Chart 304 – APPROACHES TO CHANDRABHAGA

General Information:
The chart 304 area covers from NE of Chilka Lake to Devi River mouth.  

3.19

1	Chilka Lake:	is a large shallow expanse of water, which is separated from the sea by a long, narrow sandy ridge.
	At its SW end, the lake is bordered by lofty hills N of Paluru Bluff, but to the N, it disappears in endless shallow, 		sedgy banks and islands just above the surface Nalaban Island a reed forest occupies the centre of the lake and there 		are several islands on the E side. Bhargavi, Daya, Nuna and many other rivers discharge into Chilka Lake. 
	Chilka is the largest salt water lake. The lake extends upto Palaru junction in the SW direction.
	The lake disappears in the North in shallows. Nalaban Island exists in the centre of the lake.

2	Chilka Mouth: 	The entrance of Chilka lake 19° 43' N, 85° 30' E is small and not easily identified. It has depths 		about 0.9m over the bar in the dry season (December to June) and probably more during the rains, when the high surf 		renders the lake inaccessible from the sea.  At the entrance shoals extends nearly 4 cables offshore with depths of 		11m to 15m close outside them; the sea breaks over these shoals. The entrance is reported to move its position 			considerably. The Chilka Mouth is accessible only by the country boat during monsoon season. Boat service to
	different island exists from Satapada and Balugoan. Satapada is a tourist spot which is about 30 km from Puri. From  		Satapada boats are available for transiting to Naupada. Road transport is available from Naupada to Paluru junction. 		Satapada has a jetty for tourist and ferry boat for Naupada. The ferry also visits the island in between Satapada
	to Naupada. There is no hospital near the Satapada. Nalaban Island now comes under the forest department and one 		forest watch tower exists on this island. Chikha Lake has reserve forest boundary pillar where the boats entry is 		restricted.

3	The Tidal Stream rushing through the mouths of Chilka keeps the lake water brackish during the dry season,
	but with Bhargavi, Daya and other rivers flowing down in the monsoon, the water becomes fresh.

3.20

1	The coast between mouth of Chilka and Puri, 13 miles NE, is low and sandy and marked by sandhills. 

2	Babeswal Temple, painted black and standing among trees about 27 miles NE of Paluru Bluff, is only visible from 		seaward on certain bearings. 

3	Harchandi Temple, stands on a sand hill about ¾ mile inland and 4 miles NE of the Mouths of Chilka Lake. 
	This temple is similar in shape to the temple at Puri but is much smaller.

3.21 

1	Puri (19° 48' N, 85° 50' E), an open roadstead port, stands on a low sandy ridge on the coast; the sea front, 
	on which are some large building, extends about 3 miles. The town of Puri, one of the most sacred places for Hindus. 		The annual festival of “Rath Yatra” held a during, June to July, attracts large crowds from all parts of India. 
	The town gets a good breeze when the NE monsoon blows over it, fresh and cool from the sea, but is less so during
	 the rains.

2    	Jagannath Temple, having three circular towers each crowned by a white dome, stands on low ground, covered with 
	small trees, near the middle of the town and about ¾ mile inland. Its three circular towers decrease in size to the
	 E. The W tower, the highest, has an elevation of 58m and the three towers are in line when seen from the E. The W 		side of the towers appears perpendicular while the E side is sloping. They stand out well when seen from seaward 		during the forenoon. Another temple stands on the coast about 1¼ miles E of Jagannath Temple. An obelisk stands 
	about 1¼ mile E of the temple.

3	Puri Light (19° 47'.4N, 85° 48'.4E) is exhibited from a circular masonry tower 25 m in height with black and
	 white bands.  

4	Anchorage may be obtained, in fine weather, off the town in depths of about 14m, with good holding ground; the best 		berth is reported to be in a depth of 13m with Puri old lighthouse, bearing 006° distant 6 cables.
	The bottom is mud and sand. Depths decrease gradually to 13m and then rapidly to the beach. 
	It is advisable to sound continuously while approaching the anchorage. 

Puri to Devi River:

3.22

1	Between Puri and Devi River, 34 miles ENE, the coast is sandy, with bare sandhills 6m to 20m high; to the E of
	Konark (19° 53'N, 86° 07'E), a village about midway along this stretch of coast, groups of trees appear between
	the sandhills. Current in the order of 1 ½ Kt in direction 220 exists throughout the year off 500m contour
	to 1000m contour.

2	Caution.  By keeping in depths of 20m a vessel may proceed along this coast in perfect safety but it must be borne
	in mind that there are depths of 15m very close outside the breakers. On no account should reliance be placed on 
	the apparent distance of the coast by eye as fine sand haze sometimes makes objects appear much more distant than 
	they are. At night the sandy beach blends with the water and the top of the large trees, showing over the hillocks, 
	appear as very distant objects on an indefinite horizon. This is especially the case on moonlight nights when 
	vessels are tempted to follow the coast closely to avoid missing their ports, which they are apt to do because 
	of the strong and uncertain currents. During the SW monsoon, heavy surf breaks on the coast.

3	Baleshwar Temple, a small black pagoda-shaped building, surrounded by trees, stands 6 miles ENE of Puri
	(19° 48'N, 85° 50'E); only its upper part is visible from seaward.

4	Ramchandi Temple, a small temple with palm trees near it, lies at the entrance to Kushbhadra River, 13 miles 
	ENE of Puri. There are breakers off the mouth of this river, which is very shallow but no known dangers lie off it.

3.23

1	Konark, a small village famed for its historic temples, stands about 2 miles NE of the mouth of Khushbhadra River.
	The Sun Temple of Konarak, which stands 2½ miles NE of Ramchandi temple is historically famous. It is about 40m high 		and prominent. It stands on low ground with a few trees as its base and looks like the gable end of a house
	with a roof slopping W; from NE it shows as a black pyramid.

2	Chandrabhaga Light, (19° 52'.1N, 86° 06'.6E), is exhibited from a white circular masonry tower, with red bands,
	37 m high standing about 1¼ mile ESE of Sun temple of Konark. A 4000 tonnes ship was driven ashore by
	cyclone in 1950, it lies about 6 miles ENE of lighthouse.

3	Tandahar Obelisk, 4.6 m in height, stands on a sandhill, 7 miles ENE Chandrabhaga Light. A minor rivulet 
	Prachi flows into the sea from this point. It is frequented only by local craft.

3.24 

1	Devi River (20° 00'N, 86° 25'E), One of the largest branches of Mahanadi River enters the sea after passing W 
	and N of a long narrow sandpit at the end which is Devi Point. This river is frequented only by local craft. The 		country within the river entrance is dense swampy jungle and is uninhabited. There is a Harbour exists at 
	the mouth known Naugarh jetty in the Devi River. A trawler jetty of 80 m length is available and depth 
	along the jetty is about 6 m. The minimum depth in the channel is 2 m at mouth of Devi River.

2	A wreck, whose position is approximate in the chart, lies about 2½ miles SSW of Devi Point. Devi Point is 
	the W entrance point of Devi River.

3	On approaching close to Devi point, breakers on the bar may be seen and from aloft the river is visible over
	the sand spit. During the SW monsoon the entrance is known to break right across.

4	The outer bank of the river mouth, known as Central Sand, lies 1½ miles NE of Devi Point and the sea does not always 		break on it in good weather; this bank, extending 1 mile sea ward from the coast, has extended 1 mile farther SE. 	 	There is an obelisk 4½ miles NNE of Devi Point.

5	Landing. In case of necessity boats may land, during S winds only, in a bight N Central Sand about 1¼ mile N of
	Devi Point.

6	Anchorage. Vessels with local knowledge may obtain anchorage off the mouth of Devi River,E and NE of Devi Point. 		During on shore winds the anchorage is in depths of 15m with the obelisk bearing 317° distant about 1½ mile. 
	During W winds the usual anchorage is about 1 mile S of this position; great care should be exercised and
	continuous sounding is necessary in view of the reported SE extension of Central Sand. Small vessels with local 		knowledge and draught not exceeding 3m may obtain good anchorage in depths of 5.5m inside the mouth of 
	Devi River about 6 cables WSW of Devi Point. 

7	The coast NE of Devi River is low and at two places, the sea washes over it during heavy weather into 
	the backwater behind.

8	Nuagaon, a village lies 18½ miles NE of Devi Point. A conspicuous sandhill, 28m high, lies close E of Nuagaon.