A Complete Tour Guide to St Mary's Island
We traveled to St Mary's Island from Udupi's Malpe Beach.
The boat ride was smooth and had a wonderful experience while traveling.
One can buy tickets to St Mary's Island at Malpe beach, Udupi. The ticket counter is right behind the Gandhi Statue at Malpe Beach, Udupi
The ticket cost to St Mary's Island is 300 INR( Pick and Drop) and leaves only when there is a minimum of 15 people. It takes 25 minutes to reach the Island from Malpe Beach by ferry.
The rocks on the island are unique (as that's the USP of Basalt rocks well explained in the information banner).
You can chill here easily for an hour with snacks and getting close to water or rocks.
They have a couple of water activities here as well (Banana boat and the Zorbing).
Life jackets are provided on the boat. Rs.200 charges to take cameras. If you are an avid photographer, rather pay than repent. The boat driver will tell you that you have to be back in 1.5-2hrs. I think it is not a formal restriction but them trying to do what is favorable for their business. The last boat leaves Malpe beach at 4:30pm.
Plan 4-5 hours time once you are at Malpe Beach. We spent 2.5 hours on the beach exploring, climbing up the rock formations, watching the views, seeing some marine inhabitants (white fish with black stripes, sea urchins, crabs) We wished we had 1-2 hrs more to go around another part of the island.
Rs.10 for the toilet on the island., but you pay if you got to go.
About St Mary's Island:
St. Mary's Islands, also known as Coconut Island and Thonsepar, are a set of four small islands in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Malpe in Udupi, Karnataka, India. They are known for their distinctive geological formation of columnar rhyolitic lava
Scientific studies indicate that the basalt of the St. Mary's Islands was formed by sub-aerial subvolcanic activity, because at that time Madagascar was attached to India. The rifting of Madagascar took place around 88 million years ago.
Columnar rhyolite Lava here form one of the four geological monuments in Karnataka state, one of the 32 National Geological Monuments of India declared by the Geological Survey of India in 2016 for their protection, maintenance, promotion and enhancement of geotourism. The monument is considered an important site for "Geo Tourism".
In the year 1498, Vasco da Gama landed at St Mary's Islands on his journey from the Kingdom of Portugal, he fixed a cross on the island and named one of these islands O Padrão de Santa Maria in Portuguese, as a dedication to the Blessed Mother Mary before proceeding to Kozhikode (Calicut) in the Malabar coast of Kerala.It is from this name that the islands got their current name.
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