Hi everyone,
We had our group farewell dinner last night as a few people are heading back to
Negombo tonight before the tour officially ends Friday morning. Darsh gave a
really lovely speech in the hotel lobby, and then I did a speech thanking him,
our driver Lumbini and our assistant driver Suji. We then gave Darsh a card and
our tips. I had thought about it but wasn’t certain until Darsh confirmed – he told
us that Lumbini and Suji would go and queue for petrol once we arrived
somewhere and sometimes had to stay in the queue until the early hours of the
morning. They would then be up earlier than us preparing the bus. What
beautiful human beings, doing whatever they could to make our time here
smoother. We have been so lucky as Darsh was an excellent guide too. The trip
has gone very smoothly and the group has been lovely. It was fitting that we
enjoyed a really nice beachside dinner together. I had seafood pasta which was yummy,
Mum had crab curry that sadly didn’t have much crab. I have attached a photo collage of most of the flowers Suji gave us each day as we boarded the bus. So lovely!
This morning we had a Claire and Jenny version of a “sleep in” (7am). We took
our time getting ready for the day and headed out at about 10am. We wandered
aimlessly down the main street into the town of Mirissa, and found some hidden
gems. We looked in a couple of shops and then saw a sign telling Ukrainian people they could have 25% off their bill at a particular restaurant. There are still some stuck here that came before Russia invaded the Ukraine. Again this speaks volumes about how kind Sri Lankan people are, as they have so many problems of their own here but are always looking out for others. Apparently there are also some Russian people here too. Then we wandered through some residential streets, and we
ended up in the Mirissa fishing harbour. Here we could see lots of whale
sightseeing boats all docked (as there are not as many tourists at the moment)
and some fishermen who had just come back with a big haul of fish they were
unloading.
We headed uphill where we came across a beautiful, secluded set of villas
with ocean views. These would have been a lovely place to stay. There was a
lighthouse nearby, and some steps down to a beach. We ran into some English
girls here who were looking for a beach called ‘Secret Beach’ so we all tried
some paths together and eventually found it with the help of a cute little boy
pointing us in the right direction. When I thanked him in Sinhalese I was
treated to a huge smile.
We were so glad we found Secret Beach. It wasn’t too much of a secret as there
were a number of people there, but not too many. Everyone was peacefully
enjoying themselves either bathing in the rock pool that was protected from
waves by surrounding rocks, or enjoying a cool drink at a beachside table. We
did the latter – Mum enjoyed a mango lassi and I a watermelon lassi. The
waiter, Krishal, asked if we were sisters. We think we may head back there
tomorrow as we really enjoyed it. We even got to see some hermit crabs
scuttling across the sand.
We walked back along the main Mirissa beach and had a rest at the hotel. Then
Rob from our tour messaged in the Whatsapp group and said there was some nearby
snorkelling where you could see turtles, so Rob, Mum, Carlos and I headed over.
Sadly by the time we arrived the waves were quite choppy, so it was hard to stay
in one place and we didn’t see any turtles at first. But just as we were about
to give up, we spotted one and madly swam over. I love watching turtles. We are
going to head back in the morning when the ocean is a little calmer as we think
we will see more.
After we got out, we noticed two dogs going crazy and barking. It turned out
they were barking at a land monitor. Then we took a seat at the juice bar we
hired the snorkel gear from, and while we had been snorkelling, a clutch of turtle eggs
they were unaware of had hatched under a hammock. The bartender had put them into a tub and will release them at night so the monitors don’t
get them. Here I enjoyed a chocolate milk shake and a pineapple juice. Both were
delicious and so cheap. We had a laugh at two dogs here as well - one that could smell where the turtles had emerged from and kept digging thinking he would find some, and one that plonked himself directly under Rob's chair!
We headed back and had a swim in the pool. Soon we are going out with our tour
mates (less a few who are leaving early) for dinner.
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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