Whale tail

A tuk tuk is waiting for us at 6.30am and we are on the boat and off by 7am. Manoj seems really nice and the boat isn't packed. There are maybe 20 people on two levels from all over the world. We are given breakfast and enjoy the ride as we head out to sea. About 30 minutes later, Manoj cuts the engine and we are surrounded by dolphins. It's pretty amazing. We are the only boat for a while before some others show up so Manoj says let's go find some whales. He is an ex fisherman and has years of experience in these waters so knows where to look, depending on the conditions. He also gets the odd tip off phone call from his fisherman mates.

We see our first blue whale not long afterwards. It's a pretty awesome sight. You spot the spray in the distance then, when they dive, head towards the area and they surface again 10-20 minutes later so we are told and we are not disappointed. During the day we see perhaps 6 or 8 in total and Manoj and his crew are brilliant. There is no chasing. In fact if other boats show up and start to chase, he heads in the other direction and seems to manage to find another whale ... some of them are really close but it's hard to get a good pic with our little point and shoot camera although we take some video. We've had a really lucky day as the waters are calm ... It's not often you see as many as we have. Amazing trip.

Later we head to the beach and try to go to the internet cafe again but it seems it's closed on Sundays. As we wander along the beach at dusk Andy joins in with some local guys playing cricket. He's been dying to do it since we arrived as there are people playing everywhere in Sri Lanka. They play for a bit then a French man and his son join in. The son is a left hander and its not long before the ball ends up lost in the bushes ... they feel terrible and the Sri Lankan guy is cool about it but doesn't look happy.

Our landlord seems in a better mood this evening before asking us to sign his guest book and review him on tripadvisor! After dinner we walk on the beach looking for turtles as we've heard they come up to lay their eggs here even though it seems unlikely with the amount of restaurants on the beach ... We don't see any.

Off to Tissamaharama tomorrow for some more wildlife at Yala National Park.