Turtle Bay Beach Resort

Had been on a team outing to Turtle Bay beach resort near Kundapura a couple of weeks ago. It is a beautiful place, located right on the beaches of Arabian Sea, some 100km north of Mangalore. I particularly like the beaches of Arabian Sea rather than the east coast mainly for the amazing sunsets that one can catch here.

There is a small island where they take on a boat and you get to see a lot of sea creatures like sea urchins, different varieties of crabs, fish. Dolphins and turtles are also spotted occasionally. They also have snorkeling and scuba diving but they need a full day for it. Just relaxing on hammocks watching the beach, listening to the waves is an experience in itself.

Needless to say, you can jump into the waters and stay there forever, getting your skin tanned, experiencing the sea and sun and sand. The best part is they have life jackets which you can use if you are thalassophobic (scared of sea). Even if you’re not a phobic, trying floating on top of the waves with life jackets is a nice experience. You have a stretch of the beach all for yourselves. However, beyond that ‘stretch’ the place gets dirty.
You can also visit the place of confluence of Sowparnika river with Arabian sea. And also visit some islands and villages, like Padukone (he he, the guys in our group went there and just missed an encounter with Deepika!!)
Simply watching the sandpipers on the beach is enough too. There is also ample scope for birding - their website boasts of about 55 species in and around the resort. I couldn’t dedicate much time for it, but I can definitely say there is ample opportunity.
The resort is a mid range place, pretty decent for the amount they charge, though the services aren’t that great. Rooms are clean and neat with basic amenities, food is average, they make you wait for a long time after placing your order and it’ll be mostly cold when you get it. The non vegetarians had a better choice, though. However, the place makes up for all of it!

Accessibility - Buses ply from Bangalore to Kundapur overnight. From Kundapur, take another bus to Trasi, and then a rickshaw for a couple of km to reach the resort. Or fly/take train to Mangalore and hire a taxi from there.