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Covelong

Fishing communitiesSuburbs of ChennaiTourist attractions in ChennaiUse Indian English from May 2018Villages in Chengalpattu district
Covelong beach
Covelong beach

Covelong (Kovalam) is a fishing village in Chennai, India, 40 kilometres south of Chennai, on the East Coast Road en route to Mahabalipuram. Covelong (Cabelon in French = Kovalam) was a port town developed in the 1720s by the Ostend Company on a place provided by the Nawab of Carnatic Saadat Ali (the port was then also known as Sa‘adat Pattan, or Sadatpatnam, according to the name of the nawab). The factory was inaugurated in 1719 by Sir Godefroid Gollet de La Merveille (a Frenchman), and the building of a fort started at that time. After the closing down of the Imperial Company in 1731, the port was taken over by the French in 1746, and destroyed by the British in 1752. The fort built by the Belgian in Covelong during the Ostend factory times has been made today the Taj Fisherman's Cove, a private luxury beach resort. Another attraction is the ancient Catholic church on the beach, built in the 1770s. There is also a Dharga & temple nearby the beach. Chennai Covelong Beach is one of the few places in the East Coast where surfing takes place. There is a surf school with resort in the beach and samudra community yoga school in front of the beach. Kovalam has a river mouth opening that flows almost throughout the year.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Covelong (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 12.7925 ° E 80.253 °
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603112
Tamil Nadu, India
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Covelong beach
Covelong beach
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Nearby Places

Muttukadu boat house
Muttukadu boat house

Muttukadu boat house (Tamil: முட்டுக்காடு படகுக் குழாம்) is a water sport facility on the East Coast Road at Muttukadu, Chennai City, Kanchipuram district, Tamil Nadu, India, offering rowing, wind surfing, water skiing, and speedboat riding. It is a backwater area of the Bay of Bengal located 36 km (22 mi) from the city centre and 23 km (14 mi) from Adyar on the way to Mamallapuram. The boat house was inaugurated in 1984 and has 15 row boats, 27 speedboats and 9 pedal boats, besides two high-speed aqua scooters. The water depth varies between 3 ft and 6 ft. It is owned and operated by the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC). The boating spot receives more than 4,000 visitors every weekend.In July 2009, TTDC inaugurated a new bamboo boathouse and a floating boat jetty at the Muttukadu boating facility. The boathouse, with a special roof made of bamboo, has a lounge, from where visitors can watch the boats, and a restaurant. The building has been constructed at a cost of ₹ 8.7 million and the floating jetty at a cost of ₹ 1.2 million. A couple of high-speed aqua scooters with a seating capacity of three was also introduced at a cost of ₹ 1.35 million, which has received good patronage. The scooters can sail at an average speed of 120 km/hour.The boat house has a multi-cuisine restaurant named "Surf", a unit of Coral. In the recent Chennai flood of 2015, Muttukadu boats were used to rescue people on the outskirts of Chennai city.