The (detailed) Galle Story.. cont.

Departure Time:     1630 hours

Departure Venue:   Mount Lavinia

Travel mode:          Colombo-Matara Bus

Adventurers:          Avanti & Anushan Selvarajah

Another ‘bored trip’… packing up our belongings, we made our way to another ‘home-away-from-home’, Unawatuna. Booking a room at Bishu’s beforehand, it was close to 8pm when we reached Galle town, and hopped a three-wheeler from there, on to Unawatuna…

 

Arriving at Bishu’s, we unpacked our stuff, and headed out to grab some dinner. Walking along the beach, we took in the familiar surroundings and restaurants, finally settling down to dinner at B’s Place (our new joint).

After dinner, we headed back to the room to get some sleep, as we had to set off early the next morning to go dolphin watching.

Getting a delayed start the next morning, we caught the bus to Mirissa (one hour away), only to reach the dolphin watching office after the day’s crowd had left on the outing. Heartbroken, we spoke to the lady at the office, and managed to fix a time for the next day morning… promising to make it there on time!

Heading back to Bishu’s via bus - which was crowded, but interesting - we decided to hitch a ride with Bishu to the Galle Fort, and spend the day roaming the Fort.

At the Fort, we first visited the Galle Fort Museum, run by Bishu’s brother. It was part museum, part jewellery show… with even the jewellery makers working in the open so people could see how it was done. The museum was set in an old house, which was beautiful… complete with a courtyard and its own swing AND well!! We strolled around, admiring the ancient artefacts, and snapping pics… The jewellery makers were hard at work… shining the stone, cutting them, and carefully placing them into various items of jewellery.

 

I couldn’t get enough of the courtyard! It was exactly how I wanted MY house, and took all the ideas I could from it!

We also had a look at the jewellery shop at the side of the shop… housing large rocks, and exquisite jewellery!

Saying bye to Bishu for the time being, we then took off to explore the Fort. We would have walked for around half a day, as we spent all day there! From the ramparts to the bastions… from watching the Galle jumpers, to walking along the beach down below… we had a blast!

With lunch from the Pedlar’s Inn, and other junk snacks of achcharu and candy-floss etc… we were fully fed, and satisfied.

We climbed down one bastion, and onto the beach, walking along the water… when Anushan spotted something in the water. Going closer, and prodding it with a stick, we realised that it was dead baby reef shark! Not sure if it was killed, or if it died a natural death, we pulled it out of the water, and wondered if to bury it or not… but thinking that it would be better off left to decompose in the water, we left it abit away from the beach, so noone else would pull it out…

Close to the Fort clock tower, atop yet anther rampart, we had a conversation neither of us were likely to forget. Minor scares, fears revealed and heartfelt confessions… we vowed to remain together and calm through anything.

Back on the ramparts, we then walked over to another bastion, where a crowd was gathered. Making our way through the crowd, we saw the star attraction – the Galle jumpers. A group of young boys who had made their hobby – daredevil type jumps from atop the bastion into the sea – into a money-maker, as many people gathered around to watch them.

Among squeals from the girls, and gasps from a few others, they launched themselves off the over-10-feet high bastions, and into the narrow spaces between rocks… and then hopped back on to the rocks nearby… and thereafter scale up the wall of the bastion, back to the top… amid applause.

As it began to get darker, we soon made our way back to Bishu’s… only to change and head out to dinner at B’s Place again.

Early next morning, we were up at the crack of dawn… and hopping on to the three-wheeler we hired the day before to take us to Mirissa (we weren’t going to risk missing the boat again!), we quickly made our way there. Arriving there half an hour earlier (!), we walked around the place until the other travellers arrived… and made our way to the pier, together with Anoma Alagiyawadu (from Jetwing), who was to be our tour guide.

Taking off at around 0700 hours, we sailed for around one and a half hours, out into the ocean… until we could not see the land anymore! With no sign of dolphins or whales for over an hour, we were just giving up hope, when we saw a spray of water rising from the ocean… In a flash, we were off behind it. ‘A whale’, we were told! So, cameras positioned, and ready to snap, we awaited eagerly for a better look.

About another half hour into our excursion, we finally saw what we came to see… a school of dolphins, now surrounding us, swimming alongside the boat, jumping out and back in to the water… seemingly laughing at us. All of us were beside ourselves as we huddled to the sides of the boat, snapping pics and watching them. It was beautiful!

They were close enough to touch, but we were pre-warned not to do so… so we just enjoyed them from afar (yet so close!).

Following them for another half hour, we soon came across our ‘sight for the day’. Two beautiful whales, on the surface of the water… just waiting for us to snap pics of them. They blew fountains of water out of their blow-holes, telling us exactly where they were… and as we edged closer, one of them swam under the boat threateningly, rocking us violently.

Although being terribly frightened at the thought of ending up as a ‘whale of a meal’, it was the closest encounter with an animal of that magnitude for almost all of us, so we were too thrilled to care about its dangerous aspect. Watching them laze around us, they finally decided to make their way back home as well, as them slowly sunk to the bottom of the ocean once again, leaving behind an oil-spill like ‘shadow’ of their existence.

We too then made our way back to the shore… which took around 2 hours, during which most of us (me!) caught a quick nap under the afternoon sun. [It was most delightful to wake up in a moving boat, surrounded by the sea… and of course, Anushan.]

Back on the shore, we thanked Anoma and the crew for an excellent outing, and made our way back to Bishu’s by bus.

At Bishu’s we packed our belongings, and headed down to B’s Place for a quick lunch before we took off… and after a scrumptious lunch of rice and hot butter cuttlefish etc, we bid goodbye to Bishu and made our way back to Galle to catch the next bus home…

This trip will always be remembered as our first sighting of whales in their natural habitat, and more dolphins!!