Day 6 - Dikwella —> Tangelle

Day 6 … a travel day but a short one so plenty of action to share.

We slept in a bit today. All previous mornings we’ve been awake about 4:30am local time, so it was nice to sleep in to a more “normal” time of 7am. Still waking up way earlier than the Sri Lankans though!

Goal of morning was to get up, head back to Turtle Beach with snorkels in hand. I have my own special-fitted snorkel now so I’m pretty much professional (or so I thought).

There’s a saying … there is a fine line between life and death. Well I toed that line today with our turtle snorkeling adventure. Back to Turtle Beach we went first thing, excited to swim with the natives. Equipped with my own special snorkel (I have a tiny head so renting isn’t much of an option), Mike and I found a place in the beach, suited up and went right in. Had zero hesitation … water was perfect and people seemed to be seeing Lizza and Lilly (the two turtles) so I was excited. But this excitement and over-confidence over-rode my better judgment, and I failed to account for waves and the currents/under-toe (?). Before I knew it, I looked back and was a “bit” far from shore. Gave myself a pep talk that all I needed to do was “catch a wave” back and all will be fine. Well that didn’t exactly happen. I caught a wave alright … it was like taking one step forward and two steps back … and the shore seemed to be getting further away. Thankfully Mike caught my “tone” and saved the day! He calmly rescued me and guided me back to shore. Not before scraping my foot on a rock though … all and all, I escaped with only a few scratches and Mike saved the day! This guy! ♥️

Did we ever see Lizza and Lilly? Negative. But the ironic this is … once we got safely to shore and cleaned up my wound (and sipped a Lion lager -it’s 5 o’clock somewhere), one of the shelled ladies was swimming along in shallow waters. Go figure! They were close the whole time! 🫩

After that turtle debacle, back to Smeralda Hotel to pack up and head to Tangalle. A short Winston ride for a one-night stay. But a big goodbye for Mike and his new amigo!

We arrived in Tangalle to a heck of welcome show! From the peacock, to horns and singing … I was speechless and almost paralyzed with thoughts. I’ll let the videos do most of the talking for the rest of this post as my words cannot do this place justice. Stupendous!

Video Disclaimer: Many videos this time. Sorry! So much to share … And Mike has found his calling too! Maybe new face of LCP?

Videos consist of:

- Depart from Smeralda (double hand wave goodbye)
- Welcome to Anantar Peace Haven Tangalle
- Mike’s version of my MTV Cribs touring our villa (got a solid upgrade upon arrival)
- Lots of monkeys around our villa (grooming each other)

Wonderful evening capped off with an Italian dinner at Il Mare, with a photo shoot around the hotel before heading back for an evening dip before bed.

Highly recommend this place for not just couples but families too! Very family friendly and lots of activities. It’s on our list to stay longer next time we find ourselves in Sri Lanka.

Tomorrow off to Yala for a few safaris!
Hugs all! M&ARead more