“One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time”
St. Mary’s Island is a part of 4 other small islands in the Arabian Sea. I had visited this island 6 years ago, and again in 2011 and surprisingly it is still so chaste. These islands are known for its intrusive rocks formation from the igneous volcano. It is said that Vasco Da Gama named it St.Mary’s in dedication to Mother Mary.
4 of us set out, on another humid weekend in Mangalore, to visit this island. It would not take you more than an hour by public transport to get to the dock from Mangalore City (Lalbagh). The express bus is what you want to choose to get there at the estimated time. Having read that the island is a famous picnic spot, to our surprise there was not a soul at the Ferry ticket counter. The minimum a ferry can carry are 30 heads, and we had to wait for an hour to even get close to the count. I guess that is one of the reasons why the island still remains spotless.
While waiting to be ferried we couldn’t stop staring at this huge ship called Nassau. It was either being run through routine check up or being built at the dock. No information on where it came from or where it was headed. The company is called Tebma Shipyards ltd that caters to designing and building vessels for offshore support and has the capacity to repair upto 4 vessels at a time.
Note: If picnic is the reason you are there, ensure you carry your own food basket as you have nothing edible that’s available there, unless you can get creative with coconuts.
5 kms away from the shore, this island is covered with seashells of various kinds like on the picture to the right. Beautiful basaltic rocks and clean blue water, something you would really want to see from the regular murky waters at the beaches in Mangalore. You can also feel the change in the winds when on the island, compared to Udupi which is 5 kms away by sea.
Bus fare: Rs.50 one way
Ferry: Rs 85 (return inclusive)
Food: hmm…depends on what u got in your basket :)
Again..a trip worth each penny.
Written and edited by
Laveena Dsouza
