Beach - Marakkanam

Born in the coastal area one realises the beauty of the beach only in instances where you have to stay away from your place for a long time or a person from non-coastal area appreciates the beach and call you lucky for coastal nativity. When Tsunami occurred, we are sure no one wanted to live in a coastal region. Having said that, over the weekend we went on a drive while resulted in experiencing the beach, back waters and the canal in Marakanam, roughly 120 kms from Chennai and 20 kms from Puducherry.

Suddenly on a Saturday morning we decided to make a short trip to Marakanam where our friend has a farm house and called us in for a visit. After completing the weekend chores and a quick lunch, we started the drive towards Marakanam. We took the Chennai by-pass route to Vandaloor and then to ECR, crossing Mahabalipuram to reach the small town of Marakanam within 2 hrs.

Numerous prawn Hatcheries in this place occupy the seashore. There seems to be around 53 Hatcheries in this stretch of ECR. The beach here is clean due to minimal visitors. But the water may be contaminated as we see the remains of the Hatcheries let out in the open. Climbers are seen on the floors stretched on the water available over the beach sand. Factory setup of the Hatcheries varies in size and each of them some 100 meters to the seashore.

Away for the Hatcheries, the beach is occupied by fishermen. Boats are pulled to the shore easily with the help of tractors. Fishermen can be seen filling in their motors with diesel. Fresh catches seem to be possible to buy here. Had dinner at the Vasantha bhavan here and called off for the day.

We stayed at the farm house for the night and went to the beach in the morning for an early glimpse. It was worth the time, non-stop waves touching your feet and the sound of it was just serene. Had breakfast at the same Vasantha bhavan and left from Marakanam. Took a lunch break at Delhi Dabha and reached Chennai by 3 PM.

Nice off-beat trip for a weekend..

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