Hope Island

Hope Island is a long, narrow spit of sand on the far side of Kakinada Bay. The Kakinada district administration says it built up over the last two hundred years from sand carried down by the Godavari. The 1915 district gazetteer describes a spit creeping north from the old Point Godavari, about a mile every twenty years. Today it runs for about 16 km and acts as a natural breakwater, sheltering the city and its port from the worst of the Bay of Bengal’s storms.

The island is not empty. Fishing families live in small hamlets on it, and there are a few government buildings. The northern tip, Godavari Point, looks across the mouth of the bay towards the harbour. The same gazetteer records that the Hope Island lighthouse was given up in 1902. The sandy beaches are part of the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary, and olive ridley turtles come ashore to nest between January and March. Go prepared to look after yourself.