Travel Living: St. Mary's Island

St. Mary’s Island got their name courtesy Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama who descended on these islands in 1498 before he reached Calicut. Gama called one of the islands “El Padron de Santa Maria.” The northernmost island is about a square mile in area and not more than 250 yards in width. It has a coconut grove, which makes it the shadiest island of the group .If you have never seen green and crystal clear water beach, here is the chance to see one .

HOW TO REACH THERE :-

# The way to St. mary’s Island lies in between Mangalore and Turtle Bay Beach Resort on NH17 .

# We had planned to cover this in our return journey to Bangalore .

# After about 60 km from turtle bay towards mangalore , you will see Malpe Fisherman Association Board on the right hand Side .A better landmark is Sunshine Restaurant.This lane adjacent to this goes to the St. Mary’s Island fairy boarding point .

# You will have to pay some Rs. 5 per person to enter the Fishermen Board Area .

# Then you have to pay Rs. 100 per person as fairy charges to the St. Mary’s Island .

# The large fairy takes about 20 min to reach the island .

# Just 400 m from the island the large fairy transports people into smaller fairies which decks the island .

HOW ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE ON THE ST. MARY’s ISLAND :-

#The trip was wonderful.It is just like how you would have seen the pics in google .

#It was worth standing in the queue for about 3 hours but try to avoid St. Mary’s island on a Holiday .It becomes too much crowded .

#I have never seen crystal clear , green water in India (don’t consider Andaman and Lakshwadeep).

If you like travelling and have not seen St. Mary’s Island , you have missed a very special site .

# I have never seen crystal clear , green water in India (don’t consider Andaman and Lakshwadeep).

If you like travelling and have not seen St. Mary’s Island , you have missed a very special site .

# I found it so beautiful that i canot descibe it in my words .

# You can get coldrinks and snacks on that island (only on weekends and holidays).There is no restaurant , so stuff yourself befre you go for the island trip .
# It is advisable to carry your own water and snacks .
# The fairy has timings . I think it runs on each hour .The frequency on that day was much better , probably 40 min, since the crowd was huge .
#Last fairy goes around 3.00 p.m .If the weather is good , you will love to spend whole day on that Island .