This post is about St. Mary’s Island in Udupi and it’s the second post in the Udupi Series where I will be highlighting some of the great places which I visited on my recent trip to Udupi.
St. Mary’s Island is one of the main reasons for our trip to visit Udupi since we were excited on seeing the photos of St. Mary’s Island when we were planning for the trip and let me tell you that it was wonderful experience visiting St. Mary’s Island and it made our day.
We planned to visit St. Mary’s Island on the second day of our trip and we had a tasty vegetarian dish, Poori for breakfast at Hotel Sri Krishna Sagar and then started traveling to St. Mary’s Island Govt. Boating Office by rental car (which we took for three days in Udupi) which is just 6kms from Udupi Bus Stand.
We parked the vehicle at Sea Walk Greens Park and St. Mary’s Island Govt. Boating Office is located near Sea Walk Greens Park. We reached at St. Mary’s Island Govt. Boating Office around 11:30 AM and the ticket price is ₹300/- for Adults and ₹150/- for kids. They will be taking us to St. Mary’s Island on a ferry and there has to be atleast 30 passengers available and then tickets will be issued. Luckily when we reached, there were already around 25 people waiting in the seating area and around 15 mins, tickets were issued and we were boarded on the ferry. The ferry was neat and shaded. We had to wear the life jacket which is available on the ferry.
After sometime, the ferry departed and we got very excited. We took some great photos and we were able to see the St. Mary’s Island at a distance. In sometime when it seemed we were half way to reach St. Mary’s Island, there were another boat which got very closer and looked as if it got attached to our ferry and we were told to get to that boat. There were many people who were assisting us to get to the boat and then it took us to the St. Mary’s Island. On the way, I loved taking photos of the boats which were passing by.
When we reached St. Mary’s Island, it felt like I was outside India but my Mobile network was still there and I was hoping it will not so that I can say I was really outside India. We get to the entrance of St. Mary’s Island and we were told to get to the entrance after an hour so that another ferry will take us back. There are water sports available at the Island which we need to pay or else we can get inside the Island and explore it for free. We took the second option since water sports, we can take it in some other places also.
Plastic bottles are not allowed inside the St. Mary’s Island and also there is additional charge of ₹200/- for carrying DSLR inside or else it has to be deposited at the entrance for ₹20/-. We paid additional charge since capturing photos of the Island especially with the DSLR is a must for me. There were dustbins available at the Island and some fruit shops were there. On walking for few hundred metres from the entrance, we got the amazing view of the sea from the Island.
There were two important things we read about St. Mary’s Island. One was that in the year 1498, Vasco Da Gama landed at St. Mary’s Island during his journey from the Portugal before proceeding to the Kozhikode. He named one of these islands as O Padrão de Santa Maria in Portuguese and that’s how it has got its current name.
The other reason is that it has the basaltic rock formation in a hexagonal form which is only one of its type in throughout India.
The water is so clean and transparent and I took lots of photos at the Island. The rocks are very very slippery and I could see some of the shaded places in the Island. The time went just like that we couldn’t explore the Island completely and we were just taking photos. It was wonderful experience and the tall Coconut trees in the Island is a view to watch.
After enjoying for sometime, we decided to get to the entrance but it was more than an hour and it seemed our boat was left. We checked with one of the persons at the Island and he told that another boat will be coming after sometime to get us back along with the other passengers.
We enjoyed the view of the land from the entrance of the Island and the view of the ocean on the other side inside the Island was breathtakingly beautiful. After sometime, there was a boat which took us to the land and I took some great photos on our way back.
We were expecting to be reaching at the same place we departed to the Island but it took us to the Malpe Beach and it might be due to taking another boat since we get to the entrance late. From Malpe beach we walked around one and half kilometres to get the Sea Walk Greens Parking where we parked our vehicle.
Nearby Tourist Attractions
It was wonderful visiting St. Mary’s Island and I would love to visit it again when I go to Udupi in future.
I hope you enjoyed reading this post. Take care, stay safe and Peace.
