The 125-metre long floating bridge to the sea were made available for tourists by the Kadali Beach Tourism
The 125-metre long floating bridge to the sea and parasailing are among the new things made available for tourists by the Kadali Beach Tourism at the Panambur beach.
These new facilities were formally inaugurated by Speaker U.T. Khader on Wednesday evening.
The Kadali Beach Toursim, a unit of Bhandary Builders, bagged the tender in 2022 from the district administration to maintain the Panambur beach.
Lakshmish Bhandary, Managing Director of Bhandary Builders, and Raajesh Hukkeri, a dental surgeon, have floated the Kadali Beach Tourism firm.
Mr. Bhandary told The Hindu that the firm intends to have a range of activities at Panambur beach that will increase footfall at the beach and thus boost the toursim sector.
On an average around 5,000 people visit the beach daily. The number of visitors have drastically increased in the last seven days and a record number of 22,000 people visited the beach on December 22.
The floating bridge, he said, was laid after a year-long study by experts of the waves at the beach.
“We found this beach safest for the floating bridge as the waves here are not very intense. We did trial of the floating bridge for 10 days before opening it to public a week ago,” Mr. Bhandary said.
A maximum of 100 persons are allowed for a session on the bridge and feel the sea waves. Every person on the floating bridge will be wearing a safety jacket. The firm charges ₹150 per head.
The floating bridge will be available at the beach till the onset of monsoon. The floating bridge at Panambur is the second such facility in undivided Dakshina Kannada. The floating bridge facility was first started in Udupi’s Malpe beach.
The Kadali Beach Toursim has also started parasailing. Interested persons will be taken in the boat for few metres in the sea where the parasailing is conducted. “This too started after a detailed study,” Mr. Bhandary said.
The firm charges ₹1,000 per head for parasailing. The firm has also started “Disco Ride” wherein people sit in a big tube which rolls on the waves
Dr. Hukkeri said in a week’s time they will start scuba diving near the place where Den Den cargo ship sunk 16 years ago.
“This place has been found ideal for scuba diving,” Dr. Hukkeri said.
In another six months, the firm intends to open 44 food stalls where a wide variety of cuisine will be made available to tourists. The firm is working towards opening beach resort with 48 cottages in another two years, Dr. Hukkeri added.
