Pirotan Island (also known as Pirotan) is an island in the

Marine National Park A marine park is a designated park consisting of an area of sea (or lake) set aside to achieve ecological sustainability, promote marine awareness and understanding, enable marine recreational activities, and provide benefits for Indigenous peop ...

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea () is a region of sea in the northern Indian Ocean, bounded on the west by the Arabian Peninsula, Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel, on the northwest by Gulf of Oman and Iran, on the north by Pakistan, on the east by India, and ...

. It is located off the coast (Bedi Port),

Jamnagar District Jamnagar District is a district of Gujarat in Western India. Its headquarters are located in the eponymous city of Jamnagar. It hosts the production facilities of large Indian companies such as Reliance. Among its attractions are several palac ...

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

state,

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It consists of

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

s and low-tide beaches,"Beaches of Jamnagar: Pirotan" Jamnagar the beautiful - Tourist information
/ref> and has an area of 3 square kilometres. Rozi island is located about 10 kilometres to the southeast. Of the 42 islands in the park, Pirotan Island is the most popular. It is one of the two islands where visitors are normally permitted. Visitation is strictly limited; permission is required from the Forest Department, Customs Department and the Ports. The mangroves consist mainly of species of ''Rhizophora'', ''Avicennia'' and ''Ceriops''.

History

The island derived its name from Pirotan Patan, the ancient city probably at the place of Bedi Bandar. In 1867 a

flagpole A flagpole, flagmast, flagstaff, or staff is a pole designed to support a flag. If it is taller than can be easily reached to raise the flag, a cord is used, looping around a pulley at the top of the pole with the ends tied at the bottom. The fla ...

was placed at the Island's northern tip to aid in navigation. In 1898 it was replaced with a 21-metre masonry lighthouse, which in turn was replaced in 1955–57 with a lighthouse tower. In 1996, the lighthouse power was converted from diesel generator to solar power. The diesel generators exist for backup generation. The island along surrounding coral reefs covering an area of 3 square kilometres was notified as part of

in 1982.

Population

The only people there on the island are the forest guard, the lighthouse people and the Mujhavar (Server) at the Holy Saint Khwaja Khizer R.A. shrine (Durgah). The sacred shrine of Khwaja Khijer Rahmatullahialaih is located on the island. Most visitors come in the morning with the high tide and leave by evening. Weekends in winters may bring more than 200–300 visitors.

Visiting Pirotan

The island being protected marine park, several permissions are required for visiting. For Indian Nationals, permission from local Forest Department, Customs Department & Ports Department. Foreign nationals additionally require permission from the police office. There is no routine ferry service to the island. One has to hire boats from the port. These boats take about 1.5 hours to reach the island. Since the beach is very shallow, the boats can only reach the island during high tide and leave the island during high tide.

Fauna

Marine

Marine life-forms found include: Plus there are Saw-scaled Vipers & Scorpions too

Sea-birds

*Pelicans *Sea Gull *Harring Gull *Blackheaded Gull *Crab Plover *Different types of waders

Gallery

File:Pirotan top.jpg, View of part of Pirotan island from the top of lighthouse File:Carpet sea anemone.jpg, A beautiful fluorescent carpet anemone found on Pirotan Island

Notes

External links

* Tourist informatio
www.jamnagar.org/mnp.htm "Pirotan Island" Pirotan
{{Authority control , additional=Q106499321 Islands of the Arabian Sea Islands of Gujarat Lighthouses completed in 1898 1898 establishments in India Lighthouses in India Jamnagar district Tourist attractions in Jamnagar district Islands of India Populated places in India