Varca, Goa

The south Goa beach, we were told is a stretch of sandy shore that runs north-south nearly 18 kilometers.  At Varca, the beach was wide, clean and with surprisingly few people.  It was beautiful.  While we stayed there, I'd go out for a run on the beach in the mornings.  

It was heartening to see that for a few kilometers on either side of Varca the beach was just as scenic.  There was an abundance of sand and sea.  Occasionally, one came upon a patch of sand where scores of shells lay scattered. 

In the mornings, tiny hermit crabs busied themselves gathering food, scampering from one tiny pinhole residence to another.  Reef egrets and sand-pipers stood close to the surf, watching it attentively, waiting for each wave to spread itself thin on the shore and then chased the receding water looking for fish.
 

Not too far into the sea, some 300 meters away, a line of small boats stood anchored swaying gently. 

It came as a surprise that at a few places along this beach wild dolphins actually cross this line of boats and swim in closer to the shore searching for breakfast.  One can see large fins rise and recede into the sea from time to time.  

A few operators at the beach ply boats for a couple of hours in the mornings to take tourists closer to the dolphins.    One morning we engaged a boat.  Soon we spotted a school of dolphins and the boat went up and parked silently in their midst.  They did not seem to mind.  It was a pleasure to watch the gentle giants swim leisurely around us.  Some fins were clearly larger than the others.  Some were calves perhaps.  The boatman remarked, "As the sun rises higher into the sky and the day becomes hotter, by about 10 am, the dolpins recede into deeper sea.  But for a couple of hours each morning, while it is still cool, they come close to the shore to feed."  The dolphins spent some time at one spot before they moved on and surfaced some distance away.  The sea is not clear enough to give their presence away when they are underwater so one waits for them to surface to spot them.

After a while I asked the boatman, "Could one get into the sea here?"

"Yes, if you can swim."

That was completely unexpected!  One must take care not to venture too close to the dolphins or chase them in boats as dolphins surface to breathe and keeping a good distance gives them the space to do so freely.   In sheer delight a couple of us plunged into the sea  and swam gently towards the great fins, still keeping a good distance between us and them.  Then we spent several moments swimming in the water.  I was thrilled to be the furthest out I'd ever been swimming at sea and also in the company of a school of wild dolphins.  It was quite unforgettable.

Date:  November 16, 2011
Updated:  April 1, 2012
Photos:  Ami Bansal
Author:  Ruchir Bansal