For a change Chris and I were only on the bus for short while. Five kilometres from Mirissa we jumped off the bus at another beach town called Weligama. Our search for a room didn't take too long after seeing two extremely basic and mosquito infested rooms, and one slightly more expensive, but much nicer. We decided the money would be worth it and stayed at 'Surasa Beach Resort'. It was still cheap and about the same price as we normally paid for a room, around £10.
Swimmers on, we headed to the huge stretch of beach in search of surfboards. Weligama beach, a protected bay, is roughly 2km long and during low tide nearly 100m wide! It is renowned for its beginner friendly waves and surf schools. We sussed out the area and Chris found a surf rental offering a decent price for a board for the remainder of the day. He headed straight out to catch some waves, but I was a little hesitant, so enjoyed the sun and watching him. Although I have conquered my fear of fish and have found a love for diving, the sea itself is still pretty terrifying for me. Especially the power of the waves and current. I tend to need a little bit of time to watch and assess the area before committing to anything.
Sure enough, after a longer lunch than anticipated, I hired a foam board for an hour. Chris as always was very encouraging and stayed with me for the entire hour. We both battled our way past the breaking waves which was enough to tire anyone out. Once out in the calm we waited for the waves to come in. The biggest challenge was fighting against the breaking waves, and after about fifteen minutes Chris decided to move us towards the beach and into the white water. This gave me a better opportunity to practice standing up and build my confidence. I ended up really enjoying the second part of my surfing session, which of course Chris was pleased about. He was doing well and taking the opportunity to also improve his skills and build confidence, after a fair few months out of practice!
Surfing is tiring and good exercise so we both had an even bigger appetite than usual that evening. Chris had spied a highly rated restaurant specialising in large 'subs', so was keen to see what all the fuss was about. The falafel at 'Breakpoint' also came recommended so I decided to give it a go. The chicken snitzel sub was a considerable size, and pretty hefty looking! Chris couldn't wait for the challenge, which turned out to be a breeze! The falafel was extremely dry and the pitta was not what I expected, rather it was a very dense bread roll. We were not overly impressed by dinner but left feeling full and satisfied.

We stopped by a small juice bar for breakfast and happily tucked into a vegetable omelette with avocado on the side. The freshly squeezed orange juice was perfect and helped wash it down. Set for the day, we walked along the beach to revisit the surf rental from the previous day. Chris hired the same board and I decided I would surf for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. We both went out together but I stayed in the white water again to practice more.
After an active morning we found a hotel very popular with the locals, serving local food. Deciding rice and curry was probably not the best idea before surfing again, we both opted for fish fried noodles. The portion size was more than adequate.
Both of us went back out again in the afternoon. Chris lingered around with me for the hour I was out, helping me to catch some bigger waves and move away from the white water. It felt good catching the waves properly, even though they were very small! But everyone has to start somewhere.
Out of nowhere the sky suddenly turned black and the rain came hammering down. Luckily the warmth stayed so we sat under a canopy and tried to wait it out. Unfortunately it seemed as though the rain was in for the evening. Chris surfed for another 45 mins or so in the rain before we battled our way back to the room.
We both really fancied rice and curry for dinner and surprisingly we really struggled to find it! We walked around the town for at least an hour trying to find somewhere. Eventually Chris thought it was best to look on TripAdvisor and he found a recommended family run restaurant not too far away. Thankfully the rain had stopped and as we peered our heads around the gate to 'Meewitha Cool Spot' there was just one small table left. Chris ordered the prawn curry and I decided to have the chicken curry. It was different to the usual Sri Lankan rice and curry we had eaten, which is usually served in small separate dishes. The lady served her rice and curry on one plate, which was presented very nicely and looked extremely appetising. The chicken was the best I had eaten yet in Sri Lanka and Chris' prawns were wonderful. We were even given special treatment and dished out an additional small bowl of prawn curry, with at least another five prawns in. Besides the anchovy curry, the food was delicious. We did end up treating ourselves to an ice cream on our walk back for dessert.

The juice cafe was closed so we ended up going local for breakfast. Chris tucked into a huge portion of rice and curry and I had a couple of egg rottis. We had heard of another good surf beach not too far along the coast from Weligama. Fancying a change of scenery we scrambled into a tuk tuk and travelled the couple of kilometres towards Midigama.