Years ago we met a woman from the London. She recounted her first trip to Southern California. She checked into an expensive hotel in La Jolla. The bell boy pulled open the drapes to reveal a stunning ocean view. He told her, “You can see whales from here.” Not quite comprehending she responded, “Wales? From here?"
After our wonderful experience with the elephants I wanted to go whale watching. Sri Lanka is one of two places on the planet where it is sometimes possible to see Blue Whales, the largest animals on the planet. The boats leave from Marissa, about 30 minutes from our hotel, and they leave early. So Tharindu picked us up at 5:00 am and drove like a madman down the highway past Galle.
When we got there we understood his haste. They really pack people into these boats. We arrived early enough to get some of the last spaces on the floor by the boat rails on the top floor. These are the prime viewing spots. But they continued to pack people in until there was barely space to move. Our hotel had packed us a breakfast, but there barely any place to put it down and eat.
We admired the colorful boats in the harbor as we waited.
We finally pulled out before they put enough people on it to make the boat sink. We were hardly alone on the high seas. There are at least half a dozen other boats, though not all were as overcrowded as us. The people on this smaller boat looked like they could actually move.
We saw a couple of amorous turtles fairly early on.
But a long time passed until we actually had the first hint of a whale. We did not see much, and by the time I able to grab my camera the animals had retreated under water. The most we ever saw saw a fin breaking the water and the tiniest bit of a tail. It was disappointing.
To compensate for the evident disappointment the boat operator took us a bit closer to shore we he knew there would be a pod of dolphins. These animals, unlike the whales, love to play around with boats and seem to know they are being photographed. Posers, as the Brits would say.
When we returned to the hotel, it was time to bid farewell to Tharindu. He has been a great guide.
Feeling a bit tired, we decided to walk down the beach. It is surprisingly empty as the nearby streets are packed with houses, guest houses, and small businesses. The sand is wonderfully yellow, but rather coarse. There are red flag warnings up and down the beach and even sticking our feet a bit into the water we could feel the undertow.
John posed a bit himself.
We had a wonderful dinner at the hotel. Tomorrow we will be taking a bike and boat ride, so we are going to make sure we are well-rested.
