Whale Watching and Mirissa

 Our whaling boat.

 The fleet of fishing boats.

 Blue whales.

 Traditional fishing boats, albeit with motors.

 The tuk tuk fleet.

 Our little cove and the top of our hotel.

 A link from sea to land.

 Not sure what this is.

 Lasanti and my special elephant.

 The guides and our final meal together.

Thursday, February 15^th.

Woke up feeling better after the rest. Six of us had opted for the optional excursion of whale watching. It is blue whale season here and the owner of this hotel has a boat that takes tourists out to see whales and dolphins. He arranged for two tuk tuks to take the us to the port where we discovered there were dozens of these boats. We boarded ours and were served a breakfast piece meal, first a small yogurt, later a pastry, still later another pastry, then a plate of a few pieces of banana, pineapple, papaya, and watermelon, and finally on the way back a drink box of Milo.

We journeyed out at 6:00 for about an hour and a half until we could no longer see land. The seas were fairly rough with good size swells and we were knocked about a bit. There was no way you could walk around on the boat. There were lots of boats that all fanned out to scout for the whales. Eventually we started seeing the tell-tale blows and then we followed. Typically, what happened is we caught a few glimpses, then too many boats showed up and the whale or whales would dive and come up somewhere else. Everyone was very excited, but I started to feel sorry for the whales. It felt like harassment. We had a number of sightings, but realistically all you really see is the arch of the back or maybe a tail fluke. Blues are not jumpers like humpbacks. Thankfully, after the last good sighting, we turned around and headed back. It was a long haul, but we arrived back at the port about 10:30 where our tuk tuks drivers were waiting for us, along with dozens of others waiting for the other boats all on a very narrow and long pier. It was a bit chaotic, but we arrived back at the hotel shortly afterwards and the owner offered us all breakfast. So, we had an omelette and a bit of cereal.

I tried again to phone HP using John’s Skype to try to fix mine, but the internet was so poor that the lady could not hear me and I gave up. John had a nap, as he had stayed out drinking a bit at last night’s dinner and I went for a paddle in the ocean and then I swam 50 lengths of the hotel pool. That felt good. 

John asked me if I had had any feedback about my speech and I said no. He told me that various people were upset by what I said, and he thought it was because I had made them feel guilty. I stand by what I said and have no regrets.

In the afternoon, our assistant driver, Lasanti, gave everyone on the tour a little elephant as a gift. He was very emotional as he said that this was the best group he had ever been with. He kept calling us brothers and sisters.

At 7:00 we said goodbye to Gordon and Michael who were off to the airport as they had flights to catch tonight. Then the rest of us went to another local restaurant for dinner. It was basically a home with tables in the front yard under trees. The washroom was in the house though the kitchen. The family was really friendly, and the service was good. We had a good meal and lots of laughs. I was feeling much better and John and I had a good time fooling around with the guides. Lasanti gave me another special elephant and a Sri Lanka keychain. He is a really sweet man. He kept hugging everyone and getting emotional again. I have never had a guide buy me anything, it is certainly not expected.

When we got back to the hotel and the rest had gone to bed, Sam made a big deal of thanking me for all I had done for them and told me that the drivers were extremely happy with their tips. Sam knew that John and I had talked to the group and collected the money. He told the two men that they had us to thank for what they received. It made me wonder what other groups tip these guys. Sam told us that the drivers were really happy with us because we talked to them and included them in our meal times and interacted with them. Apparently not all groups do.

Then off to bed for the last time in Sri Lanka.

Tomorrow, we are off early to the airport to fly to the Maldives where we will join a GAdventure boat cruise for a week on a traditional fishing type of boat. Not sure if will have internet or not, so if I disappear you’ll know why.