Having A Whale Of A Time

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Geo: 5.94354, 80.4589

I never knew that the beaches in Sri Lanka were so good. One of those idyllic beaches that we based ourselves in for 6 nights was Mirissa Beach. We arrived by bus from Ella and immediately enjoyed the change from grey and rainy to hot and sunny.
Mirrissa isn't a huge beach but it is a great place to stay for a while. It has amazing scenery with the token coconut trees. From Mirrissa there are heaps of things to do such as lounging about, whale watching, day excursions, surfing etc.

We stayed in a nice small homestay for 5 nights and worked on our tans. Mirrissa is a good place to go whale watching and there are a few companies about but we chose to go with Raja and the whales as they promote eco friendly whale watching. They charge a bit more than others but it was worth it. Our group was the first out on the water by 6.30.
We enjoyed a great few hours of watching Fin Whales and the amazing Blue Whale. The trip was great and definitely worth doing, we even got a cooked breakfast.

Also in Mirissa we took a local bus to the next town of Welligama for some surfing. There are plenty of places to hire a board and the waves were big enough for beginners.
During the evenings, the restaurants have dining tables on the beach and display fresh seafood which was really nice. We got ourselves some lobster and king prawn and only for a fraction of the cost in a restaurant.
Mirrissa was a good place to relax and yet another fantastic place in this great country.

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