Tangalla
Beautiful but deserted beach with a few beach Cabanas. Plenty of chilling out and catching some sun.
Of note was Sally's wrestle with a rather large praying mantis at the dinner table which resulted in her screaming and rolling around on the deck much to the amusement of the full restaurant.The creepy crawlies had not finished there and colluded to send a scorpion into the bathroom later that night which didn't go down that well either!
Mirissa
Very cool little beach village on the south coast. If you come to Sri Lanka, don't stay in Unawatuna, stay here. Lucky enough to stay in a little guesthouse with a massive 3 pace walk to the beach. Wicked bunch of surf guys who worked there and we enjoyed ourselves a bit too much on the local Aarak and anything else that was in the bar.
About 10 years ago they discovered that Blue Whales were being regularly sighted off Dondra Head (just west of Mirissa). Although they don't know for certain, they think the Whales use the coast of SL as a migratory route between the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal. We jumped in a converted fishing boat early on the Wednesday morning and set out to look for the David Falconer of the marine world. 3 hours and 13 miles in a boat later we spotted 3 close up and a few more in the distance These things were absolutely huge but majestic and it was an absolute privilege to see them in their own habitat ( i remember persuading a school friend that there was a blue Whale in the London Aquarium) . En route we also saw 2 large pods of dolphins and a sea turtle so all in all a wildlife bonanza of a day.
Unawatuna
Moved west down the coast to get some diving cracked. Started the courses on the Thursday and by Saturday i had a fully qualified Scuba Diver of a wife! (Very well done and sorry for scaring you with the 28m wreck dive on the last day)
Unawatuna got completely destroyed by the Tsunami and is still trying to rebuild itself none the less it is still a bustley little sea side resort but we didn't see the best of it due to the deteriorating weather.
From Sunday rain pretty much stopped play and the sun was no where to be seen. We cut our beach time short and headed back to the capital.
Currently in the Galle Face Hotel (stay here if you come to Colombo) and just about to leave for Vietnam via Bangkok.
Great time had in Sri Lanka, wonderful people, fantastic compact country, thoroughly recommended!
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