Having a WHALE of a time!

Hello Guys,

After arriving in Tangalle, we confirmed our thoughts that Sri Lankan hospitality is possibly the greatest on earth. We arrived super late to our guest house, where a lovely older couple were waiting for us. They brought us tea and then showed us to our room. They only have the one room in their guest house and it was well equipped with everything you could need, including a beer fridge well stocked. A small kitchenette, a basic but clean bathroom and a lovely comfortable bed. This room cost us £5 a night, a real bargain. The only downside was no air-con in the staggering heat of the coast, not ideal but defiantly not the end of the world.

We had a little walk around the town and popped down to the beach the next morning. It is a lovely little place to stay but as it was absolutely baking we chilled out at the guesthouse for most of the day before going on a little adventure in the evening. 

Tangalle is not too far from Rekawa beach where turtles are known to lay their eggs. We headed over there around 8pm to see if we could spot any. As we walked down the beach with the Turtle Watch Programme we saw lots of tracks where turtles had been walking around. The guide told us to stop, and sit down as there was a Turtle about 10 meters away digging her hole and that once she had finished we could watch her lay and then scoot back down to the sea. Unfortunately for her the sand was too dry and the holes kept caving in so she gave up. We did however get to catch a glimpse of her on her route back to the water. Another truly majestic animal that we have been lucky to see in the wild.

After our short stop in Tengalle, we took public bus to Mirissa another small town on the coast. There was the most beautiful beach around 15 minutes walk from where we were staying and a few nice restaurants and bars. The reason we stopped here was to continue our animal spotting journey and add Blue whales and dolphins to the list, but that was tomorrow. The rest of the day was spent chilling by the beach and getting thrashed around in the ocean by the ferocious waves. Word of warning don't do this if your not a good swimmer, Lily will testify some of the waves were 15ft high and if they landed on you they sent you tumbling like a rag doll, a bit scary when your gasping for air but quite fun nonetheless. 

We headed out on a boat trip at the crack of dawn in search of the biggest mammal in the world. It was another chance for Sri Lanka to throw a first at us as we have never seen a whale in the wild before (apart from Tenerife but they're just chunky dolphins). We were pretty much guaranteed a sighting which was exciting! After a few hours sailing out to sea with a few chirpy little spinner dolphins along the way we saw a large congregation of boats and after about and hour of hanging back letting the smaller boats surround (and what seemed like pester the poor thing) our time came and the whale majestically rose from the water about 25 feet away. We saw a male Blue Whale smaller than the enormous females but still this animal was over 15 metres long and while we were never close enough to get a real scale of the sheer size of the animal it was a privilege to see one. We left the whale to get back to the harbour for our last evening in Marissa. 

Food wise the last few days had been okay but we felt the homeliness and comfort of the food in the centre of Sri Lanka wasn't quite the same around the coast. It has been much more touristy affairs but we still managed to find an absolutely blinding shack serving the best Kottu Rotti it was to die for so Moorish and satisfying we loved it and super cheap. 

Up early our last stop on the trip was Galle we weren't really sure what to expect on arrival at the busiest bus station we had ever seen. We checked into our very overpriced guesthouse which was irritating and headed out to explore Galle Fort. The Fort turned out to be a walled city very much like Dubrovnik in Croatia. It was gorgeous, very European in its architecture and full of narrow lanes with little shops, bars and a particularly good ice cream parlour.

We settled for a hipster looking place for dinner called Hoppa. The dishes are based around the Hopper which is a crispy rice pancake with curry leaves and green chilli. This place was cool, a bit edgy and very un-Sri Lankan in its approach but boy oh boy the food was outstanding. We ate a hopper that came with and prawn curry and all the chutneys and sambols you could ask for, it was right up there on the best dish list. The prawns were so juicy and sweet and when everything was added with the pancake it was a joy perfect way to end the trip.

We both loved Sri Lanka it had everything, loads to see and do fantastic hospitality from the locals, unparalleled wildlife, stunning scenery and really interesting and different food. were leaving with big smiles and 100% we will  be returning.

Signing out for this blog were of to Bankgok for the next leg our trip

Lily and Luke