Allison Hopkins

We were up, out and on the road by 4:45am to make the 90 minute drive to the harbour where the whale watching boats would leave.
We’d heard that the boat would most likely stay out until we’d definitely had a sighting, and yesterday the boat had been out for 6 hours...
Andrew and I both took travel sickness tablets just in case, but in fact the whole trip was pretty smooth, and we made our first sighting within the hour! It’s amazing to even get a glimpse of theses huge graceful creatures, and very tricky to capture in time on camera. I mostly took a bit of video (which I can’t load onto FindPenguins 🙄) but the zoom is somewhat limited! I think Andrew has some great photos though.
There are a fair few boats in the same area, maybe 8 or so, but each tries to keep its distance and not to cut each other up when they move off quickly when a spotting has been made.
All in all, we made about 6 whale sightings, including a view of it’s tail as it dived down on a couple of occasions 😀
This meant that the boat had no need to stay out for too long, and we were back in the harbour within 3 hours. We were all very excited to have seen the whales in relatively close proximity 🐳
Next up was a drive to Galle, a city governed by the Portuguese originally, before the Dutch and then the English took over. The city has an old fortress wall that you can walk around and we did this although by now it was nearly midday and soooo hot! Part way round we found an old colonial style hotel where we stopped off for a cold drink and a use of their toilets 🙈
Julie and I had a look in some of the jewellers and gem stone stores; Andrew and Dave had walked on a bit...!!
It was then time to move on to our final hotel of the trip, where we will spend the last 2 nights. We have a huge room directly overlooking the sea. As I type, I can hear the waves crashing on the shore.
We thought the sea looked a bit calmer here than our previous beach hotel and got ourselves ready to head out for a swim in the sea. Unfortunately, despite the waves looking more gentle than yesterday, they were just lulling you into a false sense of security and no sooner had you got in, than the waves seemed to double in height 😮 I was a coward and didn’t venture in very far. The other 3 did with each one taking a tumble fairly early on - we decided to try the hotel pool instead 😂
Later on, in prime viewing position on the sun loungers, we watched several other people try to make a go of it in the sea, none were successful! We watched an elderly couple go in, completely unaware of the fierce waves which creep up when you’re not looking. I was a bit worried for them, fearing a broken hip or similar and it wasn’t long before they’d both taken a tumble! Luckily the got out ok and also took refuge in the pool!
The waiter tells us that the sea is calmer in the mornings, so maybe we’ll try again then!
Had a lovely buffet dinner in the hotel and now back to catch up on the sleep lost due to our early departure this morning! 💤Read more