Tannirbavi beach has never been so attractive either to tourists or to Mangaloreans. Even the district administration's efforts to beautify this beach received lukewarm response from the public. Only a few pairs who never wanted somebody keeping an eye on them dared to be in Tannirbavi.
But thanks to two unfortunate ships MV DenDen[belongs to Eritria] and MV Chang le men[A chinese ship registered in St.Vincent island], the beach has suddenly become a forerunner in attracting tourists, locals among other popular beaches of Mangalore like Panambur, Suratkal and Someshwara.
The potholed road to Tannirbavi is now busy witnessing the mud splashing cars and bikes racing towards the beach, often giving a feeling, good roads are no longer necessary to pull the crowds :)
The beach in Tannirbavi is a notorious one since it took away many lives including the three sailors belonging to DenDen ship and many stubborn persons who tried their chance in sea. Now in a flash has turned out to be a must watch for evey mangalorean.
Ice cream carry vans, chat shops, tea stalls have started to come up. The ship DenDen has fallen along the sea, and chinese vessel Chang le men is standing drifted across the arabean sea. Tannirbavi sea is hiding in its womb another ship Challenger, the tragedy took place a decade ago. The wreck of the ship is still under the sea. Another ship Marediane had been brought to Tannirbavi for ship breaking. But due to certain insurance related problems the ship was abandoned, the wreck is still seen in the waters here.
On last june 23, Denden ship carrying furnace slag capsized in the sea, unable to witstand the ferocious rain and the wind. Three men on board lost their lives while trying to swim to the shore. But 23 sailors were saved by the local fishermen.
The latest addition to the ship museam is Changlemen. The ship carrying 16,100 tonns of iron ore, heading towards china faced imbalance due to ingress of rain water. Then the ship started to tilt, and the captain of the ship had to beach the ship near Tannirbavi. Till today the salvage operation is on, and from last 4 days a team of experts from Holland are carrying this operation. They are hopefull of bringing the ship to sail-worthy condition soon.
But Tannirbavi for good or bad reasons has become either a museam or graveyard of ships!
