Day 2 - Whale Watching

Day 2

We were up at the crack of dawn for whale watching today! Our tuk tuk driver picked us up at 5am for an hours drive to Mirissa, where we were the last to board our boat in a very charming little harbour, that I had no interest in because I was stressed that we had to sit on the floor at the front with our legs dangling over the lower deck. Everyone else had chairs in the shade. It took me a good hour to calm down because the water was seriously choppy. I was surprisingly fine. Maybe your 30th year is when you finalky grow out of travel sickness like everyone promised me when I was 8! The poor wee girl next to us was so sick.

We were on the boat for about an hour and a half before all the boats (about 10) started heading for the same spot. It turned out that we had the best seats in the house. The blue whale surfaced right in front of us and gave us a wonderful tail flick at the end. Our captain then decided to head in the opposite direction to everyone else for half an hour. We came across a smaller group of boats and another 2 blue whales, again right in front of us, about 39 feet away on our side of the boat. Our captain seemed to know exactly where it would pop up right in front of us. Wonderful. The biggest creature on the planet. You are only allowed to watch 3 surfaces, so then we headed back, with sandwiches and fruit being handed out. It was exhilarating seeing such a rare and wonderful mammal. My words really can't do it justice. We got back to the harbour, which I was now able to take photos of, at about 10.30, exhausted after being up for 6 hours already!

On the way back to Galle, our tuk tuk driver stopped off at a herbal garden where we had a tour of the plants and told what lotions and potions they make. We also saw a tiny turtle sanctuary, which rescues turtles injured by boats or fishing. We got to hold baby turtles too before they would be released that day. The centre collects eggs from the beach and keeps them safe to make sure they survive long enough to hatch. Turtles are very ticklish on their shells, so we tickled a turtle too. Its legs went all squiggly. So cute! We also stopped off to look at some stilt fishermen, who sit on a pole in the sea all day catching fish.

We got back to the hotel at midday and were just thinking where we would go for lunch when a knock at the door announced that they would serve our breakfast now. This was the Sri Lankan version and was truely fabulous. Eggs in the baskets against , but instead of sausages there was pitta type breads, and a spicy cornflour thingy, with a cold Dahl sauce, and the fruit platter of course. Delicious.

After a snooze, we went for a curry at a place recommended by our new friends Jo and Andy. Imals was nothing special to look at, but the curry (chicken for Matt, veg for me - 2 types each) was maybe the best thing I have ever eaten. Wow is all I can say. We then went and bought a beautiful wooden elephant from one of the shops.

We went back to our bar after dinner for another evening of chatting to Jo and Andy. We saw our tuk tuk driver in there from that morning and he had a broken arm! He had broken it that afternoon in a bike accident! Galle was a wonderful, relaxing place. We loved it there.