Sri Lanka day 9: Whales and waves

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I had researched whalewatching before we came to Sri Lanka and the general concensus was that this was not the best time of year to see whales in Mirissa. We looked at going to Tricomalee but it would have been a hell of a diversion just to do that one activity, so Mirissa it was.
Further investigation highlighted Raja and The Whales as the original and best company to go with. They stick to the guidelines to protect the whales and are good at what they do....or so the majority of people say....
I have now joined that majority.
We were picked up by tuk tuk at 5:55am and taken to their office where we were given seasick pills and a bottle of water to take them with. Claire used the facilities and was very impressed.
The boat was a two deck affair and Claire was getting itchy to get the best seats upstairs despite the crew wanting us to have a safety briefing downstairs. We were given tea and coffee in cups and saucers along with some feisty ginger biscuits.
The briefing ended up being at the front of the boat and was very informative and in very good English. Claire had calmed down by now and, as we were sorting our cameras out we were given a plate of fruit. Water was also available whenever we wanted.
It was a long trek out to the whale feeding grounds and one lady started being seasick very early on despite the sea being quite calm. I think she was ill for the whole trip which can't have been much fun. And then Claire said she felt ill...
The crew were very good and brought sick bags and then took them away when they were full. They brought tissues and even a wet cloth to cool Claire down as she was quite ill. Fortunately she filled one bag and was done and was fine for the rest of the journey.
She didn't fancy any later food though as we were given a breakfast plate and then later, cake and fruit juice. I doubt whether the lady downstairs had any either....
Claire nodded off and then came to life when the call came up that a whale had been spotted. We went upstairs and were soon seeing the spray of a blue whale. Yes, not just any whale but the largest animal that has ever lived as the crew told us a couple of times. There were small chances of seeing other whales but it's mainly blue whales they see.
Not much of the enormous body of a blue whale comes above water but the excitement of seeing the tail rise up out of the water as they dive is amazing. You don't get long, a few spouts of water and then they dive down to get a belly full of krill. You're on a rocking boat and you only have a few seconds as the whale dives to catch that tail....if it appears....not all whales showed their tails. But I think I might have a couple in focus...hopefully! Members of the crew were taking pictures too which they later emailed us about and put them up on their facebook page.
During the whole trip the many crew did their jobs admirably in both looking after customers and whale spotting. I've been on so many boat trips in other countries where the crew spend the majority of their time letching and flirting but there was none of that today. There wasn't even a tip box or a plea for tips which is always good.
Whales are exceptionally loud apparently but we can only hear certain things they do like spouting. At one point the boat's engine was switched off so we could hear that but all we could hear was someone throwing up downstairs.....
We spent a while up top, moving round when whales were on different sides and having to shelter from both sun and rain. I reckon we saw four blue whales but Claire reckons it was only three but we saw quite a few dives and spouts by however many whales it was.
The captain checked everyone was happy and then headed for home so we didn't bother the whales too much. The trip can last up to eight hours and you get 50% of your money back if you don't see whales. It's quite expensive at £32:50 each but I think it was worth it, especially to see the largest animal that ever lived.
After we got back Claire was feeling better and a little hungry so we looked for somewhere to eat. We couldn't stay in our room for long anyway as there was no electricity and it was stifling, especially without the pathetic fan which produces more noise than it does cool air.
We found a place on the real beach which had a table looking out to sea and then they let us move onto their sun loungers and then later we moved back onto a table where we had something else to eat.
Inbetween we did some reading, some blog writing and some wave riding. The waves here are fantastic, so good that there are some surfers and loads of people using bodyboards. We had neither but still managed to get carried along by the waves when we weren't getting knocked over by them. We pretty much relaxed today which is a bit odd....whoever heard of relaxing on holiday????

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Comments

[RENanDREW]

Blue Whales!
Looks like luck was on your side with spotting whales out of season. Good to hear that Claire recovered well and wasn't sick for the whole boat trip. Relaxing on holiday... sounds like a good plan to me :)