We continue along the southern shores of Sri Lanka by stopping in the city of Wligama, just 4 km from Mirissa. There is a fundamental reason to make this stop ... colitas! They are neither those of prawns nor others that you can imagine (do not be guarrete ...) are those of whale!
This area is famous for boat trips to see the world's largest animal in its natural habitat. We left very early to have the whole morning ahead and, therefore, more possibilities of sighting (as I like this word, although I would like to use it one day to refer to a UFO).
Rober takes his ration of biodramina (bought in India for € 0.25 10 pills) and we place ourselves on the boat bench to taste our breakfast.
We chatted a while with Mahesh, the operator's manager, and he tells us that yesterday they were lucky and saw whales relatively soon, but that sometimes you have to move up to 45 km to get it, and all this without radars or GPS or sound, just with the experience and the eyes of the tanned sailors.
Still with the word "ringing" in our heads (Lety turned his inner dictionary around but couldn't find it) we heard a voice, and as in Yala National Park, it could only mean that someone had seen something.
We run to the top of the ship, where the views are better, and with a little effort not to fall or go thrown overboard we are waiting for our little friend. And it turned out not to be one but two, a pair of blue whales in the distance.
The way they look is because they come to the surface to breathe, the clue to be able to see them is when they spray the water upwards, which is followed by the exit of the tail and sometimes the entire back.
It was very exciting for us and we are sure that for the rest of the tourists they also celebrated it as if their team had won the Champions League, bumping their hands and jumping. Well, this is nothing compared to what we expected later.
We continue entering the sea to try our luck and see them more closely. Have a good time without any sign and suddenly a slap a few meters from the boat followed by another slap and the tails moving as if they were greeting us. Another pair of whales, but this time much larger and much closer than the previous one. Now we can see the hump of the animal and we get an idea of how huge it is.
Luckily we have not fallen into the water, although a Gepeto or Dori style adventure would be interesting. Lety also knows how to speak "whales" ...
The story did not end there because along the way we also saw a group of playful dolphins jumping and swimming at our side and a couple of turtles indicating with the head the direction we had to follow to see more whales that you kill!
This area is also famous for being an interesting beach-surfer point! So if the roll is cool ... you know! Stay a few days here to enjoy the waves 🙂
USEFUL INFO
WITH WHICH COMPANY HIRING THE TOUR TO SEE WHALES?
There are so many companies, we were invited by Whaleslanka and the truth is that we found it very good. The cost is $ 48 per person, includes the boat plus breakfast and a fruit snack. It leaves from Mirissa at 7 (you have to be a little earlier to check in).
Our excursion lasted about 3-4 hours, but we usually stay on the boat until the whales are seen, so the schedule is flexible. We saw dolphins, sea turtles and 4 whales. The staff was very nice.
WHERE IS IT?
WhalesLanka, The Info Center
665, Pelana, Weligama,
Sri Lanka.
CONTACTS?
Our contact was Mahesh, a very nice and available man, if you want to contact him you can do it here:
- tel +94 72 7069 808
- mail [email protected] [email protected]
- //www.whaleslanka.com/
- facebook.com/whaleslanka
WORTH?
We liked it, although we thought the whales were going to be closer… but of course: they are free animals! They decide! We didn't expect to see dolphins and turtles so it was a pleasant surprise!
Stealing sometimes suffers from sea sickness but in this case there were no problems (yes, if as you spend it regulin on the boats, ask for a biodramina in case the flies! On the boat they have!)
WHERE TO SLEEP IN WELLIGAMA?
We stay in the New Shakthi GH. The site is very simple but comfortable, since it is on the other side of the beach (walking is about 5 minutes). It also has a restaurant (at the moment they only have sri lankes buffet but they plan to expand the menu!) In the future it will be a lively place since right in front they are building a Marriot hotel. If you want to stay here the address is: 665 Matara Road, you can check prices and dates with Mahesh
