Fishing at Lagoon at Cola – The Perfect Untouched Beach in Goa

When Mr B and I moved in together after our marriage, we brought nobody with us except ourselves. He was already living alone away from his parents for years now, so he had mostly forgotten many of things that his family used to do.  So I was never compared or contrasted or heard the phrase “… but my mother does it this way.” I was living with my parents before marriage, but I lived in oblivion. Even if there was something that I knew my parents did, I had never observed it keenly to know how they did it.

So it was just us and what we thought was right. We needed to cling to something together so we made our own traditions – our own way of celebrating Diwali, our own way of throwing a party and our own way of bringing up a girl. One tradition of such traditions was our yearly road trip to Niagara Falls. It used to take us 10+ hours to reach the Falls but we never got bored of it. (I have been there 5 times!)

We had to leave that tradition behind when we decided to settle down in Bengaluru three years back. But suckers that we are, we made a new yearly road trip holiday tradition to Goa. And in the last three years, we have visited Goa three times. We visited the most popular spots like Anjuna, Baga, Calangute and Candolim on our very first visit. (Read Holiday in Goa – Land of Most Beautiful Sunsets for more from YellowMellowLife’s Goan adventure)So for our second visit, we decided to explore just the southern part of Goa – Patnem, Colomb, Palolem, and Cola to be more precise.

We came to know about Cola by sheer chance. Most maps won’t show it, it isn’t famous at all, and in fact many people confuse it with Colva beach.  Somehow through my digging over internet, I came across this picture and instantly fell in love. I knew I have to go there, no matter what.

We were staying at Patnem on that particular vacation and Cola is around 13 km north from there (80+ km south from Anjuna). There was a big issue over how to reach the beach. It wasn’t connected all the way through the road. So one has to drive past Agonda beach and then ask locals the way to Cola beach. This was a bit of struggle. Even after we figured out the right way, we had to drive our car on bumpy rough road. After about half-a-kilometer, there was a parking spot to park the car. After this point we had to walk all the way to the beach.

This walk was more like hiking amidst the lush green plantation with vaguely defined tracks. Almost like walking in wilderness. The whole stretch went for almost a kilometer and it took us 20 minutes. It was around 10 am so the sun didn’t bother us much.This track led us to makeshift steps which ultimately led us to the Cola beach.

The first sight of the beach and we were awed. Why? There is a lagoon just 20-25 meters inland from the beach. This lagoon is huge and stretches back into the forest. It pours into the Arabian Sea through a stream.

Around the lagoon, there is a small cluster of huts and tents. There is just one shack serving drinks and food. The beach is pretty secluded. Even in mid-December it looked almost deserted. It was as peaceful as a beach can be.

But I have to talk about this lagoon because that is the beauty of the beach. My daughter is a curious kid who loves animals and she loved this lagoon for that. The lagoon was like a tidal pool with a miniature sea ecosystem thriving inside it. There was sea weed, shells, mollusks, fish, hermit crabs and crabs (babies) and what not. The lagoon is deep at only certain places; otherwise it is between 6 inches – 2 feet. So Little B moved freely inside the lagoon trying to catch fish or crab with her little fishing net. She explored the lagoon and had an absolutely crazy time.

Later she played in the stream connecting the lagoon with the sea. The stream wasn’t deep; however, the water was flowing fast giving her a thrill.

After getting soaked up in the water we walked on the picturesque beach. With the lagoon, the stream, hill on one side and the sea on the other, it has like a character of its own.

I might as well call it the best beach in Goa, especially because Little B had as much fun as us. We are digging the beach so much that we have planned to come to Cola beach straightaway on our next Goa vacation and stay at the humble tent houses around the lagoon.

P.S. As we were told by the locals that the land after the parking spot all the way to the Cola beach is owned by a resort. Those staying in the resort can take their vehicles further about another 500 meters or so. Our friends who visited Cola told us that they drove on a bike and nobody stopped them at the parking spot. So I guess the whole thing depends on who is guarding at the parking spot. You might be asked to park there itself and walk all the way to the beach; or you might be allowed to take your vehicle along. Anyways, it is not that long of a stretch and is scenic as well so even hiking should be fine.

South Goa Beaches map.