Offbeat Mumbai: A shorewalk in Juhu

It is breezy on the beach. Everyone in my group is peeking at the catch the fishermen have caught. I walk fast, trying not to miss it. But before I reach, I see they spring off to another spot and gather in a semicircle. At the centre of the semicircle is a hook-nosed sea snake! It is moving at a very slow pace on the sand. I am on my first shorewalk in Juhu with the Marine Life of Mumbai (MLoM), and my day is already made.

Shorewalks are intertidal walks that are conducted in shallow tide pools during low tide. I came across Marine Life of Mumbai on a writer’s meet in Mumbai in 2019. Sejal Mehta, the writer of the book Superpowers On The Shore, was there at the meet and made us aware of the existence of this project.

My real hankering started when I came across photographer Sarang Naik’s photos of the Mumbai coast. Later many writers in my group wrote articles on it, but unfortunately the pandemic was ongoing and everything was shut. Then every time Marine Life of Mumbai’s Instagram page announced slots for the walk, they were claimed like hotcakes. However, I finally got a chance and grabbed the Juhu walk.

Shorewalk in Juhu Beach commences

Our group of 15-20 is chiefly led by naturalists Pradeep Patade and Gaurav Patil. Many interns of MLoM are also in the group. At 4PM, after we reach the beach, the group is split into two. I am led by Raniya, a young intern with MLoM. We spot snails, hermit crabs and Raniya explains to us how to distinguish if a shell belongs to a snail or a crab.

We spot several routs of snails moving around, half buried in the sandy beach. The sea breeze and slanted rays of the sun make the weather at the beach very comfortable. A while later we see the fishermen return with the catch of the day. They stand and crouch, sorting things out of their net. I am not sure if the sea snake was caught inside their net or it organically came up on the shore but a little bit farther from the fishermen, it lay on the sand.

For me, seeing this is surreal. I have never seen a sea snake, and here was my first sighting in the waters off Juhu! I try taking some shots of the snake against the backdrop of the city. The hook-nosed sea snake moves very slowly on land. It is venomous and is responsible for the most fatalities caused by sea snakes in sea. I will never see Juhu beach the way I used to.

The sandy shore of Juhu is full of surprises

We then come across pearly sea anemones. One is lounging on the sand away from the waves. Then we find another. This one is halfway in the water of the lapping waves. Its tentacles are unfurling whenever the waves brush past it. I learn they are also venomous and touching them is a strict no-no.

I was stung by 1 yellow wasp just a month back and 15 honeybees in Andaman just 3 weeks back. My body has filtered enough venom, so I was anyways staying away!

We spot barnacles, true crabs, puffer fish—the ones that can balloon up and change shape, the very interesting sole fish. The sole fish has a flat body. They swim kind of like a 2D object floating in water. They are born with two eyes on either side of their heads but as they mature one of their eyes migrate position and moves beside the other eye!

Biodiversity in the tide pools of Mumbai

The sun is about to set when we leave the sandy shore of Juhu and proceed to the rocky stretch. We slog in ankle-deep water and balance ourselves on the rocks. Then we spot something so ridiculously fantastic— hundreds of bivalves squirt thin fountains of water from underneath the rocks. It is a sight to behold but very hard to trap in a camera!

We see a local Koli woman catch some clams for personal consumption (our guide informs us that these are not sold on a large scale). He then informs us how bivalves filter water, and since the water in Juhu is extremely polluted and might also be loaded with heavy metals, ideally one should not consume clams found here.

Just when we are about to end our walk, we come across a red sea slug. Apparently, it is a rare sighting here. Sea slugs take the colour of whatever they consume, in this case it seems like it had fed on the red sea sponge that we had found just a while back. For a very long time the sea slug keeps the photographers of our group busy. It is even given the title of being the “showstopper,” erm no, “walkstopper,” exclaims Shaunak, one of the enthusiastic experts.

As the Sun sets the walk is wrapped up and we start our journey home.

Details:

• Price– INR 744 per person prepaid. Once a month they conduct a free walk as well but they sell fast so good luck catching that!

• Duration– 1.5-2 hours

• Timing– Time varies with tide timings. The walks are conducted during low tide.

• Location– Juhu koliwada, however they conduct shorewalks at Haji Ali Dargah and Carter Road as well.

• How to book– The announcements and links to forms are posted on their Instagram page MarineLifeOfMumbai (@marinelifeofmumbai). They open it a few days before the walk and they are usually sold very fast. If you wish to attend one you better “keep notifications on” for their account.

• Requirement of shoes– The monsoon shoes are best suited for this event as you will walk on sandy and rocky beach. Flip flops will slip and running shoes will get dirty and wet (though you can still wear them if you are mentally prepared to walk with squelching feet and clean them up later).

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