Visakhapatnam :
Dolphin’s Nose, one of the natural wonders of the city as well as a sought-after tourist spot, has been named so because it resembles the nose of a dolphin. Some people even claim that a school of dolphins often visits the spot.
The area houses the Sagar Mata temple and the 700-year-old Ishaq Medina Dargah. According to old timers, sailors who used to sail from Vizag would seek blessings at both the places.
“Before the inner channel was constructed, there was a vast stretch of beach land connecting Vizag town to Dolphin’s Nose. However, today if one were to reach the place by road, one would have to go on a roundabout route to reach the hill,” pointed out history buff BS Mahesh.
“Today it is a restricted area and tourists are allowed on only certain stretches of the hill as the rest of it houses navy’s quarters,” he added.
The lighthouse atop the hill was built in the mid 1960s and is equipped with modern cyclone tracking technology. There was another old lighthouse situated on top of the hill way back in the 19th century, which according to heritage expert Edward Paul, was constructed by the Gode family in the 1860s. “Unfortunately, it was completely damaged during the 1874 cyclone following which plans of building a new lighthouse there were abandoned for a long time,” Paul added.
“Traces of the old basement of the old lighthouse still exists in that area. More than that, we know nothing of it. The old lighthouse is also a testimony to the fact that the Godes were an enlightened family who showed a keen interest in sciences. They even built an observatory in Visakhapatnam town which existed till the late 1970s,” Mahesh said.
Meanwhile, Paul pointed out that many legends and stories grew around the hill locally known as Yarada Konda. When asked about the sighting of dolphins near the hill, he said, “One does not know if dolphins can be actually seen near the hill.”
Mahesh, however, pointed out that the famous naval battle between the French and the British was fought near the base of Dolphin’s Nose in the year 1804.
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Visakhapatnam / by Venkatesh Bayya / TNN / March 17th, 2016