A relaxing day at Sandspit

Date: 18^th March, 2017

"The three great elemental sounds in nature are the sound of rain, the sound of wind in a primeval wood, and the sound of outer ocean on a beach." Henry Beston

Karachi, the city where I live is a city with 135 KM long coastline. In that respect are different beaches along the coastline of Karachi where people visit to relax and get more or less time-off from their busy life. Some of the popular beaches of Karachi are Clifton, Seaview, Hawksbay, Sandspit, Paradise Point, Manora and others. These beaches are easily accessible by roads and are an excellent picnic and leisure places. 

Exhausted from the busy life of the city, my cousin informed me that he is preparing a plan to spend a day at Sandspit beach in Karachi, and I immediately agreed with him to join him in that plan. Situated south west of Karachi city Sandspit beach is a very famous picnic spot among the resistance of both Karachi and tourist visiting Karachi. From October to March the sea at Sandspit is very calm and quiet except for the monsoon season when the sea is rough. People love to visit this beach because of its shallow water that is ideal for swimming and sunbathing. 

The Sandspit beach is nearly 25 KM from my house and nearly 32 KM from my cousin’s house and adding his and my family we were 23 people to go, so we decided to hire a van to travel to the beach. We packed our clothes, towels and other essentials required for the beach a day before and wake up early morning to organize ourselves and after having breakfast we waited for the Van. As per plan the van have to pick the family of my cousin from his house and then come directly to my house to pick us up.

After sitting in the van and filling the icebox with ice from the nearby shop our journey toward Sandspit beach started. We chose the path of the Liyari Expressway as it has less traffic and is speedier as compare to the city roads. The express way landed on Mauripur Road and then moved toward the Hawksbay passing the Industrial Zone.

On the Hawksbay road there are many stores selling items related to picnic & beach, along with food and cold drinks. From these stores one can either buy already prepared food or can place an order for the food and pick it later. But we have already ordered the food (Biryani) from within the city and my cousin will pick it up by his car on route to Hawksbay.

After paying a token fee for the toll we entered the Hawksbay area and now we are travelling on Kakapir Road, reaching near the sea the road form a T and the road to the left is going toward Hawksbay beach while the road on the right is going toward Sandspit beach. We took the right turn as we have to go to the Sandspit beach. Now we were moving with the sea on our left side and there are many huts along the seaside, build for those visiting the beach. These huts can be rented for a day or two so the people visiting the beach have a place to keep their belonging, rest inside the room and even had a kitchen for cooking. Travelling few kilometers we reach at the hut that we have reserved for today. We were allotted two rooms on the first floor. We picked all our baggage, food items, coolers and ice box and place it within our room. Thither is a balcony in front of the room facing toward the sea, in that balcony one can sit and relish the sight of the sea as well as breathe the bracing and frigid air arriving from the sea.

As shortly as we become settled up in the room we immediately got into the slippers that we took from our house and began walking toward the ocean. Everyone is thus energized and started dipping in the sea, I just dip my legs in the sea and get busy in taking photographs. The water was clean and cold with some sea plants floating over water. There are small and large waves hitting the beach, the sound of the waves is creating a wonderful music in the atmosphere.  The excited screams of children can be heard as the large waves hit them.

Everyone was happy and enjoying this moment, some making castle in the sand, some getting wet in the water, and some just roaming along the sea. At the beach there were some horses and camels available to ride on the payment of little fee, and the children were very happy riding those camels and horses.

Spending some time in the water, and roaming along the beach I return back to the hut and sit in the balcony. From there I continuously keep on capturing these happy moments of my family in the form of photographs.

Far off in the ocean there are some big and small ships and vessels travelling toward and away from the Karachi Port. Karachi port is counted one of South Asia's largest and busiest deep-water seaports and also recognized as the gateway to Asia because of of its geographical and strategic placement. Started taking shape in 1854, the present Karachi Port is handling over 11.74 million loads of liquid cargo and 25.45 million tons of dry freight.

After spending quality time at the beach everyone return back to the room for lunch. The lunch was biryani (rice) that we have brought with us from the city, the lunch also include cold drinks. Eating tasty lunch in such stunning environment is a great experience. Completing such a tasty lunch some went back to the ocean and some just sit in the balcony to enjoy the wondrous scenic view of the ocean. 

Everyone was loving the beach and then subsequently a while my son and cousins decided to play the Cricket match in the hut’s backyard. Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a cricket field, but they are six players and playing just a friendly match. We were watching the game from the backyard’s balcony and appreciating them by clapping and shouting.

And now is the time to return home. We all ride back on the van and our return journey began. There was a slight traffic jam on the way back thus took a little more time to reach home. The van drop us at our doorstep and we were feeling happy and refreshed after spending such a glorious and relaxing day at Sandspit. 

"The ocean stirs the heart, inspires the imagination and brings eternal joy to the soul." Wyland