Saturday, April 21, 2018

Krishnapatnam Beach, Andhra Pradesh

Krishnapatnam is a small village 25kms south east of Nellore. It lends its name to the huge port nearby. Of the three beaches near Nellore, the one in Krishnapatnam is the best. It is situated on a curve along the coast till it reaches the port embankments. The actual beach area is still some distance away from the port but huge ships can be seen from here entering the embankments.

A couple of weeks back myself along with a couple colleagues from work visited the beach. It was a saturday and we reached around 4pm. There was a small crowd there. Enough to feel secure and also have some privacy. Much better than the crowds at Mypadu Beach, the most popular beach near Nellore. We walked ahead away from the crowd and selected a nice, quite deserted stretch of the beach. After some idle sitting and talking we changed into our water wear and dashed into the waves. 

The best thing about this place is that the depth of the sea increases gradually and not suddenly like in Mypadu. One can go a fair distance into the sea to enjoy the waves. In fact we ventured so far that the waves were forming behind us and we had a relatively quiet sea to play around with. We spent an hour in the water jumping, falling, and just letting the sea crash on us and throw us around. Soon we got tired and ventured out of the water and sat on the beach enjoying the solitude. We had bought some knickknacks to eat which we fished out from our bags and devoured hungrily.

After that refreshing snack we made our way to the nearby Lighthouse. A lot of people do not know that lighthouses are open to public for 2 hrs everyday. The usual timings are from 1500 Hrs to 1700 Hrs. It was 1730 by the time we reached the base of the lighthouse but the caretaker there graciously let us in. We climbed to the top and spent some time there. It has some excellent views of the sea but the other side is marred with the coal carrying conveyors of the power plant nearby. I struck up a conversation with the caretaker. He told us that this particular lighthouse is one of the least visited lighthouses among all the lighthouse situated on the Andhra coast owning to the ignorance of the people and the lack of easy access. True, access is a huge problem. The path from the krishnapatnam village to the beach is a 'kacha' one.

We left the place around 6pm and reached home comfortably at around 7pm.

Quick Facts
From Nellore, take the road going to Krishnapatnam Port. After crossing a Muthukur town, near a town called Gopalapuram, take a left. From there its straight to the Krishnapatnam Village. From there there is a right turn which leads to the beach. Ask around at the village since its a muddy road and you might wander off in the wrong direction. There are huge belt conveyors and other structures of the power plant nearby. Let that not confuse you. The beach is right there just ahead of the light house.


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