. Much better than we expected. It is located on Panchgani – Mahabaleshwar road. 4Kms from the town. House was big enough for 6 people and it was entirely for us for all the four days. Caretaker received us at the entrance. I showed him my approval mail. Holiday home had a very big lawn. The part we stayed was for all employees, which can be booked through ultimatix. There was another section, which was reserved for VIP stay. I expected to see some VIPs, But none turned up. Caretaker cooked lunch for us. Food was delicious and we knew that we were in for a good time. We explored the surroundings for a while. Gisha broke her slippers in that process. We decided to walk to Panchgani town.

On the way to Panchgani town was Parsi point. This provided a breathtaking view of Krishna valley and Dhom dam backwaters. There was a children’s park at view point. Local population still had some leftovers of Holi on them.

We continued our stride towards town through the narrow stretch of road. On the way we met a long line of enthusiastic youngsters returning after a football match.

There are many elite boarding schools at Panchgani. Somewhere I read that Panchgani is famous for boarding schools since late 1800’s. Notable ones are St Peter’s boy’s school founded in 1902 and Kimmins high school founded in 1898. Due to its climatic preferance, about 37 residential schools locate here. As per St Peter’s website “Students all over the world take advantage of these standard schools common also to various film stars like Zeenat Aman, Kimi Katkar, Kajol & Twinkle Khanna”

The imposing old bungalows, lawns, boarding schools, all seemed to be taken out of a P.G Wodehouse story. Even though a lot of water has flown in Krishna river since British times, the place still had an old world charm

Panchgani town was a very small place. Almost everyone seems to know where TCS guesthouse is located and who stays there. We did our shopping and returned by public transport.

Advertisement of Mapro foods is seen everywhere in Panchgani. They manufacture a variety of food items, like Jams, crushes etc. Mapro garden is a tourist attraction here. We did not get time to visit Mapro Garden. However, we bought a Mapro Kiwi crush.

Dinner was fantastic. Roti was made on gas burner and was really soft. Gisha promised me to learn the trick. Night was perfectly silent. The term called deafening silence can be aptly quoted here. Since I was coming from a crowded metro, it took some time for me to adjust.

10th Mar 2007

“rrrrrrrng…” I jumped off the bed and looked around to see where I was. Time as 7.30Am. Caretaker woke us up as he was told.

Powercut in these areas starts at 8.00. So Geyser had to be switched on before that. Maharashtra experiences the worst power shortages in the country. Panchgani has almost 6 hours power cut in a day. Caretaker told me “ This is better, Villages are worst affected, Electricity hardly comes there “.

The decision to invest in the Enron-backed Dabhol Power Company (DPC) in the 1990s, is one of the reasons, why Maharashtra is under power bankruptcy. The plant's closure in 2001, ostensibly over differences on the price of the power it generated, has only added to what was already an extremely complex story. Now Dabhol is renamed as Ratnagiri Gas and Power Private Limited (RGPPL).

Caretaker called for a taxi to take us around. I had to bargain with him for fixing the rate. He had a rate card which showed 50rs more that the prevailing rate, which I noticed yesterday at the town. He charged 850 for the day, which I felt was very high at the end of day.

First spot to visit was table land. This is the most visited tourist attraction. This is claimed as the second largest mountain plateau in asia. First being in Tibet. The panoramic view from the top was excellent. We had a horse ride on the top. Guide told me that the movie ‘Raja hindustani’ was shot in the valley below. He showed me Pandava’s footprints. People say Pandava’s stayed in nearby places during their exile. I did para gliding there, which cost me 200/-. It was good to be up in the sky for a while. Gisha was too scared for that. Parasailing can cost upto 1200/-. Another attraction was a cave, thronged by enthusiastic monkeys, waiting to snatch anything from your hand. A business of eatables to monkeys thrives there. I did not want to go in there, when a hairy one was eagerly looking at my expensive camera.

We reached Sydney point after a short while. Day was slowly getting hotter. Temperature can reach upto 35C in peak summer. A Picturesque Krishna valley, with terraced agricultural lands and winding roads is visible from this point. Evening would have been a better time to visit. We took the same road to reach Dhoom dam. This was a peaceful location with boating facilities. We did not want to venture into waters with sun burning above. Dhoom dam is built on Krishna River. Wai is 13Kms from Panchgani. We were going through Pansali ghat. Our driver showed us an upturned truck. He said accident happened 2 days back. Ganesh temple in wai is famous. The idol is 2 feet tall. But the temple and surroundings were far from clean. We saw a dog tied to a pillar inside temple. We bought some strawberries from an old lady outside the temple premises.

We returned back to Panchgani town and had a decent lunch from Apsara hotel. It was a malayali restaurant. We were surprised to find one in this part of the world. They were from Kozhikode. We came back home by 3.45Pm. All points in Panchgani can be covered by 4 hours.Rest of the day we spent in the house.


11th Mar 2007

My driver assured me that he will give discount for today’s travel. We started from home at 9.30 towards Mahabaleshwar. Mahabaleshwar is 4500 feet above sea level, occupies 150sqkm of plateau. We visited Elephant’s head, Kate’s point, Echo point. We had a good view of Krishna Dam. We reached old Mahabaleshwar from there. Guides are available everywhere. We reached Panchganga Mandir. Five holy rivers - Krishna, Venna, Koyna, Savitri & Gayatri originate from here.

On the way we purchased three boxes of Strawberry from a farm. Panchgani’s climate is suitable for Strawberry cultivation.

River Krishna is one of the longest rivers in India (1300Km). It originates here and meets Bay of Bengal in Andhra Pradesh. Venna, Koyna, Savitri & Gayatri join Krishna after flowing for some distance. World’s tallest masonary dam, Nagarjuna Sagar Dam in Andhra Pradesh is built on Krishna river.

We went to Shankar Mandir, where Lord Shiva is in Rudraksha form and believed to be Swayambhoo. Another temple is Sri Krishnabai Mandir.

We visited other points in Mahabaleshwar, Arthur Seat, Monkey point and half a dozen others.

Pratapgarh is 30 to 40 Kms from Mahabaleshwar. We traveled through dangerous ghat roads and reached there by 3.00Pm.

We got an official guide for 80/- near the entrance of fort. Fort was built in 1656 by Chatrapati Shivaji in the midst of a thick jungle, on the top of a hill. The guide told me that the fort was completed in two years. Entrance to fort was well concealed from an outsider. The winding steps reached to an imposing entrance.

Shivaji’s encounter with Afzal khan, at the foot of Pratapgarh fort is one of the glorious episodes of his life. This feat made Shivaji the hero of Maratha folklore and legend

More details about the encounter can be found in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Pratapgarh

Shivaji has built a tomb for Afzal khan here. He believed that enmity ends with enemy’s death. VHP played politics on the tomb in 2004, wants it to be removed since Afzal khan was Shivaji’s enemy. Bombay high court directed that the status quo to be maintained near the tomb. Since then, visitors are not allowed there.

There is a temple of bhavani mata, the idol of worship of King Shivaj. There is a statue of Shivaji Maharaj inside the fort called Bale killa. An escape tunnel, Punishment point, meeting place, handicraft shop etc are other attractions inside the fort. Guide informed us that other palace like structures inside the fort was destroyed by British.

The surrounding forest still echoes the war cries of Maratha warriors. For me Shivaji is an important personality in Indian history, but the Local population mentions Shivaji Maharaj’s name in reverence.

We left the fort around 5.30 to reach sunset point. As the sun was hiding behind the clouds, we started our journey back to Panchgani.

12th Mar 2007

We did not have any plans for Day 4. Our care taker cooked poha for us. Our food bill came to only 550 for four days. On the way back, we visited my brother at Pune. Our flight to Chennai took off on time. we will always cherish the memories of Beautiful Krishna valley, valor of Maratha’s, Peaceful Panchgani and TCS guest house.