Beckons The Submarine Museum: 19th March 2011

This was our last day in Vizag. We woke up to do some sun gazing had a leisurely breakfast at the restaurant looking down at the bay. We were waiting for Vizag to wake up. Meanwhile we packed our bags and moved them into the car. Checked out from the hotel and after seeing the city we were to drive back to Hyderabad. It was going to be a long drive.

The Kailashgiri, is a hill top amusement park created by the Vishakhapatnam Urban Development Association or as it is called VUDA. We  had passed it several time in the last 2 days. So we finally went up the hill to check it out. At 9.00am in the morning on a Friday, we were the first visitors there. The sun was shining strong but the green cover allowed us to walk around. We spotted a film crew setting up a shoot. There is a statue of Shankar Parvati in white surrounded by a landscaped garden and some animal shapes which kids can climb on to or under or into the mouth. There is a rope way and a toy train too but on a weekday there were not many visitors so they were not operating it just for us. Yet we enjoyed the views of the Vizag city down below and the beautiful harbor.

The entrance of the park in an interesting arch it depicted men and women woven together to form a tree trunk. Nearby is the meteorological department but we are not allowed inside.

We then drove along the seashore and stopped a bit at the Lawson's Bay. Vizag has such breathtaking views its hard not to stop.

We drove about 10 kms down the seashore further to Ramkrishna Beach. That's where the Submarine museum is! It is just opposite to "Victory at sea", the memorial that stands proudly to remind us about the 1971 Bangladesh war we won.

"Dive deep in silence, stay underneath while rough outside"

I was very curious to see a submarine on ground. I had only seen them half afloat in the Mumbai Naval base. It did look like a dolphin and submariners are called dolphins too. I had met the flyingdolphin (a submariner and a microlight flier) in Hyderabad so you see coming to Vizag and experiencing the strong Naval culture there was something. I so badly wanted to see the inside of the submarine but it had strange timings and was going to be open only in the afternoon. So we spent some time admiring the INS Kursura from outside and then left for Hyderabad.

We loved Vizag, my Dad calls it Vishakhapatnam and nothing else, both of us were smitten by it. My eldest uncle is ex-Navy and my father's cousin was posted in Vishakhapatnam for a while so you can understand why we went bonkers here. We loved every bit of the sea, the defense ships that we saw in the far. The submarine museum, the kms of the driveway along the seaside, the lovely atmosphere. It is so much like our own Radio club area in Colaba, Mumbai!

This is the Indian Navy's Submarine headquarters!

(While putting together this post I was excited to know that there is a submarine, INS Khanderi named after the island fort of Khanderi that stands in the sea near my village!!)

Finally here is the complete tour of Vizag and nearby places.