St Mary’s Island is a popular tourist destination in the Malpe area of Udupi. Although it is an immensely popular destination to the locals yet it is unknown to many. St Mary’s Island is a group of small islands lying parallel to the shoreline of Udupi near the Malpe region. This uninhabited small island is also known as Coconut Island because the coconut tree cover of the island often reflects the azure sea colour making it even more visually appealing. Explore this small geographical wonder with ‘Footlooseinme’. St Mary’s Island has been declared one of the National Geological Monuments of India by the Geological Survey of India in 2016.
As I promised in my previous post on Udupi, I bring you to St Mary’s Island. This island is a geographical wonder and it also has an interesting legend associated with it. St Mary’s Island is 500 m in length and 200 m in width. This island was formed due to volcanic eruptions some 88 million years ago when the layers of the earth moved and the continents were formed. This is when Madagascar was separated from the Indian Subcontinent.
The interesting rock formation of this island is composed of Columnar rhyolite Lava. It is a unique feature of the island which is one of a kind in India and thus this site was listed under the National Geological Monuments of India for protection, maintenance, promotion and enhancement of geo-tourism.
The columnar basaltic lava forms a range of polygonal (mostly hexagonal) columns split into a horizontal mosaic which are known as ‘columnar joints’. These lava columns formed by ‘laminar lava’ rose to various heights with the highest being 20ft. This ‘columnar joining’ pattern is most prominent in Coconut Island. This geographical formation gives the island a unique characteristic and makes it a geological wonder. I was lucky to experience similar geological structures in Giant’s Causeway, Northern Ireland. (Read my post on Gaint’s Causeway in Northern Ireland.)
This group of North-South lying islands comprises four main islands – Coconut Island, North Island, Daryabahadurgarh Island and South Island. Apart from this columnar basaltic rock formation in a hexagonal form, there is another interesting feature and that is the shell beach. This beach is covered with tons of broken sea shells but not sand.
There is an interesting legend associated with the island and some love to call it history. It is said that Vasco da Gama landed at St Mary’s island on his journey from Portugal to India. This is where he set his foot before proceeding to Calicut (Kozhikode). Here he fixed a cross and named one of these islands O Padrão de Santa Maria in Portuguese. Since then it has been called St Mary’s Island.
After all the lessons on geography and legend (or shall I call it history) let me take you to this island. You must be curious to know how to visit St Mary’s Island. St Mary’s Island is open to visitors from October to May, from 9 AM to 5 PM. It is closed during the monsoon months. The only way to visit the island is by ferry from Malpe harbour.
The ferry starts only when it is full and the ticket fare comprises to and fro fare to Coconut Island. The duration of the ferry is approximately 30 minutes. On the way, the other tiny islands of this group of islands are seen, which also display the ‘columnar joining’ patterns. The ferry takes visitors near the shore of the island then the passengers are transferred to smaller ferries to cross the shallow water. As there is no jetty on Coconut Island, visitors have to walk through knee-deep or less water to reach the sandy beach of the island.
It is advisable to choose your footwear accordingly while visiting St Mary’s Island. This being an uninhabited island there is no source of food and drink available. One can carry food and water but make sure not to litter the island. This is a unique geological wonder and we must try to preserve and maintain this. With this request to my readers, I end my post on St Mary’s Island.
Sounds like my kind of place!
😀 Good to know