At a glance Devbagh is a beautiful island off Karwar in Uttar Kannada, 18 km from Goa About the city Devbagh and Kurumgad in a motorboat surrounded by a panoramic expanse of the blue sea and ivory sands, you may regret not asking your boss for more holiday time. you are in the mood even as you enter Karwar by road. The stretch downhill winds through the ghats with the sea on your left and hillocks on your right, past the small port office and the fishing boats. Just as you complete the curve and the road straightens out, it's time to turn right into Subhas Circle, the town's busiest centre, a stone's throw away from the bus stand. Here you can take the local bus or flag down an autorickshaw, 3 km away to the jetty, where you catch your boat to your particular island. The mainland, Karwar, is a quiet town south of Goa, enveloped by hill ranges and the Arabian Sea that came under the international tourist spotlight barely a decade ago because of two shining jewels, Devbagh and Kurumgad, that beckon the adventure-lover. These islands are in a true sense the perfect romantic getaway for the post-modern tourist who is ecologically aware. How to reach Road: Car: A great drive up NH17 to Karwar. The jetty point for Devbagh Beach Resort is 3 km from Karwar. From there, it's a 15-min ride. To get to the Great Outdoors Resort on Kurumgad Island, drive to the jetty 4 km from Karwar, then take a 20-25 min boat ride. You can park your car at either jetty. En route halts Stop at Jewel Rock Hotel (Tel: 08182-223051) just off the highway at Shimoga. For lunch, Hotel Siddhartha (Tel: 08387-722131, 720431) at Honnavar is a good option Bus: KSRTC has three deluxe services to Karwar leaving Bangalore daily at 5, 7 and 10 pm. Take the early evening bus to reach Karwar by 8 am Air: Nearest airport: Dabolim, Goa (95 km/ 2 hrs). Taxi to Devbagh is Rs 1,200 Journey Time Road: 12 hrs + 10 mins Air: 1 hr + 2 hrs by road Distances 524 km North West from Bangalore 18 km from Goa From Bangalore NH4 to Tumkur NH206 to Honnavar via Arsikere, Shimoga and Talguppa NH17 to Karwar via Kumta, Gokarna and Ankola Motorboat to Devbagh Best Seasons Devbagh shuts down in the monsoons. October to May would be ideal. Places in and around At Devbagh Once you are on the island, you did love to visit the neighbourhood too. The best time for a trip around Devbagh would be after lunch. At Rs 1,000 per trip, a trawler will take you around three other islands 'sanyasi, Oyster and Kurumgad in the vicinity. Anjediva, the fifth island off the Karwar coast, has been taken over by the Navy as part of the Seabird Project. On the cruise, you might chance upon dolphins or a colony of sea otters. By the time you return to Devbagh, it should be late afternoon, the right time for an eyeful of the splendid sunset. For those who love adventure, snorkelling and scuba-diving are on offer at both Devbagh and Kurumgad. Essentially, Devbagh is for total relaxation in the midst of nature. Trekking or diving can only be intermittent activities that punctuate your routine of sunbathing or chasing crabs on the coast. At Kurumgad Trek up the rugged hill on the tortoise-shaped Kurumgad Island to pray at the Narasimha Temple. If it's early January, you will have hundreds of other devotees for company. Or pay a visit to the abandoned Lighthouse. The beaches of Kurumgad are gorgeous. It's no wonder they attract otters, dolphins and many more creatures of the sea, apart from creatures of the land! Karwar BeachKarwar isn't a highly exciting place in terms of heritage or comforts. you will want to visit the beach though, and watch the big ships sail or the sun dip into the sea. If you have a poet's sensibility, you might spend hours on the sands, perhaps sitting by Rabindranath Tagore's statue on the beach. The Gurudev himself discovered 'the joy of the infinite here, where he wrote his first play Prakitir Pratishodh. Karwar has a number of temples for the spiritually inclined, among them the Vithala-Rakhumai shrine at Kajubagh, the Muralidhara Math at Kodibagh and the Dattatreya Temple at Baad. A Roman Catholic church in Kadwad Village, built in 1801, draws tourists for its unique octagon-shaped architecture. Sadashivgad Fort Barely 5 km from Karwar on the scenic NH17 to Goa is the Kali Bridge, which affords an eyeful of nature's bounty the Kali River disgorging into the Arabian Sea against the backdrop of the ghats. As you cross the kilometre-long bridge, craning your neck for a better view, the road cleaves through a hill and enters Sadashivgad, a small town nestling on the banks of the Kali. Once a bustling trade centre, the town has been ruled by the Kadambas, the Marathas, the Adil Shahi Sultans, the Portuguese and the British. On a 200-ft-high hillock nearby lie the crumbled remains of a fort built in 1698 by Raja Sadashivrao of Sonde. Age and the fury of monsoon have taken their toll on the structure, leaving only remnants of the walls. A Durga temple, over 300 years old and said to have been visited by Shivaji, and the Dargah of Karimuddin Ghouse Jilani, built in 1665 AD, are the attractions here. If you can spare the time, settle down on a rock and take in the scenic beauty around: the hill ranges in the distance; the confluence of the sea and the Kali; the fishing boats bobbing in the slick, calm waters and the orange sky at sunset. The view stretches for miles.