Sailing in Mumbai Gateway of India was on my list since last year. But this time I booked a sail with Small Steps Adventures to celebrate my wedding anniversary. This was the surprise for my wife.
We went for shopping as she loves to do and she thought that this is it all for the day. Then I asked her that we could spend evening by gateway of India. She was happy to enjoy cool breeze at the end of May. But, I had different plans in mind.
Parking before Sailing in Mumbai
There is no dedicated parking available for Sailing in Mumbai. We used private parking for Rs. 100 per hour where in you need to handover car key to them.
Getway of India – Start point for Sailing in Mumbai
Timing for Sailing in Mumbai
Sea Sailing in Mumbai harbor is 2 hours activity. Sunset sailing timings are 4-6 PM and 6-8 PM. I had booked for 6-8 PM to make it more memorable evening. We reached by 5:30 at Getway of India. I was taking pics by DSLR as she was posing by the bay.
Posing by the bay
Start Point for Sailing in Mumbai
I talked to captain while parking my vehicle about the meeting point. We have been asked to reach Jetty No 5 near Getway of India, i.e. In front of Taj hotel. I took my wife to jetty entrance and told her that we will be doing boating. We met the sailor and he greeted both of us.
Check Point by Navy
As most of the sea area around Mumbai is controlled by Indian Navy. There was a proper bag checking counter.
Transfer to Sail boat
As Sailing boat doesn’t come to jetty, there was a transfer boat type called Dingy arranged for us. It was very small and smelling fishy. Wife was giving me weird happy smile giving a look mix of WTF and still a smiling face outside. But, she was unaware of what lying ahead.
Transfer boat was very small and dangerous to balance. While going towards our sailing boat, we saw many boats, sailboats, yachts, party yacht for group parked with anchor down.
Sailing in Mumbai Gateway of India
Mumbai Sailing ride
With the curiosity, wife asked me are we going to do this dingy boating more ? I replied with a smile. I showed her a sailing boat which I had booked for her. With the widened smiled, she kissed me on forehead and yelled WOW!
Lighthouse
Captain welcomed us and wished happy anniversary. I thanked captain for balloon decorations. Sailing in Mumbai was about to start. Captain gave us few instructions and went to set up the sail. He looked for wind direction.
Sailing in Mumbai – Unique experience
My wife was still in a shock. She was wondering that how can I book sailboat for just both of us. As I wanted to spend quality time during sunset in Arabian sea, so there was no other option than sailing in Mumbai.
Photography
Basics of sailing in Mumbai
We learnt few basics of sailing. How to increase the speed of a boat? How to change the direction left and right? This was enough for the day. I was comparing sailing to Kolad river rafting, sailing is leisure activity whereas rafting is adventure one.
Balloon Decoration
Photography Session
We went on to deck to click some selfies and awesome pics. We spent more time on deck while watching sunset. Mumbai shoreline was far away and was getting up illuminated.
Enjoying Sailing in Mumbai
Sailing boat took a big round in Arabian sea, after that captain took us back to the jetty. We thanked captain for making our evening memorable. We returned home with lot of memories.
Taj Hotel & Getway of India
To summarize, this was a one of kind experience I will highly recommended to any couple. One can celebrate anniversary, Birthday or can go for yacht parties.
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