Wave Running

After the disappointment of the beach at Unawatuna we decided to try and get on a train to one further away. We had to settle for our second choice (Hikkaduwa) as some of the train times to Bentota were not good as it was a Sunday. On the way to the station we spoke with a German couple who were from our guesthouse who were heading back to Colombo on the train. The journey only took 30 minutes but we also got stuck waiting in Galle station for another 20 waiting for the train to depart.

The first part of the beach was roped off for swimming and snorkelling but you could go a bit further out and surf if you wanted. There were a load of dive schools, and so most of their boats took up the next half. It was quite busy, so we took a walk to the next part of the beach past a building that was really close to the waters edge. There were less people and not many boats.

This was our first experience of being in the Indian Ocean. The sea was warm, but the current was strong but it was nice to float around and feel yourself being pulled in and out with the waves.

I had a vegetable curry for lunch, which like the previous day came out as 5 different bowls of food. I did manage to eat it all this time though!

After lunch we thought we might head back to the first part of the beach to rent some snorkels. The current had picked up a lot, there weren't any people on the beach and more boats had been moored up - I don't think we would have seen much! So we decided to walk back to the part of the beach we actually swam in because it still looked clearer. The problem now was the waves were crashing against the rocks of the building that had been built out to the waters edge. I worked out that we had enough time between the big waves and the short waves to run across, but halfway through me getting across I looked back and Tash was still stood in the same spot shaking her head (like she was crossing the road in Vietnam all over again!), whilst I was trying to figure out what to do a bigger wave came in and drenched me (and our bag) and also covered Tash too! Oops. We saw the funny side after a few minutes (and after we checked the camera was ok).

The train back was more modern, clean and had loads of legroom compared to the few other journeys we had done, we were hoping to get the same train when we go back to Colombo.

For dinner, we asked the guesthouse to cook us a whole fish, they brought to our plate a large yellow fin tuna that was quite a lot to eat for two people (and cost about £8). It had been well seasoned in chili, lime, garlic and some other flavours. We demolished a good 3/4 of it along with the rice and vegetables. For dessert they brought us out a Watalappan each (we didn't even order it), which was more flavourful than on the first night and you could taste the Cardamon this time.

Bowls of rice; 55