Cochin – Sightseeing by cruise and Cherai Beach

Hello everyone, after a long gap, today I am back to my Kerala series with my concluding post. In our 04 days trip to Kerala one day we spent at Munnar, another day at Athirapally and Vazahal waterfall. Other two days we reserved for Cochin. The day we arrived at Cochin we spend half a day (Afternoon) for cochin sightseeing and the day we left we spent another half day (Morning) at Cherai Beach, Cochin.

So, on our first day we decided to take Cochin sightseeing. As it was our second visit to Cochin, we decided to take Sightseeing tour by cruise. After doing lots of Google search we decided to take this tour operated by Kerala tourism (KTDC).KTDC offers two types of tours, first one is Cochin sightseeing by cruise and another one is halfday backwater  canal tour. In our plan we thought of taking backwater tour, but our local  friend suggested not to waste time and money on Backwater tour. As per them it is a good experience but not worth to spent half a day only for backwater tour. They also promised us to take us to a place where we can see backwater canal. So we dropped the idea of backwater tour.If anyone interested to take this tour they can contact KTDC.

Tourist Reception Centre, KTDC Limited,
Shanmugham Road, Ernakulam,
Kochi – 682 011
Tel: +91-484-2353234
Fax: +91-484-2382199
E-mail: ktdccok@sancharnet.in

Website : www.ktdc.com

As per website information,second half day tour starts at 2:30 pm .All of us had heavy breakfast at friends house and then proceeded to KTDC office for second tour. Before coming to Cochin, I even enquired with KTDC regarding reservation and they said it can be done at the spot on the same day, one hour before departure timing. At 1330 hrs we reached KTDC office. When we enquired we were informed by KTDC staff that tour is cancelled as number of passengers required for operating is not available. We were very much upset, so we asked what alternatives they can suggest us. They had suggested us to take independent cruise tour which will cost around 1300/-.If we would have opted for regular tour we would have paid Rs.800/- for 4 adults as all three kids with us were below 5 years, which means we have to pay Rs 500/- extra for this. We were not very much sure whether it is safe as well as economical to take independent tour.  Somehow at the end we convinced ourselves and fixed on independent cruise tour.

As weather was hot, this ride was giving us good relief from heat. For first 15-20 minutes it was just like a normal cruise experience similar to Mumbai Gateway of India cruise ride or cruise ride at Rameswaram. But we were happy as kids were enjoying this ride with lots of space to sit as well as to run inside the boat and to see sparkling water.On our way we got to see many boats like country type, Russian yacht etc.

The tour conducted by KTDC covers Dutch Palace (Friday Holiday) , Synagogue (Friday and Saturday Holiday) , St.Francis Church (Sunday Holiday) , Chinese fishing nets with spectacular view of Willingdon Island,Kochi Harbour and Bolgatty Island.

For us, we had seen these places in our previous visit so it was ok for us to just enjoy cruise.Although he didn’t take us to any particular points just showed few important buildings like Indian Coast Guard building, Dutch Palace, Kochi International Marina , Bolgatty palace resorts , Kochi Harbour and Willingdon Island.

Although, it was a pleasant journey but I didn’t find it worth or it’s not value for money. Boat sailor but surely took us at the midst of sea and we saw numbers of Dolphin fish. Watching Kochi Harbour, Bolgatty island resort and Dolphin were good experience. Chinese Fishing net is an icon for Kochi but I didn’t find anything interesting watching that. The total time we spent here was 02 hours and we found it tiring. We came back to Marine Drive. Marine drive is a nice hangout place with many eatery joints.We had some light lunch and icecreams and came back to our friends place at 1730 hrs.

I would like to share little about above places.

Chinese Fishing nets – The Chinese fishing nets (Cheena vala) are fishing nets that are fixed land installations for an unusual form of  fishing — shore operated lift nets. Huge mechanical contrivances hold out horizontal nets of 20 m or more across. Each structure is at least 10 m high and comprises a cantilever with an outstretched net suspended over the sea and large stones suspended from ropes as counterweights at the other end. Each installation is operated by a team of up to six fishermen. Chinese fishing nets, in use for the last 500 years and one of the tourist attractions in Kerala, are fast vanishing from the Kochi coastline as huge maintenance costs and poor catch is forcing fishermen to look for other alternatives.

Willingdon Island – The Willington Island contains the modern port serving Cochin city of Kerala. The island is an artificial man-made island created from the sand dug out while deepening Kochi port

Bolgatty palace Island – The splendid Bolghatty Palace is located on the Bolghatty Islands, Cochin.The appeal of the palace lies in the fact that it is among the oldest existing palaces built by the Dutch in India, during the pre-British times.

Overall  it was a good experience . But my advice to future travelers to take a road tour rather than taking cruise tour. Road tour will give you more opportunity to explore beautiful  Kochi. St.Francis church and Jewish Synagogue are beautiful structure and one should not miss .

On our last day we went to Cherai Beach. Cherai beach is located near Vypeen Island .It took us around 01 hr to reach Cherai beach. Both side of road has backwater and it was very scenic to watch this. The lovely beach bordering the Vypeen Island is ideal for swimming. The sea on the Western side and the backwaters on the East give this upcoming tourist destination a uniqueness which can be found only in Kerala. Thick coconut groves and Chinese fishing nets on the waterfront are added attractions.

Cherai beach is a beautiful beach. But the sea here is keep on capturing land day by day , thus no sea shore width left at this beach to enjoy at sand.

This finishes our Kerala tour and we promised ourselves that we will surely return to Kerala, God’s own country  to explore few more destinations like Alleppy (Houseboat) , Kovalam , Kumarakom and Thekady.

At the end my greening tip below :

Print/photocopy  on both sides of paper,even you have to pay for 2 prints/2 copies.