Trip out with Sunil – went to Galle and saw Dutch museum/shop and market (not much to buy).
Then on to Hikkaduwa for ill-fated very choppy coral trip for snorkeling. I felt sick on boat and Jane felt sick in the sea.
That ghastly snorkeling trip really does need to be explained. There were two problems with it. Firstly, it really was too choppy for snorkeling – even very experienced swimmers, who might have been up for the swimming challenge if mad enough, would have agreed that it was simply too choppy to see anything worthwhile with the snorkel.
The second problem was our mad boatman, who seemed especially keen to surf the waves and make the boat trip as “exciting” as possible. I suppose Hikkaduwa is surf territory, but I thought he was truly mad and dangerous. I was so unnerved by him, not least him seeming to turn back for more when we asked him to take us back to the shore, I abandoned the boat and swam for it, to ensure that he followed me back. Probably not the safest idea I have ever had.
This tale reminds me a little of our (rather differently unpleasant) boating experience in Nicaragua more than twenty years later – you might even recognise a similar expression of disgust on my face in the photo:
Washed and dried off – then on to New Moonbeam restaurant for deviled crab – then look round shops.
Went on to turtle hatchery and then home.
Practised snorkeling some more in the pool.
Then went to seafood barbecue in evening – excellent meal .
Part Two of our two-part photo album for this Sri Lanka trip can be viewed through the flickr link below – there are 75 photos therein:
Real gluttons for photo punishment can see raw scans of all 430 photos we took unedited and unlabelled here:
