Arrived home Saturday at 6.30pm - on time and was diverted to Cyprus rather than stop at Bahrain, excuse given by Monarch was that all flight staff had to give up there rooms or pay extortionate prices as these rooms were on very high demand for the Grand Prix. Only down side to this was you could not leave the plane - 45 mins they said, but soon turned into 1+1/2 hours (friends who flew back previous weekend were sat on plane for 3 hours - lucky us !)
Anyway... cracking holiday (again) no probs with Monarch flights out.
Landed at Dabolim 8.00am and a quick glance at the sky, didn't seem to be the bright sunny day we have always had.
Not long in airport and straight into the 2 taxis for the 6 in our group arranged for us by Ganesh and on to Sunset Beach Resort Candolim.
Rooms perfect for me and Dee, (120) Jim and Sue (119) but Sarah and Helen were in 130, top floor - good but no balcony and hit and miss problems with aircool unit (soon sorted).
Got down to beach and into Ganesh Shack around 11.00am to say hello to all the faces (doesn't seem like 12 months since being there).
Sun was shining and I was sat thinking the girls could get a good afternoon tanning up and Jim and me could have a few beers and catch up on the 'bitchy' gossip with the shack lads (like all men do...).
Then all of a sudden a Peter Kay cry of ''it's spitting, everyone in'' came from down the beach, and yup did it poor down that 1st afternoon - didn't really stop 'till round 9.00pm that night, so market night was off.
Sky was not looking too good for the following 4 days but still had no probs tanning/sleeping on the beach, further rain mainly came after midnight and was worth seeing sat on the balcony - very heavy.
So 1st time for us in 10 years, and the locals saying that they have never had so much rain in March.
Bumped into Jane Fulton from this site and her hubby Colin who were also in the Sunset, and Ganesh sorted out our fishing trip for the morning - didn't catch anything special, usual rock fish and some strange 'puffer' type fish (plenty of them), had a great time on the boat and a good laugh (Colin you are one mad guy !! - but fun to have you on board), next year we have to go out for deep sea fishing.
Restaurants this year we went in - Flambe/Floyds 1+2/Sea Shell/Curry House down Sinquerem Road/Bistro/Mermaid/Angaraar - this is the only restaurant where you get to see the sunset and sunrise as the service was v.poor and snail pace (3 hours in there).
As we had a 'newbie' in our group (I must say she adapted very well, loved the place and is going again next year) we decided to do the usual haunts, Mandovi evening cruise/Delhi Darbar (poor)/waterfalls/spice plantation etc...
Mackies market was one of the best we have been to, good acts/music on show, more food stalls than previous years, and now I think far more comfy than Ingo's.
Lot's of talk about Anjuna being a no-no next year, this from various locals and reports in the papers. With what has gone on over the last few months (speaking to long term Brits and locals,theres more into this case than is being reported in English news papers) it's sad, but things in that area have needed to be sorted in the correct manner years ago - enough on that one....
Ganesh sorted a great night in the shack for our 'newbie' Helen on her birthday,fire dancers/fireworks/flowers and a great birthday cake - cracking night had by all.
Had a good day out with Jim in Panaji, some sight seeing but vey hot, so into one or two bars for a cool beer. Had to hammer on the door at our favourite bar, Top Gear Pub (didn't open 'til 11.30am) bumped into manager of Ronil Beach Resort, (Rui) and had a chat with him and Sandy the pub owner - great guys and full of info you don't get to hear on the coastal belt.
We also had a trip down to Cola Beach and stayed in tents for 1 night - must say this is better than Palolem (many saying this is now as bad as Calangute) and Devbargh Island, tents were perfect, food was great and very very quiet - only 14 people down there. (bumpy bus trip and flat tyre on way back)
So.. to sum things up, another great 2 weeks despite the rain which was fun and didn't spoil things, restaurants used were good to excellent, Curry House @ Sinquerim the best, worst has to be Angarra down Beach Road opposite Sports Bar (empty) and for a change from Indian, the best being The Bistro then Mermaid.
Usual rubbish everywhere (no worse than previous years) but roads in a worse condition.
No illnesses to report of, other than a touch too much sun for 2 of my friends. Beach sellers were out in force, but easy to say no and move them on.
River Princess - workers in our shack (getting drunk on there day off) have almost replated the damage that they found last year and were hoping for April 15th removal but now this is being put back to start of next season, should basically be a pumping out from monsoon process,dredging and off she goes ?....
We are booked into Sunset for next year, same 2 weeks but with an increase of 300rps per day, so now it's 1800 rps per day, includes air cooler/fan/safe/tv/fridge breakfast.
Had a look at those new apartments at top of Whispering Palms Road in Candolim called the Horizon - decent rooms with all you need and for same 2 weeks 1200rps /1800rps with aircooler (price quoted to friends for Christmas 5000rps per day !
We love the Sunset Hotel with the closeness to the beach, clean friendly etc.. but if they keep going up by that amount will have a scout round next year.
One final thing - can people stop saying Goa is like the Costas/Benidorm/Blackpool - have you ever been to these ? how you can compare these places to Goa is just plain dumb, I love the Costas and Blackpool but Goa is nothing like - despite it's downsides that annoy people you either accept it or move on, for us it's great and you should make it a good holiday, progress is progress.
Spike.